For many Cape Cod fishermen this past week has been incredible. The good news is that if you weren't able to cash in on this past week's phenomenal fishing, there is a fine chance that you can find some action this weekend.
The first week in June has historically (at least for the past few seasons) been one of the best striped bass fishing months of the entire year - at least on Cape Cod and in particular at the Cape Cod Canal. As if on schedule, this past week featured some of the best striper fishing we have experienced thus far this season.
It all began last weekend with some fine catches of bass well over the 25 pound mark and even well into the 40 pound class. I was not able to make it down to the Canal last weekend, but a few of my buddies did extremely well - even in the afternoon. If you want to torment yourself, then become a Facebook friend of Canal Bait and Tackle.
Jeff is always posting pictures of the latest fish weighed in at the shop. There have been some absolute monsters weighed in recently and the pictures on Canal Bait's facebook page tell it all.
The solid Canal fishing continued into Monday morning, with all out blitzes happening throughout the land cut. Again, I completely missed the bite! I heard about the fishing via email, text message and even a phone call from my Mom and Dad, who both saw fishermen dragging big stripers back to their trucks after the morning bite.
Finally, after hearing all these positive reports I woke up before 3AM on Tuesday and was rewarded with a beautiful fish. The action on Tuesday at the Ditch wasn't as hot as on Monday, but were still some real nice fish to be had.
Well yesterday the Canal bite turned on big time again. Again I missed it as I was out poking around Stellwagen Bank for tuna (not complaining!). My father drove by one Canal hot spot and saw 10 guys all with nice bass in the 20-30 pound range.
Will these bass stick around for the weekend gang? Your guess is as good as mine, but one thing is for sure - you just have to go and find out.
If you've never been part of an all out Canal blitz, then you may want to check out the Ditch this weekend. Of course there are no guarantees, but historically this weekend fishes pretty well at the Canal.
Click here for more information on how to find big bass this weekend at the Canal.
Aside from the Canal, stripers are being caught all over Cape Cod. There's been nice bass caught from Billingsgate to P-town and everywhere in between.
Now I'm not saying you are guaranteed to catch a striped bass. But so far this spring has been pretty darn good as far as striped bass fishing is concerned.
I think the main reason is that there is a ton of bait around.
Yesterday I was out in 90-200 feet of water poking around for bluefin tuna. The amount of sand eels, mackerel, whales and seals that we encountered was staggering. Every 100-200 yards, for well over a mile, we found globs upon globs of mackerel. We hooked up with macks virtually anywhere we dropped a sabiki rig.
Granted these particular macks, sand eels, whales and seals are a ways away from the beaches of Cape Cod, however it is just one example of how abundant our Cape Cod marine ecosystem is at the moment. Much more abundant, in my opinion, than what I personally observed last year at this time.
Hopefully all this life sticks around through this weekend! Fortunately I just received word that certain areas had some pretty good bass fishing this morning, which bodes well for the weekend crew.
Click here for more information on the best areas and techniques to target big stripers this weekend.
Tight lines, good luck and go get 'em!
Ryan
