Cold Water, Lock-Jawed Fish
Trout, bass and pickerel are all options for Cape Cod fishermen looking to add some fish to their Easter weekend plans.
The stocking trucks have made three rounds on Cape Cod right now, but for the most part, anglers are reporting tough fishing. The lack of bites certainly isn’t due to lack of fish, but rather a lack of warm weather. The water temperatures at ponds around the Cape is hovering at 40 degrees, which just isn’t warm enough to inspire fish to feed heavily.
Most anglers are catching trout by fishing PowerBait on the bottom, but Christian at Falmouth Bait and Tackle said the fish had begun to hit lures and shiners this week.
Dan at the Hook Up in Orleans believes that as the water warms in the mild weather forecasted this weekend, the trout bite will really turn on.
Largemouth and pickerel are hitting shiners with abandon, but lures have been a bit of a tougher sell. I was out Sunday dunking shiners, and was treated to fast action with smaller fish in a shallow pond. The last fish of the day was a big pickerel that put up a great right on ultralight tackle.
Best Bets for the Weekend
As the water warms and the trout start to chow down, you might want to make your way to the ponds that have been stocked at least twice so far. These include Cliff, Sheeps, Peters and Long Pond in Plymouth. Goose, Bakers and Crystal ponds have also had a double dose of trout so far. Bring along spoons and PowerBait. Flies have also been working, especially small Wooly Buggers.
For bass and picks, for the best odds of action, break out the shiners. If you must use artificials, suspending jerkbaits and shallow-diving cranks will do the trick.
Has anyone fished Hathaway Pond? I’ve fished it from shore and kayak and can’t get a bite from bass or trout. I used powerbait and spoons for the trout and suspending jerk baits and drop shots for the bass. I haven’t used shiners yet, but everyone I see there says they’ve had poor luck.
Thanks, Mike.
Mealworms.
Fish another pond guy
I always have luck with mealworms with trout, never have luck with power bait for some reason though, any tricks with that? I just put an egg or two on a small hook and throw it in the water with a bober thinking nothing to it but never catch anything. I always use suspending jerk baits for bass and always catch bass with them, I’ve caught huge bass at my local pond on ghe cape that nobody else fishes for some reason.
Sounds like you have a nice little secret pond with those bass.
As for the PowerBait, a size 16 or 14 treble hook will hold the trout PowerBait dough much better than a single hook. Also, when a trout takes it, you can’t miss. The rig I use is small treble with a split-shot (non lead in MA) about 12 to 18 inches above it. I don’t use a bobber with the Powerbait because it floats.
Generally, only the rainbows and brook trout eat the PowerBait. Browns will eat it too, but they seem to switch over to natural foods much faster. Within a few days of the stocking, PowerBait can’t miss because it (presumably) smells like the hatchery food the fish were raised on. The more time the trout have been in the pond, the less effective the PowerBait will be because they switch over to insects and small baitfish.
As for color, it may not matter one bit, but I’ve always been partial to yellow.
While the powerbait smells like hatchery food it does taste different. Try some
Thanks, Jimmy, I’ve used every color but yellow lol. Will try that method out, thanks for the reminder about the non lead rule in mass, been a long winter kinda forgot about that, luckily I haven’t fished with lead though.
I’ve never caught a Brown on powerbait. Only huge shiners and quality
crankbaits. I’ve always been a fan of red-orange powerbait, trying to
mimic what the real eggs look like. I think just a full week of 50 degrees
and sunshine should really turn all the fish on. The great thing about April
is you can catch almost all of the different species of gamefish available.
I’m planning my first fishing trip sometime in April maybe for some early
Stripers??? I don’t think many monsters will be around but some schoolies
may cure this long cabin fever.
Amen brother….My early striper was april 15th of last season. I think it may come a little later this season. The largemouth are biting good right now. Any jig that imitates a small crayfish is working well for me, the slower the better. As far as trout, I like the yellow colored power-baits.
tight-lines,
Waleye.