![]() ![]() By the second week of May the chances of catching big striped bass get better, due to the presence of herring, squid and other larger bait items. The bass spread out quickly, some migrating around the Cape and some moving through the canal. There is always some debate about whether the first fish that are caught are truly migratory specimens (identified by the presence of sea lice on their bodies) or holdovers that have left the estuaries but in any case, the striped bass season has begun.īeginning in early May things happen quickly as both stripers and often, early bluefish arrive on a daily basis. When the first stripers do show – usually out at Martha’s Vineyard but a few days later along the beaches of Mashpee and down toward Hyannis – the word gets out quickly and by the end of April you will notice fishing rods on top of many a car and truck on the Upper Cape. Even farther back, anglers regularly took cod from the Outer Cape beaches and even in the Cape Cod Canal and every year a few hardy souls go in search of them these days, but no reliable reports ever seem to come from those expeditions.Ī couple off shore “head boats” go out to George’s Bank all winter long from Hyannis and nearby Plymouth for cod and haddock and if you think you can put up with bone chilling wind, long rides through potentially rough seas and the physical labor involved with using heavy bottom fishing gear in deep water you may be rewarded with delicious, fresh fish. Many years ago there was a viable fishery for winter flounder and smelt in the salt ponds and harbors in March but sadly, those fish have all but disappeared. But some years there will be virtually none. Some years certain places such as Scorton Creek in Sandwich and upper Barnstable Harbor hold quite a few and while very few is any are of legal size the possibility of hooking up for the first time since the previous fall can be irresistible. ![]() How many holdovers may be around is highly variable. Any stripers they encounter will most likely be “holdovers” – small fish that did not migrate and spent the winter well inside those estuaries, salt ponds or harbors. Although the first migrating striped bass don’t usually show up along the south-facing beaches until the middle or end of April, local anglers will start hitting the estuaries in search of fish as early as late March or even earlier if the weather has been unseasonably warm. ![]()
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