The one thing that may keep many anglers off the water this weekend is the forecasted winds. Of course things could change, but as of right now the weathermen are predicting gusty winds and choppy seas. For most of us this will translate into fishing from shore.

The good news is that late May is one of the best times of the season to target stripers from shore on Cape Cod. There are good size bass around right now, and many of them are hanging close to the beach. For surf casters, right now is prime-time. We may as well enjoy this opportunity, because once the heat of summer rolls around our odds of connecting with a nice fish from shore will diminish significantly.

So with all that in mind here are 3 ways to catch a striper this Memorial Day Weekend while fishing on Cape Cod.

1) Fish a Boulder Field

This past Tuesday I fished a boulder field and was rewarded with a nice and fat 37 inch striped bass. Boulder fields are great places to target stripers during the month of May. Here on Cape Cod there is absolutely no shortage of productive rocks to fish.

Productive boulder fields stretch from Plymouth down along the shoreline of Cape Cod Bay. Buzzards Bay has its fair share, as well as Vineyard Sound. A quick look at Google Earth can help tremendously with regards to locating good areas to fish. Check out the below video to get a sense of what I mean.

Of course locating a productive boulder field is just half of the battle. If you want to bring it all together and improve your odds of an epic trip, you will need the correct gear and at least a basic understanding of how tide and time of day influences the fishing.

Many different types of equipment and lures will get the job done. Yet as with anything else I have my favorites which I talk about in the below video.

(for information on tying knots visit this page)

As mentioned in the video, I have had my best success at boulder fields fishing the incoming tide. Yet it can pay to experiment and fish the same boulder field at different tidal stages, to see how fish in that specific area react.

As far as time of day is concerned, it is hard to beat a night time or sunrise trip. As is true in most striped bass fishing scenarios, the middle of the day is often the least desirable time to fish a boulder field.

2) Jigging Inlets

Last week I caught a nice keeper while jigging an inlet with a good old fashioned white bucktail jig. Inlets will be phenomenal places to target stripers this weekend, especially if there is a strong wind blowing in towards the inlet.

I like fishing inlets and estuaries when the wind is howling. Often times these are the only places that are fish-able when the wind is cranking. I also think that when the entire ocean is rolling in towards shore, it increases the odds of a school of big bass entering an inlet.

A sure fire strategy for me when fishing a new inlet has always been to try the outgoing tide first. There is no golden rule to follow with regards to tides in estuaries, and sometimes certain spots in the same estuary fish better at different stages of the tide. However generally speaking, when trying out a new inlet, I like to get there for the outgoing tide.

The size of the jig often depends on the size of the inlet. For example, the Cape Cod Canal is the largest inlet on Cape Cod (if you want to call it that). Therefore I often find myself casting 4 or 5 ounce jigs, and bouncing them along the bottom often in depths of 50 plus feet.

In the below video I was jigging a  9 inch Slug-Go on a 4 ounce lead head when a nice 27 pounder decided to engulf the jig without warning. The current was not moving very quickly, so you’ll notice that I had to reel a little bit while jigging in order to keep the jig just off the bottom.

As you’ll see in the video I also applied some scent to the jig. I don’t know how much this helps, but I have always thought that it certainly can’t hurt to slap some scent onto your jig every now and again.

At smaller inlets, the  jig of choice will often be something in the 1-3 ounce range. Depths in these inlets vary substantially, but most of the spots I like to fish are between 10-20 feet deep.

In both situations the same general jigging technique will get the job done. Cast up current, allow the jig to hit bottom, and then work the jig up and down by lifting and lowering the rod tip. When the current is really moving fast, you often will not even have to reel line in during the retrieve. Simply letting the jig tumble along in the current is plenty enough to entice a bite.

When fishing inlets in the spring and fall, you may catch a schoolie on one cast and a keeper on the next. This is exactly what happened to me in the below video while jigging a southside inlet with a small white bucktail.

