First time going Surfcasting!

[yank286]

Hey everyone, im new to this site and i hope you guys can help me out. My dad and i are going to Cape Cod the second week in August. We just bought 2 new Penn 9-foot rods, and 2 new Penn reels with 250yrds of 15lb. line on them, we also have a couple 6-ft. medium action rods with 8lb line that we are taking. We would like to know what kind of bait/lures to use, where to go and when. Like i said its our first time surfcasting and we are actually taking my younger cousin who is 12, fishing for the very first time ever of any kind! (yeah, he has been deprived!!) All we want to do is have a good time and hopefully hook into a stripper, a blue would be just as good (those two are what we are mainly shooting for), or if theres anything else you guys think we can catch let me know please!

[tacoma]

Can't help ya but welcome aboard...there are plenty of people on this site with tons of info...you'll get some suggestions!

[YOTE BUSTER]

Wecome aboard

[Fishstory]

Welcome, and although I'm not super familiar with Cape Cod fishing from shore. the few times I have been there I've done pretty well. Talk to tackle shop owners and they will point you in the right direction. I was at the Cape Years ago with my wife who had never caught a fish, at night we went to the shore " not sure were it was, but it was a rock jetti" I put squid on her pole and she was catching sand sharks up to 4 feet all night, and they fight really good. She also caught stripers and blues on squid along with rays and other wierd fish. I stuck with plugs and didn't do very well.....I was out fished that night....


Good Luck

[JayW]

Welcome to the site. (sorry i copy and pasted but i didnt want to rewrite this) I just came back from the Cape from a whole week of surffishing a week ago. The Sound has very little to offer striper wise but blues are another story. Any of the harbors in Harwich, Dennis and even Chatham will get you many blues. They are just about everywhere. Granit they are smaller in size but you will catch a lot on anything shiny or chunked bait. I went to Nauset didnt catch anything but a buddy of mine caught 2 stripers. Light tackle will work with anything shiny even during the day I saw a few stripers caught however night is better since the fish wont get spooked as much. The canal is always decent for fishing so that could be an option. Im sure you will do just fine. The tackle shop owners are very friendly and will put you on the fish. Good luck and hope to hear some reports from you. (PM me for a few spots. I can tell you some more spots)

[knotreelly]

hey yank, welcome. i like the canal , a slider set up works best, this is were you use a 3 or 4 ounce weight above a swivel or three way that stops the weight from going down to the hook but once it settled in the water a striper can take the bait and run with out feeling the weight with your drag loose or with the reels clicker on. casting plugs in the morning at day break is awsome especially if the tide is turning at that time. the flow of the canal stops and turns every 6 hrs and starts to go the opposite way for another 6 hrs. the end of the tide is the strongest current thats why i use 4 ounce weights. night time in the canal with eels using rubber core twist on weights. herring run, aptuxet, coal yard, mass maritime academy are easy spots to fish, at low tide look for structure where the current will hit the boulder or structure sticking out into the canal will cause a little rip were stripers will lie and wait.

[yank286]

hey i just wanna say thanks for all the information guys! I work at a liquor store in Springfield, and i talked to one of our wine salesmen who used to live on the Cape and did alot of fishing, and he told me the canal is a good place along with a place near Seagull beach. I will definitly let you know hos it goes when i come back.

[JayW]

Seagull Beach is in Yarmouth so I assume he might be talking about Bass River which isnt that far away either. There is a jetty and fish pier there.

[knotreelly]

bass river is an excellent place to fish, caught many blues casting metal at the end of the rocks, if thats the area your in try it, but be careful about the bridge, i believe it's posted and the fisherman and some towns people are trying to get that changed, good luck. keep bait in the water, they will come.

[swedejr]

Bass river bridge should still be open to fishing, but if you are going after bass or blues, try boaters beach at the end of West Dennis beach( its the little spit of land jutting out into bass river). Try Slug-gos, plugs, or chunk bait in the evening hours after the boat traffic dies down.....

[fisher16]

Where are you staying on the Cape? All the suggestions that are listed is good info. But if you narrow it down a little I might be able to help a little more.

Welcome to the site, and hope to see some of those pics of big stripers on the beach. Good luck.

[yank286]

Hey fisher, we're leaving Sunday the 6th. I'm goin with the family to West Yarmouth, but taking my car as well so my dad and I can go anywhere on the Cape to get into the fish. Thanks for all the help, everyone here seems very knowledgeable about thier fishing, I am learning alot and looking forward to hopefully share some good fish stories.

