Cape Cod Canal lit up today with classic late June action—right in tune with what we’d expect for early summer on the Canal. Sunrise hit us at 5:07 AM and sunset’s coming at 8:22 PM, giving us those long daylight hours we love for chasing stripers and bluefish. Weather is mild, with air temps in the mid-70s, patchy clouds, and a gentle southwest breeze—ideal for working lures and holding bottom on those strong Canal tides. The tide schedule today gave us a morning east current, peaking around sunrise, then swinging west midday, so folks on the west end had the current working in their favor late morning into early afternoon.

Striped bass were out in good numbers again, with a healthy mix of schoolies and the bigger cows moving through—several fish caught north of 40 inches just this week. According to On The Water’s June 19th report, fresh waves of both Hudson and Chesapeake bass are sliding in, with some big girls hugging the deeper stretches. Best results came on 100-gram Shimano Current Sniper jigs and soft plastics worked off the bottom, especially near current seams and drop-offs. Plugging at sunrise paid off for early risers throwing swimming plugs like the Daiwa SP Minnow and Bill Hurley Cape Cod Sand Eel, the latter matching the abundant sand eels flooding the Canal this month, according to Goose Hummock Shops.

For topwater fans, pencil poppers like the Yo-Zuri 3DB and Drifter Doc continue to draw explosive strikes during outgoing tide, particularly when the bass are corralling bait near the surface. The bunker schools have been spotty, but when found, they’ve pulled in a few over-slot fish for those chunking with fresh bait. Live eels are another after-dark standby, especially worked across seams or the shadow edges near bridges.

Bluefish are still around, especially on the south-facing beaches and pushing into the east end of the Canal. Some choppers have been caught on metals and surface plugs, and while not as numerous as last week, they’re running solid size—keep those pliers handy! A few fluke are even being picked up on the edges, mainly in the slower-moving backwaters near the west end, taking a 3/8-ounce jig tipped with Gulp swimming mullet, as On The Water detailed.

Hot spots today have been the section between the Herring Run and the Railroad Bridge, especially on the west-ward outgoing tide, and the east end by the Sagamore Bridge when the morning current was rolling in. Both spots are holding bait and seeing big fish move through with the tide changes.

Bait of choice? Live eels after dark, and for daytime duty, sub-surface swimmers and heavy jigs to get down to where those post-spawn bass are holding. Topwater for the wild ones—there’s nothing like seeing that blowup at first light.

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