Flats Fishing

Cape Cod offers the finest flats fishing on the northeast coast.  The cape has two major areas for flats fishing.  Cape Cod Bay and Monomoy.  You will find me mainly guiding on the Cape Cod Bay Flats.  These are world class flats that do not get the same amount of pressure Monomoy does.  A good day on the flats will have you seeing hundreds of striped bass in less than 3' of water.  Striped bass from a few pounds to over 30lbs regularly show on certain stages on the tide. 

Flies to have in your quiver range from the sparsest of sandeels patterns to large flatwings up to 7" long.  Crab patterns are a must have as well as shrimp patterns.  Clouser minnows are incredibly effective in a wide range of colors.  The good old reliable chartreuse and white is still a local favorite.  Other color combinations to have are olive and white, tan and white, yellow and white.

Half and half's tied with long slender hackles are effective as well.  Flies imitating crustaceans such as shrimp and crabs should be olive and tan with a few grays thrown in for the shrimp patterns.  Some days a certain pattern works better than another so it's a good idea to cover as many bases as possible.  I spend the winter months tying a wide variety of effective flies but you are more than welcome to try your own creations.

Flats fishing is best from late May to mid July.  With June being prime time.  For this reason, flats charters fill up quickly.  Eight and 9 weight rods are the norm but a 10 weight on a windy day can be an advantage.  Intermediate and floating clear tip lines are the norm as are florocarbon leaders tapered down to 12lbs.  Neutral color clothing is recommended.  

I trailer my skiff so depending on conditions is where we will launch but usually I launch in either  Truro, Wellfleet, or Brewster.

For the light tackle enthusiast, plastic stick baits work very well in a *walk the dog* fashion.  At higher stages of the tide we will use light jig heads and or swimming plugs.

I do many types of fishing here on Cape Cod but I must admit that shallow water site casting for stripers is my long time favorite. 

It's suggested that if you want to try this world class fishery then you should think about booking your trip in advance.  Of the several types of trips I offer, the flats fishing always fills up first.

 

Salt Marshes

Cape Cod is known for it's many salt marshes.  I usually like to fish these areas early in the year.  Fish are tired and hungry after their spring migration and the marshes bring them food as well as warmer water temps.  I have found that early pushes of fish show up in these marshes in good numbers.  Fishing these environments  is generally very relaxing.  The flow of water, the beautiful marsh grasses and the swirling of striped bass is enough to make anyone forget their day to day troubles.  I generally start fishing these marshes by the middle of May and will on and off fish them the whole season long.

I like to use larger flies in the marshes when the water is stained and smaller flies when the water is clear. 

Cape Cod has salt marshes on both sides of its shores.  The Atlantic side marshes can fish better than the bay side later in the season due to the water being cooler.  Sometimes we can combine a flats/marsh trip on full day trips.  If you would like to find out more about fishing salt marshes on Cape Cod or think you might like to try your luck then contact me for further information.