Being surrounded by striped bass while standing in two feet of water is always exciting. The experience is even cooler when the fish are feeding way back in a tidal creek, in the troughs between sandbars.
Throughout the estuaries and tidal flats of Cape Cod, schoolie stripers, as well as much bigger bass, will enter shallow water pools to feed, especially at night during the incoming tide.
Here I am casting into a large tidal pool of the Brewster Flats. I feel the first part of the incoming (flood) tide is probably the most productive for areas like this, but I've also done well during the last part of the outgoing.
In particular at the beginning of the flood, I've watched dozens of fish infiltrate creeks and pools, attracted by the smorgasboard of baitfish, crabs, eels and who knows what else, that call these areas home.
Many of Cape Cod's creeks, estuaries and tidal flats are chock full of undulations and structure. A lot of these areas are completely exposed at low tide, and mounds of sand bars can be seen in the distance.
At nighttime during late summer, this tidal pool at Old Harbor in Sandwich, often has dozens of bass zipping around in it as soon as the tide begins to come in.
Throughout many estuaries, gulls and Blue Herons pick at food hidden under just inches of water. Old and broken lobster pots, half covered in mud, provide a nice home for green crabs.
Needless to say there is a lot happening in these spots. However there is even more life hidden underneath the water's surface. At low tide, anything that swims in these areas is forced into these tidal pools, which are often no more than four feet deep.
The southern coast of Cape Cod Bay contains many spots like this. Tidal pools and shallow water creeks such as this one might be vacant of life during the day but nighttime can be a different story. One word of caution: BE EXTREMELY COGNIZANT OF THE TIDE. Some of these spots can be very dangerous because tide comes in very fast and the current can be very strong.
Having all this bait jam packed into shallow pools of water makes hunting much easier for striped bass. Stripers are very cunning creatures and fully exploit this opportunity.
Some bass will remain in the tidal pool throughout low water, terrorizing the bait that is stuck in the pool.
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Great read! I have a couple spots on a particular tidal flat where they fish best the last 2 hours of dropping tide in only 2-3 feet of water! Caught some of by best fish there, unweighted soft plastics have been my best producing by far.
Terrific Leo, thank you for the info and the comment. Gluck the rest of your season!
I’ve heard all to often how surprised people are to find large stripers in just a few feet of water. I’m excited to explore some shallow estuaries this offseason for holdovers!
I’m sure you’ll find some Josh. I’m planning on checking out some new-to-me holdover spots as well. Gluck out there!