As a rule, good early fishing can be found at the mouths of rivers and at the top of bays and coves in warmer water areas. These places are either high traffic areas or offer the greatest availability of forage in the form of overwintering spotted killifish, silversides and migratory alewives. Jetties, protruding out into the Sound are always a good bet too, the one nearest a river or cove mouth often produces the best. From June on stripers separate into different niches in the ecosystem. Some schoolies and keepers remain inside bays and rivers if there is a consistent food supply.
Food becomes the all important factor here.
Keepers will spend the days in the bottom of channels and the nights roaming the edges and flats. Smaller fish will be more active in the daytime along grass and bank edges. But if there aren't silversides, sand eels or chubs to hold them then most of these fish leave the embayments to roam the bigger waters of Nantucket Sound, Cape Cod Bay and the Atlantic from Chatham to P'town in search of forage. Check the fishing reports . Next, try your luck in a likely spot and especially if it's a windless night, be sure to go to the shore and listen.