Few places carry the mystique of the Islands. Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket sit square in the striped bass migration and along the fall highway for albies and bonito, and the fishing culture there, capped by the legendary fall Derby, is a world unto itself. It is rip fishing, flats fishing and blitz fishing at its finest.
Where the fish are
The Islands are defined by rips and structure. On the Vineyard, the current rages over Wasque off Chappaquiddick, along the cliffs of Gay Head and Noman’s Land, and out of Menemsha. Between the islands and the Cape, the shoals of Nantucket and Vineyard Sound, Middle Ground, Hedge Fence and the Hooter, stack bait and bass on the moving tide, and the Elizabeth Islands and Cuttyhunk form the gateway from the mainland side. Nantucket adds its own famous rips off Great Point and miles of open beach.
When it is best
Striped bass fill in from the spring, feed all summer on the flats and rips, and the whole thing peaks in the fall run. Late summer through October, false albacore and bonito pour through, and the Derby turns the Islands into the center of the striper world. See the seasonal calendar for the timing.
How to catch them
It is a light-tackle and fly angler’s dream. Sight-fish the flats for cruising stripers, learn to read and fish the rips where current does the work, and go run-and-gun on the blitzes when albies and bonito are crashing bait. Match the sand eels with a sand eel fly, and for the biggest bass, work live eels around the rips after dark.
Tip Albie and bonito fishing is run-and-gun: you race to breaking fish, make one fast cast, and often they are gone before you reset. Keep a rod rigged and ready, keep your fly line clear, and be ready to move, hesitation is what separates a hookup from watching the school sound.
Fish the same run closer to home
The Islands are a haul from the mainland, but the good news is that the same fall run and the same rip and flats fishing extend right up to the Cape and the Elizabeth Islands, where we run trips. Our albie and bonito and Cape striped bass guides cover that water. Reach out to book a charter and we will put you on the run.