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.
Our lure selection was metal in the daytime until just after sunset. Kilty lures (from Ireland), Deadly Dick, and Ava diamond jigs were all working great, imitating the tremendous amount of sand eels the bass were feeding on. At night, we switched over to bone or silver swimming lures as the shad were still around in good numbers as well.
I had kept our off-Cape friends updated and asked if there was any way they could get back to get on this tremendous bite. As you may have guessed, one by one they returned and enjoyed the end (again) of an amazing fall run.
Tommy Lee posted this report to our forum on November 9th - "It’s been a great year out on the Outer Cape and I too appreciate the time spent on the surf with such a cool collection of folks. This fall run has been impressive. The bait is still around from sand eels, to shad , peanuts and mackerel. Not as many bass around but they’re still here - I managed 3 solid bass yesterday morning."
Two days later on November 11th Tommy posted the following..."My last day on the Cape until next Spring was awesome. The Fall run has been tremendous. Slender metal lures like the Deadly Dick and Point Jude Pojee did the trick with all the sand eels around."
Jean Lapiene with a nice bass caught on November 12th!
The author, Carol Girard Irwin, with a bass caught on November 12th.
On November 12, the winds came in hard from the north and shut things down, but we all were grateful for a really good season.
A lot of time is put into finding the bass. Searching beaches for that perfect trough, hole or sand bar that might be holding bait. The outer beach soft structure can and does change quite often. Putting the puzzle together of wind, tide, moon and temperature is so rewarding when you feel that hard hit on your lure and the bend of your rod.
Having a network with other fishermen/women is really invaluable—there are a lot of miles to cover out here! MFCC has given us the gift of communicating with each other, from advice to sharing a picture of a great outing. I encourage those pictures. It helps us recognize each other in person and, in my case, has given me new friends that love fishing as much as I do.
Best of luck and tight lines to anyone following the migration in other states. Have a fantastic fall run.
PS-here are some more photos from this memorable fall with MFCC friends and members, that were shared to the Surfcasters’ Thread.
MFCC members Jean Lapiene and Mike Remlinger.
MFCC member Mike Marcus.
MFCC members Ben Mahanna and Scott Silver caught these bass (and several others) on November 2nd. According to Ben, "When @StriperMadness tells you that the bite has been on since Wednesday, you move around plans and get down there. Thanks again Mike for the bonus day when I had packed away my gear for the year. Now that is how you cap off a season!"
MFCC member Robbie Sturtevant posted this photo and the following report to the forum on November 4th..."I had to take a ride to join in on the fun, thanks for the call @Stark134. This November bass marks 22 consecutive months of catching at least one bass per month (not that I'm counting). This genre of surfcasting is a little different for me, vast stretches of beach with nothing but sandy structure, seals at my feet, sporty surf and heavy sweep. Life."
sweet! nice recap! it was a fun bite out there
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 !
What a great write up!! I too was lucky enough to get on some fish this November.
This was a 30 inch bass taken on November 9th https://community.myfishingcapecod.com/t/a-november-to-remember/21500/7?
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!!!