3) Find the Birds and Find the Bass

If we do get a break in the breeze and you are able to make it out in a boat this weekend, definitely remember to keep an eye peeled for diving birds.  Bring along a pair of good binoculars, or use your radar to zone in on the flocks.

Migrating biomasses of stripers put the feedbag on this past week in numerous Cape Cod locales only accessible by boat. In most instances these fish were relatively far from shore, which will make getting to them quite difficult if the wind does indeed blow as they are predicting.

Yet if you do make it out on the water, try to take notice of the bird life in the area you are fishing. Are you seeing terns and small birds which indicate the presence of small bait fish? Or are gannets and larger sea birds dive bombing all around you?

Most of the terns will reside relatively close to shore, and often give away the presence of sand eels and other small bait fish. Good places to find this sort of action are over sand bars and inside estuaries.

Gannets and larger birds will be more focused on herring and mackerel. Sometimes these birds are an indication that the feeding frenzy is happening well beneath the ocean’s surface. Remember that these birds are capable of diving down into the water, so just because you are not seeing bass busting on the surface, it does not mean that they are not around.

In Conclusion

Despite the iffy weather forecast, I think we all have a pretty good chance at finding some good action this weekend fishing Cape Cod.

I will be eagerly anticipating some solid fishing reports being posted in the MFCC Members Forum. Our forum is really taking off this season which I think is great.

What are your fishing plans for this weekend? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Tight lines and take care,

Ryan

The post 3 Ways to Catch a Striper this Memorial Day Weekend appeared first on My Fishing Cape Cod.

At 4AM I grabbed a lucky blueberry muffin and iced coffee from Dunkin Donuts, and departed down route 28. Not only would conditions be perfect for big stripers in skinny water, but the tide would be perfect too. I expected the current to be moving at a brisk pace through the boulders, which was beyond ideal.

There was not a soul in sight as I pulled into the gravel parking lot. The only sound was that of a few sea birds and a large ship blasting its fog horn somewhere off in the distance. I had the place all to myself.

To get to the spot I had to walk along the shoreline, past huge rocks and boulders, one of which is the size of a small bus. There was a slight chop rolling in towards shore – left over waves from yesterday’s windy conditions. I felt like the incoming tide, coupled with a light onshore breeze, would only increase my chances of finding action.

As I entered the water and began wading towards a rocky outcropping, I heard a splash and turned just in time to see a large fish bolt from out behind a boulder. I had spooked the fish, which had been cruising in a mere six inches of water. Based on the swirl I knew it had to be a large bass. My heart rate had increased and I could feel the instant shot of adrenaline course through my blood stream.

A couple seconds later my pencil popper was flying through the fog. The plug landed somewhere in the mist as I began a slow but steady retrieve. Finally the plug came into sight about 25 yards from shore. The pencil was dancing back and forth, from the left to the right, beckoning to be demolished, when I noticed a slight swirl just beyond the lure.

An instant later a bass came hurdling at the plug and launched itself straight clear of the water. It hung for a moment in midair before crashing back down on top of the popper. The bass hit the plug so hard I swear you could of heard the slap all the way from Nantucket.

Somehow, despite the vicious strike, I was unable to get a hook set. Just as quickly as the bass appeared he was gone. I was disappointed  but happy to know that there were indeed big fish in the area.

I fired another cast right back into the same spot and began another slow, methodical retrieve. I anxiously awaited another bite as the plug appeared out of the fog. I kept the retrieve going right up to the rock directly in front of me, but was unable to elicit another strike.

My third cast of the morning landed just to the left of a big boulder sitting roughly 50 yards offshore. I could just barely see the pencil popper in the light of the false down as the plug lightly slapped the surface. Nothing happened for the first 20 feet of the retrieve as the plug rounded another boulder and passed by a patch of sea weed.

Then, without warning, a big bass crushed the pencil popper with a huge slap and sent shots of whitewater flying into the sky. Instantly I felt weight on my rod so I leaned back and set the hook into the jaw of a very strong fish. My rod doubled down and line quickly began peeling from my reel.

