There is no charge for the event, although camping fees and food are expected to be funded through shared contributions.  $25-$30 each should do it.  Those who attend are expected to come in the spirit of camaraderie to enjoy this unique flyfishing venue.

The sole intent is to have a world-class experience with fellow anglers while maximizing the pursuit of bonito, little tunny and spanish mackerel.  Striped bass and bluefish will also be sought, of course but the principal species are inshore tuna.

Shore fishing:

Blitzes right at the opening of the jetty and up inside the inlet for a little ways - bass, blues and tunoids sometimes making runs all the way up the channel in front of the campsite (boat needed). By far the most action for onshore anglers is at the jetty and the beach adjacent to the jetty.  You can only get to the west jetty by boat, canoe, yak etc from the campsite.

Access to the jetty on the east side is available from South Cape State Park, which also is a great beach to fish with a nice inshore rip forming to the east of the parking lot. It's a bit of a death march to the jetty though.

Campers with basic craft (yaks, canoes, etc) can get to the famous (or should I say infamous) Wacky west jetty from the camp area. Stripers like to use these jetties as ambush points especially when there are juvie pogies around (this is the right time of year for that).

It's entire possible to hook a tunoid from shore in this area, although the number of shots you get are much lower than from a boat.

Bass bustin on pogies mid-day on the west jetty

On boats, the surrounding area is a good bet for tunoids in late summer / early fall. To the east is Succonesset Shoal, where we got into albies, spanish macs (lots), king macs, blues, and bass last year. To the west are Nobska and the Elizabeths; to the south southwest is Middle Ground, the fence, the Vineyard and all of it's fishiness. Vineyard Sound is a great area for tunoids that time of year.

Unlike their cousins to the south, a 9wt is plenty of rod although the speedsters will give you a run for the money on a 10wt too. I prefer to be prepared with an intermediate line as well as a sinking line and have caught tunoids with a number of retrieves from fast double-handed to a down and dirty twitch in a deep rip. In any case when they are busting around you it's sure to get the heart beating fast, and your reaction time needs to be good too - they can be up and down in a heartbeat.

Toothy critters:

It's wise to have wire tippet on hand due to the Spanish Macs and bluefish that you may encounter. Although a visible tippet is not the best thing you can throw at a small tuna (super eyesight) or a wise old striper, you'll sacrifice a lot of flies to macs and blues in the rips otherwise.

Can't believe everything ya hear but I did hear about cobia, flying fish, and king mackeral being caught around the islands recently from a friend. Unconfirmed reports of course, but a fish story is a fish story ;) Couple years back there were a lot of exotics around, and not just the tunoid variety.

Take a peek at 1999's photo journal  and 2000's photo journal to get an idea of the great times we had!

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