Cape Cod Canal

The Cape Cod Canal is a 17-mile ship channel between Cape Cod Bay and Buzzards Bay with a current so swift that swimming is banned, and striped bass anglers fish its banks all season. The Army Corps of Engineers keeps paved service roads along both banks, so you can walk or bike to almost any stretch of the riprap. Marine Fisheries lists stripers, bluefish, false albacore, bonito, tautog, black sea bass, fluke, cunner and mackerel among the Canal's catches.

When to fish

• Spring: migrating stripers follow alewives into the Canal. The Fisherman's writer says the first keeper stripers usually show around the herring stream at the Herring Run, and the first half of the east tide is often best in spring.
• All season: bass and bait move through with the tide, so fish come in pods as the current runs. The cold, fast water at the east end draws bait and diving birds.

Where to fish

• The Herring Run (north side, Bourne): in the belly of a deep bend, so you can watch a long way in both directions. It fishes well all season and is at its best during the spring herring run.
• The east end: two sides, the Sagamore (mainland) side and the Sandwich (Cape) side. The Scusset Beach fishing pier on the Sagamore side reaches both the rocky shore and the middle of the Canal, and The Fisherman says the best fishing is often right below it, between the pilings and along the riprap.
• Anywhere along the service roads: the Corps allows fishing from the banks almost everywhere on federal land. It's off-limits at the Canal field office, on the bridge piers and on or under the railroad bridge approach spans.

How to fish it

The Fisherman's Herring Run writer carries four things: pencil poppers and poppers for fish breaking on top, a big swimming plug fished fast on the surface when bass are chasing bait against the rocks, and large soft plastic shads fished on or near the bottom when nothing is showing (heavy ones when the bass stay deep). His best advice: get there early and keep casting, since most of his fish came on blind casts. At the Scusset pier, regulars wait for the low tide to turn east, cast up-current from the pier's west end and walk the lure back along the pilings. Bring heavy tackle, because a big bass will use the current to escape.

Getting there

Recreation areas with parking and restrooms line both sides of the Canal, and the north (7-mile) and south (6.5-mile) service roads are paved and open to walkers and bikes. Scusset Beach State Reservation (20 Scusset Beach Road, Sagamore) has the fishing pier and charges a parking fee in summer; the pier and the Sandwich bulkhead are the handicapped-accessible spots. The riprap is steep and slippery, and swimming is banned because of the current. You can't fish from a boat in the Canal. You need a Massachusetts saltwater fishing permit. Striped bass have a slot limit, you must use inline circle hooks when fishing bait for them, gaffing them is illegal, and river herring can't be taken for bait.