Hey gang, this is officially my first post on this board. Just hopin to tap into your guys wealth of knowledge for those of you who fish the cape. We’ll be headin up from Erie PA(Steelhead Alley) on june 12 and we’ll be up there for the whole week. I’ll be building my own rods for the trip and was wondering what rod weights you guys like for up there. Also any suggestions on a general set up (I.E. sink tips and the like) Also some of the fly patterns you guys like for up there. I’m assuming clousers and decievers will be in the mix but any additional patterns that work well in the Cape would be greatly appreciated. I don’t know exactly where we’ll be fishing but the guy im coming up with has access to his friends boat (i think its an 18 foot skiff) for the entire week if that helps at all. Thanks Everyone
Kyle Caldwell
Hi Kyle. I live on the Cape and fish alot for stripers. You will want to bring a 9 or 10 weight - I prefer a 9, and a good reel with a disc drag. I fish hard mono leaders, 9’, down to 10 or 12 lb. tippets. 90 percent of my fishing is with an intermediatte line. If fishing from a boat in deeper water I would reccomend a full sinking density compensated line. A floating line of course for poppers and gurglers. Clousers and decievers are fine, especially chartreuse and white clousers, as well as olive and white clousers. I also like to fish the Fox flies by Jack Gartside and do well with them, but I’m the only guy I know that fishes them… Also try some Glass Minnows or white Hi-Ties. Don’t forget to tie some BIG flies in case you need to imitate Herring that fish may be keying on - 6" to 8" flies. Let us know how you do - and bring a camera! Tight lines, Alec
[url=http://www.favoriteflies.com:5e688]Favorite Flies[/url:5e688]
[url=http://www.opc.org:5e688]+[/url:5e688]
[This message has been edited by flytackle (edited 03 May 2006).]
I second flytackle’s gear recomendation and also suggest some type of sand eel pattern if fishing a sandy bottom, chatruese, olive, yellow, and white in any combination seem to work best.
Who has time for stress when there are fish to catch.
Nick
What they said! An 8 wt. is a little light, but works well with the schoolies. For flies I also use a Ray’s Fly
[url=http://www.stripermoon.com/flyarch/arc1.html:b2da4]http://www.stripermoon.com/flyarch/arc1.html[/url:b2da4]
for the pattern. Works well.
jed
CD78,
I’ll be on my marathon striper quest the same time you are there. A regular trip for about 10 years now.
Clousers and sparse decievers are good imitations of sand eels. You might also want to bring some sand eel flys. While you’re at it some flys that imitate sand eels are a good idea.
Flat wings, blondes, surf candies are all good sand eel imitations
This [url=http://www.onthewater.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=OTW&Product_Code=BGCC&Category_Code=B:567d6]book[/url:567d6] is a good guide for boaters.
The same company also has a Cape shore guide.
Flytackle, I’m a fan of Jack’s but I’m not familiar with his fox flys
Can you fill us in?
Friends don’t let friends drive gas hogs
[This message has been edited by dudley (edited 03 May 2006).]
Here’s one tied with Silver Fox. Make sure you keep the underfur in for bulk. It’s essentally a deceiver style fly tied with Fox - an excellent natural material with lots of movement in the water and very durable. This is a darker example - you might want to use lighter fur for the underside. Cheers - Alec
Hey FT,
That is fox tail right?
Who has time for stress when there are fish to catch.
Nick
Sorry… yes indeed that’s foxtail - silver fox. I also use red fox and have tied some with arctic fox as well - all excellent. The body fur is suitable as well, but only for smaller flies since it’s not as long as the tail fur. Another thing I like about this fly is that it’s durable - always a nice quality in the salt. Cheers, Alec
The above info is all good, but make sure you bring some wire bite guards- 4" usually works in case you get into a bunch of bluefish. At times they are the only game in town, and rather than move on you can try a few of them before you resume looking for stripers.I think you will be impressed with their pulling ability. I usually keep a few flys “pre wired” in the flybox to quickly tie on in a hurry if need be. Trust me, it can be a “daysaver”. Tight Lines, Jim
“Knowledge is knowing, wisdom is understanding”
I agree about the Blue Fish. pound for pound I think they fight as well as or better than Stripers. They just don’t get nearly as large.