I immediately knew this was my largest striped bass of the season. I could feel the heavy weight of the fish as she dug for the rocks and continued pulling line. My only choice was to tighten the drag and use brute force to pull the bass away from the barnacle laden boulders.

The post Big Bass in the Fog | May 21 Fishing Report appeared first on My Fishing Cape Cod.

Last night was flat calm and the surface of the Canal was as smooth as glass. The rain was a blessing in disguise as it kept the mosquitoes away and pretty much guaranteed that one of my favorite Canal fishing spots would be vacant.

Around midnight we set up shop on a mussel bed which gave us easy access to a nice rip that would fire up once the tide started moving. I have not fished this area since last November, when I was lucky enough to pull a 27 pounder out of this rip as the season was coming to a close.

Cape Cod Canal Night Fishing Report May 20

It only took 5 minutes for us to realize there was life in the area. It was dark so obviously we couldn’t see much, but we could hear bass popping on the surface. Every once in a while we could see the footprint left by a striper in the dim illumination given off by the service road lights.

I usually like to fish the bottom of the Canal after dark, so I began casting a Spro jig that my buddy Jeff from Canal Bait and Tackle recommended I give a try. I sometimes have a hard time breaking away from jigging soft plastics on the bottom, but I figured why not try something new. If there were bass sitting in the rip I felt like I had as good a chance as any with the Spro.

The bass we had heard and sort of seen feeding on the surface appeared to have some decent size to them. They clearly were not schoolies, based on the noises they were making. It takes a decent size tail to produce the loud POP that we would hear every few minutes. The anticipation of a good solid bite was really starting to grow on me by my third or fourth cast.

Fishing the Canal after dark was uncharted territory for Andrew, who just began striper fishing last year. He started out last season by working estuaries with light spinning tackle, and picking up a few schoolies here and there. This season he’s graduated to trying for keeper size bass, and has fished the Canal with some good success thus far.

Nevertheless his biggest bass to date was 28 inches, which I thought could be easily topped last night/this morning – granted a nice fish happened to swim by the rock he was standing on.

Andrew setup shop a bit down current from myself and began casting. He wasn’t reaching the middle of the Canal by any means, but it didn’t matter much because most of the bass we could hear and see were relatively close to shore. He was in the right area, doing the right thing, so it really was just a matter of time until he got bit.

On his third cast of the night I noticed his silhouette jolt forward in the dim light. I continued working my own jig, eagerly waiting to see what may unfold just down current.

A second or two later I heard his drag and could see his rod bend down hard towards the surface of the Canal.

“I’m on!” he yelled up the rip-rap towards me. “And it’s a good one!”

I couldn’t believe it. We had been here no more than 10 minutes and Andrew was on. Not only was he hooked up, but he had a good size fish on the line too.

Click here for the full report and for more information on this trip.

The post Night Fishing the Cape Cod Canal | May 20 Report appeared first on My Fishing Cape Cod.

It looked like it was going to be a beauty of a evening. Mazzola gave me a ring and asked if I wanted to splash his boat and try for a keeper just before sunset. I was game and so was our fishing buddy and MFCC member O.D. Mike. By 5:30PM Mike, Mazzola and myself were on the water and looking for signs of life.

Finding live mackerel to use as bait for stripers was a cinch yesterday evening. While Mazzola hooked up the live well I cruised around for about 10 minutes before we marked a good blob of macks on the sonar.

As Mike and I dropped our sabiki rigs down to around 20 feet the sonar screen lit up, and an enormous school of mackerel appeared directly beneath our boat. It’s great when the fish cooperate!

Within moments both Mike and myself were pulling up full stringers of mackerel. We would get tinkers on one drop and huge mackerel on the next. There were a ton around, at least in the area we were fishing yesterday evening

Hayabusa Sabiki Rigs of at least 15 pound test line were the ticket yesterday. The mackerel for the most part were in 60 plus feet of water, and cruising between 20 and 40 feet beneath the ocean’s surface.

