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The Cape Cod Canal is one of the most difficult and rewarding locations along the entire East Coast of the United States to fish for striped bass. Few places on earth provide the shore bound fisherman a better chance at hooking a bass in the 40 pound range. The man-made land cut has generated amazing fishing the past few seasons for anglers fishing Cape Cod. The spring run of big striped bass has been just as outstanding, if not more impressive than the famed fall migration. If next spring is anything similar to spring of 2011, impressive schools of trophy size stripers should enter the canal during the second half of May. For the serious striped bass angler, the “Big Ditch,” as it is often referred to by canal regulars, could very well produce many of the biggest striped bass of the year. Timing is Important The canal will support a population of stripers from May through October. But to truly cash in on superb canal fishing, a fisherman has to be present at the canal when a large biomass of bass moves through the land cut. Regrettably it is inherently tough to forecast when this will occur. However it may help to stay updated on Vineyard Sound and Buzzards Bay fishing reports. Accounts of huge schools of surface feeding bass in Buzzards Bay will regularly trickle in a few days, to a week, prior to a canal blitz. These stripers are on a northward migration trek that often brings them directly into the Cape Cod Canal - as opposed 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 naturally sets the stage for a first class fishing opportunity. Top-notch fishing usually occurs in stages as biomasses of bass migrate through the land cut north into Cape Cod Bay. Often time’s spectacular fishing will occur for a day or two as the school migrates through the ditch. A phase of slower fishing develops, till the next large push of bass transpires a week or so later. I remember a Thursday morning last year when anyone who could cast a plug greater than 30 feet was into nice fish. It did not take long for word to spread, and by the weekend the canal was chock full of anglers. However the biomass of stripers had quickly exited the canal late Thursday/early Friday. I do not recall a single striper being taken that Saturday morning. Top Water Bass Action The top water action at the canal is frequently downright nutty during the spring. Simply put there are not many areas in our neck of the woods where a shore bound fisherman can have a shot at casting surface plugs to 30 pound bass. With that said, not every fisherman will cash in on the fantastic top water action during spring at the canal. Lengthy casts greater than 200 feet are often needed to reach breaking striped bass. Loading the tail end of an aerodynamic surface plug with weight can drastically boost casting distance without killing the action of the plug. Using ultra thin braided line along with the best rods and reels money can buy will certainly help. However nothing can beat a sound casting technique. Bass are relatively easy to fool with top water plugs when the fish are aggressive and honed in on larger prey items such as tinker mackerel. It often is a completely different predicament if the bass are focused on smaller prey such as juvenile whiting. On several occasions last season, canal anglers observed schoolie stripers feeding aggressively on small prey items at the crack of dawn. All efforts to catch these fish 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 little guys, and everyone began hooking up. Things change quickly this time of the season at the canal.
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