Cape Cod Bay, MA Fishing Report

NY Crew Gets In On Cape Cod Bay Night Time Bass Bite

So far this September has been an exact repeat of the September of 2010.

A year ago last night I had a crew from Missouri catch 30-40 keeper striped bass with the largest tipping the scales at 37.5 pounds. These were by far the biggest bass of their lives, and according to them, the best fishing trip they had ever been on!

September 17 must be a magical date because last night was even better than that awesome trip one year ago. Dave, Rob, Chaz and Flick drove 6 hours from upstate New York to Sandwich yesterday hoping to catch something a bit bigger than the schoolies and small keepers they’ve had success with over the past few years. These guys were dedicated outdoorsmen, who have made the long trip to the Cape numerous times already this year to fish the Cape Cod Canal and the Bay beachfront.

They’ve also successfully hunted deer, elk and bear and have fished for bass, walleye, pike and the occasional muskie. So needless to say, I knew I didn’t have to worry about them complaining about it being a little cold at night on the water!

Conditions were picture perfect yesterday evening. Clear skies and a slight breeze from the east had my hopes pretty high that we would again find fish pushing bait up shallow under the cover of darkness. Like usual, it took a little searching around to find the bass, but once we found them, they were more than willing to chow down on our live eels.

Unfortunately, I forgot the eel net! Have you ever tried removing eels from a live well using your bare hands? I won’t be forgetting the net again anytime soon!

Dave was the first hookup with one of the nice bass that paved the bottom beneath the boat. This fish had some nice shoulders and peeled a fair amount of line. Dave was breathing hard, as we all anxiously awaited a glance at the fish. There’s a lot of pressure to get that first one in the boat when you have driven 6 hours to go fishing!

Dave did a fine job and within a few minutes we had the first fish of the night, a healthy 20 pounder, flopping around on the deck. Great start!

For the next two hours we moved up and down the beach, stopping every so often to pitch eels at the random piles of fish that were holding in 20 feet of water. Everyone boated some nice bass and before we knew it, we were up to 11 keepers ranging from 15-30 pounds. The guys were thrilled and so was I.

At around 10pm we entered a little lull in the action, so I decided to check in a little tighter to the beach. Before I knew it, I found myself in the exact same spot I was in one year ago during that epic trip with the boys from Missouri. To my astonishment the sonar screen lit up with bass. The fish had pushed up onto the sandbar again, as they did during the night of September 17, 2010.

I had just started a sandwich and was on the phone with my girlfriend when I heard one of the guy’s drags screaming. “I’ll call you right back!” I said to Lauren. Little did I know it would be 45 minutes until I finally had a chance to pick up the phone!

The bass were everywhere! All the guys began hooking up-at the same time! Doubles and triples were the name of the game. We all did a nice little dance around the boat for a while. These fish were bigger as well, with the average around 25 pounds, with quite a few over the 30 pound mark.

And then Chaz hooked up. Right off the bat he knew it was a big fish, and he had no problem letting everyone know about it! The bass was putting a real good bend in his rod and taking a lot of line. After a very lengthy battle Chaz eased the bass in towards the boat.



“Holy crap” I said to myself as I reached down to grab the massive fish. This was a very nice bass with an enormous mouth, head and stomach. She had been feeding well and was stuffed with bait. We all looked in awe at the massive bass, which was by far the biggest striper any of these guys have seen first hand. She weighed in at an impressive 42 pounds even-awesome fish!

The blitz continued right up into 11 feet of water. I’d imagine that some of these bass were in even tighter to the sand. Anyone fishing from shore last night in this area would have had a great chance at some incredible bass. I may even make the trek to this area tonight if the weather conditions aren’t too bad, and see if I can hook up casting from the beach.

We continued fishing until around 12:30am when the guys decided to call it quits. Being the true sportsmen they are, they made the decision to not risk hurting any more of these big bass. Final tally was somewhere between 25 and 30 stripers, ranging from 15-42 pounds. Everyone caught the biggest bass of their lives. I later got an email stating, “best fishing trip of my life!” You can’t beat that.



Last night was incredible, and certainly the exception and not the rule.

However if the stars align, and weather conditions are in your favor, the potential to have a trip like last night’s is not out of the question. It’s tough to beat fall fishing on Cape Cod Bay, and if you put your time in, are patient, and never give up, then you will eventually be rewarded by a trip like last night’s.

Big thanks again to the Adirondak Fishing Crew. Glad you guys made the long trek back home safely.

Best of luck to anyone heading out onto the water this week. Tight lines!

Ryan

• Added By: misslorettafishing on 09/19/11 10:26 AM
• Location: Cape Cod Bay, MA
• Report Date: 9/17/2011
• # of Photos: 3
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