The full stringers kept on coming as quickly as we could drop the rigs back into the water. I am not sure how mackerel schools function, but I wouldn’t be surprised if all the commotion only attracted more mackerel to the area directly beneath our boat. It is easy to imagine that when mackerel are attacking what they think is prey, other mackerel take notice and swim over to check it out.

Either way the school of mackerel only grew thicker as we continued to drop our sabikis over the gunnel.

Needless to say it did not take long to put 3 dozen macks in the tank. Within no time we were stocked to capacity on live bait, ready to head off and find some bass to feed.

We reeled our lines into our sabiki rods, stowed the equipment and cruised off to where I thought we would have a decent chance of finding some stripers.

The last time I was on the water was this past Monday, which is an eternity in the fishing world. Life in the marine ecosystem changes by the hour, and striped bass in particular are notorious for showing up in one area and then disappearing into the abyss.

I have to give some credit to the good people here on the blog, who did a real nice job of keeping everyone informed of how this past week’s fishing has been by posting reports in the MFCC forum.

Special congrats to MFCC member Brian D., who caught his first ever keeper striped bass this past week. I met Brian about a month ago at a Cape Cod Salties meeting. He is a real nice guy and a determined fisherman, so I was happy to read his post about his first keeper.

Nice work Brian!

Cape Cod Striped Bass Fishing Report May 17

Once we arrived at our fishing location we wasted no time getting fresh live mackerel into the water. With the sun dipping low in the sky we were going to have to find fish quickly if we wanted to make it back to the dock before complete darkness. There were a few birds working here and there and a couple stay marks on the sonar. I felt somewhat confident that we would find at least a few decent bass.

Around 7PM something began happening to Mike’s mackerel. As we gazed off the port side of the boat we watched his mackerel swim right up to the surface, which we thought odd considering the mack had been spending his time right along the bottom. Something below this mack was spooking him.

Just moments later a good size bass in the mid 30 inch range came hurdling out of nowhere towards the mackerel. The fish turned on his side, flashing his belly at Mike and Jay. I whipped around just in time to hear “Oh man!” from the guys and see the remnants of the splash the bass made as he tried to suck down the bait.

Somehow the bass missed the mackerel, so Mike let the bait swim around in eager anticipation of the fish giving it another go. But the bass had disappeared as they so often do, leaving us with nothing but another fish tale to share with you right now.

The good news was that there were bass in the area, and some good sized ones at that. We soon drifted out of the zone where we had marked a few bass, so we motored right on back to do it all over again.

This time I picked a nice large and healthy mackerel from the tank. No matter how big the mackerel are, they are the perfect size for live lining. Small tinker macks and the huge “goliath” size mackerel seem to work equally well. I lobbed this big guy off the bow and watched him take off towards the west, buzzing along the surface.

The sun was sinking low in the sky, so it was now or never if I wanted to put a decent fish in the boat.

I could feel the pulsating beats of the mack’s tail on the braided line. I felt every little kick as I lightly held the braided line with my finger, waiting for a strike from a bass.

Halfway through the drift the mack began going nuts. It was obvious to me that a good size bass was chasing him down. The mack was pumping hard, much harder than he had been earlier in the drift. I sat there eagerly waiting for the striper to make his move and engulf the bait.

Seconds later the line was ripped from my finger. The bass had made his move and engulfed the huge mackerel. I let a couple seconds worth of braid shoot off the reel as the bass swallowed the big bait. I stared at the line as it shot off the reel, trying to decide when would be the best time to flip the bail and tighten up on the fish.

Finally I flipped the bail, reeled up tight and set the hook. The bass must have noticed because he shot off, putting a good bend in my spinning setup.

The fish began to peel line from the reel as he dug for the bottom. I could feel him shaking his head back and forth, doing everything in his power to spit the hook….

Click here for the full report and for more information on the areas fished and techniques used….

The post Sunset Stripers | May 17 Cape Cod Fishing Report appeared first on My Fishing Cape Cod.

