This past Monday September 21st started like most of my mornings do: coffee, a few hours of work, getting our two-year-old up, breakfast with my wife. Then the house emptied out, and I stood at the window watching the trees bend under a northeast wind that had been building all night.
It was day one of the nor’easter that's currently blowing across Cape Cod & the Islands. Most people see that forecast and pour another cup of coffee. I reached for my waders.
Day one of the nor’easter. Not beach weather, unless you’re a surfcaster!
Why Midday, Why This Wind
I’m not usually excited to fish the beach in late morning. But a hard onshore wind changes everything this time of year. The fall run is on, and stripers are pushing south and feeding hard along the way.
When a northeast wind stacks waves against a beach, it shoves peanut bunker and other baitfish into the shallows. If a school of bass can pin that bait against the sand in the chaos, it’s a buffet. The plan was simple: hit a stretch that’s been good to me before, and look for gulls. The birds will point you to the action.
First Cast
At 9:30 I spotted birds way down the shoreline and started power walking. The storm had torn loose piles of mussels, and gulls will pick at those all day, so I needed to see real feeding behavior. These birds were diving with purpose. Then I saw splashes, and stripers cutting through the faces of the waves.
I tied on a 3-ounce Guppy pencil popper with the tail hooks clipped, leaving just the belly treble. One heads-up: gulls will sometimes grab a topwater plug in a blitz, so watch them. Two pops and the plug got crushed!
On my first cast I had a high-30-inch bass fighting me through the wind and waves. I looked up and down that beach and saw no other anglers, not even a dog walker. Big wind, big surf, daytime bass. On Cape Cod, it doesn't get better!
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Members get the general area of Cape Cod where I found this blitz, the precise tide window that triggered it, and the simple strategy I used to track it down. You'll also get the full report on the 45+ inch striper I caught, plus many others over 40 inches. Speaking of which: we're giving away a kit of Monomoy Tackle Paddletails to members this week, including the same exact paddletail that caught that huge fish. Join today and you're in!
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What a great story, Ryan. Sounds like Darren got a lot out of it, too. Despite the hole in his finger.