Five days, one secret bait, and the midday striper epiphany I wish I’d had years ago.
“Adios,” I said to Lauren, kissing her on the cheek. “Adios,” I said to Carol, who’s been camped out with us for two weeks, up from her home in South Carolina to celebrate our daughter Hallie’s second birthday. It was Sunday afternoon, June 14th, and I had a tide to catch!
Hallie turned 2 this past week! In between birthday celebrations I’ve been sneaking away and catching a few fish.
Sunday: The Snorkel
The outgoing tide was well underway the afternoon of June 14th, and the sky was nothing but bright sunshine. I figured it was the perfect day for my first snorkel of the year, and my first visit to a spot we’ll talk more about later on in this report. Why not see who’s home?
The water was about as good as Cape Cod water gets. Clear, calm, and with the sun directly overhead, light was pouring straight down through the column. I pulled the mask down, took a breath, and went under.
I think these are baby sea herring. What do you think? Let me know by commenting below!
An entire nursery, basically - and that tells you something important about why the bass might be there in the first place. Where there’s bait, there’s often bass.I got it all on video, which I’ll drop into this report below. Still photos don’t really do it justice.
I climbed out of the water that afternoon with a problem. I now knew exactly where a small army of stripers were holding, in the middle of a bright sunny day. However I knew they would be really tough to catch, at least with artificial lures.
Monday: Cracking the Code
I was back the next afternoon, Monday, June 15th, chasing the same tide. I had one full day to think about strategy, and I landed on something I’ve caught a few bass on before but never really devoted much time to: dead squid.
A big local squid rigged naturally on a circle hook, ready to drift slow and tempt a daytime bass.
Bright, sunny, outgoing tide. Past experience told me artificial lures were going to be a tough sell. So instead of tying on a plug, I rigged up dead local squid. And not small ones. These were genuinely huge — somewhere around 18 inches, big enough that I almost felt silly casting one out.
No weight. I just lobbed the squid out into the same water I'd been swimming in less than 24 hours earlier, and within a few minutes I felt a solid thud.
That's really the best way I can describe a bass eating squid: not a tap, not nibbling, but a thud. The fish grabbed it and sucked it down in one committed motion. My reel was already engaged, so I started reeling immediately to set the circle hook in the corner of the jaw.
Want to know what happened next?
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Great write up as usaul Ryan. I have been convinced by my two boys (both are part fish) to take up spearfishing. While my “duck dives” and deep underwater abilities are sorely lacking, my plain “snorkeling” skill are just fine.
My receent encounters have been awesome. Swimming with sub-slot stripers in clouds of silver sides and other bait fish is more fun than I can express. I recently had about a 38 inch striper follow me in a curious manor. He swam up from my flippers towards my face. Thinking about it, a curious fish (especially an older one) would approach something that looked like a larger preditior (seal) from the back, not towards the teeth.
The other revelation I’ve had is I am a lousy fisherman!!! Before my kids dragged me into the water, I was perfectly content in the mistake assumption that “There are no fish there.” after spending 30 minutes casting. Only to have them surface and ask, “Dad did you see the fish? There are hundreds of them!!”
The conclusion I’ve reached is they eat when they want. They don’t eat when they don’t want to. I haven’t tried the “too good to pass up” approach of dead squid. I may try that next.
Either way, putting on a mask has opened a new world and way to see, view, explore and enjoy waters I’ve spend my whole life boating in… Thanks for a great wrie up!!!
Mike
Love that comment Mike. Thanks for taking the time to share. You must be having a blast experiencing all of that with your kids. I hope to do the same one day with my daughter. Definitely give the squid (or another irresistible dead bait) a shot. Mackerel has worked really well for me in the past too. Good luck!