Early this morning I met up with 4 passionate My Fishing Cape Codders for a spur of the moment group fishing trip.
Over the past 48 hours there have been some serious topwater bass blitzes happening here on Cape Cod, and I wanted to get these guys into some fish.
Fortunately for us we would be fishing with captain Cullen Lundholm of Capestar Charters, who is one of the best when it comes to finding and catching big fish.
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Birds, Bait & Blitzing Bass
Along with Cullen and myself, we had Jim Murphy, Alan Bedard, Darren Jacobs and Ryan Turcotte onboard for this trip. I could not have asked for a better crew!
I explained to the guys that there are no guarantees in fishing, but that I felt our odds of encountering something remarkable were indeed quite high.
Despite the cold winter, large ferocious schools of striped bass have invaded certain areas of Cape Cod, almost overnight.​
45 minutes into the trip we spotted the first signs of life - birds working on the horizon.
Cullen eased the boat into position and the guys prepared to make their first casts of the morning. As we moved closer the fish began to come to the surface.
My adrenaline was pumping and I was eager to see someone hook up.
A couple minutes passed and then "BAM!", Ryan Turcotte was on with the first striper of the trip.
Not too bad for May 9th!
After a little tweaking to our presentations, all onboard began hooking and catching fish.
The bite only improved as the wind died down and the fog lifted.
Double hookups soon became the norm and not the exception!
At this point we began to wonder if there were any larger stripers in this blitz.
Was it too early in the season for keeper-size striped bass here on Cape Cod?​
Slightly Bigger Fish Have Indeed Arrived
Eventually Cullen moved us towards another blitz happening off on the horizon.
As soon as we arrived on scene I began noticing some larger swirls mixed in among the schoolies.
And then it happened...
All the guys began catching bigger fish. I'm not talking monsters here, but nice striped bass in the 27-33 inch range.
I may of been the only one onboard not to catch a keeper!
However I still like to pretend, by posing for pictures with fish I did not personally catch.
By 10AM we had landed more than 50 fish, with 5 or 6 of them keepers. What an incredible start to our boat fishing season!
Click below for 3 additional photos, and 3 Google Earth images of the area fished.
I also share photos of the specific lures that worked best during this trip.
There's no telling how long this bite will last so if you would like to fish with Cullen, please contact him by clicking the green button below.
Member Downloads
3 additional photos of
the area fished
The 3 most productive lures
used during this trip
3 Google Earth images of
the area fished
What do you think? Let me know by commenting below.
where were these blitzing bass?
Hi guys, I just joined the club. looking forword to sharing info with you. I fish mainly out of Sesuit harbor. First trip of the year next weekend. Any mackerel around that area? How about stripers?
Good to have you onboard Joe!
From what I’ve gathered there are some mackerel in the Bay but they are spotty. More sea herring and big sand eels than anything else.
You can see more in this forum post >>> https://myfishingcapecod.com/forum-3/cape-cod-fishing-1/mackeral/
Good job everyone, hope to be part of the next trip… for big cows
It’d be great to have you for the next trip Mario. Catch ’em up.
Ryan Turcotte always seems to catch the first fish. He did the same thing on our trip to Cuttyhunk. Good job Ryan T!
He kills it!
Glad you had a good day.
Thanks Steve!
We will have to get you out there on the water at some point.
Happy to see that Ryan and fellow MFCC members had such a good time, along with other members on nearby boats. That’s what it is all about. Think it is going to be a LONG, enjoyable season.
I agree Brian, I feel that 2015 is already shaping up to be a great year.
What week you guys have been enjoying. I’m glad to see that you guys got into em good and into em early. Enjoy it while you can before the bluefish invasion lol. I’m hoping to be able to get out soon.
Thanks Art and you are right, the bluefish are just around the corner.
Best of luck when you get out.
Was way cool fish as far as you could see hit them for eight hours lol
Nice Mike! Happy to know you were on one of the few boats out there.
“As far as the eye could see” on sunday, too. Except with all the fog, the eye couldn’t see very far. I got back out there with my nephew and managed about 15 fish in about an hour after we found them. No keepers this time (2@27″ though), but the fish were all over the surface and right next to the boat. We left them still going strong. I had to get my nephew home for his lacrosse game.
Sounds like another great trip Jim. That was quite the weekend of fishing!
I have also connected with Chas and I get the sense he will fit in just fine for our upcoming surfcasting trip together. I will get in touch with you about this later in the month.
I believe we saw you out there. Green boat? I was in the Robalo with my wife. We got at least one legal fish and a ton of schoolies. Fun stuff. Used only single hooks with crushed barbs to keep the damaged down. They are hungry fish! Nice report and we will see you out there again.
Hey Chad, yes that was us in the green boat. Sure was fun!
Great tips and ideas with the single hooks and crushed barbs.
Hope to see you out OTW again soon.