With the cool spring and water temperatures slow to rise, it's no surprise that the fishing around Cape Cod and the Islands is off to a slow start this year. Immature striped bass - know as schoolies - arrived back in our waters in the first week of May, but the larger stripers have yet to make a significant appearance. Kevin Blinkoff, editor at On The Water magazine, says there are indications that those larger striped bass - 15 to 20 lbs - are finishing spawning in the Chesapeake Bay Hudson River and are moving our way, to show up here in another week or two. Memorial Day weekend seems, right now, like a pretty good bet for their arrival.
The migrating fish we watch in our region fall into two distinct migratory patterns. Striped bass move along the coast, heading south in the fall and returning north in the spring. Other fish, like fluke and black sea bass, move offshore in the colder months, and return inshore as temperatures rise.
Right now the squid action, after an off-year last year, is doing very well in Nantucket Sound and Vineyard Sound, with plenty of fishermen catching good numbers from the dock in Hyannis.
Also of note, Black Sea Bass season opens on Saturday, but so far indications are that the bite will be slow to get going - like so much else this spring!