My wife and I are celebrating our anniversary in Chatham on May 5th. I would love to bring my 16' skiff with us and try our hand at catching some stripers. Any good back bay or inshore areas to launch? I'm going to look at the charts but any advice and tips would be great.

Hi Marshcappa, May 5 is still early but you should be able to find some fish. If you stay around Chatham Stage Harbor area is a good bet. There is a free launch at Barn Hill Lane and at Ryders Cove. Barn Hill gives you access to Stage Harbor, Morris Island, Monomoy. The area between Morris Island and South beach is called "the bathtub". It's a good early spot but with out the tidal flow from south beach it could change this year. The area around Red River Beach is a good bet too, About 2 mi. west of Stage Harbor.Ryder's Cove gives you access to Pleasant Bay. The upper bay warms up early and could be another spot to explore. Hope this helps you out.

barnhill ramp.....stage harba to nantucket sound/monomoy....inside an outside fishing depending on wind.

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Happy Anniversary lol My wife and I will be there around the 8th for ours. We did it last year and hit the beaches at south Cape, Pomponesset and around Hyannis. Good luck! :wave:

Thanks everyone! Hopefully the weather will cooperate. I'm really looking forward to just sleeping in a little and not having the kids wake me up at the crack off dawn. Even if is just one night it will recharge our batteries a little. My wife likes to fish but never has the time. She actually dosn't know where we are going just that we are going somewhere on the Cape. But I figured now that I have the skiff and it's right around the spring run time maybe I should bring it. I just don't know the waters at all there so I want to be smart.