Ryan Collins
A "mega school" of young striped bass is what myself, MFCC member Doug Blanchard, and film crew Shane Uriot and Evan Schneider encountered a few days ago here on Cape Cod.
The giant school of fish appeared this past Sunday September 24th at 4pm, while we were filming a fly fishing episode for the 2018 season premiere of My Fishing Cape Cod TV on Comcast SportsNet New England.
We first spotted the school of tens of thousands of striped bass with the aid of a drone. I then swam out to the fish and allowed thousands of juvenile striped bass to encircle me while I held my breath and filmed with my GoPro.
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Please click play below to watch...
For a couple precious minutes I was completely enveloped by the "future of the striped bass fishery."
I know there is uncertainty with regards to the status of the striped bass population along the eastern seaboard, but surely this mega-school is healthy indication.
Members of My Fishing Cape Cod can click below to learn more about the general location on Cape Cod where this was filmed.
Ryan,
I live in Asia where the seas are being stripped clean by Chinese trawlers. 1.5 bn people with a voracious appetite for fish.
Their factory ships will be working the Northeast in the not to distant future. This is the real threat to the striped bass population and all US fish stocks.
Myself and another mfcc member ran into a huge shcool of schooiles the other day near Quincy. They were going ballistic on sprearing. I caught 3 then put my gear away, I had way too heavy tackle for them. There had to have been easily 500 plus schoolies fattening up for the fall run.
That’s great to hear Craig!
During this trip we had the drone in the area flying over the school. I just heard from my friend who watched the drone footage (I am yet to see it) that the “mega school” we encountered stretched for probably more than a mile down the beach.
The school must of contained hundreds of thousands of fish!
These small fish bode well for our future and we must continue to protect them. Poachers are out there trying there best to do harm to this fishery and law enforcement up and down the east coast must continue to put even more pressure on these individuals and in some cases commercial boats. Arrest, convict and remove their ability to fish and we will have this fishery for decades to follow. Great film Ryan, swimming with the friendly’s had to be awesome. Well done.
It was an awesome sight to see, especially the drone footage we captured from the sky. The stripers were packed so tightly together – I’ve never seen anything like it before.
Thanks for watching and commenting Bill – tight lines!
A giant school was off a coastal beach in Maine this past May. I personally caught hundreds and so did my friends on flies. They stayed around for almost a week, then moved on up the coast. These must be the returning fish on the fall run south.
I find it very interesting to hear about those fish being off coastal Maine so early in the season. They must of blasted right by Cape Cod on their way north, or maybe they were hiding here on Cape somewhere during April?
I also know there is a stock of fish north of you in Nova Scotia and PEI. I wonder if those bass ever move south along the Maine coast?
Either way they sure are a mysterious fish. Thanks for commenting Walt and tight lines my friend!
Wonderful video Ryan. Must have been an awesome experience! Lots of schoolie surface action an hour past high tide this week south of your general location. Good news all around!
It was great!
Terrific to hear you are seeing schoolies too.
I’m getting reports of big masses of schoolies from just about every estuarine-type area in the region.
I wonder if all the mackerel we’ve had here this year drew them Plymouth Harbor. I live minutes from Manomet Point and caught and released some 18″-24″stripers off of White Horse Beach this past week. A plastic worm, a popper, and a 6″ Rapala all worked casting from the beach with an 11′ 6″ rod and Penn reel. A 2 1/2 oz weight was used with the worm and the Rapala.
I think the mackerel definitely helped keep the bass in the canal this summer, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a similar situation happening in the Plymouth area, as you mention Gene.
Pumped to hear you are having a good fall up there with schoolies from the beach. Hopefully they will stick around through November like they did last year.
You’re very lucky to have experienced that! Great sign for a healthy striper population in the future!
Absolutely Jordan! Terrific sign!
Thanks for watching.
Wow that’s amazing. Our future right there!!!
Maybe I’ll get a chance to swing through the same school 10 years from now when they are all 40 inches plus!
Wow, I was just wondering how many there would make it to the 40-50 lb range, great video !!!
That’s a good question. I wonder what the average survival rate to adulthood is for these fish?
A lot can happen out there in the ocean, like getting caught up in a dragger’s net etc.
Thanks for watching Stephen!
The revival of the striped bass population on the east coast can be credited to the clean up of the Hudson and Chesapeake and the no kill/size regulations established 20+ years ago… conservation works. Catch and release plays into this. You set a good example in releasing your catch…great videos Ryan..Thanks
Thank goodness those places got cleaned up!
I appreciate the comment Steve and thanks for checking out the video.
Hundreds of schoolies washed ashore in Wellfleet
Very interesting Helen, thanks for letting me know.
Any idea what may of caused the kill?
Ryan, I saw the same thing in Plymouth Bay on Sunday. These fish were everywhere, from 12″ to 18″. As you pointed, a healthy sign for the bass population.
No kidding, that is terrific Ron.
If you encountered a similar school all the way up there in Plymouth, then I wonder if a biomass of schoolies has moved into the region?
I’ve never seen the Manomet waters so alive with schools of fish jumping and splashing before this past Sunday! And Ryan what a beautiful experience to swim with all those young stripers (auto correct wants me to write strippers lol!!) keep up the fun videos!
awesome video Ryan! Barnstable harbor has been full of fish this size most of the summer – jealous you got to swim with them! thanks for sharing
Thanks for the info Mike.
Seems like quite a few of the estuaries in Massachusetts have loads of small fish right now.
Good luck if you head out this week!
LOL – gotta love autocorrect! Same thing happens to me all the time.
Great to hear about all those small fish up your way!
Tight lines Anna!