In addition to the excellent seasonal fishing Cape Cod has to offer, the peninsula also offers miles of pristine bike trails and roads for locals and visitors to take advantage of. In this brief article we will give a breakdown of fishing locations accessible from or near the Shining Sea Bike Path located in Falmouth, which is an especially useful way to access productive coastline when parking gets difficult during the peak summer months.
Since this is the first time an article like this has been written on Salty Cape, we will start small with a 6 mile round trip bike fishing jaunt. I recommend parking in the metered spots in Woods Hole after 6pm when it is legal to park without having to pay $0.25/15 minutes. Not only will you save some coin, but you also will have the opportunity to take some wonderful sunset selfies for your Facebook page if the fishing doesn’t pan out.
(1) Joking aside, we’ll start at a location in Woods Hole the locals call the Stone Pier. It’s directly behind the National Marine Fisheries Services building. The jetty doesn’t look like much, but it can be one of the finest spots to fish in all of Woods Hole. It gives shore anglers access to deep water up inside Great Harbor, where fish from the channel sometimes funnel into. Depending on the season, you can catch everything from stripers, false albacore and tautog here.
(2) Next, head further down the bike path to location 2 on the map above. FYI, The bike path starts at the Woods Hole Steamship Terminal, where the large green dot is located on the map above. Heading east/northeast takes you to a location just short of the Trunk River stop on the bike path. The beaches between Fay Beach and Surf Drive offer excellent striper fishing, especially in the early migration and in the late fall, when bigger stripers move back through the area. Please keep in mind the Beach is Private and we do not encourage trespassing.
(3) Continuing on the bike path is the Surf Drive area (labeled at #3 on the map). This is an excellent shore surfcasting area. There is ample opportunity to stop at one of the many jetties that spike out from the shoreline. We have a brief shore spot profile on Surf Drive which can be found here
If you choose to get off the bike path to stay on Shore Drive, be mindful that there will be car traffic on this road. It’s less in the off season, but during the height of the tourist industry it can be quite busy. Be sure to wear highly visible clothing, especially at dusk to help drivers see you biking on the side of the road.
(4) While biking to the next spot, the Town Harbor Bulkhead, keep your eyes peeled for any working birds or fish breaking on bait. There are several jetties in the almost 2 miles between the beginning of Surf Drive and the town bulk-head, so the possibility of stumbling upon a feed is definitely there. Here is a link to the shore spot profile for the Town Harbor.
LURE SELECTION
I’d recommend bringing a small tackle pack with baits than can be worked in a dynamic presentation. Lures such as the 7” Hogy Original, and the 4” Hogy Skinnys are all proven baits for the area since they are great imitators of squid, and there is a lot of topwater fishing activity based on the presence of squid in Vineyard Sound. When fishing bottom, one go-to lure is the .75 or 1oz SE Barbarians in Olive Sand Eel. It’s great for catching multiple species and the added weight of the jighead will give you extra casting distance. These baits can be worked fast on the surface/subsurface with a burning twitch retrieve or more slowly and tighter to the bottom depending on where the fish are. They are perfect for multiple species including stripers, bluefish, scup, seabass, and believe it or not, the occasional Tautog.
There are many more possibilities for “bike to fish”-style fishing trips along the Shining Sea Bikeway. Expect to hear more from us in the future as we continue to explore the best surf spots this area has to offer.
