Cape Cod Fishing Report
By: Capt. Hap Farrell
07/07/11
4th of July Striped Bass Blitz

Since I've been fishing out of Rock Harbor I've heard the the famous 4th of July blitz of striped bass or bluefish that happens on this weekend. To be truthful, I've never seen what has been discribed to me. That is, seeing big stripers crowed in on Billingsgate Shoals and go nuts. When you can troll through this area and hook up on this big majestic fish with ease, knowing you'll be landing a nice big fish. As we looked forward to this last 4th week end we all hoped this would really happens. Well, it didn't.

The bluefish have finally arrived up in the South Sunken Meadow area. They are not there all the time, but it's worth going up there and checking it out. When they are, it is gang busters and these fish are not small. Right now red and orange hootchies or most any swimming plug will work well. With the swimming plug on mono troll it around 4 1/2 to 5 knots and with the hootchies just under 6 knots will be the most productive. No one has looked up in the area around the Path or the shallow water along the Welfleet/Truro line, but these large bluefish may be there also.

Each year the stripers seem to pick a spot where you are most likely to find them and a method that seems to work the best. Right now there seems to be two spots like this. I'm not talking about P-town. That area will always be a good spot like the Bath House area, Race Point, and between Wood End and Long Point are those areas. The two areas down closer to Rock Harbor and Sesuit would be the West End of Billingsgate Shoals and the deep water off the north edge. This area in the deep water is called "The Square".

Jigging in the deep water can be a real hassle. You have to use really long wire to jig in 50 feet of water. We put 450 feet of wire on with a good sized reel with plenty of backing on a fairly stiff rod. The fish are usually spread out and you have to be marking them on the bottom with a good fish finder. Lately, we've found schools of bass out in this deep water and they will not take umbrella rigs or any other lure system other than the jig. Hopefully, this will change. It takes a long time to reel in 450 feet of wire, especially with a 35 inch striper on the other end.

I had Jen Franzen, who manages Cloud Nine Video Rentals in the Olreans Market Place, out fishing with a friend of hers, Nate. They both landed a number of striped bass with more the six being legal sized to keep. They kept the four largest and released the others. We started out on the west end of Billingsgate Shoal taking one keeper size bass there. Then we went out to the deep water off the shoals and landed 5 more good size bass. Than came back to the west end and hooked up of more fish. We kept these two new anglers fairly busy. The will sleep good when they back to their homes. It may not have been a fourth of July blitz, but it was still very good fishing.

If you want to get in on this good fishing call me at: 508-240-8267 or 508-255-6211.