albacore and bonita

[vermonster]

anyone have info on fishing for albacore and bonita in the monomoy area.lures,depth ,trolling speed time of year.any and all info would be welcome....thanx

[MakoMike]

Originally Posted by vermonster

anyone have info on fishing for albacore and bonita in the monomoy area.lures,depth ,trolling speed time of year.any and all info would be welcome....thanx

Albacore in Monomoy? Do you mean little tunny, aka false albacore?

[vermonster]

well you catch em there?

[ScottM]

If the conditions are just right, you might luck into some albies in Chatham, but your best bet will be further to the west around Falmouth and Mashpee. I don't think you'll see any bonito at all out that way.

[mooncusser]

Actually albie fishing is pretty reliable around Monomoy in mid-to-late September. When you start to hear people complaining about the lack of albies around the Vineyard and southside, that means the bite is probably going very well around Monomoy. The folks out there are more tight-lipped about it than the Vineyard/southside crowd. The albies tend to run into Nantucket and Vineyard sounds in late August and work ther way toward Monomoy throughout the month. You can find them in the rips at the end of south Monomoy pretty reliably and also off Hardings Beach and around the opening into Stage Harbor. Bonito tend to stay a little further offshore (they can tolerate colder water temps) but can be found all the way around the backside and into the Bay at times. I have run int acres of small bonito in Cape Cod Bay and have used them as live baits for tuna off Crab Ledge and up toward the PH buoy. We catch them at night while anchored and fishing for tuna.

Trolling for them is boring. casting to them with small metal, sluggos, bucktails or flies is much more fun.