Instead of going offshore for cod with my buddy, I took the family to the Cape for a night (A family friend offered his house Sun-Fri all summer, and I finally checked it out.). Me being me, I wasn't going to pass up a chance to try my luck.
After a LONG day of driving, beach, and cape-type stuff, I headed out for the last 2 hours of outgoing tide at about 8:00PM. I had clams and my sw lures.
I saw some big top-water crashes. A couple cape verdian guys had buckets of scup. I offered $20 for a live and dead one, but neither guy would take. They said they were dinner and no amount would by em. Bites came quick and hard, but by 9:30, it was done. I couldn't land anything (no small hooks or artificials that looked like a scup.). I was hooked and high-tide was coming at 3:45 AM.
I went home, grubbed up, rigged up a scup pole, grabbed a big bucket and lamp, and was back on the water at 12:30 AM. Brought some freezer-burned cocktail shrimp too.
By 1:00 I was cranking in the scup... They chose shrimp over clams, and every well-placed cast produced hits (egg sinker > swivel > leader > tiny hook > working the current). Scup are a load of fun; they are scrappy little bast@rds. Bass were hitting scup on the surface too.
This spot was shallow, and the bite slowed, so I moved downriver to get some depth on the other side of the bridge, hoping to nail something in the 20# plus range.
A live-lined scup started running hard==nothing happened... I guess a cow just scoped him out a bit...
I tossed a clam on the bottom too. Got a decent schoolie.
The bite was done at 4:00 AM. I went for broke and headed to the mouth of the river.
No stripers or blues at the mouth... Caught a sea robbin, two blue crabs, and a couple more scup. A couple friendly locals showed up... Said they check the area at sunrise every morning and catch blues and stripers about 1/3 of the time, which is pretty good from shore.
I'll absolutely hit the spots again. Next time, as soon as I get a scup, it's going out on the big surfcaster. I wanted a few small guys in the bucket to start with, and by the time I had the *right bait, it was a bit too late.
Additionally, this was the best scup action I've ever had from shore. Really nice spot... Produced on the first trip. I'll head back soon.