Into the Wind, Onto the Stripers: The HammerCat Giveaway Trip Report

At 8 a.m. on Saturday, October 3rd, I stood on the dock at Sandwich Marina and listened to the wind.

Northeast. Twenty-five miles per hour.

Our plan was to run 20 miles straight into it, across Cape Cod Bay, to Provincetown.

I would never make that run in my own boat. Captain Tyler Putney of Flatliner Charters wouldn't make it in his 28-footer either. But we weren't in either of those boats.

This is the fishing report from the MFCC x Hammer Yachts giveaway trip, and the final chapter of a story that started back in August. But first, the fish.

The Run Nobody Else Tried

The day before, we studied the forecast and worked the phones with captains around the Cape. The consensus was simple: if we wanted to bend rods, it was stripers off P-Town.

So Peter ran the HammerCat 35HH from Falmouth, up Buzzards Bay and through the Canal to pick us up. Aboard were Peter, Tyler, me, our two randomly drawn winners, Steve and Bailey, and Demetrios, a World Cat owner who came along to see how the HammerCat fishes.

The moment we cleared the Canal, we were greeted by 3 to 5 foot seas, steep and tight together. We were the only boat out there.

Peter held about 20 knots straight into it the whole way across.

Here's the part I keep thinking about: the cabin windows barely took any spray. In every center console I've fished, we'd have been soaked head to toe before we were halfway to Provincetown.

We were there by 9.

Lesson 1: Intel Beats Searching

Once you tuck in behind the fist of the Cape, the bay lays down. But calm water means nothing if you burn two hours looking for bait.

We didn't. Tyler had been texting and calling other captains all morning. He ran straight to Wood End and told us to watch for birds. Sure enough, there were mackerel blitzing peanut bunker right on the surface, exactly as his contacts said we'd find them.

Mackerel blitzing peanut bunker on the surface off Wood End. Watch for the birds and you'll find them.

A quick aside: that mackerel bite is a blast on its own. Bring an ultralight spinning rod and a small popper, especially if you have kids aboard.

Tyler also introduced me to Breakwater Jigs, a sabiki-style rig I'd never seen before. If you catch your own mackerel, look them up. You'll get far fewer tangles, and unhooking a full stringer is much easier.

Lesson 2: Don't Fish Where You Caught the Bait

With fresh mackerel in the well, most people would have started fishing right there.

Tyler had us reel up and run several miles around the corner of Race Point.

We pulled up to a boat that was already hooked up, and we marked stripers in 20 to 25 feet of water almost instantly. From there, Tyler coached Peter through every drift, keeping us on the right depth through the 20 to 80 foot range. With that much deck space, all of us could fish spread out along the starboard side. It's the most stable boat I've ever fished from.

Lesson 3: The Rig

The current was slack for much of the trip, and the bass weren't aggressive. This setup still put fish from 27 to 34 inches on the deck:

• Spinning gear with a size 6 inline circle hook
• A 1.5 oz egg sinker free to slide down the leader all the way to the hook
• Live mackerel: hooked just behind the head and allowed to swim 60 to 100 feet from the boat
• Dead mackerel: same rig, same distance, hooked through both lips to pin the mouth shut so it bounces naturally along the bottom
• On the bite: don't set the hook. Let the fish eat, then simply reel tight and let the circle hook do its job.

We also worked A27 diamond jigs, the classic Cape Cod sand eel imitation.

The Fish That Mattered Most

There were no giants on this trip. But Steve and Bailey, both from the Acushnet area, hadn't touched a striper since June. You could see what that first bent rod meant to them.

Bailey is 23, a recent University of Alabama grad who works at Mattapoisett Boatyard and mostly fishes from shore. He also has a marketing degree and is looking for his first job out of college. Someone should hire this kid. He brought great energy all day.

Bailey's reaction after losing a nice bass boatside. It was his first time back in the striper action since June.

Steve is a recently retired corrections officer who started surfcasting about a year ago and just bought his own boat. This week he texted me a photo of himself holding a bonito off the west end of the Canal. The adrenaline was pumping, he said.

That's what this was really about.

What This Campaign Taught Me

More than 250 of you entered for a spot on this boat.

From that first post in August to stepping off the HammerCat in October, I learned that My Fishing Cape Cod can deliver more than intel. It's a trip like this one. It's an event like the 36hr Grind we just wrapped. It's the anglers who meet here and become lifelong fishing friends.

To Peter: thank you for trusting me with your boat, your brand and your passion. Telling someone else's story carries real responsibility, and I don't take it lightly.

If you want to see the HammerCat in person, it will be at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show later this month. As for doing this again in 2027? Stay tuned.

To everyone who followed along, entered and cheered on our winners: thank you.

Tight lines! 🎣

Ryan