Welcome to the Offseason Chronicles, a new weekly series running from November through April. Each week we'll deliver member stories, tactical insights, gear breakdowns, and preparation strategies to keep you sharp and ready for 2026.
Combined with The Insider Series, Offseason Saturday Surprises, The Weekly Spot, The Member Spotlight Podcast Series and our 2026 Live Zoominar Series, we're working hard to create the most comprehensive offseason experience MFCC has ever offered.
By MFCC member Dan Nahorney
In 2025, success during the striped bass season depended on whether you fish in a boat or from shore, and whether you were in the right place at the right time.
"Monomoy had the best striper fishing in the area, it always held fish," said Captain Tyler Putney of Flatliner Charters, who targets stripers primarily at Monomoy. "2025 was unchanged from past years."
Offering a different viewpoint is Ian McPartland of the Goose Hummock Shop.
"It was the worst striper season in 10 years, maybe more," McPartland said of striper fishing in the surf and in the Cape Cod Canal. "It was a discouraging season. Great start, discouraging middle and end," says McPartland.
Declining Biomass and a Murky Future
Most agree that the biomass of stripers is decreasing as we have seen seven years of poor spawn results in the Chesapeake Bay. With the last couple of strong spawn years now grown to be slot-sized fish, and anglers throughout the region reporting few under-slot stripers and virtually no schoolies/dinks, fishing in 2026 and beyond is murky at best. "The future is scary," says McPartland.
Jim Kelly was one of those anglers who had a solid 2025 striper season. Here he is pictured holding a 40” striper.
Unlike shore bound anglers, those fishing from boats in 2025 had the advantage of being able to quickly move long distances to locate stripers.
MFCC group trip captain, Cullen Lundholm of Cape Star Charters mentioned that the use of his electronics and having a network of charter captains to help him stay on the bite helped tremendously. As in past years, Captain Cullen had trips in which between 50 and 70 stripers were boated in a single outing, echoing Tyler Putney's sentiment that the fishing at Monomoy was consistent in 2025.
Shore Fishing Struggles
Digging further into the 2025 striper season shows some new patterns that for the most part haven't favored anglers, particularly those who keep two feet on shore. According to MFCC members who also fish in Rhode Island, traditional RI hotspots were barren of stripers of any size this season.
Outer Cape shore-bound anglers didn't fare much better, with ocean beaches devoid of fish for the majority of the season. And for bayside anglers on the Outer Cape, after the herring runs got quiet in the spring, so did the fishing for the most part.
Mike Remlinger put in the time to find this solid 50” striper this spring. Mike used a needlefish to catch the big bass, a lure that was responsible for a large number of quality fish caught this spring.
The Seal and Shark Factor
McPartland notes an interesting trend with stripers in the Outer Cape waters. He says that boat-based anglers heading out of Orleans Town Cove found stripers a half mile offshore, but that the bass were hesitant to move onto the beaches.
At last count, ocean-side beaches from Chatham through the National Seashore are home to about 40,000 seals, and a growing number of sharks chasing them. Given an adult gray seal eats around 30 pounds of fish per day, the seals are having an impact, not only on the striper population, but also the baitfish they eat.
In late June Kevin Johndrow reported a steady night fishing for stripers with each fish larger than the last as the flood began to run its course. Unfortunately, as Kevin put it “the tax man came, and the tax man took. I fought the shark for 45 minutes and half a dozen runs but never saw it. Please do let the record show, this plug was retrieved.”
"It seems like the last two years have been off for Outer Cape anglers," says McPartland. While it's difficult to say for sure exactly how much of an impact the seals are having on striper fishing, the combination of a smaller biomass of fish and a growing seal population does seem to play a role in the decline of the Outer Cape fishery.
Working the night shift after his day job, Calvin Toran-Sandlin carefully handles a trophy sized bass in June, fully reviving it before sending it back out.
"Maybe they are being trained not to come in close," surmised McPartland, adding that some anglers fishing off of Truro for tuna reported finding "monster bass trolling using tuna bars in 150 feet of water."
Last year, McPartland heard reports of large stripers in good numbers off of Race Point in Provincetown in 130 feet of water, "belly in the sand eating sand eels."
Inconsistent Baitfish Supply
Another potential negative impact for shore and Canal fishermen was an inconsistent supply of baitfish. While some areas reported large amounts of baitfish, particularly early in the season with stripers in pursuit, other areas that formerly produced stripers were nearly empty of fish of any kind.
Christopher Gilbert had a solid day in mid-June, catching solid stripers like the one pictured on mackerel near Scorton in Cape Cod Bay.
Early in the 2025 season McPartland noted a good run of pogies, but then they seemed to head further north and weren't replaced by other larger baitfish as is common with inshore waters. Sand eels seemed to be present in large numbers throughout the season, and early in the season squid were in our waters in large numbers.
Spring Success for Surf Casters
The striper season started slowly as is common, and anglers anxious for the bite to turn on were working hard to find stripers in their usual spring hotspots.
One MFCC year-round angler, Robbie Sturtevant, reported on April 5 catching a solid holdover bass on a bone-colored Redfin chasing herring in a backwater location. Robbie was fishing about a 30-minute drive from the coastline, giving you an idea of how deep stripers will go in estuaries to find food, and how far anglers will go to chase them.
