By this time of year on Cape Cod, schools of slot-size striped bass (and larger) have settled into the Cape region. Historically speaking, the first full moon of the summer has produced some of the most reliable surfcasting action of the season, at least for me.
This year, the first full moon of the summer will occur on July 3rd. The nights of July 3-5 will produce bigger than average tides, which means there will be a lot of water movement occurring along the beaches of Cape Cod.
I get excited about these stronger than average tides because I feel the extra water movement helps bring bait and stripers in closer to shore.
Some anglers curse the full moon because they prefer to fish in the dark, but I personally enjoy being on the beach when its lit up by the moon, because it can be a surreal experience. Oftentimes on a clear night with a full moon I don't even need to turn on my headlamp because the beach is so bright.
In this article I'd like to bring you back in time with me on a memorable full moon night of fishing from a couple summers ago.
My goal is to share with you some tips, tactics and ideas that you can use to make the most of the upcoming July 3rd full moon.
The Full Moon of June 24th, 2021
The weather for the full moon on June 24th, 2021 was windy, warm and humid. Cape Cod was "stuck" in a foggy and breezy weather pattern.
Nevertheless I was excited to give surfcasting the Cape's beaches a try, because I knew the full moon would produce bigger than average tides and stronger than average currents.
So on Friday June 25th I met up with My Fishing Cape Cod member David Kaplan a bit after sunset. David lives in Mattapoisett and has written a two detailed books on fishing the North and South Middlesex area ponds.
Also joining this trip was MFCC member Matt Rocker. Matt lives in Maynard and works at a communications tower company.
Both of these guys had won spots on this trip by entering member-only giveaways here on My Fishing Cape Cod!
I was slightly nervous because I hadn't been surfcasting in a while. Plus I was bringing Matt and David to a location I've only fished once in the last two years (we'll talk more about the spot later in this post).
Would the stripers be there? It was anyone's guess.
However, if you spend time fishing for striped bass, then eventually you will notice stripers are animals of routine.
Striped bass will often show up in the same places, during the same time of year, at the same time of day and during the same stage of the tide. Of course this is not always true. Stripers have a mind of their own and will always keep you guessing.
For this trip we'd have an incoming tide. High tide would occur around 12:45am. It was the night after the full moon, and tide height was predicted to reach 12.6ft - which would be one of the highest tides of the entire summer.
Said another way, there would be millions more gallons of water than usual being "pulled" by the moon's gravitational force into Cape Cod's harbors, coves and estuaries.
There would also be a stronger than usual current sweeping along the beach. Over the years I have done really well fishing from shore when these big tides occur. I feel the strong tides coax schools of bass from far offshore to come visit the sandy shoals and waters Cape Cod.
As I looked out from the beach at the setting sun, I realized that this would be a great night, even if we didn't catch a ton of big fish. Nevertheless, I was very optimistic and confident that we would find a big school of stripers in tight to the beach.
We embarked on a beautiful hike through some of the Cape's most spectacular dunes, and arrived on the beach just before 9PM. The salty air smelled terrific as I made my first cast of the evening out into the darkness.
I started a slow retrieve with one of my favorite lures (which we'll talk more about below). About midway through the retrieve I felt a solid THUD on the end of my line.
I set the hook and was on with a nice striper on my very first cast of the evening!....[click here to continue reading.....].
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That moon led to the best week of fishing of my life. The article was a good read. Glad you got into the bigger fish.
I am happy to hear that Chase! Seems like many areas around Cape Cod are experiencing good fishing for stripers right now. There’s also a group from MFCC down at Block Island catching a lot of fish from the surf. Good luck if you make it out this weekend.
Thanks again Ryan! I had blast fishing with you and Dave.
It was a fun trip for sure. Good luck if you make it out fishing this weekend!
It was a memorable trip Ryan. Talk about active fish on a big moon tide – wow, there must have be hundreds of stripers within casting range. I like to fish light and had just bought a brand new rod. Discovered that the soft tip could not set the trebles on my Swarter so I switched to a soft plastic swimbait on a jighead and immediately began hooking up regularly. Your remarks about not playing fish to exhaustion has me wondering if maybe I fish too light. Don’t want my fun to harm any linesides. Hey – that means I need another new rod!
You can never have enough fishing rods Dave! LOL.
I hope you have a great 4th of July.