Saltwater Fishing

The entire Cape coastline is potential fishing ground. At any given hour on any given day during spring, summer, and fall, you are bound to find somebody casting from a jetty or dropping a line off a bridge. When the blues are running, the beaches are lined with surf casters hoping to snag a big one.

Today, the most popular saltwater fish on the Cape is the striped bass, followed figuratively and literally by the bluefish. The bass usually first appear near Martha's Vineyard in mid-spring. A week or two later they start showing up in the waters off the shores of the southern Upper Cape. The bluefish usually follow a week or two behind them. If you unroll a map of the East Coast, it becomes clear why the Cape shores are so fertile. Stripers follow the Gulf Stream as it pushes its way north in the spring. (The Gulf Stream is one reason the water on the southern side of the Cape seems like bath water in mid-August and the water on the east side feels like ice water.) The stripers, the blues, and others traveling north for the summer come by Martha's Vineyard first and then head along the southern shore of the Upper Cape.

Once the water temperature reaches into the 70s, around July, the stripers head for cooler water, right up the eastern forearm of Cape Cod. Monomoy Island off Chatham proves to be a nice block for the stripers and blues trying to navigate the Cape's elbow. But beware, fish aren't the only ones caught by Monomoy. The shifting sands in the area and shallow flats have been known to strand a few boaters as well. Once past Mono-moy, it's a clear run up the Cape to Provincetown and then onto the Gulf of Maine. During the late summer and early fall, Cape Cod's National Seashore becomes one of the best places anywhere for a surfcaster to land a large striped bass as they return after a summer of good feeding in northern waters.

Massachusetts does not require a license for recreational saltwater angling, which is considered to include fishing in all tidal waters of Cape Cod Bay, Nantucket Sound, and the Atlantic Ocean. There are limitations and restrictions for certain saltwater fish: minimum size, number of fish you can take in a day, and, in some cases, what months of the year you can take them. There are also rules on how you can catch a particular species.

For example, there's a 30-inch minimum size for striped bass and you can only take one a day. If you are after cod and haddock, you can only take a combination of 10 fish. On the other hand, bluefish have no minimum size requirement, and the possession limit is 10. (By the way, bluefish have very sharp teeth and literally attack when out of water, so watch your fingers.) Regulations are known to change from year to year so it's best to contact the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries at (508) 563-1779 for the latest rules and regulations. Or visit a bait and tackle shop--they should be able to help out.

Below is a quick listing of some of the more popular coastal fishing locations from Bourne to Provincetown.

In Barnstable, give Barnstable Harbor, Craigville Beach, and Sandy Neck Beach a try.

Bass Hole (Gray's Beach) in Yarmouthport is a wonderful spot to kill a couple of hours (even if the fish aren't biting). Other spots in the town of Yarmouth are Sea Gull Beach, the jetty at Bass River Beach, and the Bass River Bridge linking Yarmouth with neighboring Dennis.

Dennis has a number of hot spots, including jetties at Corporation Beach, Davis Beach, Cold Storage Beach, and Sesuit Neck Beach. Chapin Beach is also a good spot.