The rich waters of Nantucket are home to numerous game fish such as striped bass, bluefish, false albacore, and bonito. Whether you’re fishing the flats, open beach, or offshore rips you’ll certainly have a shot at a fish. With a robust fishery comes a great community. For the past 17 years Nantucket locals have hosted a five week long catch and release tournament called the Nantucket Inshore Classic. There are multiple categories including a fly fishing beach division, fly fishing boat division, spin rod beach, and spin rod boat division as well.
The tournament rules go as follows:
- Each angler receives a pin/entrant number and a measuring tape upon signing up
- The standings go by inches, the highest overall combined inches of striped bass, bluefish, false albacore and bonito wins!
- An angler must submit a picture of their catch to the Nantucket Inshore classic email within 24 hours of the catch
- All pictures must contain the measuring tape
As an East coast native, I’ve spent the last two summers on Nantucket fishing my heart out. During the first year, I spent my time learning new water and patterning the fish. Fast forward a year later, I strolled into Nantucket Tackle Center (my favorite local shop) and entered the 2022 inshore classic fly beach division! While I wasn’t able to fish the full five weeks, here’s a 4 week breakdown of what happened!
Week 1 (September 4th- 10th): The first week of September started off with a bang. I was able to find albacore running the channel off the Eel point flats located on the northwest corner of the island. On September 8th, a steady north east blow pushed bay anchovies and sand eels along the edge of the sand flat making for some awesome fishing. Fish started to appear roughly halfway through the incoming tide. As the sun broke through the clouds I watched albie’s furiously porpoise within a 20 foot cast. With a quick double haul cast, I placed the fly ahead of the pod of fish and watched a 20 inch fish inhale my fly on a two hand strip. A few runs into the backing later and I landed the albie. With the pressure off my back, I stood on the sand bar and waited for another pod of fish to roll through. As the tide approached an hour before slack, I saw a ball of three albacore rush by within 10 feet. Upon casting and stripping my fly through the school, I thought I blew my shot when I looked down and watched a fish vaporize my fly at my feet. An incredible fight ensued, the fish was persistent and kept me in my backing for most of the fight. Upon landing the fish, I watched as a 4 foot brown shark turned broadside, investigated me and peeled out. A sight to behold. Nonetheless, I ended the first week with a 23.5 inch albie. The go to fly for these fish was a slender long sand eel fly composed of chartreuse body braid over chartreuse steve farrar blend and white bucktail tied on a 1/0 Owner Aki hook.
Week 2 (September 11th- 17th): The second week was a grind. With an albacore on the board I shifted my attention toward landing a large striped bass. On the night of September 13th at around 9:00PM I trudged over to eel point flats with my buddies. Although the tide was dead low we knew the fish would congregate along the deep pockets of water located adjacent to the flat. Upon finding the perfect area, I tied on a Yellow Rhode island style flat wing and fired off a few casts. After about 30 minutes of swinging the fly, I felt a sharp thump and set the hook. As the fly line dissipated off the reel into the backing, I knew it was a bass. After a minute or so I was staring down a 29 incher. With a striped bass and albie on the board I was now leading the tournament. Nevertheless, on September 15th I made it my goal to land an even larger albacore. With a 30 mile north east wind, I knew the fish would present themselves along the beach of Eel point again. As I studied the water, I noticed three fish fly into the air. Upon running into the water, I launched a quick haul directly into a head wind. Although my cast was behind the school of fish, I got lucky and a fish quickly turned around and torched my fly. A couple war screams later, and I was running out of backing on a fat fish. After a lengthy battle I subdued a 24 inch albacore. The fly that caught the fish was a steve farrar crystal blend tied on a 2/0 owner Aki hook with flash tubing, eyes, and UV resin. The forecast for the rest of the week looked killer, so I invited my good buddy Alex over from New Jersey to hop on the bite. On the morning of September 16th, we were faced with a steady westerly wind and an outgoing tide. Although we saw albacore in the distance we weren’t ready for what was about to ensue. At around 8AM the fish in the distance disappeared, and in a flash five schools of fish popped up all around us. After 20 casts in and around these schools we quickly realized that these were PICKY fish. Alex eventually hooked a few fish on a small soft bait however it took me about 8 fly changes to generate an eat. Two hours before dead low tide at around 9AM, I watched albies vaporize sand eels and bay anchovies 10 feet off my rod tip. This was beyond frustrating, nonetheless I stayed persistent, launched the fly in the middle of the school and let the fly sit for a few seconds. All of a sudden, I watched an albacore swipe the fly off the surface, within seconds my reel was singing and I was screaming with excitement. After a few minutes of bliss, I was able to land a 26.75 inch Albie. My largest of the tournament. I then proceeded to catch two more smaller fish in no time before the tide bottomed out and the blitzing fish left. The albie pattern of the day was a teal steve farrar blend tied over white craft fur on a Gamakatsu SL-11HS hook in size 1/0.