P.S.- I'll definitly have some pictures even if we don't catch anything, but with a little luck I can hook into at least one lol.

[Fishstory]

Yank hope this Pumps you UP!!!!


Heres some info from another site!

Part 2:
We headed back out around 7:00pm with my buddy Ronny to make the trek down to the back beaches of the Cape. We figured it was time the Browns and Dusky sharks should be in their summer residences. We took a mini trip last week to no avail but the weather wasn't in our favor that night. We knew the sharks might not be there but it is still fun to sit on a cooler of beer around a fire and shoot the shit with good friends. It didn't take long before we had action on the first rod out there but we knew it wasn't a shark. Ronny grabed the rod and and reeled in a decent blue which was his first New England saltwater fish of the year. I didn't know if this was a bad thing or not as sharks do follow the blues around to eat but the smaller fish sometimes aren't around when the sharks are present. We rebaited the rod and sent it back out. A few minutes later we were sitting around the fire again and I was still pondering if the fish were there when the same rod goes off. When I say this rod went off it went off almost doubling over, tip to ground. We ran over and gave the rod to Ronny and just waited for this fish to slow down to turn the baitrunner over. The fish finally just dropped the bait but we were pumped. We knew that was a shark and they were back. A few minutes later the same rod goes off again and we run back to it. Ronny turns it over and the fish was hooked. This fish kept running. While Ronny was getting abused by this shark I was tightening the drag so we wouldn' get spooled and I have never seen anything like this. I had a 4500 with the drag tightened as tight as it could be and this fish looked like we hooked into a motor boat. Finally with the drag as tight as it could be the shark actually bit through 120# steel. I hadn't seen that happen before. I have no idea how big this fish was but Ronny is now hooked into shark fishing. He fought it for a good ten minutes and gained zero line back and was deep into the backing when she bit off. For the next few hours we had pretty steady action but we were rusty and couldn't get the job done. Lots of miss hooks and snapped lines. Finally I broke the ice and was locked into a nice fish. She gave me a good fight with solid runs but I could work her to a certain extent. I fought her for around 20 minutes or so and finally she was close. Eric runs in the water and grabs her tail and runs her in. A dangerous sport at times <!--emo&:D-->http://www.newenglandfishing.net/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif<!--endemo--> . The fish was as big as me and although it is tough to give an actual weight I would say she is around 85# to 90#'s. The action died from there and we took off, but I know what I will be doing once a week from here on out. I have some nice pics from the day including Kevin's pig and will post them soon. Enjoy.

http://photos.maanglers.com/albums/userpics/10019/post-3-1153849459.jpg



This was also posted by someone looking for info on fishing the cape, this was the response!!!

OK - you've got a week, so I would try a little bit of everything.

To start with, I would fish the area from Chatham Light down to South Beach/Morris Island on a low tide in the middle of the day. Look for the channel, cuts, and holes. While you're there, you can try sight fishing for stripers with sand eel patterns on the incoming. (I like slugo-gos on light jigheads). Pay attention to parking restrictions and come back at night with some fresh sandeels or clams to fish in the structure you found during the day (preferably near high tide).

One other idea to try is the Rip Ryder shuttle service to Monomoy. I think it's $15. Monomoy has been fishing well lately according to the local reports. Again, the fish will be on sand eels and the water is usually clear (light line, fluoro leaders). Bring some wire in case the blues show up, too. Watch out for the seals and poison ivy (on shore). Most of the guys fishing out there will be flyfishing, but if there's a decent wind - you'll have the advantage with surf gear.

[fisher16]

Man fish you took the words right out of my mouth concerning.

Look for the channel, cuts, and holes. While you're there, you can try sight fishing for stripers with sand eel patterns on the incoming. (I like slugo-gos on light jigheads). Pay attention to parking restrictions and come back at night with some fresh sandeels or clams to fish in the structure you found during the day (preferably near high tide).

One other idea to try is the Rip Ryder shuttle service to Monomoy. I think it's $15. Monomoy has been fishing well lately according to the local reports. Again, the fish will be on sand eels and the water is usually clear (light line, fluoro leaders). Bring some wire in case the blues show up, too. Watch out for the seals and poison ivy (on shore). Most of the guys fishing out there will be flyfishing, but if there's a decent wind - you'll have the advantage with surf gear.<!-- / message --><!-- edit note -->

Good luck, and enjoy your stay the week flies rather quickly. You forgot to mention the GW Sharks as well. Keep an eye out for them the seals running to the shoreline. Thats another thing that I've heard through the grapevine never new about it till just this past year.