It never ceases to amaze me just how big some striped bass grow to be.
Back in the day there were reports of 100 plus pound striped bass being caught up in nets off Cape Cod. Of course we all remember the recent new world record 80 plus pound striper caught last year on a live eel.
Well the biggest fish I have heard of so far this season was caught just the other day by Captain Blaine Anderson. Captain Anderson operates Anderson Guide Services down in Connecticut.
I don't know Captain Blaine personally but I sure wish I did!
That sure is one hell of a nice fish to say the least.
First off BIG CONGRATS to Captain Blaine for an amazing catch. I'm definitely looking forward to hearing the details.
And if you are interested in seeing the picture you can check it out on Facebook at Captain's Blaine's Facebook page. I would also imagine we will see more pics soon at this website http://fishingct.com/.
Secondly us Cape Cod fishermen still have a TON of big fish to look forward to.
This past week the Canal bite has been solid from what I have been hearing. I have not been able to fish the Canal much this week, however I plan on getting down there tomorrow at some point and possibly again on Friday.
Earlier in the week another talented angler pulled a 46 pound striper from the Big Ditch. Needless to say there are some serious cows prowling the land cut.
Yesterday morning was another one of those mornings where you have a hard time rolling out of bed. The rain was coming down in sheets and the fog was thick.
Still it only took me a few moments to get up and out of bed, knowing that 40 plus pound bass were around. I arrived at one of my favorite rocky outcroppings by 5AM.
As I walked down along the service road I spotted a small school of mackerel swimming in tight to the rip-rap. I never complain when I see bait swirling in close to shore. Odds are larger predators farther out in the center of the Canal scared them in tight.
By 5:30AM I had not yet seen any surface activity but was still having fun launching a pencil popper around. As I stood there in the water a small school of pogies swam right by my legs. There were four or five adult pogies, a couple juveniles and some other small bait fish all schooling together.
Just after that school of pogies passed I had one of the largest Atlantic mackerel I have ever seen swim by right in front of me. There's certainly no shortage of bait in the Canal at the moment!
Around 6:00AM bass began popping on the surface here and there. By 6:30AM there was some serious tail slapping and surface explosions going on. By 7AM more bass were passing by me on the surface - yet all were completely ignoring my plug.
Interestingly enough the bass that I saw were feeding on relatively small bait-especially compared to pogies and mackerel. The fish I saw the stripers spraying out of the water were in the 2-5 inch range. Maybe this is why they were so fussy and refused to hit my 6 inch long pencil popper.
I continued casting and dragging my plug right in front of their noses until 7:20AM when I had to call it quits and take care of some land based work. I felt as if I could have put in just a bit more time I would have been rewarded-oh well, I got skunked!
I'm really looking forward to getting back down to the Canal ASAP. I did see some impressive bass yesterday morning. The fish that were slapping around on the surface had some really good size to them.
I've also been hearing quite a few reports and getting a decent amount of emails from folks who are themselves landing fish over 20 pounds. And of course with more reports of big bass to the south of us (like that 70 pounder!) things could get good for the holiday weekend.
There's a ton of bait around and we have some decent tides to look forward to. Some of the biggest bass caught this past week were taken during the middle of the afternoon which is somewhat unusual.
On top of that there's pictures in just about every bait shop in the area with guys (and some gals!) holding 20-30 pound fish. Even my mom reported seeing someone carrying a bass back to their truck on her way to school.
Click here for more information about what to expect at the Canal this Memorial Day weekend.
