Last night (technically this morning) my high school buddy Andrew and I set off to fish the Cape Cod Canal at night. Night fishing the Cape Cod Canal is one of my favorite types of fishing because you often have the place to yourself, plus there is a good chance of encountering big striped bass. Despite the rain, both Andrew and I were eager to see what the night would bring.

Last night was flat calm and the surface of the Canal was as smooth as glass. The rain was a blessing in disguise as it kept the mosquitoes away and pretty much guaranteed that one of my favorite Canal fishing spots would be vacant.

Around midnight we set up shop on a mussel bed which gave us easy access to a nice rip that would fire up once the tide started moving. I have not fished this area since last November, when I was lucky enough to pull a 27 pounder out of this rip as the season was coming to a close.

Cape Cod Canal Night Fishing Report May 20

It only took 5 minutes for us to realize there was life in the area. It was dark so obviously we couldn't see much, but we could hear bass popping on the surface. Every once in a while we could see the footprint left by a striper in the dim illumination given off by the service road lights.

I usually like to fish the bottom of the Canal after dark, so I began casting a Spro jig that my buddy Jeff from Canal Bait and Tackle recommended I give a try. I sometimes have a hard time breaking away from jigging soft plastics on the bottom, but I figured why not try something new. If there were bass sitting in the rip I felt like I had as good a chance as any with the Spro.

The bass we had heard and sort of seen feeding on the surface appeared to have some decent size to them. They clearly were not schoolies, based on the noises they were making. It takes a decent size tail to produce the loud POP that we would hear every few minutes. The anticipation of a good solid bite was really starting to grow on me by my third or fourth cast.

Fishing the Canal after dark was uncharted territory for Andrew, who just began striper fishing last year. He started out last season by working estuaries with light spinning tackle, and picking up a few schoolies here and there. This season he's graduated to trying for keeper size bass, and has fished the Canal with some good success thus far.

Nevertheless his biggest bass to date was 28 inches, which I thought could be easily topped last night/this morning - granted a nice fish happened to swim by the rock he was standing on.

Andrew setup shop a bit down current from myself and began casting. He wasn't reaching the middle of the Canal by any means, but it didn't matter much because most of the bass we could hear and see were relatively close to shore. He was in the right area, doing the right thing, so it really was just a matter of time until he got bit.

On his third cast of the night I noticed his silhouette jolt forward in the dim light. I continued working my own jig, eagerly waiting to see what may unfold just down current.

A second or two later I heard his drag and could see his rod bend down hard towards the surface of the Canal.

"I'm on!" he yelled up the rip-rap towards me. "And it's a good one!"

I couldn't believe it. We had been here no more than 10 minutes and Andrew was on. Not only was he hooked up, but he had a good size fish on the line too.

Click here for the full report and for more information on this trip.