Captain Kirstyn reports: If you ever ask one of our captains when the best time of year is to go fishing for stripers on Cape Cod Bay, we will unhesitatingly answer: June. The weather starts getting warmer and the stripers come in the boat five at a time. However, spring is not the only time when it's worth going striper fishing. August can be tough, especially the first couple of weeks. Some days we can't manage to jig up a single striper, others, they're begging to be caught. It's a real gamble if you decide to fish in August.
Our crew on Sunday decided to roll the dice and give a try. They've been coming out with us for years and they are one of our crews who has gotten lucky and had a great day of fishing every time. Sunday was no exception. Surrounded on either side by tough fishing days, this day started out looking about the same. Dad (a.k.a. Captain Marty) and I made the trip to Barnstable, after hearing that the morning bite had been excellent there recently. Again, it was a gamble, but if the fish were there and they were eating, it would definitely prove to be worth the hour long haul. It took a couple of hours of constantly marking fish, but not catching them (save for a single 27" fish on a jig) before they finally decided our rigs looked tasty. All the while the weather was getting worse and worse. Eventually, the crew had to come out of the salon in the sideways rain to reel in their fish. They would hook up two or three at a time, but often we would only bring one of the lot in. It was no surprise once we got them into the boat to see why they would get away, they were huge! Not a fish under 36" once we switched to rigs.
We managed to get four of the monsters into the boat, with two others just barely out of the grasp of my gaff. The biggest of the day was 47.5" and 37 lbs. A record on the Liberty for the year.
So don't be afraid to go fishing in August. The fish may not be as plentiful as earlier in the year, but when you catch them, it's usually worth it.
