Cape Cod Fishing Highlights & What To Expect Memorial Day Weekend

The weeks just keep on trucking by and the fish continue to cooperate on good ole' Cape Cod. Right now you can catch striped bass, scup, bluefish, tautog, a variety of other bottom fish, and before you know it, bluefin tuna.

In this post I want to share with you some highlights from this past week of fishing on Cape Cod, as well as provide you with some important information about what to expect this Memorial Day Weekend. If you plan on fishing this weekend, I feel this post will be of immense value to you.

Cape Cod's Astonishing Spring-Time Environment

Catching fish is great, but just being outside in nature is what I really cherish.

Before we dive into the fishing, I wanted to share with you a video I created this week using my Quadcopter, and a GoPro camera that MFCC enthusiast Chris Cormier voluntarily gave me to last week, after I broke mine. What a guy!

Thank you Chris because without your generosity this below video would never of happened!

To view more aerial videos of Cape Cod, be sure to check out https://myfishingcapecod.com/sky

Cape Cod Striped Bass Fishing | From Shore

The surfcasting opportunities for striped bass continued to improve this week, not just for me, but also for many MFCC members. More bass are migrating into the waters off Cape Cod as I write this post. Historically speaking, the end of May and beginning of June, produce some of the largest bass of the entire season.

Last Memorial Day Weekend a large biomass of stripers moved north to Cape Cod, in perfect unison with the legions of tourists and happy beach goers. It was as if the fish had decided to intentionally sacrifice themselves by engaging in an all-out blitz at the exact moment that most of America took a 3 day weekend.

I am not going to mention the exact location of where this blitz took place, just one year ago this weekend. However if you have been following the MFCC blog for some time now, I am most certain you know where I am alluding to, and remember just how insane things were when the bite went down.

If you are looking for bluefish, then head to all the usual early season bluefish haunts. It appears that the big schools of blues that were holding off the Vineyard have moved north to the southside of the Cape.

Where And How I Fished From Shore This Week

This past week I was fortunate to fish numerous areas from shore, including my first trip this season out onto the flats of Cape Cod.

I am happy to report that the bass are there in skinny water. I visually saw and caught them, which was exciting. On top of that I played witness to one of the most colorful and memorable sunsets of the entire season.

If you would like to read the detailed account of my flats fishing trip, you can do so by clicking here or on the image below. In the extended report, which can be accessed by MFCC members, I include this 9 minute and 55 second long video which recaps the entire trip and even includes some aerial video footage shot  high above the sand flats using my GoPro camera and quadcopter.

The key factor for me this week in generating a few bites from shore was to focus in on areas of current. Instead of aimlessly casting and fishing a wide open expanse of beach, I took a few minutes to look at the stretch of shoreline on a chart, and identify where there would be some current, which helped immensely.

Cape Cod Striped Bass Fishing | From Boat

I was not able to personally make it out onto the water this past week. However, thanks to everyone in the forum I have a general idea of what is going on out there on the water.

I feel there ought to be some larger striped bass right now in the stretch from Billingsgate to Plymouth. I understand this is a large tract of water, but you can increase your odds by keeping your eyes peeled for diving gannets, which mean mackerel, which often mean there's a good school of size-able striped bass in the area.

My good friend and fishing buddy Jason Mazzola used this simple strategy to locate the best topwater bite he's ever been a part of, just last year around this time. If you have bird finding radar then right now is most certainly a good time to turn it on and use it.

Based on some of the sonar images that Tom Walsh shared in the forum this week, I would say that the southside waters have enough bait to cause migrating biomasses of stripers to pause momentarily, in the usual haunts throughout Buzzard's Bay and Vineyard Sound, before migrating north through the Canal and points beyond.

Finding the birds using binoculars or radar, is a good move right now throughout BBay and Vineyard Sound.

First Night Bite Of The Season

A lot of folks wait until summer to fish at night, but night fishing right now during the spring can definitely produce. Several days ago I was able to stay out late and fish one particularly productive spot in Nantucket Sound.

You can learn more about this night fishing trip by reading this report.

The night bite is producing for others as well. This past week I received multiple photos sent via the My Fishing Cape Cod Facebook page of small keepers caught at night.

Some of these nice bass were caught from shore at night in numerous locations throughout Cape Cod Bay, which goes to show that some larger fish have already made their way north through the Canal, or around the arm of the Cape, and into the cooler waters of the Bay.

If I was to fish at night this weekend, I would focus on boulder fields, rocky points with current, inlets or beaches that contain a population of large prey items. Think about where there may be herring, mackerel, or squid venturing in close to shore, and then fish those spots after dark.

Cape Cod Canal

The Canal used to treat me very well during Memorial Day Weekend when I was younger. I would often stay up all night and get into my best fish of the entire weekend at the odd hours of 2 or 3AM. A four ounce lead head super glued to a 9 inch black Slug-Go was the ticket back then, and I feel it would work equally as well now.

This season I have been using all my fishing time exploring the thousands of hidden nooks and crannies of Cape Cod. Fortunately the folks in the forum have been doing a good job of keeping everyone updated on what's been happening down at the Canal. I am just one guy so I really appreciate all your input and intel!

Here's What's Coming Next Week On The MFCC Blog

I am traveling to a legendary striped bass surfcasting hot spot this coming weekend and I will be sharing the entire experience with you here on the MFCC blog next week.

This will be an amazing trip to what's often been referred to as the "Mecca" of striped bass fishing. Even if I do not catch a darn thing, I will still be able to share with you some amazing landscapes and scenery, and if the weather cooperates, I will give you a look at where I am fishing from more than 300 feet above using my GoPro camera and quadcopter.

The aerial views alone will be spectacular so be sure to check back this week to follow along!

Additionally, I want to share with you some shore fishing opportunities for tautog.

Catching tautog from a boat is fun, but finding and catching them from shore is a blast. Stay tuned because it is very possible to find and catch some awfully nice tog from shore right now on Cape Cod, and I will be sharing with you how things go with the toggies next week/possibly this weekend, here on the blog.

Additionally, now that the good weather is here, and I have successfully rearranged my life schedule to allow me to do as much fishing as possible, I will be sharing with you another off-road surfcasting trip, in which my father and I drive for 7 miles on the beach, and then hike an additional mile, to fish a current swept point for striped bass.

I have a lot of fishing and typing, video editing to do, so until then I hope you have an epic Memorial Day Weekend. Stay safe, enjoy your time outdoors and I will talk with you soon.

Tight lines and take care,

Ryan

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