Crane Beach in Ipswich fronts Ipswich Bay with a long stretch of open sand, and it sits amid the rich estuary system of the Essex and Ipswich rivers. That combination gives you both open-beach surf and, nearby, productive shallow flats where striped bass can be sight-fished.
The spots
Fish the open beach for cruising bass, and explore the flats and river mouths around the estuary, where bass hunt crabs, worms and baitfish in skinny water. The tide moves fish in and out of the marsh systems.
How to fish it
On the beach, plugs, metals and soft plastics at low light. On the flats, downsize and fish subtle, this is sight-fishing water where a fly rod or a soft-plastic on light gear shines. Match the local sand eels and silversides.
Tip Fish the flats on a rising tide in low light. Bass push up onto the warming shallows to hunt, and a well-placed soft plastic or fly to a visible cruising fish is as exciting as North Shore fishing gets.