What an incredible year of fishing so far! Our waters around Martha’s Vineyard are chock full of fish, and big ones. We are seeing fish on the flats, rips, jetties, and everything in between, including the best season for bluefish for both size and numbers in quite a few years.
The current water temp is 64.2 degrees, making it prime time on the flats. We are seeing massive schools of sandeels swarming the flats daily. At first glance, the flats look like they are full of seaweed, but take a closer look, and you’ll notice massive schools of sandeels moving their way through. If you’re patient and keep your eyes peeled, there’s a good chance you’ll see bass ripping through these schools in hot pursuit of easy prey.
With stripers keyed in on sandeels, it’s critical to ‘match the hatch' and use flies that resemble sandeels, like sparser Clousers and Surf Candies. Both floating and intermediate lines are working well. A few of our favorites include the Scientific Anglers Intermediate Sonar Camo for accuracy and delicate presentations and RIO’s Outbound Short for windy days when we need an added punch.
The rips have also been very productive for striped bass and huge blues. The biggest blue we have seen this year was a little over 15 lbs. It was quite the fight on a nine-weight! Although there are a lot of sandeels in the rips, with more showing up every day, bass have still been crushing our squid flies. Red or orange squid have worked the best with jerky strips. There are few things more exciting than seeing a big bass or blue surf the wave to chop your fly. We have also seen black seabass take flies off the surface in the rips, which is always a unique and satisfying sight! We are using intermediate lines like the RIO Striper and Cortland Striped Bass.
We fish the entire island, on all sides of it, and have been fishing well via boat. The shore fishing game is still strong where the current is ripping. Many inlets and jetties are holding fish, and we have been throwing heavier flies with sinking lines so they can get down fast. The Scientific Anglers Sonar Titan Triple Density is the perfect line to get your fly in the zone. The shore fishing has been mostly bass with occasional blues mixed in.
We still have some openings for the summer. We would love to show you our beautiful waters! To book please email info@kismetoutfitters.com or call the shop 774. 549. 5921
Abbie Schuster
Owner/Head Guide at Kismet Outfitters
860-944-5225
instagram: @abbie.on.the.fly