jed
Right on Jed! If they did get as large, I’d be reccomending 11 and 12 wts. As much as I hate to admit it, a 15lb bluefish will pull a 15lb striper inside out!!! In the early season most blues will be thinner, but by fall alot of them are so fat they look like school tuna. Having said that, two of the biggest ones I’ve seen were caught in June at Race Point; 18-20 lbs. They were lying on the beach with needlefish plugs hanging out of their mouths because the angler didn’t dare to unhook them- he just unclippped the 24’ wire 60lb leaders from the line til they “calmed down”… Which leads me to a 2nd point about blues; bring a set of 8" needlenose pliers and unhook them with those if you value your fingers… take care, Jim
“Knowledge is knowing, wisdom is understanding”
Late May, early June, big chopper blues fin along in almost a daisy chain on the surface along the south cape.
They won’t always take, but when they do…
Right place, right time, big fun
Friends don’t let friends drive gas hogs
Made a mistake this weekend. I fished the one morning I had in Provincetown Harbor. Zilch for action. No birds, no fish, beautiful day for a paddle, though that was not my goal.
When I was done I took a ride to Herring Cove. Saw a line of working birds about 400 yds off shore. If I had gone there first I would have probably seen some action 
Next time!
jed
I fished Phat Kids haunt this Sunday. North River. Pretty similar results to Jed.
I started at slack and paddled upstream from the bridge. One follow but it saw the Yak and scrammed before it ate Ray’s fly. Then I took the outgoing tide back past the bridge and chased a pod of birds towards the mouth of the ocean. Darn birds meant nothing. Dissappeared when I got there with nothing underneath. What took me 10 mins with the tide took me 1 hour of hard paddling to get back. Just before I got to the ramp wouldn’t you know a crappy little schoolie took my trolling fly. Took me another 10 mins to get back upstream to the ramp.
Luckily I checked the Bridge Street area by foot and took two more schoolies before heading home. Not all was lost. Still a nice day on the water and Scituate is a beautiful town.
e
Checking a few other web sites it seems like the Stripers are back, but not yet fully turned on.
Now that I’ve said that I hope the Stripers make a liar out of me.
jed
Eponomous, When is slack tide there compared to Boston tide. I was fishing the Indian Head before I got hurt and someone told me its 3.5 hours after Boston. I could only guess a couple of hours to the Union St Bridge, or was it the 3A bridge at Mary’s where you launched? The lower end of the river really moves, I’m surprized you could make headway against it, you must’ve been cranking bigtime on the paddle.
Kyle, the area from Barnstable to Provincetown (‘Inside’ or west side of lower cape) has been fishing very well this week with plenty of 15-30 lb fish. ‘Outside’ (Provincetown to Chatham) and Southside (Nantucket sound) have been rather quiet, although I hear (unconfirmed) reports of a nice push of fresh fish around Monomoy yesterday and today. East side of Buzzards Bay has also been very quiet.
We’re due for a major Nor’easter tomorrow through Friday that will likely redistribute the fish quite a bit, though.
Where on the cape are you planning on fishing?
I’ve been reading about the big push of large fish with great anticipation.
Sarting sunday, I’ll be camped at Nickerson and fishing morning, noon and night for a week.
We fish dozens of spots from Chatham to Truro, but lately spend most of our time either fishing from the kayaks in Pleasant Bay or fishing the surf on the outside.
Fishing the heavy surf has gotten more and more addictive over the years.
This year I’m looking forward to more flats fishing and from the sound of current reports, spending more time on the bay side.
bb sorry for the late reply.
I was flat out struggling to move against that current. I am not in the kind of shape I was in when I was younger but I am a determined SOB. It took incredible mental focus to keep going.
e
Cape fishing is at its’ best right now. There seem to be large bass and bluefish just about wherever you look. The primary bait is squid, which means there are more fish at the rips than close in to shore.