It only took a couple days of (relatively) warm weather to break the ice on the ponds around the Cape. Though you wouldn’t know it by Thursday’s weather, the open water season is underway on the Cape.

I made a few detours on my ride home from work the other night, to look at some of the Upper Cape Ponds. While there was still some ice on a few of them, by and large, there was plenty of open water for fishing.

Dan at The Hook Up in Orleans saw the open water too. According to Dan, all the ponds in Nickerson State Park are open. He swung by Cliff Pond in the evening this week, and even through the rain, he saw the unmistakable rings of feeding trout. Dan did some casting with spoons and had a few hits and a couple bright rainbow trout.

Kevin at Falmouth Bait and Tackle said most of his customers this week were stocking up for the saltwater season, which is just two months away. Kevin is looking forward to hitting the open water soon for largemouth bass.

If you still haven’t had your fill of ice-fishing, then you can head to central or western Massachusetts, where there is still plenty of ice. So much in fact, it looks like the Quabbin and Wachusett openings will have to be delayed this year. Check out Ron Powers’ report for more info on ice fishing this weekend.

I skipped town last weekend to chase steelhead in Upstate New York, and the fishing was excellent. Conditions look similar for this coming weekend, so if you were looking to make a road trip for winter steel, now would be a great time. To get the full story on the steelhead fishing, check out my report and visit the Upstate New York Fishing Forecast.

Best Bets for the Weekend

The weather looks good for this weekend, a bit on the chilly side, but perfectly fine compared to what we dealt with over the winter. The ponds are open and the fish will be biting. For trout, try spoons or stickbaits, or maybe even a nightcrawler on the bottom. For bass, a suspending jerkbait will be the most productive lure, but shiners will be tough to beat. Pickerel will also be on the prowl, and they will be far less selective in what they will attack. Inline spinners, wide-bodied spoons and jerkbaits will all work for pickerel, but once again, the live shiner is king.