The “Wildest” Place to Fish on Cape Cod

This is part #3 of a series of posts and videos about my 27 mile surfcasting journey along Cape Cod's Great Beach. Click here to read part #2 and
click here to read part #1.

The warm sun coupled with the potential of striped bass feeding in the shallows jolted my body into action. Newfound energy coursed through my veins, despite virtually no sleep for the past 36 hours!

The sandbars in this section of the Cape are dramatic. They run perpendicular to the beach and waves crash alongside them. If there were stripers here I figured they would be close to shore and in between the bars.​

More...

Before leaving I turned around and took one more look at the rusty washed up refrigerator where I had spent the night. 

​In a strange way this refrigerator had become home-much like the driftwood beach shelter you will soon read about.

Like a striper gravitating to a boulder, I gravitated to this one lone piece of human evidence to get me thru a long, damp, cold and lonely night. This refrigerator has been sitting just north of the Head of the Meadow Beach for several years now. I am sure you can find it if you go searching.

I walked at a fairly brisk pace to the north where the birds were diving on a bar. To my dismay there were at least dozen large seals swarming the area. Nevertheless I began to fish.

Fortunately I had calm conditions during this portion of the hike. Waves during storms in this area can reach amazing heights.

To get to this point I had walked for 17 miles without catching a single fish! I must admit that my main focus was on the hike, and catching fish was secondary. However I had of course hoped to have found some life by now.

And then without warning, suddenly everything changed.

I felt a quick and sharp jolt on my line. I looked down towards the water's edge and saw a swirl behind my white Sebile Magic Swimmer. I had just had a bite!

I cast again towards the same area, as the big seals curiously watched my every move. I reeled my plug back towards the beach and there in the shallow, crystal clear water, I saw an entire school of stripers!

At least 6-10 fish had followed the plug into just a few inches of water. Most of the bass were schoolies but I swear I saw one or two which may of been keeper-size.

The bass continued chasing and whacking the plug right agains the shoreline. The only issue was that I could not hook them!​

I don't think I have ever tried harder to catch a fish then I did during that short window of opportunity. By 10am the bass disappeared without me being able to successfully land any of them.

I then had a decision to make. With 10 miles left in my journey I was confident I could finish the trek by sunset if I hustled. However I wasn't sure if that was the right move.

After all I had just found a stretch of beach with life. Was it smart to move on? Should I stick around for the evening in hopes of a good bite?

I called Shane and asked him to meet me at High Head in Truro to discuss the situation.​

After talking things over we decided I would wait out the long, hot afternoon on the beach and wait for what I hoped would be a good evening bite. 

I sat and looked over dunes, wondering if I made the right decision.

The plan called for me to sit tight for the next 7 hours, until Shane and his friend Ross Claffey (a fellow videographer) would meet me before sunset.​ That was a long time for me to just hang out in the "Sahara desert-like" conditions.

I needed to find some shelter from the mid-day heat and rest up for what would surely be a long night of hiking and fishing.

The final plan was for me to fish High Head with Shane and Ross​, and then hike the remaining 8 miles to Race Point in Provincetown during the middle of the night.

The sun was high in the sky and temps were getting hot. After a failed attempt at creating a structure in the dunes I began wandering the beach looking for shade, which is not easy to find on a beach.

I then noticed how the sand was cooler the closer I walked to the ocean. There was also a ridge running along the beach, which acted as a small barrier to the midday sun.

Then I found my saving grace. Someone had stuck an offshore lobster buoy and some drift wood into the sand. ​

I emptied all my supplies onto the sand and hastily constructed a driftwood beach shelter. I dug a small ditch and voila!

I had shade!

This was my home for about 7 hours.

It wasn't pretty but the shelter provided some much appreciated shade!

My "million dollar" ocean view.

Before retreating to the shade for the next 7 hours I decided to record a quick video and share it with the My Fishing Cape Cod Facebook community.

Unfortunately I had to climb to the top of a dune to find cell phone reception, but it was worth it. I really enjoyed sharing these video clips with you people in real-time!​

And with that I crawled into my shaded space to relax for the afternoon. 

Throughout the entire day only 4 people walked by me. I lay there motionless as they walked by and listened to their comments which I found to be quite comical.

A few remarks I heard included:​

At 5pm I arose from the driftwood beach shelter and began to pack up my supplies. Shane and Ross would meet me in 30 minutes and I wanted to get a head start on the fishing. 

I crossed my fingers that the fish I found in the morning would return to the same spot for sunset.​

By the time the guys arrived I was a mile or so to the south, in the opposite direction of Race Point. I wasn't crazy about backtracking and adding more miles to my hike, but I wanted to fish the same exact spot where the stripers had congregated that morning.

​It was a spectacular evening. Once again the seas were dead calm and the air very comfortable. The skies were clear and I soon got the feeling I was in for a much cooler night.

The bait was in thick too. Peanut bunker lined the beachfront from sandbar to sandbar. Thousands of the small bait fish flicked and flapped on the ocean's glass calm surface, yet there were no stripers anywhere.

The seals were present again, this time in greater numbers than before. I figured the seals did not help my cause but I tried to not get discouraged. Soon Shane and Ross arrived and we got to work filming.​

They look "rough and tough" in this photo but Shane and Ross are actually two of the nicest and happiest individuals I have ever met!

The video these guys captured is going to be a blast to watch this winter. Shane is currently editing the footage to create a film/documentary of the experience. I can't wait to check it out!

To my dismay the fish did not show up. However I still held out hope for the night cap. I had 8 more miles of hiking and fishing ahead of me. The bait was here. I just needed the fish to cooperate.

Before departing on the final leg of my journey, I took a moment to check-in with the MFCC crowd...

And with that I set off to the north.

I already had a bittersweet, melancholic feeling sweeping over me. In an odd way this area of the beach by High Head in Truro had become home.

​Stay tuned for the final edition to this series, recapping the final leg of my journey, which will be published here on MFCC sometime over the next several days.