Fishing Frenzy

Undoubtedly nothing compares to the excitement of viewing a significant bass smashing a top-water plug at the Cape Cod Canal. But in terms of repeatedly catching large fish along the "Big Ditch," concentrating on fishing the bottom of the land cut can pay off in the form of nice size striped bass a lot more often than working the top. More often than not, fishermen working the bottom catch more and bigger fish than anglers strictly fishing the top.

Yet one can not simply chuck a jig, bait or lure anywhere in the Big Ditch and anticipate to be compensated with success. The Cape Cod Canal has its own fish filled areas and dead zones like any other fishing area up and down the striper coast. Being able to zone in on the dramatic precipices, underwater hills, rugged ledges and unyielding rips is essential to regularly catching big stripers off the bottom of the land cut.

Fish often flock to regions of structure like bees to honey. This is true whether we are talking about fluke, sea bass, or tautog. Striped bass in particular enjoy areas filled with significant structure. Add a strong current to the mix and these structure filled spots become even more appealing. Typically the stripers will position themselves deep in a hole, or right behind a rip. The structure breaks up the relentless current, more or less in the same way a building blocks a stiff breeze.

Standard striped bass theory states that cow bass often use current blocking pieces of structure to realize a competitive advantage over food items. The powerful Canal current forces different types of bait fish and prey items through the Canal. Crafty stripers will use a spot behind a piece of structure to ambush prey as it tumbles down within the swift current. Once can imagine that many bait fish never see the attack coming.

One of the easiest ways to discover areas worth fishing is to pay attention to differences in the surface water of the Big Ditch. Bass holding areas of structure will most likely produce disturbances in the regular stream of the current. Most likely, clues to the site of the actual bass attracting structure reveal itself as a wake, ripple, whirlpool etc. on the surface of the Canal.

Trekking the banks of the Cape Cod Canal, or even better driving your "canal cruiser" along the service road, and retaining an eye out for dissimilarities on the canal's surface is a great way to at the least obtain an idea of where to fish. Remember that certain areas with significant structure may show no signs of the structure at certain stages of the tide. Then when the tide changes, standing waves and whirlpools suddenly develop.

Standing waves are probably one of the most tell-tale signs of an underwater rip. If you unearth a spot with standing waves, the actual striped bass attracting structure will likely be situated slightly up current of the waves. This holds true concerning any sort of difference on the surface-the bass holding structure will be a little bit up current.

The time has now come to zone in on the exact location of the structure. This is achieved by fan casting a location with a jig or bank sinker. Be certain to employ a jig or sinker weighty enough to reach bottom in the swift current. I ordinarily start out with 4 ounces and move heavier or lighter according to current conditions.

Cast up current and maintain an accurate count on the amount of seconds it takes the lure to reach the Canal's bottom. Naturally the shallower the water, the more quickly the bait or lure will achieve bottom-the deeper the water, the more time it will take for the jig or lure to reach bottom.

For instance, one outstanding canal fishing spot which I frequent each spring contains a tall prominent peak in addition to a deep, steep gulley. 7 seconds is required to hit bottom on top of the shallow spot. However when cast into the deep gulley, it takes my lure twenty seconds to get to bottom.

Fan casting an area like this is going to be easiest in the last part of the west tide, slack tide, and also the first hour of the east. During these tides there is literally less water in the Canal. Thus the Canal's average depth will be much shallower than it would be during the height of the tide.

The Cape Cod Canal is full of awesome jigging spots. Having said that it usually takes a lot of time and effort to discover the absolute best fishing spots.

But if habitually taking size-able striped bass off the Canal's bottom is important for you, then your time and energy invested in discovering these outstanding fishing hot spots will likely be worthy of the work required to find them.