Fishing the Cape Cod Canal
Fishing the Cape from Spring to Fall allows the surfcaster many opportunities to connect with quality fish. The Spring push of Striped Bass in Buzzards Bay is arguably one of the most exciting Spring runs on the East Coast. While the Fall run of fish heading South has been extremely reliable, the last few Springs has had an exceptional turn out.
The Surf Fishing in Cape Cod Canal is pretty reliable and I'll share what took me a long time to figure out. If you want to catch fish and get a shot at big fish in the canal make sure that you understand the tides in the canal and try to plan your trip around a slack tide at sunrise. This allows for explosive top water action and the ability to fish plugs other than heavy jigs as the tide slows down .If you can fish the last hour of moving water and then another hour into moving water ,you'll experience what makes the Spring run so special . I like to fish the flood in the Spring because it brings with it warmer water from Buzzards Bay. Conversely I like the ebb tide later in the season when cold, clean water is pushed through the canal from the deeper and colder Cape Cod Bay .
Knowing the tide direction and tide times will make you a better angler and save you a tremendous amount of time and energy and will put more fish at your feet. Theuse of Google Earth to investigate the area you want to fish is invaluable to find points and deep water in near shore areas that you would otherwise never see. It will also allow you to find access areas and understand why your sucessful in certain aareas and adds to your database to an make you a better angler.
To fish Buzzards Bay and the Cape Cod Canal, you want to fish at least a 10' medium action graphite rod with a Van Staal VS250 or vs 275 reel The model you choose should be able to handle bucktails up to 4ozs and withstand leaning into 3 oz pencil poppers. The VS 250 & 275 have the largest stainless steel gears in the world and are completely sealed and water proof to eliminate maintenance and also has our patented water proof sealed drag. When you need the cranking power fishing big plugs and heavy bucktails, there's nothing like a to make fishing effortless and more enjoyable. Make sure you line up with at least 50lb braided line and 50lb flourocarbon leader. You will need to show up with some pencill poppers, bottle darter and stick shads with good split rings and VMC hooks to insure you hang onto what you hook. Remember, the Striped Bus fishery is FINITE and we all have a responsibility to that these fish with respect and practice catch and release when possible.