There's certainly nothing wrong with fishing the Cape Cod Canal or other well-known areas. These spots are well-known for a reason. They produce great fishing and big fish.
Yet in my opinion one of the best aspects of fishing Cape Cod is the plethora of incredible, virtually unknown fishing areas. Almost every rock and sand bar on Cape Cod has the potential to at some point in time, produce great striped bass fishing.
The entire Cape is jam packed with productive fishing areas. If you are feeling adventurous and would like to spend some time fishing away from the crowds, then pull up Google Earth and start poking around.
Using Google Earth to find productive fishing spots is quickly becoming one of my favorite things to do. Today I spent about 20 minutes zooming in and zooming out, scrolling east and west, tearing Cape Cod apart inch by inch. Technology is absolutely amazing!
The problem was not finding a productive spot to fish, it was deciding which productive spot I felt like fishing. Google Earth shows you every single sandbar, estuary and even individual boulders. It really is awesome and I highly recommend it. I've mentioned it before but I think I'll put together a handbook for how to find productive fishing spots using Google Earth. I think that will be a good winter project for me.
My goal for today was to find an area that was really off the beaten path. I wanted to find a spot completely devoid of other folks, in an area where I have never fished before. Of course I also wanted to catch a fish, so I made sure to look for some good structure located by an estuary. Good structure in close proximity to an estuary (that I think also had a herring run) is the fishing equivalent of a 1-2 punch.
With my spot selected I headed out with high hopes.
I asked my Dad if he felt like tagging along and to my surprise he agreed! Since retiring he's usually busy riding around in his car, drinking coffee or taking a nap - so I was glad he decided to come. Reminded me of when I was younger which was nice.
After a longer drive than usual we arrived at the spot. A long dirt road winded to an abrupt end where we had just enough room to park the truck. I think we both were impressed by just how gorgeous the scenery was. A picture perfect beach path through the dunes lead the way to a boulder strewn beach.
These boulders were huge with some easily 8 or more feet in height. It was an unforgiving terrain to say the least but it just wreaked of fish.
It only took three casts with a pencil popper to elicit the first strike of the day. The bass caught me completely off guard and basically came hurdling out from behind an enormous boulder. This fish put on quite the show and catapulted straight clear out of the water. Unfortunately I completely missed him!
It was a shame because it was definitely a decent size bass in the 34-37 inch range. Usually I wouldn't be so sure about my "guestimates" regarding size but this fish came completely out of the water no more than 25 feet in front of me. I got a good look to say the absolute least!
I continued wading around through the rocks and boulders, casting as I went. Every 10 minutes or so I would get another SMACK! out of the blue as a decent bass came screaming to the surface to give the plug a whack. I'm not sure exactly what was going on but I was having some serious trouble hooking a fish.
Finally as I rounded a nice big boulder I got smacked again and buried the hook into the bass. After a 25 second battle (yes that's right - 25 seconds!) I had the fish on shore. A whopping 20 incher!
The bass may not have compared to last week's 36 pounder but it still was fun to catch my first bass in a completely new area.
I continued casting and getting whacked by the occasional bass as I waded around. My batting average today was not very good. All in all I went 4 for 14. 4 hook ups out of 14 hits.
Even though the batting average suffered it was well worth it. Nothing beats the excitement of watching a bass whack a top water plug. I just can't put away the pencil poppers this year - it's just too much fun. I'd imagine if I chose a swimmer I could have hooked the majority of the bass.
As the sun set over a flat calm Bay the action only got better. My hook up ratio still stunk but at this point I didn't really care at all. It was just an absolutely gorgeous evening in a brand new spot. I'll definitely be venturing back here before the season is over.
For more information on the trip and the area fished click here.
Ryan
I am a brand new member i look forward to all the information offered on your site. I am trying to access the areas to fish in buzzards bay this spring. When I click on the links I get the message the info is not available. I will be on the cape April 10th hoping to find some early season stripers. Not familiar with Buzzards Bay. I would like to target the boulder fields you mentioned in the top water action report.
Hey Alan, good to have you as a member!
This is a real old post which explains the broken links.
If I remember correctly I was fishing along the eastern shoreline of Buzzard’s Bay, which has plenty of rocks and generally fishes well from May through June.
April 10th is real early for stripers on Cape Cod, and also real early to be fishing the boulder fields. I think your best chance would be to fish any estuaries in Buzzards Bay or along the southside of the Cape.
I hope that helps and keep me posted!!
I am fishing barnstable harbor tomorrow. anyone know where i can caught some mackerel in the that area?
Hey Billy,
Wish I had noticed your comment earlier! Hopefully you were able to find plenty of macks. Seems like just about anywhere in the Bay has them. 55-65 feet of water has been producing best for us.
In the future you will probably get a quicker response by posting a question in the members forum. Just an FYI.
Thanks! Hope you guys had fun.
Ryan