It has been a good week for striped bass fishing around Cape Cod; in my experience, a slow week, but a good week, nonetheless.
There are schools of small “diaper stripers” moving into a lot fo the rivers, while the larger fish—some pushing 35+ inches—seem to be hanging around in areas with heavy current. At night, the bass are actively feeding in the backwaters, the inlets and even out front on spearing, squid, herring, bunker and this week: cinder worms.
If you’re trying to get in on the cinder worm action, stay in the backwaters. The muddy bottoms of the rivers and salt ponds are already seeing cinder worm spawns as of Wednesday. My friend Ryan (@saving_private_ryan) got into a couple bass on the cinder worm bite, one measuring 32 inches. He caught those fish on a small original RonZ in pink and on a Rebel Jumpin’ Minnow. The bass will hit those lures with aggression, but last year, they seemed to wisen up to the spook after landing a few fish. I will be targeting “worm hatch” stripers with a casting egg, cinder worm flies, red shad darts and possibly my fly rod; I am still on the hunt for my first fly-caught striper, and this seems like the week to do it.
But, before the worms began to spawn, the bright moon this week has had the bass honed in on white artificial lures. All white everything.
I noticed small silvery-white spearing hovering in the back bays, sandy-white killies hugging the bottom, and even some squid around the inlets at night. When I went out earlier in the week and my normal incoming-tide spot didn’t produce, I moved ewlsewhere to find fish with my friend Jack.
Jack tied into a few good fish on white paddletails in heavy current. I got absolutely smoked by a good fish while jigging a 1-ounce, white Dead Reckoning bucktail in the deepest part of the incoming current; I’m not sure how, but after an incredibly aggressive strike and subsequent drag-peeling run, it popped off in a matter of 5 seconds. Weird. I’m still pondering how I dropped that fish with such a large single hook.
The tide slowed, and Jack and I moved to a different location. This time we were fishing the ebb tide, and almost immediately, the bass were taking interest in white Storm shads.
After a couple catches, the bass wisened up to the Storm shads. I clipped on a 1-ounce white Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnow, and after making my cast and reeling down on the slack, this near-slot bass annihilated the floating minnow plug on the pause.
As much as I love the stealth and suspense of creeping in the backwaters late at night, these aren’t the only places you’ll find slot fish this week. The Cape Cod Canal is seeing more life each day, and the bass there are especially active during the low-light hours around pre-dawn and dusk.
From the Ditch, East End Eddie Doherty reports:
“Some surfcasters have found early success on the Canal. Legendary Canal Rat Bob “Bull’ MacKinnon of Plymouth saw a 25 pound striper landed with a Spook, a 27 pounder that fell for a Magic Swimmer and got into some top water action himself when he reeled in a 15 pounder. Experienced angler Kenny Nevens of Sagamore Beach has caught 10 slots so far including a 34 ½ inch that was fooled by his bone-colored Daiwa SP Minnow. ASMFC just voted to reduce the definition of a slot to 28 – 31 inches. The upcoming early afternoon full moon starts off the weekend with breaking tides so keep your lines tight and your hooks sharp!”
Connor at Red Top Sporting Goods in Buzzards Bay reports:
“There are plenty of fish to be caught and many of them are schoolie and slot bass, but there are big fish pushing 40+ inches that are following the herring and bunker schools around Buzzards Bay. One of our employees, Bull, saw a near 25-pounder landed on a spook in the Ditch this week, which was a surprise for all parties who witnessed it. And while the Canal is full of big baitfish, the back bays and rivers are seeing activity on smaller bait like silversides. There’s a lot of activity right now, and while it can be tough to decide where to focus your efforts, the full moon tides should push even more bait and bass into our area this weekend, bringing more action to both the Canal and the quiet estuaries nearby.”
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Want to get in on the bite? Find an OTW-approved Charter Fishing Captain around Cape Cod and the Islands!
