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We all talk about the striped bass inshore to the cape because that's what we target. But I've been fishing the national seashore from the beach and by boat, and Cape Cod Bay by boat for many years and have seen other changes as well. Sand Dabs used to be an irritant in picking your bait, but I can't remember the last time I saw a Sand Dab. Sand Eels used to be abundant in the sand for raking on the Race and around Hatches Harbor, but few can be found now (although they're abundant in the water column). Skates used to be everywhere (I guess I shouldn't complain), but can't remember the last time I caught a skate while bait fishing. Fluke were plentiful in P-town harbor and the bay, but now are slim pickings. Fluke and skate seem to have been replaced by a HUGE population of spiny dogfish. Although peanut bunker are typically around, the large near shore shoals of baby bunker has been a rare sight. All of these changes seem to have coincided with the growing presence of seals. But correlation is NOT causality. I don't know if the seals are solely responsible for this change over the last 10 years (and especially the last 5 or so), but if I'm CSI Cape Cod, they're my #1 suspect.
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