Today's Buzzards Bay fishing trip began like any other trip, but quickly got interesting and very unique. My Dad and I ventured off to one of our usual early season striped bass fishing spots, but then called an audible and decided to venture deep into the woods. I'll explain why in a moment.
Today's warmer temperatures had me thinking that there could be at least a few migratory stripers gathering around Buzzards Bay's inlets. This is where we began the trip. However the water in these areas is still on the nippy side and after just a few dozen casts I was convinced that we were in the wrong area.
We headed back to the truck and I pulled up Google Maps on my iPhone. I wanted to fish the far upper reaches of this specific estuary, much like I had earlier in the week at a different estuary. The only problem was that there was no roadway or access point. Based on the map, there was absolutely no way to access the far upper reaches of this estuary.
Fishing Buzzards Bay through the Trees
I wanted to get back there because holdover striped bass on Cape Cod are just beginning to get active. If you can locate a pocket of fish that is holding in the far upper reaches of a creek or estuary, you stand a good chance at getting them to bite. As mentioned above the only issue is that these areas can be very difficult to get to.
We did the only thing we could do, which was to start driving and conjure up some sort of way of accessing the spot. We found some railroad tracks that looked as if they might lead towards the upper reaches of the estuary. However I took one glance down the tracks and realized just how long of a walk this route would be. I wasn't up for spending 45 minutes walking, especially when the sun would soon be setting.
Another option was the highway. Based on what I could see on Google Maps, the nearby interstate intersected an upper portion of the estuary. Yet I did not want to pull over on an interstate with cars zooming past at 65 mph. Things weren't looking all that great.
We continued driving around when out of the corner of my Dad's eye, he saw what appeared to be a small and very well camouflaged path. Through the dense brush and trees we could see a glimmer of sunshine refracting off the water. It was the far upper reaches of the estuary we had been searching for, off in the distance through the woods. So we did what any fishing nuts would do - illegally park and venture into the forest.
Of course the trail only brought us within sight of the estuary. To actually get to the water we would have to bushwhack the rest of the way through briars, thorns and probably some poison ivy. I had my spinning rod in hand, but honestly a machete would have been a better choice.
Either way we eventually got to the water. One look at the landscape and I knew that the effort was already worth it. The fish we ended up catching was really just the icing on the cake.
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