You, too, can be a bonito bandito
CATCHIN' ANYTHING?
 
Schools of bonito now are roving through Buzzards Bay and often are mixed in, and sometimes mistaken for schools of bluefish. Flocks of birds working the surface over feeding schools marks the spot.
When you're casting surface poppers or swimmers and getting frustrated because the breaking fish won't strike, try casting a shiny jig or spoon and retrieve it as fast as you can. There's a chance the fish might be bonito.
Top lures for these great fighters are the Swedish Pimple and Deadly Dick. Chrome works well, but chrome/green and chrome/blue also will work.
Bonito have been through the bay from Cleveland's Ledge to West Island. Timing is everything and, if you happen to be at a particular spot when the school comes through, you're in for a lot of fun, especially if you're using light tackle.
Bluefish are abundant from Wareham to Westport and big schools have been in the same spots as bonito, with the waters off Mattapoisett and West Island being especially good. The tide is high just after dark the next couple of days, which may bring the schools within casting distance from shore. Try Ned's Point in Mattapoisett or West Island, and you may just hook a bonito.
Blues also have been around Butlers Flat Lighthouse in the main channel, Padanaram Harbor and the Westport River. Striper fishing has been strong at Squibnocket this week. Tube and worm or tube and eel rigs trolled on wire line have been working. For natural baits, drifting live eels along the bottom is good, along with chunks of pogies.
Fishing in the Cape Cod Canal is picking up as schools of baby herring and baby pogies have attracted big stripers and blues. Topwater plugs, and chrome jigs, such as the Kastmaster and Crippled Herring, fished early and late are productive. Chunk bait and bucktail jigs fished deep are better during the day.
This weekend, the tides, which will be turning from low to high at sunrise, and again in the evening, will be optimum. With all the baitfish in the canal, together with the good tides, the fishing may be the best of the summer. Anglers are having some success following the schools by bicycle along the bike paths, as the fish travel through the canal within casting distance.
If you're casting topwater plugs, you can increase your success rate by adding a "teaser" about 18 inches ahead of the plug. A teaser is simply a bucktail streamer on a short leader, but when retrieved, it gives the illusion of a bigger baitfish (the popper) chasing a smaller baitfish (the teaser) and triggers the predatory instinct in bigger fish to strike -- and they usually strike the popper, not the teaser.
Fluke fishing is still good at Lucas Shoals and the deeper waters off Quicks's Hole and Robinson's Hole. A fluke rig, bumped along the bottom with a squid strip, sand eel or mumper on the hook, is your best bet.
Scup fishing remains steady off Westport, Gooseberry Neck, Cleveland's Ledge, Quicks' and Gay Head.
Coming in Sunday's Open Season column: The waterfowl seasons and regulations for this fall and winter; the early goose season begins Tuesday, so make sure you have your stamps -- federal stamps for the 2003-04 season are available at most post offices; and an update on doe permits.
Marc Folco is a Standard Times outdoor writer. E-mail him at openseason1988@aol.com.
This story appeared on Page B6 of The Standard-Times on August 30, 2003.
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