All of us met up in the parking lot at 8pm, where greetings were exchanged and equipment was prepped. Soon enough, we began the walk to the ideal beach structure of this location.

The conditions for this trip were excellent, with high tide around 10pm. We figured that fishing for 2 hours on either side of high tide would yield the best results at this remote spot.

From left to right, author Andrew Burke, 3 year member Steven Rogers and MFCC land-based shark fishing expert Ryan Franklin.

In the days prior to this trip there was very little wind, but by the time we were on the beach a solid SW breeze had picked up.

We crested the dune just in time to witness a beautiful sunset, and spent a moment taking in the natural beauty of this wild area.

However all of us were eager to start fishing! We spread out, and started making our firsts casts of this trip. The four of us all started with different tactics.

Steve started with a Sebile magic swimmer. Ryan Franklin began with a Guppy pencil popper and I started with a Tsunami sand eel.

Ryan Collins opted for the Sage fly reel and Motive fly rod which he had picked up from Goose Hummock in Orleans just hours earlier.

It was a slow start, however most of the success anglers have at this spot comes with the dark of night. 

We started off with some 18” fish, but as the light of the sun continued to dissipate the fish became both larger and more frequent.

There was a large expanse of beach to fish, so for a while our group was well spread out. I enjoyed some 25”-28” fish on my sand eel imitator. 

When fishing in darkness, I personally find more success with dark lures (I found out afterwards that Ryan Franklin was doing well with a black RonZ this trip).

I switched to my favorite plug, a blurple SP Minnow, and landed a small bass on my first cast. It was a very small fish, but definitely a good sign, so I continued casting the plug under the bright moonlight.

Soon after the action got hot and heavy!

Nearly every cast yielded either a solid bump, or a hookup.

Our group was pulling in lots of 25”-31” fish!

It seemed that a school of keeper-sized bass had just charged the shoreline.

Most of the strikes came within the last 20 feet of the retrieve, so working our lures to the beach was key.

After I enjoyed a string of nice fish fishing alongside Ryan Franklin, I managed to land a healthy 30” fish, which was my largest of the trip!

I beached the fish and was unhooking the fish in darkness when…

The fish thrashed, and I ended up with a hook through my ring finger. Yikes!

I yelled to Ryan Franklin and he ran over. Luckily he had a set of wire cutters, so he cut the hook and was able to remove it without bringing the barb back through my finger.

I was very lucky to be fishing with him, as I have never thought to carry wire cutters. I certainly will now though.

Ryan Collins then used his first aid kit to help clean and bandage my injury, and in no time I was back to fishing, and the action was still going strong!

At slack tide the bite certainly slowed down. However, we were still getting periodic fish even during this time.

As the tide started moving again, the bite returned in full.

We were back to catching fish or getting hits nearly every cast. We rarely caught “micros” at this point in the trip, with most of them being very close to keeper size.

I would cast my blurple SP Minnow out and retrieve it slowly. We enjoyed success until about 1:15am, when we decided to make the walk back to the parking lot.

Even at mid-tide, we were able to land some fish up to 26”, which is somewhat unusual for this spot. We had a long walk back to the cars, and reflected on an excellent evening of fishing.

Even as summer draws near, fish can still be found extremely close to shore in large numbers. Personally I think these fish were interested in consuming sand eels, so slim baits (such as the SP Minnow and black RonZ) were very effect for taking large numbers of fish.

However, Ryan Collins was able to land a few larger fish using the Canal Perfect Swimmer, which was considerably bigger than anything Ryan Franklin or I were throwing.

Realistically any swimming plug would have been productive on a night like this. Some areas of beach were much more productive than others. In this area, there are a lot of different sand bar structures, so walking and casting to find the productive parts yielded the best results.

There are certainly fish to be caught from the beaches of Cape Cod right now. Ryan Collins, Steve Rogers, Ryan Franklin, and myself bumped into a school of nice fish, but it could be you who bumps into a school of trophy fish from the beach if you put the time in!

Just make sure you’re prepared for anything out there; safety is paramount. Thank you Ryan C, Ryan F, and Steve for a memorable night of fishing - I had a blast!

Good luck and tight lines to everyone in the MFCC community.