Andrew Burke

This summer I had the opportunity to help Ryan Collins and filmmaker Shane Uriot shoot an episode of My Fishing Cape Cod TV.

In addition to being an extra set of hands on set, I brought my own camera to film a "behind the scenes" preview of the new television program.  

The MFCC TV cast and crew assembled at the predetermined location before dawn. As soon as we arrived on the beach, small fish started breaking on bait very tight to shore.

The stage was set for an action-packed morning along the Cape's shoreline.

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Behind the Scenes of MFCC TV

It didn't take long to discover the primary bait fish in the area was peanut bunker. These 1-3" baitfish were easily visible while standing on beach, and would cruise right past our legs while wading. 

As Ryan and his cousin Chris Colbert introduced the topic of this episode, more and more bass appeared to be working the peanut bunker. It wasn't long before an all-out blitz erupted on the surface!

Below is a video from my YouTube Channel "Seven Stripe Fishing" that chronicles some of the filming process behind MFCC TV, and some epic fishing action! 

Two fish grabbed my spook at the same time, and both hooked themselves on each treble. Click play below to watch!

There's also some commentary regarding specific techniques throughout the video, and why they were (or weren't) effective. 

Key Points from this Trip

Ryan and Chris focused on fishing eels, which produced some fish. As the trip progressed these fish keyed in on smaller lures, and shied away from the eels.

However, I have no doubt that Ryan and Chris would have done extremely well on eels if the peanut bunker weren't present.

This is an excellent time of year to fish eels! However, fish can get locked in on peanut bunker and become surprisingly finicky in a blitz. 

These fish also wouldn't hit any ole' topwater plug. You'll notice in the video that the rear hook on my spook broke off after handling two fish simultaneously. I put the damaged Heddon back into my bag and switched to a 9" Musky Mania Doc.

When another blitz broke out, I lobbed the Doc right over the school, and began walking the dog. I was certain I was about to get smashed, but I didn't get a single hit. They had no interest in the larger profile of the Doc. ​

I clipped the Heddon spook back on, and immediately started getting bites. One bass that grabbed my small topwater bait was quite large, indicating that even big stripers can get keyed in on small bait like peanut bunker. 

​Based on all the reports being shared in the forum, it seems like there are an awful lot of small schoolies in Cape Cod waters right now.

These fish are happily feeding on peanut bunker, so make sure you pack at least one small topwater spook-style bait to make the most of it! 

Plus there is not telling when that next big push of migrating "cow stripers" will arrive here on Cape.​