Cape Cod and Buzzards Bay Fishing Report 1-10-2013

Short Shot at Ice, Back to Open Water

For winter fishing options, you can’t top last weekend. While many of the smaller ponds had enough ice to allow anglers to set a few tip-ups, the larger ponds were wide open.

A few folks from the OTW Office jumped at the opportunity to break out the tip-ups for the first time since 2011. Having a strong distaste for ice fishing, I headed for open water, and found it at Peters and Mashpee-Wakeby Ponds. During the weekend recap in the office on Monday morning, it sounded like everyone who wet a line had a productive weekend.

On the ice, Andy Nabreski and Pat Donovan took a mix of perch, pickerel and largemouth bass, topped off by a 5.7-pound lunker. In the open water, I found the trout more than willing to strike a spoon. In fact, it was the best fishing I’ve had in weeks. The rainbows were schooled up, and hits would come in rapid succession until the school moved past.

Down Cape, it seems like the ice never shored up. Dan at the Hook Up in Orleans said even the small ponds in his neck of the woods only got 1 to 1.5 inches. With this week’s mild weather, and more forecasted for the weekend along some ice-eating rain, I wouldn’t plan on using the tip-ups this weekend—not on Cape Cod at least.

Dan fished the Cliff Pond, but didn’t have much luck, only managing one rainbow. The few other reports he received indicated slow fishing as well.

Todd at Falmouth Bait and Tackle said there haven’t been many anglers  in to report anything good or bad. Last he heard the trout fishing was still good for smaller rainbows, but bigger brown trout and broodstock salmon have been scarce. Todd’s noticed the ice breaking up on some small ponds, which further drives home the point that Cape Cod ice fishing is off the table this weekend.

Best Bets for the Weekend

The large trout ponds are still open and still producing good catches of rainbows. I had my luck with spoons, but small stickbaits or jigs should work as well. Bait, of course, is another good option. Shiners, worms or PowerBait will all work to tempt the rainbows. If any bass lakes are open, anglers could target largemouths or smallmouths with proven winter techniques like blade baits, jerkbaits or wacky-rigged Senko worms.