Fly Fishing Travel Articles

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 truly cash in on great canal fishing, an angler ought to be at the canal when a large biomass of bass moves into the land cut.

Unfortunately it is inherently complicated to calculate when this will occur. However it will help to stay updated on Vineyard Sound and Buzzards Bay fishing reports. Stories of huge schools of surface feeding striped bass in Buzzards Bay will usually trickle in a few days, to a week, before a canal blitz.

These stripers are on a northward migration pattern that often brings them directly through the Cape Cod Canal – in contrast to the longer path around the arm of Cape Cod. At this time of the year the canal is full of herring, mackerel, and whiting as well as a plethora of other prey items. The canal effortlessly sets the stage for a world class fishing opportunity.

Top-notch fishing seems to occur in phases as biomasses of striped 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. A phase of slower fishing develops, before the next large push of bass happens 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 Bass Action

The top water bite at the canal can be downright nutty during the spring. To put it simply 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 every angler will take advantage of the excellent top water action during spring at the canal. Very long casts in excess of 200 feet are usually needed to reach breaking bass.

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 several occasions last season, canal anglers witnessed schoolie bass feeding aggressively on small prey items at the crack of dawn. All efforts to hook these bass went unrewarded as it was nearly impossible to reach these breaking stripers with a plug that matched the small stature of the bait these schoolie stripers were feeding on.

However as the morning and tide progressed, the smaller prey items were replaced by much larger mackerel. Larger bass replaced the schoolies, and everyone began hooking up. Things change rapidly this time of the year at the canal.

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There are numerous variations of kites in the marketplace. Some which fly with relative ease, and others which prove more difficult to get a handle on. We have had success using Boston Big Game kites, along with Power Chute and Mega Mouth fishing kites. Obviously kites need wind to operate, and the more breeze there is, the easier it will be to get your kite flying high. However, making a few modest adjustments in gear can result in a big difference in how well your kite will perform in blustery, along with calm conditions.

Utilizing a kite reel packed with 100 pound braided line has a few distinct advantages over a reel loaded with dacron. Braided line isn’t going to allow any stretch, whilst providing more line strength with less line diameter. Basically this means that the kite connected to braid will lift less weight compared to the kite connected to dacron. The extra strength supplied by braid will even help ward against breaking off a kite in gusty conditions.

Loading your 50, 80 or 130 class reel with braided line can help to make kite fishing more potent and efficient. A reel packed with 2oo pound dacron can still be fished with a kite, however the bulky dacron (when compared to the thin diameter of braid) can make it trickier to fish with a kite during light and variable wind conditions.

When we first began fishing kites we employed simple, run of the mill kite clips. Now, with a year of experience under our belts, we found that using kite clips with rollers makes life easier. The rollers enable the main line coming from our 80 and 130 class reels to slip very easily through the clips with less resistance. This helps keep our baits positioned happily on the water’s surface, rather than dangling in mid air-due to the friction produced by non-roller kite clips.

Employing an elastic bridle to rig live baits will help to decrease the amount of damage to the bait. This is very important because live pogies, mackerel and bluefish quite often require a considerable amount of time and energy to acquire. It is important to keep the baits alive and frisky. As a substitute for traditionally hooking a bait through the top of the back or through the snout, a bridle enables an elastic to be threaded through the bait-much like stitches through skin. This way the opening pierced through the bait is significantly smaller than that created by traditionally hooking the bait. The bait will swim long and with more vigor due to this small alteration in technique.

Braided drop lines ought to be part of an angler’s kite fishing arsenal. Drop lines run from the ball bearing swivels, that are spaced throughout the kite reel’s braided line, down towards the ocean’s surface. The length of these lines will vary depending on wind conditions. Attach a roller kite clip to the tag end of the drop line. Your main running line will run through the roller kite clip. Drop lines allow your main line to remain closer to the water’s surface, instead of towering high in the sky.

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Saltwater sport fishing is one of the most exciting activities a person can participate in on the water. When fishing for big game in the open ocean a well-built, sturdy boat should be high on your list of priorities. Center console style boats are well-known for their durability and seaworthiness and are an excellent choice for the saltwater fisherman.

One of the newer companies on the market that builds quality center console fishing boats is Ocean Master. Making it’s home in Florida, the company was founded a little over 30 years ago by Mark Hauptner and has been run by him ever since. Mark hold 14 world records and 6 national championships in power performance boat racing – the man clearly knows his stuff!

Ocean Master bases their business on quality instead of quantity. They don’t churn out hundreds of boats per year. Their boats are made of 20 layers of hand-laid fiberglass resulting in an incomparably solid hull that can literally stop a bullet – yes, they tested it for that! They offer a myriad of engine rigging combinations consisting of 2 or 4 stroke engines, single, twin or triple outboards, diesel inboards or diesel I/O configurations.

Their center consoles are available from 18 to 34 feet and can be customized with an almost endless list of engine configurations in gas or diesel. You can also have your choice of options up top – anything from simple t-tops to a fully custom tuna or marlin tower. The only limit is you imagination.

One of the older companies in the ocean-going center console boat building business is Grady-White Boats. They have been around for over 50 years and have earned a legendary reputation among boaters worldwide. The company was founded in 1959 and has changed hands only once throughout it’s existence when Eddie Smith took it over in 1968.

Grady White Boats has made it a practice to listen to the needs of boaters and provide exactly what is desired through close relationships with their customers and dealerships. Their attention to specific details has earned them the highest possible ranking in every third party study in its category ever done in the marine industry.

Grady-White offers center console boats ranging in size from 18 to 36 feet, every one of them built to the highest standards of safety, durability and ride-comfort in the industry. Their exclusive SeaV2 hull design creates what is considered the best ride in boating.

Whether you decide to go with a fully customized new boat built to your specifications or you are searching for one that is already built with the options you want in the pre-owned market, make sure you go with a reputable company. The sooner you start your quest for the perfect center console, the sooner you’ll be on your quest for your perfect trophy marlin.

Visit Marinesource.com for a large selection of saltwater fishing boats. Whether you are looking for new or used boats MarineSource has what you need.