Evan at Eastman’s Sport and Tackle in Falmouth reports:
“I’ve been catching schoolies from shore in the salt ponds mostly, but I’m going out for stripers in my boat this weekend to investigate the rips with all these squid and herring around. Right now, all the south facing beaches are fishing well. I had a customer in just now who said there are so many herring around it’s silly, and the bass are all over them but they aren’t hitting topwater. The best bet is throwing a blue and white or blue and silver paddletail like the RonZ Z-fin to imitate the large profile and colors of herring.For tog, we still have plenty of green crabs and they’re biting well on those, but I have seaworms in stock too. Also just got a fresh shipment of local squid and mackerel and will have pogies and clams in the next couple days. Spring fishing is taking off, so swing by for your bait and tackle needs.”
Sports Port Bait and Tackle in Hyannis reports:
“I went out yesterday and there was lots of bait around the Vineyard Sound beaches. Our customers are catching fish but everyone has been tight-lipped which means the striper fishing has been good! Squidding is also great this week, the fleet is out in the Vineyard Sound doing well, and we’re still selling a lot of green crabs for tautog. With the full moon tides this weekend combined with otherwise calm conditions, I think it’s going to be a great weekend of fishing, no matter what your target species may be. ”
Canal Bait and Tackle in Sagamore reports:
“Fishing has been pretty good this week. We’re seeing some nice tautog being caught in the Canal, which has been pretty consistent. There are bass from the West end to the East end biting on everything from topwaters to minnow plugs, and the main bait they’re on right now is herring, they came in from the bay last week and it’s been steady action ever since.”
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Want to get in on the bite? Find an OTW-approved Charter Fishing Captain around Cape Cod and the Islands!
Cape Cod Charter Guys reports:
“We caught some big over slots and slot sized bass mixed in with a whole lot of schoolies this week. We were out today (Thursday) in the rain and wind the whole time, but had some great fishing all to ourselves. We caught most of the bass on topwater using Game On X-Walks and when they were down low, we jigged them up with Game On Duratech Pro Tails. Huge shoutout to Game On we really love fishing their stuff, it never fails! We’ll be back on the water today, tomorrow and the day after, but we have some availability coming up. Give us a call or reserve online, the fishing has been great and keeps getting better!”
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Cape Cod Fishing Forecast
In case you missed it, the ASMFC put forth an emergency action to help rebuild the striped bass stock by 2029. The striped bass slot limit has changed: coast-wide, a keeper striped bass must now measure between 28 and 31 inches. The slot change I based on data that suggests the 2015 year class—which was the last strong spawning class we’ve seen—measure somewhere around 31 to 35-inches. By removing those 4 inches from the slot, the 2015 year class should be better protected and have a higher likelihood of successful spawning for years to come. This change will make things tough for the anglers looking to go out and keep a fish for the table, and for the recreational charter boats; but everyone wants the same thing… more fish in the water. That’s exactly what this slot change was designed to do.
This weekend, be on the lookout for cinder worm spawns in the backwaters. Fly guys rejoice, this is probably one of the best opportunities all season to stick a bass pushing 40 inches on the fly. I know I’ll be out there with the 9 wt. rigged and ready at a moments notice, but I’ll also be equipped with a casting egg and fly (or lightweight shad dart) to cheat the system with a spinning rod if the bass ignore flies on account of my novice fly-casting abilities.
Squid are in thick around Hyannis and have even spread out across the Vineyard Sound side of Cape Cod quite a bit. White and pink are good lure colors to keep on hand to mimic the squid, and light blue/silver plugs or swim shads will also be effective when there are herring present.
Tautog fishing is still good, though the near-shore bite has died off just a little bit. Targeting tog with crab-baited jigs or rigs in slightly deeper water, around 20 feet or more, should yield some keepers. Buzzards Bay and the Elizabeth Islands are the best bet for keepers. Make sure you bring some striper gear along with you as there could be some topwater activity this weekend as the full moon tides bring in more bait and migratory fish.
Additionally, the last round of trout stocking in Southeastern Massachusetts was completed this week, so there is still some good action in the freshwater ponds, especially in the morning hours. Kastmasters and spinners will be your best friends on the kettle ponds this weekend.
We want to hear from you! If you’d like to contribute to our fishing reports, reach out to me via email (mhaeffner@onthewater.com) or via Instagram (@hefftyfishing) with a sentence or two reporting your experience on the water, along with any fish photos related to your report.
ii hope that means the commercial striper season is closed also