Next, as Alex and I walked the flats back to the car, I hear Alex stop and say “holy sh*t look down”. To my amazement we had stumbled upon 8 striped bass sun bathing themselves a few feet off the beach. With a quick cast of the Albie fly I watched a 26 inch bass motor up and inhale my offering. After a brief battle and a quick release, I noticed that the pack of fish had broken up. I then decided to tie on an olive over white jiggy clouser minnow tied on an 1/0 Umpqua x series jig hook. Upon stripping the fly in and pausing it, I watched my line tighten as the broom tail of bass pushed an extraordinary amount of water. After a few long runs I had my hands on a 33 inch striper. One of my largest of the year, after a quick picture I released the fish and rushed back home in order to log into work!
Week 3 (September 18th- 24th): The third week was a complete wash, with a bass and albie on the board and a steady lead, it was now time to target a large greasy bluefish. That being said, my plans of catching a bluefish were thwarted by a week of gnarly inclement weather. During this time we were faced with extreme winds, dirty water, and heavy swell.
Week 4 (September 25- Oct 1): Week four was tough yet rewarding, this was my final week on the island before heading back to New York. The main goal of this final week was to target bonito and bluefish. At this point, my combined total of albacore and bass still had me leading the division by under an inch. I knew that it would most likely come down to who caught the bigger bluefish as bonito are a rarity on Nantucket island these days. During this time, I focused on fishing great point, a 7 mile long protected beach situated between Nantucket sound and the open ocean. Usually bluefish are plentiful on both sides. That being said, I drove slowly on the ocean side and stopped every 100 yards to make a few casts. After a full day of not finding any bluefish, I knew it was going to be a grind. For five straight days, I fished great point to get my shot at a tournament winning bluefish! Unfortunately I wasn’t able to find bluefish however I was rewarded with a few epic albie blitzes. These fish were in large schools about 50 a piece and were mobbing down the shoreline during a calm south wind, luckily I was able to pluck a few from the school! The ticket was once again a teal steve farrar blend tied over white craft fur and epoxied over a Gamakatsu SL-11HS hook in size 1/0.
Despite the fact that I was only able to fish four weeks of the Nantucket Inshore classic, I put forward my best effort. Going into week five I led the fly beach division by half an inch. Unfortunately, a second place local was able to piece it together and catch a 30 inch bluefish to overtake me and win the tournament. Luckily my previous weeks efforts helped me to earn second in the tournament. If you’re ever in Nantucket, be sure to sign up and try your hand at the various divisions of the Nantucket inshore classic.
Gear
- Fast action 10 weight rods
- Lines: integrated shooting head tapers such as the Royal Wulff Triangle Taper, and Rio striped bass line
- Leaders: cortland Line 12-20lb leader is the standard, a tapered down section of 40-30-20 typically gets the job done!
- Flies: small sand eel and bay anchovy imitators such as surf candies, deceivers, and clousers