Cape Cod Canal Fishing Report May 4
Sometimes you just have to stay up for 24 hours straight!
Yesterday was one of those days. I woke up at 5am for a meeting on Friday and finally finished filleting and cleaning up just before 5am on Saturday. I guess I better get used to this whacky schedule because I think it's going to be a very busy and very fun summer.
Also add in the fact that it's date tonight for this guy tonight - which most likely means I won't be fishing the Canal from 11:30PM to 1:30AM again. Although Lauren has come withe me on plenty of 14 hour Cape Cod Bay night fishing excursions before, so who knows - maybe I can convince her to head down to the Canal with me.
I'll keep you posted on how that goes.
So with the tides perfect for night fishing I decided that I just had to get down to the Big Ditch last night. I know there are some really big bass around (at least from what I'm hearing) so I figured the Canal was my best shot at one from shore.
I don't think there is a giant biomass of big fish in the Canal just yet, but I know that could change at virtually any moment. For all I know the Big Ditch could be going off as I sit here on the couch writing this!
The fishing was not "lights out" last night but it was still very good in my book. The weather was absolutely picture perfect too. The air was still a bit nippy but there was no wind and the Canal was as smooth as a pane of glass.
I was quite surprised by the lack of angler activity down there. On such a perfect night I expected to see at least a few hardy souls. For the most part however I had the entire Canal to myself. Just me, a coupe fish and the occasional skunk or two.
It took a little while for me to zone in on some decent action but finally around 12:30AM I had my first real good whack! The current was running full steam, the bass hit hard and I actually ended up in the water! Yep, the fish pulled me right off the rock I was standing on, right into the Canal.
I'm still trying to break in my new pair of boots so I'm going to blame it on that. Luckily I ended up in just a foot or so of water so it wasn't a big deal. After a few minutes I had the bass on the rocks. A whopping 24 incher!
I must be becoming extra clumsy because I never would have imagined such a small fish causing me to lose my balance and fall into the Canal - eh well I'm not as strong as I thought I was.
I spent the next 30 minutes working that same rip with no action. I was debating whether to move when at around 1:10AM I got a much heavier and powerful take. This fish felt much better than the first bass and put up a great fight in the heavy current.
