Striped Bass In Skinny Water

I arrived at this unique spot at the leisurely time of 6:30AM. Fortunately for me the fog had rolled in thick, and I felt the morning bite may last longer as a result.

It was midway through the outgoing tide and to say the place "looked fishy" would of been an extreme understatement!​

More...

A rip with standing waves had formed a short distance in front of me. To be able to fish a roaring rip like this one, in a backwater bay miles from open ocean, is a pretty rare find here on Cape Cod.

I made my first cast of the morning, eager to discover if anyone was home...

During the spring on Cape Cod it is very possible to catch keeper-size stripers in "skinny water". I am referring to areas where water depths may only be 2-5 feet deep.

I look for skinny water areas which have herring and current. Herring and current can be a killer combination.

Often times you will see the fish before they strike your lure. ​Early in the morning or under low light conditions (such as fog) the fish can be quite aggressive, but when the sun is shining the bite often turns off.

My first cast went untouched​, but on my second a bass erupted from the shallows and pummeled my plug!

Whitewater shot off in the air, the fish splashed on the surface, but oddly enough he completely missed the lure. I was 0 for 1 on the morning! ​

I quickly made another cast and WHACK! my plug got smacked again by an aggressive fish. Each time I brought the plug through the rip, it would illicit a topwater strike, or at the least a follow.

Finally after the fifth or sixth missed fish I was able to get a hook set. Woo hoo!​

After releasing that first fish I took a good look around at where I was fishing.

I was casting into a skinny channel of water which was no more than 20 yards across. Because the area was so constricted, the current was very strong (similar to the Canal) and the outgoing tide was rushing by me at a very fast clip.

There must of been some sort of structure on the bottom too, in order to form the standing waves and defined rip line. The fish were hanging right in the middle of that rip.

This was only the second time I had ever fished this spot, and I was completely blown away by the strong current and defined rip, this far from open ocean.

I am more accustomed to fishing a rip like this while out on the boat - not in a backwater tidal estuary!

I continued casting and watching schoolie size stripers come to the surface to smack or chase my plug.

Every so often I would hook and land a fish.

I do believe there were several small keepers feeding in this rip, based on the sizes of some of the swirls and splashes. However I was not able to catch them.

Final tally for me was 3 schoolies and a dozen missed hits.

I do feel that this spot could be very good this weekend and into next week, as larger fish from the south move north into Cape Cod waters.

The next 3 weeks represent a rare window of opportunity to catch a really large striped bass in very shallow water. During 2014 a particular member of this site hooked fish as large as 46 inches in an area like this, during the month of May.

MFCC members can click below for 3 Google Earth images, and 3 photos of this unique area.

I've also included an HD video report which recaps this trip.