November. For surfcasters on the outer beaches, this is usually the month that has us looking in the rearview mirror at our season in the pursuit of striped bass. Yes, a few schoolies—maybe some shad still lurking on the edge. The reality that the migration of bass is moving south starts setting in.
However, this season Mother Nature had a little treat for us…
Let me backtrack just a bit, mid-October through October 31 was an outstanding season for nice sized stripers, but my friend Jean Lapiene (@lapiene) and I kept looking at each other like this has to end soon.
The author, Carol Girard-Irwin with a healthy bass caught on October 29th. According to her report inside the forum, "Still grinding here on the Outer Cape with @lapiene. 5 bass, three in the slot and seven shad. Jean had six bass and several shad. A fun and surprising day on the dropping tide. Plenty of sandeels and the weight of these fish is impressive!"
Two of our friends, including MFCC member Tommy Lee (@welavo), had to get back to their homes and jobs off Cape. We said our goodbyes, grateful for the time we had all spent together on dark nights, beautiful days and everything in between.
Some of us live in this beautiful place year round and it’s easy for us to continue to search for fish. On Halloween day, MFCC member Gretchen Stiers (@Gstiers) joined us for some surfcasting on the cooling ocean. Although we caught a few fish, we were sure that we were nearing the end of a great season.
MFCC member Gretchen Stiers got into some great action on October 31st! According to her report, "A wonderful end to October surfcasting on the outer beaches of Cape Cod! A dozen Shad and a nice 27” Striper all on metal lures. The peanut bunker were just jumping out of the water as the Shad and Stripers chased them. Enjoyed fishing with friends @trurofish, @lapiene, and @markw."
Hickory shad were a common catch this October and November along the beaches of the Outer Cape.
Unusually warmer weather coupled with southwest winds for most of the days extended our surfcasting adventures. The bass were happy to feed on shad, peanut bunker, and sand eels. How long would the bait be here was the next question.
We soon had our answer, almost two more weeks!
By November 1st , we were pulling in even more fish than October. We were chasing the tides on the outgoing and into the incoming day and night. We had quantity and quality with the fish averaging thirty inches.
About the author
Awesome article and you tell the story of the 2024 outer cape fall run perfectly….i too kept thinking put in a few more hours because this great fishing might end tomorrow….it kept going …so happy to come back to rejoin the fun !
Really enjoyed reading this one. Thank you Carol for the write up. Makes me very happy to see many members becoming good friends and fishing together!
Awesome fish!!! Glad to see they hung around for a bit
A fantastic recap of late October and November fishing! Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experiences!
What a great recap!!! Truly a great late October early November run and besides finding a new favorite beach I also got to spend some quality time with all of the above characters ~ so thankful for Ryan and My Fish Cape Cod for hooking me up (couldn’t resist) with some great fishermen and even better people, tight lines my friends!
Thank you for a great article and fabulous pictures!!!