The wind was dead calm and the surface of the water was as smooth as a pane of glass.
My first cast of the morning landed with a plop, and startled a few of the turkeys which were nestled in the woods behind me.
On my second cast I was the one to be startled, when a nice size striped bass swirled on my offering, just a few yards from my rod tip.
More...
The time was 5AM and the first shreds of morning light were appearing on the horizon. I had only made 2 casts but I had a feeling that the fish were active and aggressive.
The Bite Was On
The bass were not breaking water or feeding aggressively on the surface. There were no birds working or bait fish swimming for their lives.
But the stripers were here, feeding on the bottom and churning up mud in the process. I saw one fish as it turned on its side, reflecting the dim light of false dawn on its bright white belly.
And then it happened.
Towards the end of my third retrieve, no more than 20 feet away, a striper crashed my bait in the most violent topwater hit I have witnessed since last October.
I set the hook and to my astonishment the fish began taking line! After a pretty darn good fight I secured a lip lock on the bass.
She measured out at exactly 28 inches. Woo hoo!
I thought about bringing the bass home but decided to let her swim free. Perhaps it'll bring me some good "karma" for the rest of this season.
I do believe this was a holdover striped bass and not a fresh migratory fish. Nevertheless today April 27, is the earliest I have ever caught a keeper striper.
I continued fishing and ended up hooking and losing another striped bass right around the same size. I also had a few other "swings and misses" from other fish, which were most likely schoolies.
I captured plenty of video during this trip, and I will share some of it with you here on MFCC later this week.
In the meantime MFCC members can click below to view more photos, the bait I was using, and Google Earth images from today's trip.
Member Downloads
6 additional HD photos
taken during this trip
3 additional Google Earth images of the area
What do you think? Let me know by commenting below.
Congrats on your earliest keeper, good motivation for the rest of us.
Awesome had to be a great feeling.i didnt get to go i think i got that carpel tunnel in my wrist and elbow.keep up the good work.i get fired up for fishing reading good reports
I just purchased a fishing kayak and am eager to hit the the river mouths and possibly the calm coast for some striper fishing…nice catch! Got the itch to cast.
Excellent! Kayak fishing is terrific, and check out this page if you haven’t already https://myfishingcapecod.com/kayak-fishing-reports/
What type of kayak did you purchase?
Nice fish! Did you try using any plastics baits to imitate the live bait used? If not do you feel like live bait is the best option for holdover fish?
Thanks Paul! No I have not yet tried soft plastics with these fish.
For whatever reason it seems live bait works best here, at least for right now.
Way to go Ryan! Bet that felt nice to have a drag pulled before May. I agree with Brian that it’s good to know all the bass didn’t freeze this winter.
Felt great Chris!
Amazing how resilient fish, and may other animals are to cold.
Very nice Ryan, you are very persistent and it paid off ! Hope your still smiling.
Great effort, Rich
Can’t wait to try again Rich, maybe later this week.
Gluck if you go!
Congrats Ryan! Still yet to catch a keeper here in the south shore. Can’t find anywhere with —, looks like I’ll have to head south Wednesday and fish down there
Thanks Matt! Gluck on Wed. if you go.
Also, I think I read in the forum that you’ve already been catching some schoolies.
Nice work!
Yeah I’ve caught 5 none bigger than 26″ yet tho. Hopefully this week I’ll land my first keeper of the year too. Tight lines
Excellent! Seems like you’re on a pretty good bite yourself.
Catch ’em up
Excellent start to a hopefully very productive season!
I agree Paul, 2015 will be a great year for us all!
I would have thought it was early for — (apparently not!). — on hold overs, but newly arriving schoolies to?
I am just as surprised as you are Steve! I tried numerous other tactics and so far —– is all that’s worked.
Stripahs………?? hell, I want your location to target the turkeys !!
Lots of turkeys all over the place John!
lol
WOW nice Ryan is good to see someone catching something
I agree John, and I can’t wait until the migratory fish start showing along the wide open beaches.
Soon, very soon!
Wow congrats! – You seem to really be doing well so far early this season! Hopefully by putting that keeper back you get rewarded by the Striper Gods at some point! Are you finding all of these holdover fish in one general area, or are they coming from different spots throughout the cape? Good work!
Most productive start to the season in quite some years!
I hope it continues, although I’m sure I’ll hit a dry spell at some point this season, which is of course A-OK.
I am catching these fish in different spots, however they are all coming from the same estuary.
Nice! Next on the list…the elusive 40″ holdover.
Yes sir!
It’s great to see the cape has such a healthy stock of holdovers after a freezing cold winter. If they made it through February I’d say they’re probably here every winter. I had to work this weekend but should have next one off. Any thoughts on the migration? Or still to early
I agree Brian and I’m already thinking of new places to look for holdovers next season. Lots of fun exploring around.
Sea surface temps are approaching 50 so hopefully there will be some tautog around next weekend. Might hear of some squid by then as well.
However for migratory bass (if I had to guess) I would say 2nd week of May.
Ryan, as a new guy to fishing the CC area is that bait available at most bait and tackle? I’ve never used it before.
Yes Roger the bait is available, but this early in the season I would definitely recommend calling the bait shop ahead of time to make sure.
I’ll send you an email with details.
Congrats on the keeper catch Ryan. Yeah, good karma with the release of the first one I suppose. 🙂
Thanks Roger!