Fishing is unpredictable, right?
But sometimes it's not. Anglers who frequent the Cape Cod Canal may have looked at the tide charts during the ice-bound days of winter and highlighted this past week as a good possibility for great fishing. If they had, they would have been right. This past weekend and early in the week saw reports of plenty of fish 30-40 inches being landed.
What was it about last week that lit up the action? Kevin Blinkoff, of On The Water magazine, says it was a great combination of circumstances. This time of year the big fish are just arriving in our waters, on their migration from spawning areas to the south to points farther north. The Canal serves as a funnel point along this migratory route.
And then there were the tides. The seasonal arrival of fish coincided with our full moon tides, which are especially extreme. The big tides mean a lot of additional current flowing through the canal, which fish like. And, as in the case this past weekend, the big currents can also draw in large numbers of baitfish, such as mackerel. Stripers like that too.
Kevin points out we have another round of good tides coming in mid-month, from about the 16th to the 20th, with the new moon. Even if you're not a Canal fisherman, it's a great scene to check out early in the morning. It's beautiful and the character is pure Cape Cod.
Other fishing news? Bluefish have arrived (now it really is summer, right?), and the sea bass bite continues to be excellent. Good striper reports are coming from other quarters too. You'll find plenty of details in the Fishing News podcast posted above - give it a listen.