An angler standing on the great back beach looking eastward is greeted by the enormity of the Atlantic Ocean and all its power. During winter storms seas in this area can grow to astounding heights of more than 30 feet. At high tide waves crest and tear into the coastline, shifting dunes, moving sandbars and sweeping pieces of Cape Cod back into the Atlantic.

Unlike stonewalled and jetty-ridden beaches, permanence on Cape Cod’s National Seashore does not exist. The beach changes by the season, by the month and sometimes by the day. The winter of 2013 altered some sections of Outer Cape beaches so drastically, it rendered them unrecognizable.

The fishing, like the terrain, is also ever changing. Striped bass come and go with the tides and daylight. They cruise through crystal clear turquoise water in search of prey. Differences in the shoreline, like cuts in sandbars, beckon them to remain in one spot long enough for an angler to catch them. Then without warning they disappear again, back into the cool Atlantic.

Fishing the National Seashore is the most scenic, vast and challenging striped bass fishing adventure Cape Cod has to offer.

Surfcasting the Back Beaches of Cape Cod

The one thing you will not find this time of the year on the back beaches of Cape Cod are crowds. Unlike easy to access fishing hot spots like the Cape Cod Canal, the great back beaches are often devoid of human life. Many trips will produce more great blue heron sightings than other people. If you are looking for solitude, then this is the spot for you.

Through the centuries solitude has attracted many fishermen, writers and outdoor enthusiasts to the back beaches. Writer Henry Beston, who in 1927 spent a solitary year in the dunes, said it best:

“Listen to the surf, really lend it your ears, and you will hear in it a world of sounds: hollow boomings and heavy roarings, great watery tumblings and tramplings, long hissing seethes, sharp, rifle-shot reports, splashes, whispers, the grinding undertone of stones, and sometimes vocal sounds that might be the half-heard talk of people in the sea.”

Spend a night or false dawn fishing an Outer Cape beach and you too will feel a little of what Beston is alluding to. It is impossible not to, granted you fish the beach with all you got. Long treks by foot or over sand vehicle are necessary in order to find the bite. Throughout your search for stripers, the one constant are the rife shots, trumblings and hollow boomings that Beston so perfectly captures.

Finding Stripers Along the Back Beach

I knew I had my work cut out for me this morning when my alarm sounded at 3:15AM. With zero intel and no reliable fishing reports, I felt like a college freshman, heading off to some faraway school with no idea of what I was getting myself into. But just like the college freshman, I was excited to see what was in store for me along the back beaches of Cape Cod.

My plan was simple. I was going to hit the beach before sunrise, start walking and never stop casting. I had no idea where the fish were, but I did have two strong legs and some new braided line that had to be broken in. At 4:50AM I tossed my first cast into the Atlantic.

I believe Outer Cape Cod surfcasting legend Frank Daignult said that 100 casts into a well read section of the beach, will outproduce 1,000 blind casts 100% of the time. Pure hardwork and grindstone fishing can only take you so far when striped bass fishing Outer Cape Cod.

The smarter choice is to learn how to read the beach, the surf, and process how striped bass will react to a given area. Ask yourself, what is it about this section of beach a bass would find attractive? If I were a fish, would I stop here, or just swim on by?

A general rule of thumb is to remember that stripers are attracted to things that are different. If along a 10 mile stretch of sandy beach there is but one area of rock, then that spot will at some point catch the attention of a passing school of fish. A bend in the shoreline, when the previous 5 miles were straight as an arrow warrants extra attention. Fish will not always be present in these spots, but there is a good chance they will be.

I kept this in the back of my mind as I fired another cast into a cut between sandbars. I started my retrieve as the sun began to peek over the horizon. There were terns diving after small sand eels in shallow, and larger gannets dive bombing bigger bait out beyond the breakers.

The stage was set for a memorable morning of fishing.

The post Fishing Cape Cod’s National Seashore | May 16 Report appeared first on My Fishing Cape Cod.