Today's Cape Cod fishing trip actually began last night, with a trip to the Cape Cod Canal. It's still early for the Big Ditch, but with the nice weather we've been having I just couldn't help myself.

I arrived at the Canal last night around 7pm and fished right until 10:30pm. We'll talk more about last night's Canal excursion in today's Extended Fishing Report.

I hit the hay as soon as I got home from the Canal, and before I knew it my alarm was going off again at 4AM. Within 15 minutes of my alarm going off I was in my car, driving down the mid-Cape highway.

I had a good feeling about this morning, mostly because I knew I was due for a productive trip. Earlier this week I found top water action, but I failed to hook a bass. Aside from "being due" I had heard some good reports coming from down Cape, so I felt like making the drive was definitely going to be worth it.

There is not much traffic on Route 6 at 4:15AM. It's actually a very enjoyable drive when you have the entire road to yourself. I will take an iced coffee, corn muffin and drive down the Mid-Cape any morning. It's a nice way to start the day.

Mid-Cape Cod Fishing Report

As much as I want to fish Provincetown and Outer Cape Cod, I am going to wait until I know there are nice bass down there. In years past I know folks have hammered 25 plus pound fish off the Outer Cape beaches during the first week of May. However things seem to be running a little behind this season. I think I'll give that area at least a couple more weeks to heat up.

In the mean time I am going to stick to fishing closer to home locales throughout the Upper and Mid-Cape Cod region. There's plenty of estuaries, inlets, beaches and boulder fields scattered throughout this area to keep me and the fish busy.

Today I picked a particular estuary that should have some herring moving through, with stripers in pursuit. I pulled into the parking lot well before sunup, slapped on my waders and was off into the dunes in record time. The place looked and felt very fishy.

The stars were still very visible as I made my first cast into the estuary. Hanging over my right shoulder was a pale crescent moon, it's reflection easily refracted off a flat calm Nantucket Sound. The wind would pick up later on in this trip, but for now everything was quiet and serene - a perfect morning to put a bend in the rod.

After a few casts I continued heading west down through the estuary to a spot that allowed me to cast into surprisingly deep water. Any spot where you can reach deep water from shore is a good spot in my book, so I decided to devote some time to working this area before moving on.

As I was working my boot free from some serious mud I heard a small "slap" which had to be a fish, Sure enough in the low light I could make out a swirl off towards the other side of marsh.

Without much hesitation I fired a cast off towards the swirl. I gave the reel a few cranks and then let the bait tumble down through the water column towards the bottom. I could feel the paddle tail of the shad pumping nicely as I lifted and dropped the rod tip, slowly retrieving the bait back towards the edge of the marsh. No takers.

I cast again, this time much further off into the estuary. Again I let the shad fall through the water column until it almost reached bottom. As I lifted the rod tip into the sky I felt a thud. Without thinking I dropped the rod tip, tightened up and set the hook. Fish on!

To say it felt nice to actually hook a fish would have been an understatement. After missing a few nice bass the other day, this little guy felt extra good. After a quick fight I had him to shore - a nice little schoolie to start the trip off right.

As you can tell from the dark photo, this fish bit during false dawn.

Once the sky brightened up I moved farther west down the estuary. There were small 3 inch bait fish buzzing around in the shallows, which probably perfectly matched the shad lure I was casting.

About 100 yards down from where I hooked my first bass of the day, I came across another spot where I could easily reach deeper water. I would estimate that I was casting into at least 10 feet of water, if not more. The bottom dropped off rather quickly, so I had to be careful where I stepped.

I don't remember if it was the first or second cast, but either way I was quickly onto another bass. Not bad!

It was no monster of a bass by any means, but not bad for May 4. This early in the season I try to just focus on putting a bend in the rod. The weeks to come will produce bigger and bigger bass.

Yet after catching a few schoolies my mind began to wonder if there could be a larger bass hanging around. By this time last year I already had one keeper under my belt, and with all the herring and squid in the area I figured it was plausible.

If there was a keeper bass in this estuary, I figured it would be hanging more towards the opening, where the system dumped into Nantucket Sound.

So without further ado I set off on a long walk to the west, with hopes of hooking my first keeper striper of the season.

Click here for the full report...