John D. Silva

We transited out of the marina and began heading east. The sun had already crested the horizon on this brisk spring morning.

For mid-May the conditions were pristine. The eventual target would be migrating striped bass, but first we had to secure live bait.

As salty veterans know, mid-May can be a crapshoot for striper fishing on Cape Cod. Many factors combine to determine the migration’s progress -- water temperature, length of daylight, and available forage (such as menhaden/pogies, mackerel, squid, and herring) among other things.

So securing live bait (and keeping it active in a live well) is an insurance policy for success. Then all we needed to do is find the bass. The Cape Star (a 27-foot Conch) glided through the currents like a swan on a calm lake.

More...

Myself and four other members of the MFCC community (Texas Jim, John B., London Larry and Big Dick Glockner) were with Cape Star Charters' captain Cullen Lundholm for his maiden voyage of 2016.

Capt. Cullen is a deeply experienced charter captain who knows the ins and outs of Cape Cod like someone who was born on the water, because he was. He's been fishing all his life.

His dad (commonly known in commercial fishing circles as Pogy Mike) is a very well-known commercial fisherman in the area. Cullen grew up helping his dad fill up fish boxes.

Today he does what he loves, fishing charters and commercial fishing for everything from striped bass to black sea bass to tuna.

During the season (from mid-May to late October/November), he's literally on the water every day. As personalities go, Capt. Cullen is a calming sort, very easy to get along with.

We began about a half mile offshore, jigging sabiki rigs with diamond jigs and Crippled Herrings in 55 to 65 foot depths for live mackerel.

Once the bait well had a sufficient number of "volunteers" (about 30-ish) we headed west into the battle.

Please login to MFCC or start a $1 trial to access the rest of this report.