I wish I had some better news about fishing on Cape Cod, but the reality is, the fishing this week was as slow as it gets. Anglers continue to bemoan the mild weather that has taken ice fishing off the menu for 2012 – but the cold nights and few very cold days have been enough to skim over many of the small, shallow ponds and drop the water temperature into the 30s for the larger, deeper ponds.
This cold water has even made the trout, which love cold water, a little sluggish. But persistent anglers are catching 1 or 2 fish a trip. Andy Nabreski and I braved Saturday’s snowstorm in search of trout – you can read the full report on that trip on the Fishing On The Job blog.
Rich at the Hook Up in Orleans has been giving it a go at Cliff and Sheeps ponds, looking for trout or salmon, but has gotten blanked on his past two trips. Other anglers fishing those ponds reported slow fishing as well, though Rich heard of a big brown trout pulled out of Cliff over the weekend. Lee at Riverview Bait and Tackle in South Yarmouth said anglers are managing a couple trout a trip for their efforts.
The Upper Cape fishing has been pretty slow according to Christian at Falmouth Bait and Tackle. Christian said there is hardly anybody out there fishing with the lack of ice.
Greg at Red Top said that Peters Pond has been okay for trout lately. The occasional salmon is still being taken. Hamlins Pond in Barnstable has been another reliable spot. With the cold water, shiners are doing better than spoons or lures. Over the bridge, Long Pond in Plymouth is also producing fish. Greg also said a lot of anglers have been skipping town to other fishing destinations such as the Salmon River in New York for steelhead and Rhode Island for party boat cod.
Anglers trying for largemouth bass in the shallow ponds that aren’t skimmed over have been catching. Suspending jerkbaits are working, as are blade baits. I gave it a shot myself one morning before work and had one good hit on a long pause on a jerkbait. I missed the fish, but since I wasn’t expecting much more than casting practice, I was pretty pleased.
Fishing from the late morning to early afternoon might improve your chances with largemouths and pickerel since the sun will have had a chance to warm the waters a bit.
Also worth noting is the email I received from Goose Hummock celebrating the weigh-in of two keeper-sized striped bass this week. If you are so inclined, holdover opportunities exist throughout the Cape as winter-over stripers stage way up in bays and creeks over mud bottoms. For lures, small and slow is usually the ticket.