Mung
 

This will be no surprise to anyone who lives on Cape Cod but as of yesterday (Sept. 16th) the backside beaches are still badly fouled with mung. From Chatham to P-Town, the beaches are unfishable, even at high tide. Even the entrance to Hatches Harbor had mung weed, though it was fishable yesterday afternoon. (modest population of 4-inch sand eels being harrassed (but not chased) by small bluefish-no bass.

Compounding the problem on the backside beaches are the seals. Hundred of them, from Chatham to Wellfleet. Paul at Blackbeards Bait & Tackle spoke to me in person about the mung problem and then mentioned that "about 200 seals are making things even worse". Unfortunately I think Paul's math is correct.

Sorry for the downbeat report. If/when the mung disappears I'd appreciate hearing from you. Truro is a 100 mile drive from my house. Thanks, guys.

BB,

From Molly Benjamin's Cape Cod fishing column yesterday :


" The Great Backside Beach

6) This is really the pits. Mung, mung and more mung. Just to salt the wound, we know that on those singular moments when the mung clears, big, big bass have been caught. But it's essentially unfishable here now. Go to the other side; it's much better! "

throw in a n/ne wind into the forecast :smash:

Just got back from the backside Bill. Head of the Meadow was clean as a whistle.....no fish though! The Race fishing was fouled by fire in the water....I could have read a book by it......nothing but blues at sunrise.....again!:(

More than 200 seals out there, between P-town and Chatham.
There was a picture on the front page of the CC times a couple of weeks ago.... at least a thousand seals layin' on Monomoy, from a distance, looked like a oil spill, big globs of black all over the white sandy beach (what little sand was showing, in the pic). I'm beginning to think MUNG is seal poo... after all thousands of gross 600 pound critters that eat 50 plus pounds of fish a day, gotta go somewhere ;) and I wouldn't put it past the swimming rats to swim in their own schtuff :rolleyes:

Hello Big Fish

Things must have changed because Head of the Meadow was loaded with mung weed at noon time, Thursday, Sept. 16th. This was my first stop that day. I left Chatham at 8:30 P.M. that evening. Chatham had mung too, though not as much as the Wellfleet and Truro beaches.

I hope today's storm drove drowned a few dozen seals.

Hey Bill! The six inch black thingie you sent me was well received by the bass at the canal this morning before sunrise! Thanks for the additional instruction too! Flap.:D :happy: