Oh, Cape Cod. The peninsula is a maritime paradise, teeming with charming harbors, ample coastline, and rich fishing grounds. With a lifetime’s worth of adventure in the immediate area, it can be hard to know where to start. 

Luckily, native New Englanders and striper aficionados, Jenny and Hobie, were down to show us the ropes. With the goal of squeezing a week’s worth of good times into a few short days, we got right to it. The agenda: checking out oyster farms, clamming, fishing the flats for striper, and gathering ingredients for an all-time beach cookout. Not a bad to-do list.

 

 

 We kicked things off with a visit to our friend Doug Hayes and his dad, who runs Hayes Oyster Co. They immediately put us to work cleaning, bagging, and loading oysters for a delivery pickup mid-day. After a few hours of hard (but rewarding) labor, we headed out to the tidal flats to see the operation for ourselves.

Doug retrieved oyster baskets that were drilled into rows of wooden slats, keeping the oysters just above the muddy seabed. His father raked oysters on another row of baskets, as spreading them out periodically helps them grow. From spawn to spat—and shuck to slurp—the care that goes into every oyster is unmistakable.

 

At the crack of dawn, we set out for the flats in pursuit of striped bass. As owners of the striper-focused Kipper’s Lodge in Essex, MA, Jenny and Hobie know a thing or two about battling big bass—and they put their skills to use, landing a few beauties. Pro tip: keep your eye on the tides! They move in real quick out on the salt flats and can catch you unawares.

In the afternoon, we linked back up with Doug Hayes, joining him on his friend’s Boston Whaler to go clamming along the area’s sandbars and beaches. Their secret spots provided, to the tune of a full basket—which we stashed in the truck for our beach cookout the following day.

 

Another early-morning start, this time to catch the 7AM ferry to Martha’s Vineyard. Once there, we linked up with Nate Gould, an accomplished chef, and Elise Quebec, an experienced boat captain and owner of specialized yachting firm Elise & Co. We tried our hands at striper fishing from the rocky shores of Martha’s Vineyard (final score: one) before Nate took us around the island, collecting ingredients for the cookout to come. 

We foraged for mushrooms, bought some outstanding produce from Morning Glory Farm, and picked up fluke fish from Larsen’s Fish Market. All that ingredient-sourcing called for a quintessential New England lunch at Larsen’s: lobster rolls (both hot & cold), lobster bisque, and, of course, steamer clams.

 

Last stop: Martha’s Vineyard Smokehouse. As you would expect from an operation founded by Nate and local fisherman, Gus Leaf, they have a fastidious eye for detail: Gus catches upwards of 80% of their inventory himself. The fish are bled and iced immediately, preventing the meat from being exposed to blood and oils—an exacting process that makes all the difference. 

Ingredients in hand, we beelined to the beach. After airing down our tires—a necessary step for sand driving if you value not getting stuck—we found a waterside spot and set up shop. Beers were cracked, shots were taken, and stories were swapped as Chef Nate cooked up our bountiful harvest. Hours later, stomachs full, we headed back up the beach and off into the sunset.