The Cape Cod Canal is amongst the most challenging and rewarding locations along the entire East Coast of America to catch striped bass. Few places on earth provide the shore bound angler a better chance at connecting with a bass in the 40 pound range. .
The man-made land cut has generated amazing fishing the past few seasons. The spring run of large striped bass has been just as impressive, if not more impressive than the famed fall migration.
If next spring is anything similar to the spring of 2011, enormous schools of trophy size striped bass should enter the canal during the second half of May. For the serious striped bass angler, the "Big Ditch," as it's referenced by canal regulars, could very well produce several of the biggest striped bass of the year.
Timing is Everything
The canal will support a population of stripers from May through October. But to really cash in on great canal fishing, an angler has to be present at the canal when a large biomass of fish moves through the land cut.
Unfortunately it is inherently tough to forecast when this will occur. However it may help to stay up to date on Vineyard Sound and Buzzards Bay fishing reports. Reports of huge schools of surface feeding striped bass in Buzzards Bay will frequently trickle in a few days, to a week, prior to a canal blitz.
These stripers are on a northward migration trek that often times brings them directly into the Cape Cod Canal - as opposed to the longer trip around the arm of the Cape. During this time of the year the canal is stuffed with herring, mackerel, and whiting as well as a plethora of other prey items. The canal effortlessly sets the stage for a top notch fishing opportunity.
Top-notch fishing usually occurs in stages as biomasses of bass migrate through the land cut northward into Cape Cod Bay. Often time's spectacular fishing will occur for a day or two as the school migrates through the canal. A phase of slower fishing ensues, before the next large push of bass transpires a week or so later.
I remember a Thursday morning last season when anyone who could cast a plug more than 30 feet was into big bass. It did not take long for word to get out, and by the weekend the canal was stuffed with anglers. However the biomass of stripers had quickly exited the canal late Thursday/early Friday. I did not see a single striper taken that Saturday morning.
Top Water Action
The top water bite at the canal can be downright nutty during the spring. In other words there are not many places in our neck of the woods where a shore bound angler can cast surface plugs to 30 pound bass.
With that said, not everyone will take advantage of the fantastic top water action during spring at the canal. Lengthy casts of more than 200 feet will often be needed to reach breaking stripers.
Loading the tail end of an aerodynamic surface plug with weight can noticeably increase casting distance without harming the action of the plug. Using ultra thin braided line as well as the best rods and reels money can buy will surely help. However nothing can beat perfect casting technique.
Striped bass are relatively simple to fool with top water plugs when the bass are aggressive and focused in on larger prey items such as tinker mackerel. It can be a completely different predicament if the fish are focused on smaller prey such as juvenile whiting.
On numerous occasions last season, canal fishermen witnessed smaller stripers feeding aggressively on small prey items at the crack of dawn. All efforts to hook these fish went unrewarded as it was nearly impossible to reach these breaking striped bass with a plug that matched the small stature of the bait these smaller stripers were feeding on.
However as the morning and tide progressed, the smaller prey items were replaced by mackerel. Larger bass replaced the little guys, and everyone began hooking up. Things change rapidly this time of the year at the Cape Cod canal
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