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I recently returned from the Cape Cod, USA following an amazing holiday with the family.
While I didn't get as much fishing in as I had hoped due to needing to keep the wife and kids entertained (none of them fishes and they all think I'm nuts :mrgreen: ), I still managed a few awesome early morning sessions though, resulting in my first ever stripers and bluefish.
We stayed near the legendary Cape Cod canal which is an 8 mile saltwater shipping passage that intersects the cape and has a fierce current.
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After some research on the net, I pitched up at 6am at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy (a bit like the US equivalent of Dartmouth Naval college) and found squads of trainee US Navy officers marching up and down chanting about kicking Bin Ladens ass :???:. It was a bit weird but I noticed some other guys fishing and decided to give it a go.
I was a bit clueless tbh but decided to go for a Blue Maria Chase SW which has never done much back home, but as I heard there was a lot of herring about I felt it was the closest match I had. I didn't have to wait long and watched as a fish followed the lure into the shallows and hit it about 6ft from the rod tip with a huge crash followed by run of about 20yards.
It wasn't a huge fish but I was shaking with excitement at the possibility of my 1st striper! It felt identical to the fight of our bass and after lot of splashing I beached it. It was 20inches which equals about 4lb on the striper Weight/length chart.
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I was chuffed to bits and had achieved what I came for, after about 20minutes!
About an hour later I got hit by another fish - this time the fight was brutal and I thought I had a real beast on until it leapt clean out of the water and I realised it was a similar size to the last one. It was truely the hardest fighting fish I had ever encountered and once I got it in I realised it was not a bass but a bluefish - an evil looking, yet strangely beautiful killing machine complete with razor sharp teeth (apparently they will snap if you put your fingers near there mouth!).
Luckily for me, this one was hooked outside the mouth but I still took no chances!
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That was it for my 1st session; my next session resulted in a similar sized striper but I had to give up due to the approaching thunderstorm :-o
I had another few smaller stripers from another mark on the south coast and lost a fish I literally couldn't stop. It eventually threw the hook as I applied maximum pressure as I had hardly any braid left on the spool! I was fishing 25lb braid straight through.
I had a few more trips to the canal. 1 blank (well - you can't win them all!).
On my last day I watched a huge shoal of macks moving up the current towards me and noticed every now and then the large shapes of the bass ploughing into them. I decided to put on a mackerel coloured Daiwa SP minnow (at $9 you cant go wrong!) and was eventually rewarded with a fierce hit and hard fight. The fish eventually weeded itself and it took me a good 10 minutes of manoevering to free it. It was pretty tired by the time I got it ashore but I was over the moon as it measured 26inches (about 8.5lbs on the chart) and very chubby:
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I also had another hard fighting bluefish shortly after.
Unfortunately I didn't get any more fishing in but had an awesome time and I am already planning next years trip - hopefully I'll manage a double - they got to over 40lbs apparently!
While I didn't get as much fishing in as I had hoped due to needing to keep the wife and kids entertained (none of them fishes and they all think I'm nuts :mrgreen: ), I still managed a few awesome early morning sessions though, resulting in my first ever stripers and bluefish.
We stayed near the legendary Cape Cod canal which is an 8 mile saltwater shipping passage that intersects the cape and has a fierce current.
After some research on the net, I pitched up at 6am at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy (a bit like the US equivalent of Dartmouth Naval college) and found squads of trainee US Navy officers marching up and down chanting about kicking Bin Ladens ass :???:. It was a bit weird but I noticed some other guys fishing and decided to give it a go.
I was a bit clueless tbh but decided to go for a Blue Maria Chase SW which has never done much back home, but as I heard there was a lot of herring about I felt it was the closest match I had. I didn't have to wait long and watched as a fish followed the lure into the shallows and hit it about 6ft from the rod tip with a huge crash followed by run of about 20yards.
It wasn't a huge fish but I was shaking with excitement at the possibility of my 1st striper! It felt identical to the fight of our bass and after lot of splashing I beached it. It was 20inches which equals about 4lb on the striper Weight/length chart.
I was chuffed to bits and had achieved what I came for, after about 20minutes!
About an hour later I got hit by another fish - this time the fight was brutal and I thought I had a real beast on until it leapt clean out of the water and I realised it was a similar size to the last one. It was truely the hardest fighting fish I had ever encountered and once I got it in I realised it was not a bass but a bluefish - an evil looking, yet strangely beautiful killing machine complete with razor sharp teeth (apparently they will snap if you put your fingers near there mouth!).
Luckily for me, this one was hooked outside the mouth but I still took no chances!
That was it for my 1st session; my next session resulted in a similar sized striper but I had to give up due to the approaching thunderstorm :-o
I had another few smaller stripers from another mark on the south coast and lost a fish I literally couldn't stop. It eventually threw the hook as I applied maximum pressure as I had hardly any braid left on the spool! I was fishing 25lb braid straight through.
I had a few more trips to the canal. 1 blank (well - you can't win them all!).
On my last day I watched a huge shoal of macks moving up the current towards me and noticed every now and then the large shapes of the bass ploughing into them. I decided to put on a mackerel coloured Daiwa SP minnow (at $9 you cant go wrong!) and was eventually rewarded with a fierce hit and hard fight. The fish eventually weeded itself and it took me a good 10 minutes of manoevering to free it. It was pretty tired by the time I got it ashore but I was over the moon as it measured 26inches (about 8.5lbs on the chart) and very chubby:
I also had another hard fighting bluefish shortly after.
Unfortunately I didn't get any more fishing in but had an awesome time and I am already planning next years trip - hopefully I'll manage a double - they got to over 40lbs apparently!
