Rips

One of the easiest pieces of structure to catch fish. Rips are formed by bars of sand or rock that rise up to below the surface, combined with current. Points of land also create them. Severe changes in depth with tide and current create turbulent water. The increase in water flow as it moves over or around this structure is a main stay in consistent hook-ups. Bait is swept over structure as the water flow is concentrated. This leaves bait confused, unable to swim against this faster current. It leaves them easy prey.

Rips occur when tide is coming in or out and can be found in any type of habitat. Fish really key in on these and make them a regular stop in search for a meal. Normally casting across the rip line and retrieving your fly as it cross’s into deeper water will work. This imitates the natural bait being swept over the rip. Sometimes letting your fly swing and go deeper into the water will also produce great results. The speed and depth of water would determine the type of fly line you would use.

Marshes and estuaries

A marsh system is a relatively flat, low-lying portion of the coastline. Hidden behind beaches and harbours. These marsh systems tend to have a lot of water movement and tidal flow. Mud bottoms warm up the quickest and are the very first place we find them in the spring. Starting on the South side of Cape Cod moving east. We talk about marsh systems in regards to fishing because they are very rich in food and nutrients. These areas are a nursery ground for many saltwater species including plankton, shellfish, chubs, grass shrimp, crabs, sand lances, silver sides, herring, cinder worms etc. As such, game fish love these areas and are an ideal habitat for bass and blues looking for an easy meal. Normally as the water heats up as the summer progresses they will move out and into areas that have a cold water influence.

Fish can be found in a marsh almost all the time, depending on its size. Many times fishing high up in the system at high tide and working your way down on the drop will keep you in the general area that the fish are travelling. Fish near the mouth at low tide and work up with the incoming. If your marsh system is smaller in nature than most, fish will leave as the tide recedes and hold in an area with deep water accessible, most likely at the mouth or just outside it. Normally you will have current flowing out of the marsh at this time and the fish will be feeding on the bait that is swept out. This would be a prime area to fish. If your marsh is large then look for fish to hold and feed within this area. They will have plenty of deep water and feel safe to remain in the system to feed through the entire tide.

When the water is moving the fish are feeding. Marsh systems can be very long and meander endlessly, like a freshwater stream. So, how do we locate fish? What do we look for? Well, the key word is structure. Structure can be anything that helps shelter fish or bait. It could be rocks, deep holes, rips, ledges, channels, undercut banks, logs, depressions, sand bars or the channel itself. Fish it like you would a river. Look at your favourite marsh at low tide and it will open up all of its secrets.

Rock Structures and Jetties

Jetties are normally located at the entrance to harbours, marsh systems or along the coast to try and protect it. Jetties and other rock structures (rocky coastline) are home too many baitfish. They feel safe and comfortable being able to blend in with the surrounding structure. Our quarry understands this and keys in on this type of habitat for this and other reasons.

At low tide, does your beach have many rocks exposed? If so, then this could be a prime area to fish at the high. It will have bait fish and predators mixed within all of the rocks that are now covered. Throw in waves crashing over the rocks, tumbling the bait and this makes them an easy target for predators.

When on a jetty, try fanning your casts. Work close to the jetty then further out. If your at the tip of the jetty (12 o’clock) look for water being swept (concentrated) around the tip of it. The fish will always be at the 1 o’clock position if the current is sweeping the bait in the current from left to right. This would be another form of a rip. The jetty forms a point and the current from the shoreline to the tip of the jetty is being compressed around the tip. The bait gets swept along for the ride and the predators will be waiting for an easy meal.

Flats

A large expanse of shallows, consisting of mud, eelgrass or sand. Its high noon, blue-bird sky, light coloured sand, incoming tide, cool breeze blowing, standing in 2 — 3 feet of crystal clear water in June, July and August. Girls in grass skirts surround you (just kidding). Sound like the Caribbean?

Here on Cape Cod, we have miles and miles of light coloured sand flats and crystal clear water that makes sight casting to 5 — 25 pound stripers the order of the day. This is probably the most exciting type of fly-fishing you will ever do. They’re cruising the flats eating crabs, shrimp, silversides and sand lances, and just waiting for your perfectly cast fly. Sometimes you need to burn up the water with a fast retrieve and at other times using a dead drift with the current is all that is needed. All methods will require distance, speed and accuracy in your casting skills.

We have some of the finest destination flats fishing in the world right here on Cape Cod. Seeing hundreds of fish in a tide is the norm. Stripers and blues come to this area in search of food. As the sand flat becomes covered with water the baitfish move up onto the flat through troughs, sluice ways and channels to escape the predators. Approximately 2 hours before high water the predators come up onto the flat following these same troughs (like roads) in search of food. This would be a good place to stand and sight cast to them.

Sun and no wind make for optimal sight fishing conditions as they cruise the flat. At high tide many times you will find them in 6 inches of water tight to the shore, again, this is where their next meal is hiding. So this would be an additional area to prospect during that stage of the tide.

As the water starts to recede, the larger fish will leave that area and depart from the flat using similar channels and sluiceways to those they came up on. This is another prime spot to fish. Normally they will hold, waiting in ambush in the deeper water for the baitfish to get flushed off the flat. My next move would be to stand close to the edge of the flat and cast my fly into the creek that is flowing off the flat. I'd allow my fly to swing and sink, imitating a baitfish being washed off the flat.

This is one of many basic feeding patterns that never changes and consistently repeats itself, tide after tide.

Beaches

Beaches are one of the most difficult areas to understand and read. Mother Natures’ signature clues can sometimes be very subtle and a keen eye and knowledge of what to look for is imperative to being a proficient reader of where the fish are at and why.

What to look for? Converging currents, slope of beach, tidal flow, wash, waves, sand bars, ocean holes, dips, slots, troughs, spill zones, wind direction, points, channels from bays, rips, rocks and coves. These are areas that all hold fish. The best way to learn a beach is to first look at it at low tide.

Slope of beach

A gradual sloping beach is probably a better beach to take the kids to then to fish. Normally if the slope of the beach is steep then it continues at that angle subsurface. These are preferred areas to fish due to its depth and fish holding capabilities.

Wash

The wash is the area where the wave crashes onto the beach and where the water receding off the beach meets. This white water turbulence is often at your feet and often over looked as a fish holding habitat. Fish can and do feed in this turbulent area where the bait is being tumbled and confused, making it an easy target for a predator.

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