Robbie Sturtevant shows a holdover striper he caught back in early April on a bone redfin. Robbie fished in some true backwater, about a 30-minute drive from the coast line.
Striper anglers in the surf reported some of the most consistent action early in the season, as the first migratory fish triggered a flurry of posts in the MFCC Surfcasting - Spring 2025 thread.
By the end of April, MFCC members began reporting catches of migratory fish with sea lice. One of the top catches of the spring was made by Grant Stark who reported a personal best striper measuring around 46 inches in the surf, "the heaviest fish I've ever held," before reporting a larger bass caught in the Cape Cod Bay 2025 thread on a boat with his father.
On May 8, Grant Stark proudly displays a personal best striper in the surf at about 46 inches. Then in early June in the Cape Cod Bay thread, Grant reported a great day with his father catching 47” and 48” stripers on live mackerel, with several others over 40” as well.
Throughout May, MFCC members putting in the time on the night shift were posting exploits of catching solid fish. With squid a primary food of early season stripers, squid-colored needlefish and plastics did the trick, as many anglers noted—the bigger the better.
A Challenging Summer, Then an Epic Fall Bite
It was a challenging summer for Cape Cod surf casters, reports longtime MFCC top poster Mike Marcus, better known by his username, StriperMadness. "That tremendous beach bite just never happened until September 1, then it all changed," said Marcus.
In early October, everything lined up for Mike Markus, pictured with a 45- inch bass caught in the surf. Mike made quick work of getting a picture, then moving fast to get the striper back into the water.
In the MFCC Surfcasting - Summer 2025 thread Mike and his band of "Beach Boys" posted picture after picture of striper catches requiring two hands to hold, during an epic 10-day bite in Cape Cod Bay.
Better Results for Boat Anglers
For striper anglers with boats, and the ability to move around to find the bass, in total, 2025 wasn't a banner season, but it certainly wasn't the bust that many shore-bound anglers reported in the Skunked Support Group 2025 thread.
Micah “the fish monster” Gonyer and his dad Chris spent the Memorial Day weekend catching striped bass. The fish monster is all smiles after working to catch this trophy sized striper.
Monomoy: The Consistent Hotspot
Monomoy in particular continued to produce large quantities of solid fish, attracting a growing number of boats, particularly on summer weekends, when a traffic light in some of the rips might have been helpful.
Captain Tyler Putney of Flatliner Charters reports that fishing at Monomoy in 2025 was unchanged from recent years. Likely the best striper fishery on Cape Cod and perhaps the entire East Coast, bass begin showing up in the Monomoy rips around June 1, and stay through deep in the fall run. The Monomoy season could likely have gone on longer if the strong fall winds didn't make navigating the rips so treacherous.
Robbie Griffin caught this big striper in Cape Cod Bay in June. Robbie reports he quickly released the bass and she swam off strong. You can see from the picture, Robbie was treated to a calm, sunny day on the water.
Captain Putney said the Monomoy rips are such a great fishery because bait gets flushed through the rips, and with warm water meeting cold water, it can force baitfish to stay in place, providing stripers with a nearly endless supply of food.
As long as you're fishing on either side of slack tide, fish are generally in the rips, says Captain Putney who has been fishing Monomoy since he was a youngster, mentioning that 10-15 years ago stripers in large numbers were more commonly found outside the Chatham inlet.
Tom Sangermano caught this 34” striper in Cape Cod Bay in mid-August.
Despite the unchanged fishing at Monomoy, Captain Putney is also concerned about the smaller biomass of stripers, noting most of the fish caught in 2025 were in the 24-36" range, with few smaller, younger fish caught.
Keys to Success in 2025
Because of the smaller biomass of fish, both McPartland and Captain Putney say looking for birds working the water and moving frequently to locate bass is important to successful outings.
Rui Machado caught stripers in upper Buzzards Bay, reporting four fish caught on four drifts in late May before the bite shut off.
"Keep moving, the mother lode could be just 100 yards away from you," says Captain Putney.
New Regulations for 2026
As for 2026, new regulations for commercial striper anglers are a bit more restrictive. Commercial licenses will be limited only to those who held one in 2024 or 2025, and license holders will need to be onboard their boat when commercially fishing. Additionally, licenses will be non-transferable.
A Call for Conservation
So, while the 2025 striper season was one of being in the right place at the right time, the future is uncertain. As stewards of the fishery, we all can do our part.
Here is a great underwater picture from Ryan Collins, showing what a revived bass looks like at release. Ryan caught 30” and 39” stripers on a fly rod using a mackerel pattern offering. Ryan fished the southern shoreline of Cape Cod Bay during an outgoing tide.
"If you're not treating these fish as a resource that has to be preserved, then you are on the wrong side of history," says longtime MFCC member, and top surf angler Calvin Toran-Sandlin. "Treat all these fish with respect," says Toran-Sandlin, who urges fellow anglers to make the time to properly revive every striper caught.
Tight lines! 🎣
Dan Nahorney
PS - Watch for other articles in this season analysis series. And then during the depths of winter, we'll be putting together a series of preparation and planning posts on everything from a calendar of early-in-the-year fishing shows to information on getting your boat ready for tuna season. Stay tuned!
A great recap of the 2025 Season Dan! We really do need to be good stewards of our of fishery as conditions continue to change.