By offshore, I mean we’re fishing Provincetown, Billingsgate Shoals, or Stellwagen (huge bluefish). We can leave from Green Harbor, Plymouth, or Sandwich.
If possible, we’ll sight cast at the fish with spinning gear. This is a blast, and we can have 4 people casting at once. The bow is amazing for this type of fishing.
On Stellwagen, we’ve seen the largest schools of massive bluefish that I have ever seen. As they are forage for tuna and sharks, you never know what will be around!
When trolling for stripers, it’s customary to have two people actively working the rods as we troll. This is very relaxing for the others on the boat! It’s their turn to kick back, watch their friends, eat, drink, and socialize. The most popular method of fishing is wire-line jigging bucktails through the sand off of Provincetown, Truro, or on Billingsgate Shoals. It’s a lot of work, but it pays off. When you’re jigging aggressively as we’re trolling and a striper smacks your line, you know it immediately! It’s a thrill. We also troll umbrella rigs and swimming plugs as conditions dictate.
Stripers are delicious and more and more of my customers have been asking to catch bluefish to eat as well. Not only are they good on the grill, but they are also excellent in the smoker. I have some great recipes and links on my Recipe Page.
We have lots of options here, such as the coastline around Plymouth and Green Harbor, either end of the Cape Cod Canal, Barnstable Harbor, and all of Buzzards Bay.
Much of this trip will be focused around sight casting for fish using light and medium tackle. Having a striper or a blue hit a surface lure will really get your blood flowing.
We usually leave around first light, to capitalize on the early morning surface bite that is usually accompanied by lots of bird activity. Much of the early morning is “run and gun”, moving from school to school to find the most aggressively feeding fish.
