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Fishing the Cape: Part II, Waquoit Bay to Bass River

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by Jerry Vovcsko

Continuing with the tour of places-to-fish on Cape Cod, we left off at Menahuant beach in East Falmouth which puts us back eastbound on route twenty eight coming out of East Falmouth. Next is Waquoit Bay and a good place to stop there is the Waquoit Sanctuary which offers plenty of parking and access to the river as well as to the Bay itself.
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A little further down Rtn28 brings us to the Mashpee rotary. If you enter the rotary at six o' clock traveling counterclockwise keep an eye out around four o' clock for Great Neck Road and signs pointing toward Popponessett Beach. It's about four miles from the rotary to the beach parking lot and some of the most productive early spring striper fishing can be found along this stretch of beach no more than fifty feet from where you park your car.
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One of the reasons good fishing can be found here early in the season has to do with the gently sloping, sandy beach that provides bait-filled, sun-warmed, shallow waters for newly arrived striped bass. When those stripers arrive, after a long, tiring swim through the chilly waters of Long Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean, Popponessett and Succonessett area shallows are the perfect place for them to take a breather before scattering to their eventual summer locations around the Cape. The cove-shaped area makes a perfect spot for stripers to "herd" baitfish up against the shore and the sand bottom warms rapidly when the sun comes up.

All the south-facing beaches in this area – Popponessett, Succonessett Point, South Cape Beach – benefit from the relatively warm waters of Nantucket Sound. Hopeful anglers show up along these shores by mid-April even though stripers are scarce until at least the end of the month…it's more like a gathering of the faithful or an opportunity to shake some of the winter rust from gear and angler alike. But by the end of April anglers will be shoulder to shoulder along here tossing tin and starting to catch early arriving bass.

If you're planning to fish these beaches in early spring, be sure to bring along a good supply of metal including Kastmasters, Hopkins lures, Deadly Dicks and the like. These baits are solid gold for early season stripers. Be sure to include at least a few bucktail models, and bring some bucktail jigs as well, half-ounce Smiling Bills being my personal favorites (I will thread in a few strands of silver mylar to get a bit of flash going.) Some folks add a trailing seaworm, piece of squid or strip of fish belly for added enticement; I've found the seaworm addition to be especially effective.

Getting back on Rt 28 again, there are some places to fish near where 28 passes through Hyannis but keep heading east to the bridge over Bass River.
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Park the car nearby and ask the first person you see driving a pickup truck where you can find the local bait and tackle shop. Inquire there about what spots have been producing along the river and where the access points are. Pick up a dozen seaworms while you're at it because there's always decent action for those interested in doing a little bottom fishing. Flounder, scup, tautog and occasionally, mackerel, can be coaxed into grabbing a worm and if the stripers aren't around just yet break out the light spinning gear and have at it with bait.

Later in the season, snapper blues make the river a great spot for fly and spin fishermen alike. And never think that it's only schoolie size fish that come out of Bass River. After Memorial Day, bait shops issue regular reports of striped bass in the twenty and thirty pound range. Anybody who scouts an area by day and works a live eel from shore after the sun goes down is very liable to be rewarded with a keeper sized striper. And I know a couple guys who swear by Zara Spook-type surface lures worked in walk-the-dog fashion near the docks and piers that line the river banks. Pay special attention to those places where dock lights and deep shadows meet. Often big bass can be found lurking in the dark waiting to ambush bait drawn by the lights.

Bass River also provides great fishing prospects for those who specialize in working from kayaks. These sheltered waters can deliver even on those days when Vineyard Sound churns up four and five foot waves behind stiff southwest winds. Bring your own yak or rent from any number of local outfits that provide anything from canoes to kayaks to aluminum skiffs with small outboards.

If I were new to the river and not sure where to begin I might start by trolling a tube and worm near shore until I got familiar with the structure. Tube and worm's been a no-fail fish catcher for many years and because it's most effective the slower you go, it's a great way to study the area and pick out good spots for yourself. And, sure, you can keep an eye on where others are fishing but bear in mind that some of them are just as newly arrived as you are and may not know the hot spots either. Better idea is to stop by some morning before dawn and see who's around and where they're fishing because if they're out there at that hour they're more likely to be locals who know the river inside and out. Don't crowd in on them, just check out where they're fishing and give it a try later when it's not crowded.

That's a relatively small stretch of territory we've concentrated on here in terms of mileage, but it's such a hotspot for early season action that it's worth spending a good deal of time exploring. The beaches between Waquoit Bay to the west and Cotuit Bay further east are most likely to deliver up early season striped bass and should get plenty of attention from anyone looking to score in late April and beyond. And nobody ought to be shocked if a keeper or two are among those bass landed because they know where the baitfish-buffet can be found.

For those folks who'll be operating from kayak or skiff, a little ways offshore due south of Succonesset Point is Succonesset Shoal which rises from 20-foot depths to 2 or 3 feet and from May on through the season this is one of the most productive spots in the Sound. As it's less than a nautical mile offshore a kayaker can run back in quickly should the weather begin to threaten.

For the next installment in our Cape odyssey we'll take a look over around Harwich, Chatham and Monomoy Island before turning north at the Cape's "elbow" and considering some of those Atlantic-facing beaches. Last winter's storms rearranged Chatham's barrier beaches and that'll be worth checking in on. Probably won't be long before we have to consider what impact the seals, Great White sharks and who-knows-what will have on striper fishing down in these parts. Those Great Whites have sure caused an upsurge in T-shirt sales and local merchants are delighted to have them around even if the seals and fishermen are less than thrilled.
 
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