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Fish guide

Striped Bass

Morone saxatilis. Also called Striper, Bass, Linesider, Rockfish, Schoolie, Cow.

A striped bass with its dark lengthwise stripes swimming over a sandy bottom

Showing the fish for Cape Cod and the Islands, MA.

Season in Cape Cod

Peak months: May, Jun, Sep, Oct.

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MA DMF: May to November, a few overwinter. Patch 2013: first big schools enter the Canal in early May. OTW May 2025: the best striper fishing of 2023 was in May; Monomoy rips fish well from late May into November. OTW Sept 2025: the first cold snap brings bass back toward the Cape. OTW Oct 31 2024: slowing but not over. (Our inference)

Season by region

Long Island
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Maine
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New Hampshire
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North Shore MA
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Cape Cod
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Rhode Island
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Connecticut
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North Jersey
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South Jersey
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Delmarva
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Virginia Beach
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Outer Banks
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Where to find them

The Cape Cod Canal (shore only; boat fishing in the Canal is prohibited), Outer Cape beaches from Race Point to Head of the Meadow, Monomoy rips, south-side inlets, cuts between sandbars and flats channels, Buzzards Bay boulder fields and the Elizabeth Islands (OTW, Patch).

From the wash out past the bar; spring and fall blitzes on bunker, sand eels and small bait.

What to look for

Bunker schools being pushed, birds over sand eels or rainbait, rips and drop-offs where waves make turbulence, inlet current at night.

What to throw

Bucktail or jighead with a 4 to 5 in paddle tail1/2 to 1 oz, 4 to 5 in tail. Slow hops along the bottom: lift, drop, let it touch, repeat.
Soft-plastic eel or stickbait (Slug-Go, GT Eel style)Weightless, or 3/8 to 3/4 oz jighead oz, 9 to 13.5 in. Weightless on top when fish are active or at first light; weighted versions drifted through rips, twitched through boulders or dead-sticked near bottom.
Swimming minnow plug (Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnow style)3/4 to 1 oz, 4 to 5 in. Steady medium retrieve with occasional twitches and pauses.
Pencil popper1 to 5 oz, Sized to the bait, from silversides to adult bunker. Slow and deliberate, speeding up when a fish shows interest; or hold the rod tip and bounce it hard while barely advancing the plug so it churns in place.

Bait

Live eels, Live bunker (menhaden), Live mackerel, Bunker or mackerel chunks, Cut squid, herring, crabs, Live spot (summer, North Shore). Fish-finder with a pyramid sinker and a long leader, with a float near the hook to keep the bait off the bottom away from crabs and skates. Use a circle hook with bait..

Leader

NY Sea Grant: light (6 to 12 lb) to medium (20 lb) line on a spinning rod; heavier surf outfits for big fish around rocks.

Common mistakes

  • Leaving bait on the bottom for crabs and skates (NY Sea Grant floats it up)
  • Using a J hook with bait instead of a circle hook
  • Fishing mid-day flat calm when the fish feed after dark and at dawn

Landing

Let a wave carry it up the beach; release fish should stay in the water.

Handling

  • Sharp dorsal spines
  • Sharp gill cover edges

Keep released fish in the water, support the belly, and use a circle hook with bait. ASMFC estimates about 9 percent of released stripers die, so handle quickly.

Keep or release

Keep only within the slot in the regulations file; the Martha's Vineyard Derby no longer weighs stripers.

Recipes for striped bass

Typical: Schoolies to slot fish. Large: 39 to 52 in fish from the Canal (Dispatches From The Ditch, 2021). Massachusetts record 73 lb, Nauset Beach, 1981 (MA DMF).

Limits

FishOS has not checked the MA limits yet. Check the size, bag and season rules with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries before you keep a fish.

Sources

All the fish of Cape Cod

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Striped Bass: season, lures and limits | FishOS