This past weekend I met up with My Fishing Cape Cod member Jeff Richard to explore and surfcast one of Cape Cod's most remote fishing areas. Each month this season I will be inviting one MFCC member to join me on a fishing trip, so if you are a member here on the blog, then definitely stay tuned!
Jeff and I met at the quiet hour of 4AM. I give Jeff credit because he had a very quick turnaround after driving from Rhode Island to his Cape house the night before. I myself only had two hours of sleep under my belt.
Nevertheless, despite lack of sleep, I planned on hiking upwards of 8 miles through some of the most gorgeous dunes, woodlands, estuary and beach I have ever seen. Fortunately it did not take much to convince Jeff that this was a good idea, and by 4:20AM we were off, in search of bass, bluefish and whatever else may be cruising in shallow along the coastline.
Bass On The Surface & Mosquitoes In My Mouth
Right off the bat, immediately after emerging from the trail, I saw bass breaking on the surface. I hustled down towards the shoreline for a closer look, with hopes of quickly getting the skunk out of this surfcasting trip.
Jeff soon followed suit. Stripers were feeding on small bait all over the place. The light was dim but I could easily see fish swirling, most out of casting range. I took one cast and was instantly inundated by mosquitoes.
Jeff was not fairing much better with the bugs. The fish for the most part remained beyond our reach, and with mosquitoes in my mouth, I communicated to Jeff that we ought to leave these fish behind for greener, and less buggy, pastures.
Finding Fish By Noticing A Change In The Landscape
Jeff and I continued down the beach, very much appreciating the cool ocean breeze which was just strong enough to ward off the bugs. Soon we decided to stop and take a few casts at a slight bend in the beach.
By now the sun had risen high enough to illuminate the beach in a soft blanket of light, which drew out the colors in the landscape around us. The weather this past weekend was picture perfect, and I hope you were able to enjoy it.
I picked up a small fish on a pencil popper almost immediately. The fish hit on perhaps my second or third cast, at this particular bend in the beach. It was no monster, but it was life, and that is always a good sign when fishing along a beach that stretches for miles in each direction.
Jeff and I made a few more casts before I decided it was time to move on. My goal for this trip was to fish a deep hole located 4 miles down the beach. If Jeff and I wanted to fish the hole before the sun rose high in the sky, we would have to keep on moving.
Fast Action On Schoolie Stripers
There was a large spit of sand and some cliffs ahead. The area looked fishy to me, and I could tell Jeff felt the same. Upon reaching the spit, both Jeff and I settled in and began eagerly fan casting the area.
Both Jeff and I were immediately on with fish. Jeff was using a teaser and actually doubled up with stripers-one bass on the plug and the other on the teaser.
The fish were small but the bite was good. For several minutes we had either a hit or fish on every cast.
Through it all I had a feeling that it was only a matter of time until we hit a pod of larger stripers. There was a lot of life present, and big bass had to be somewhere in the vicinity.
A School Of Larger Stripers Moves Through
After a few more shcoolies I packed up, and with my quadcopter attached to my backpack, continued to hike down the beach. Jeff was ahead of me fishing another "fishy" looking area.
I cast out my small pencil popper and began "walking the dog" with the plug. Soon there was a larger than typical swirl behind the plug, and I just knew it had to be a bigger fish. With a swoop of the striper's tail he crushed the popper, sending white water all over creation-yet he completely missed the plug.
An instant later I heard Jeff yelling from down the beach. A small school of larger bass had moved into the area just off the sandy point from which we were fishing. They had smacked my popper first, and now they were on Jeff's plug. I watched as Jeff's rod bent over under the weight of a bigger bass, and as hard as it was to do, I put down my rod and picked up my camera.
