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Cape Cod fishing reports
Zach with a healthy keeper caught on the tube.
Well today was quite the interesting day.
It all began at 3:30AM when I realized I had severely overslept. Somehow I slept through two alarms that were supposed to wake me up bright and early at 2AM. What a start!
Despite the late start we still managed to dunk the boat before sunrise. The lightning storms and rain had fortunately subsided and we had flat calm seas to start the trip.
I had an awesome father-son duo with me today. John and Zach have lived in Nashville, TN for a while, but they have deep roots here on Cape Cod. John grew up here and Zach used to fish for Cape Cod stripers with his grandfather.
They were looking to get back into fishing Cape Cod and I was hoping to help them out.
As we cruised out to this season’s mackerel hot spot I noticed the clouds on the horizon. Dark grey and purple looming over the Outer Cape. Definitely something to keep an eye on, however I checked the radar and they were moving eastward out into open ocean.
We spent a little time jigging for mackerel and with nothing showing on the sonar I decided to make a move east. As we cruised across Cape Cod Bay the wind changed from a light northwest breeze to a moderate easterly breeze. Then, as if on cue, the wind completely died when we stopped to fish.
We started marking bait in deep water and decided to put a pair of red tube and worm rigs out behind the boat. 10-15 minutes later the starboard side rod bent over with the first bass of the day.
Zach hopped on the rod and brought the striper to the boat. Nothing crazy but a small keeper, not too shabby for the first fish of the day.
We reset the lines and continued trolling northeast along a contour line that has produced well for me in the past. We were marking bait and the occasional bass on the bottom, so there was certainly some life in the area.
After 15 minutes without a fish, a bite or more life on the sonar I decided to move south into shallower water. I had heard that the bass bite in shallow in this particular area had been good over the past few days, so I figured we might as well give it a shot.
As we cruised to the next location that reliable northwest wind began to pick up. It went from light, to moderate, to brisk. Any sort of north wind in Cape Cod Bay needs to be watched closely. There’s a lot of open water and waves can build quickly.
I was never worried about the waves this morning, but the Bay did get rough enough to convince me to play it safe and head for calmer waters. No need to push the envelope with Mother Nature, especially in a 21 foot boat.
As we cruised back in towards shore I began marking bass in the area I had anticipated being able to fish. We weren’t marking enormous bio-masses of bass, but definitely enough fish to warrant stopping and fishing. Unfortunately I was more concerned with the deteriorating conditions and decided to again play it safe and head for calmer territory.
I would like to get back to that area where we marked those fish soon – hopefully by the end of this week.
After a somewhat bumpy ride we reached our next fishing destination and put the tubes back in the water. We began marking bass on the bottom in 15-20 feet as soon as we arrived. Again nothing crazy and I could tell by the marks that the majority of the fish were on the small side.
John proved me wrong however by hooking into a bass that managed to pull a couple colors of lead core from the Penn 113. What a nice surprise!
After a few minutes he had the bass on the surface flapping around. Then, out of nowhere, the line went slack – a good old fashioned pulled hook. Nothing you can do about that, so the tubes went back in the water and we continued to work the area.
Zach was next to hook up with another bass in the mid 30 inch range. He did a nice job with the fish and quickly had him in the boat. Nice!
Zach with a nice mid 30 inch striper.
Zach’s bass would end up being the fish of the day today. Unfortunately that northwest wind put a dent in my fishing game plan. No worries though, we still caught a half dozen bass and enjoyed a nice morning on the water.
We’ll see what the rest of this week brings. I know there is some good fishing taking place in certain areas throughout Cape Cod, so we might as well take advantage of any weather window we get over the next few days.
Just keep an eye out for that wind and lightning!
To learn more about where the best bass bite is happening right now on Cape Cod, click here.
Good luck and tight lines!
Ryan