Striped Bass fishing in Cape Cod Bay can be fantastic. There are many good areas to fish right off the beach, from jetties, from piers and of course from a boat. The Cape is well known for striped bass and is definitely one of the best locations to fish to striped bass. Race Point off of Provincetown is world famous for sport fishing. And there are many great charter boat captains on the Cape. We filmed a great striped bass and bluefish show called Fishguts, with Ed McDonough, Al Howard and Capt Rich Schelle onboard The Schelfish out of Plymouth. Many of the shows were from Race Point as well as Plymouth.
Another fantastic location to fish for stripers is Billingsgate Shoals off of Wellfleet. It seems on most days when you go for striped bass you will catch fish as long as you pay attention to the feed. This year looks to be a great year.
Stripers must be at least 28 inches to keep, and you can only keep two stripers of that size or larger per angler.
Another great spot for striped bass fishing in Cape Cod Bay is known as The Fingers. The Fingers can be a very lucrative spot in mid summer during the midnight tides. I prefer the black Fishguts Chum Tube Eel trolled at a slow speed of 2kts using lead core line. We have caught several fish over 40lbs in the area.
There are a number of ways to fish for Bass. You can cast bucktails, rubber eels, kastmasters or hopkins lures. The retrieve should be very slow. Of course the speed should be varied if you do not get any hits. An angler can also bottom fish for stripers. By that I mean he/she can use mackerel chunks and cast a weighted line out off the beach, pier or boat and let it sit on the bottom. Some fisherman prefer a float to keep your bait off the bottom and away from the crabs that will otherwise eat it.
Chumming also works very well with striped bass fishing in Cape Cod Bay. Chumming is done by setting out a chum slick of clams, pogie oil, mackerel chunks etc.. This can be expensive but it works. Remember not to over chum. Entice to fish to that boat but do not over feed them. After the chum slick is started, throw a live eel or float a fresh piece of bait similar to what your slick is and let it drift out with you chum. It shouldn't take that long before you're hooked up.
Some anglers swear by live eels and they do work well. There have been many books written on this quarry. I could go on and on about striped bass fishing but I can only give some of the pointers in this article.
My final tip is that the only way to catch a bass is to get out there and give it a try. You can catch striped bass from the beach, fishing piers, jetties and boats. And don't forget to get children involved in sporfishing. It gives them lasting memories and is an excellent alternative to drug abuse. And remember that if you are not going to eat the fish, practice catch and release.
See ya on the water.
Tight Lines
The Captain
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