I was able to get in contact with Ryan Collins, and we made a spur of the moment plan to target a stretch of beach in this area of Cape Cod. We were both quite familiar with this spot, and interested in seeing if it was still holding fish.

Ryan and I met up in the parking lot around 4pm, with the sun still high in the sky. It was simply a great day to be outside in the summer-like weather. We geared up, and hiked out to some favorable beach structure, expecting the bulk of the action to come after sundown.

However, we were in for a unique experience…

Immediate Action!

Once we reached the “honey hole" I fired out a cast as Ryan set up his 9 weight fly rod which the guys from Goose Hummock in Orleans set him up with. 

I felt a bump on my first cast, and on the second one I managed to land a micro-schoolie of maybe 16 inches in length.

I was absolutely thrilled, because this was my first fish since departing for the fall school semester!

About 50 yards down the beach, Ryan and I spotted a school of fish on the water’s glassy surface.

They initially looked like finning adult bunker, lazily cruising about with their fins protruding from the water. We casted beyond them, and immediately hooked up.

Instead of finning bunker, we had stumbled across a massive school of finning striped bass! We had non stop action on these small fish until sundown.

Ryan was using the fly rod (as mentioned in his report) and I was using a 7” Tsunami Sand Eel.

The beach was "littered" with small striped bass.

Schoolie stripers were roaming all the way up and down the coastline.

With only one hook, it was much easier on these small fish, especially with the barbs crushed.

As the sun set, the scene was absolutely picturesque.

However, we knew that bigger fish tend to flood this area under the cover of darkness.