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Date: June 6, 2020 Body of Water: Cape Cod Bay - Sandwich, Massachusetts Moon Phase: Full + one day Tides: Just about Low at first, rising throughout Boat: amybaby22 With: Alone Target: Striped Bass Time: 7:30 AM - Noon Conditions: "Breaking Tide" on the Cape Cod Canal; canal flow into Cape Cod Bay; gray and foggy after a line of pre-dawn thunderstorms, but clearing by Noon; winds from the southwest at 15 mph; about 70 degrees; water seemed considerably colder than on south side of Cape With fog, thunderstorms and wind all playing a potentially significant role in the forecasted conditions, and having had a lot of recent fun with schoolies already on the Cape's south side, I decided to try a new port and target (potentially) larger stripers. The Sandwich Marina is almost at the eastern/northern mouth of the Cape Cod Canal, and provides easy and quick access to Cape Cod Bay. With offshore southwesterly winds, I expected I'd be able to fish around the mouth of the Canal and along shore to Scorton Ledge or beyond; while I expected that these same conditions would keep me inside the ponds with smaller fish at Falmouth. I'd never been to Sandwich, but I knew from my scouting that I'd have current, boulder fields and miles of potential trolling to check out, if I weren't otherwise distracted by birds and bait. The twin facts that the Full Moon's low tide just about coincided with dawn and that the largest fish of the year could/should be arriving in the area on any tide helped my decision, too. The day turned into an investment for the future. While I didn't catch much (three schoolie stripers at 14, 21 and 22 inches, only), I successfully executed a safe trip to a new port without any problems. I got a sense of local logistics, put in some time and scoped out some good potential water. I bent the rod and enjoyed the company of a pair of seals working the same boulder-strewn flat. I even used some time and energy to scope out the Barnstable Harbor ramp; that looks even more promising. Both of these ports might offer productive alternatives to the south side in heavy winds, with big-fish potential, to boot! I enjoyed drifting out of the mouth of the Canal with the tide. Under gray skies, I started with aggressive, 10-inch Hogy Original baits on unweighted hooks and also on the 3/4-ounce jig head. With no signs of fish, bait for birds, I then tried a heavy sand-eel tin and a 5-ounce swim-bait. The only other boat in the area trolled; but after 20 minutes or so of no activity, I decided to check out the boulder field just to the south of the Canal. Still at very low tide, most obstacles were visible, and I was pleased to note the correspondence between what I saw and what was mapped on my Garmin. Again, I started aggressively, with topwater and Hogy, but downscaled to a small ZMan swim-bait as I searched unsuccessfully for bites. I alternated between drifting and motoring to new locations, based on visible targets and mapped obstructions out to 12 feet of water or so. I decided to move south/east along the shoreline to give the last visible targets for quite a stretch (Old Sandwich Harbor jetties) a try with the swim-bait. This produced my only bites and fish for the day, as I quickly contacted two from the tip of the western/northern jetty and a single from this jetty's smaller mate across the barely discernible channel. (When I returned here later in the day, near high tide, these were almost completely submerged; this served as a stark reminder about the height of tidal change here; maybe as much as 8 feet or so.) Now with my "Striper Cup Limit" of three fish secured and photographed for the week, I decided to look for bigger fish. I headed out to 18-30 feet of water and trolled along this depth range with a tube-and-worm on lead core (one color per every six feet of depth) and a Rapala Giant Shad Rap. The mapping was useful, but I still have not yet installed the Garmin's transducer, and so this fishing was truly blind; this might have been my biggest handicap for finding fish or realizing I'd done so on this day with virtually no visible bird, bait or fish activity. This seemed to go well, however, as I was able to fish "clean" and at speeds below two knots. The only thing missing was any indication of positive feedback! After a bit of this, I decided to motor to Scorton Harbor and Scorton Ledge. The tide was incoming now, and I fished a little rip at the harbor's entrance with no luck. I was inclined to go inside the harbor and find a rip or deep hole, but surfcasters were guarding the inlet, and I couldn't pass without disturbing them; and so I left it to them. I then motored out to Scorton Ledge and re-deployed my trolling spread. After three-quarters of a circuit without a bite, I decided to drift over the crown of the ledge and bottom fish. A single drift with a Hogy Heavy Jig bounced on bottom went unanswered. I called it a day and was pulling the boat from the ramp at Noon. What do I have to say about this? I'll do better next time here, if only because I'll be armed with this little bit of experience, and probably be complete with sonar! Finally, the two seals I encountered seemed much larger than the ones I am used to seeing in Casco Bay, Maine. There was also something "different" about their snouts. What do you know, based on this article (www.capecod.com/lifestyle/the-seals-of-cape-cod/ ), I believe these were Gray Seals. At least I can suspect that I was around some fish while I was in their company! Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways
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