Ryan Collins
Nighttime is the right time for stripers during July! Back on July 1st, two members of MFCC and I experienced an epic bite fishing from shore here on Cape.
In this report I'll share with you the story of this trip, while also providing as many tips and details about the best tide, lures, and other advice for finding and catching stripers from shore this month on Cape Cod.
To view every little detail of this report, please make sure you are logged-in to the My Fishing Cape Cod website with your username and password. If you are not yet member, then you can still access a lot of this report (or you can sign up as a member and get full access).
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Nighttime Tides
During this trip we crushed all the barbs on our hooks, which made for quick and easy releases.
On the night of June 30th I picked up My Fishing Cape Codders Dan Almanza and Steve Davis around 9:30pm. We piled into my truck, and a half an hour later, arrived at a quiet beach parking lot with a nearly full moon and bright stars shining above in the crystal-clear night sky.
Steve and Dan were new to surfcasting for stripers. I told them that during the summer it's best to fish for stripers from shore at night, because there is a better chance of fish coming in close along the shoreline.
This "keeper" striped bass whacked Steve's lure just a few yards from shore. At night striped bass will often come into amazingly shallow water, as long as the tide is right.
We also chatted about the importance of tides, and I told the guys that when fishing the Cape from shore, you need to time your nighttime trips around the best tide for the spot you plan on fishing.
To help you get a jump-start with regards to the best tides for shore fishing on Cape Cod, I created the table below which outlines my favorite tides for particular spots around the Cape.
Just make sure you are logged-in as a member to view.
Lures & Technique
We started catching fish on our very first cast, and with the exception of a slight lull in activity during slack tide, the bite remained strong all night until we decided to call it quits around 3AM. We caught and released around 60 bass between 15 and 34 inches, using lures with crushed barbs which made for quicker and safer releases.
My Fishing Cape Codder Dan Almanza caught his personal best striper from shore during this trip, a healthy 34 incher, plus many others from 15-34 inches in size.
Over the past two weeks I have been finding crabs in the bellies of bass caught from this area. During this trip we had just come off a full moon, and I have a feeling that the bass along this beach were feeding on crabs which had just shed their hard shell.
However, just because the bass might of been feeding on crabs, does not mean that we had to use crabs, or crab-style lures for bait.
Instead we used two specific lures which have been producing amazingly well for me all season long, even when stripers are being finicky and difficult to catch. These are really productive lures that I feel you should consider casting from the beach this summer at night.
Below I have included photos and links to the exact lures we were using during this trip. Please make sure you are logged-in as a member to view:
The technique for using these two lures is amazingly simple and very easy to learn. Aside from just being a really productive technique, one of the main reasons I introduce people to this technique is because it's so easy to pick up and get a pretty good at in a minimal amount of time.
Below I have included information about the technique we used during this trip. Please make sure you are logged-in as a member to view:
Location
All of the fish caught during this trip were bright and healthy looking, with no red lesions*. Many had sea lice on their fins, indicating that they might of just arrived from the open ocean. *Many of the fish caught recently in the rips south of Monomoy have been covered in red lesions.
I will sometimes catch some flack from anglers who complain about me posting information about locations online. I will also sometimes catch some flack from anglers who complain about me not posting information about locations online.
Needless to say it's impossible to please everyone!
If you have not already noticed, when it comes to posting about locations on MFCC (especially surfcasting locations) I try to provide as much detail as I can about the general location, without "burning the spot."
So with that in mind I have included some information below about the location we were fishing during this trip:
In Conclusion
Nighttime is always the right time to be surfcasting for stripers. This is especially true right now during this July heatwave.
Don't buy into the "dog days" or "doldrums" of summer. There are plenty of stripers here on Cape Cod right now - you just might have to lose some sleep to catch them.
If you are looking to catch a striper from the beach this summer, then try using the advice provided in this report regarding lures, technique, tide and locations. Hit the beach at night using this information and you'll have a great chance of hooking up!
In the meantime if there is anything specific you need assistance with, then please make a post in our private members-only forum and myself and other members of MFCC would be happy to help you.
Tight lines and take care 
About the author
Ryan Collins
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Hey Ryan – Revisiting this old post for it’s great wealth of info. Do you happen to recall what length the rods were?
Hey Patrick ?? We were using rods in the 8ft to 9ft range. LMK if I can help answer anything else.
Thanks Ryan!
Glad you liked the post Patrick. Tight lines!
I will be up in Orleans next week and I will definitely be trying this out. I’ve only been a member for a few days and learning a ton. Thanks!
Awesome Patrick!
It’s great having you onboard as a member and I’m pumped to hear you are already learning a ton. ??
Thanks Ryan. Great report, loved the details. Just enough. What a great night!
It was a fantastic night Peter. Thanks for reading!
Great tips ryan. Thanks so much for sharing.
No problem Jeanne ??
Good luck if you head out this weekend!
Ryan great post. Was interested in your thoughts on beach structures that are good 3 hours before and after low tide. I always seem to struggle to find productive areas around low tide other than inlets.
Hey Dan – thanks for reading!
I too struggle to find good places at low tide, aside from inlets. However I have done well during the last part of the outgoing, and the first part of the incoming, by wading around boulder fields.
It is more difficult fishing these boulder fields during the lower stages of the tide than it is during high tide, but if I am willing to get wet and wade around in waist deep water then it can be good. It’s just not ideal for when I bring people on a guided trip.
Great tip about the weed beds. I spend hours on google maps checking out various spots and I did not know that they show up on the maps like that. Will be very useful when I’m down there for a week next month. Thx TH
No problem Tim. Weed beds can be killer spots ✌?
Ryan,
On my recent vacation on the Vineyard I was catching some stripers with red lesions as well. In fact my only keeper of the trip was covered in them almost looked like it was bleeding through the scales. It was odd because all the fish I caught on the south side of the island. We’re like that. But the stripers we caught on the north side around Menemsha and Lobsterville were nice and healthy. I caught 3 on the south side beaches that were pale and had the red lesions which leads me to believe it’s some kind of disease or fungus in the school. When I looked it up there was an article from “on the water” from a few years ago and it looked very similar. Thanks and keep up the good work.
Very interesting Nathan. The fish definitely look “diseased” but I believe they are actually probably quite healthy. I don’t think the lesions have much of an affect on the fish, but keep in mind I’m no scientist ?
It does seem like different areas on Cape have schools of fish with lesions, while other areas have bright and clean looking fish. Just goes to show that it seems like different spots support completely different populations of bass, perhaps coming from different areas (ie. the Chesapeake, Hudson etc.).
Yeah Ryan minus the lesions it was a fat fish. And it was perfect for the dinner table at 32″ I just didn’t want to keep a fish that looked like that. Thanks for the reply.
Great report, loved all the information about what lures used along with the tide info. Have been a member for about a year but only get up to the Cape a couple of times a year(spring & fall). Would this info hold true in Sept/Oct about the time of my next visit. Many Thanks Jim Taylor
Yes this info would hold true all season long. Those lures work exceptionally well from the beach (especially at night) and the tide and location information is the same May thru October.
Thanks for supporting MFCC for the past year James. Great having you onboard as a member!
Very good info! Thanks Ryan!
No prob Leslie, thanks for reading!
Great trip…nice fish Dan and Steve! Ryan – it is great how many “first time” and “personal best” accomplishments you’ve been able to share with MFCC members so far this season!
We’ve had a great 2018 season so far! Yes there have been some slow trips, but we’ve been blessed with some really productive trips as well. I’m looking forward to what happens next ✌?
I just joined MFCC and your blogs and pod casts are very helpful to this newbie. Thanks!
That’s great to hear Robert!