Freshwater fishing is in full swing on Cape Cod. The trout action for these first few days of April has been no joke.
The week got off to a great start, fishing-wise. Though the weather was nasty on Monday, with wind, rain and snow, the Cape Cod trout were ravenous. Dan from The Hook Up in Orleans walked into a feeding frenzy Monday morning at Sheeps Pond. After seeing the conditions, he nearly left without making a cast. A rising trout caught his eye, and when his first six casts resulted in six big rainbow trout, he called in Captain Rich Haight, and the two of them tallied more than 40 trout for their efforts.
It was a brook trout bonanza on the smaller ponds of the Upper Cape this week. Andy Nabreski, Chris Parisi and I had three great days of brook trout fishing between Monday and Wednesday, with the weather, and the fishing, improving each day.
Every trout pond on Cape has had at least one round of stocking by now, and there are plenty of hungry trout ready to chase down a spoon or gobble up a nightcrawler. Fresh-stocked trout tend to school up as they move throughout the pond. This means you could be catching nothing in one spot while 20 yards away, the motherlode of trout is waiting to be caught. For this reason, I like to use lures and cover water rather than bait and wait. Once I find where the trout are holding, I may switch over to shiners, worms or the so-good-it’s-almost-cheating PowerBait.
Hot lures this week were stickbaits like the Yo-Zuri Pins Minnow, spoons like the Thomas Buoyant or Roughrider and spinners like the Panther Martin. I also broke out the fly rod, and had fast action with bright purple Wooly Buggers, stripped slowly near the bottom.
Trout will get wise to certain lures, so if you’ve caught a few fish and the action slows down, try switching it up. On Wednesday night, a red-hot brook-trout bite turned ice cold after 45 minutes, but as soon as Chris Parisi and switched lures, the action started all over again.
The full listing of trout ponds stocked is updated every Friday on Massachusetts Division of Fish and Wildlife Website. The list of Cape Ponds stocked can be found HERE.
Thursday’s warm weather is undoubtedly putting Cape bass and pickerel in a feeding mood. These fish should be ravenous come the weekend. The warm sum should draw the fish into the shallows where bluegills and other panfish will make easy prey.
There’s been no word of smallmouth action yet, but they tend to lag behind the largemouths by a few weeks. Anglers can likely find the smallies targeting deeper water, from 20 to 30 feet, with jigs. It won’t be long before the smallies move shallower where they will be susceptible to suspending jerkbaits.
Best Bets for the Weekend
Without a doubt, this weekend’s best bet is trout. Check in to see which lakes were stocked, and get there with a selection of spoons, spinners and stickbaits. Before long, the trout will wise up, but for now, they are hungry and willing to strike most small, flashy artificial lures.
If you’d like to target a bigger trout, try dunking a shiner or hole nightcrawler on the bottom in Cliff, Sheep or Peter’s ponds. These ponds all have populations of big holdover browns. The added competition for food from the freshly stocked trout often makes the holdovers more aggressive and willing to take a lure or bait. Check your knots before you head out as you never know when a monster trout could hit. Just ask On The Water’s Ryan Bibeau, who lost a heartbreaker of a trout on Wednesday night.
Easy for Dan to catch those trout right where they were dumped. Let’s see you match the catch with something other than bait like a spinner, spoon or some other artificial lure. Come on man!
Fresh stocked trout are easy to catch. They all stick together early on.
Way to go!!! A DOUBLE LIMIT of freshly stocked rainbows snatched out of a pond before they had a chance to acclimate!!!!
What ever happened to REAL fishermen?
Way to go Dan! Next year maybe you could follow the stocking truck and cast into the truck before they dump the trout into the pond! Now that would make for some exciting action!!!
Thought that photo of Dan was a booboo. Gloating over kill is something that was done back in the day. Poor judgement by OTW and as for Dan, you may want to practice behavior that would exemplify SPORTSMANSHIP.
What’s with the double limit? Sheesh…..have you ever heard about catch and release?
Let’s take off our soapbox and assume that the guy who took the picture caught the other 3 trout. They kept their legal limit of trout from a pond stocked specially as a put and take fishery. it looks like they had great day and were nice enough to share the picture with you. You guys need to appreciate this type of fishing for what it is, fishing at its most basic form. Just because you don’t enjoy eating stocked trout doesn’t mean others can’t. We’re all fisherman for christ sake.
Great picture!
-Mike
I agree with mike, the story clearly states he called a friend to fish with him, and someone has to take the picture. Clearly the guy taken the pic has his license on three of those fish. Not to mention like mike said this is a put and take fishery, they stock these ponds numerous times a year with A LOT of fish, we pay around $35 a license, they should be able to pick there limit without anyone giving them crap about it. After all if we don’t take them more than likely they’ll get picked up by a hawk or osprey anyways.
The story states he caught six big trout from the get go. I’m sure he kept the first six BIG ONES. Trout usually get hooked bad because most fish with treble hooks. The odds of them releasing 40 fish does not jive with me. See the little one on the end? It was hooked to bad to release so he kept it. Come on man!
Agreed! They stock a billion trout!
They can’t reproduce in these waters! Every one will get their fish share!
Nice catch dan! I’m headed out this afternoon!
Hoping for a haul like yours!
Great pic Dan ! As an avid trout fisherman, i see Dan and his “crew” fishing the cape year round. These guys are not only top notch fisherman , but they share great fishing tips and excellent spots. They catch just as many trout in Dec. and Jan. , which is amazing because most of us struggle to catch 1 or 2 trout , during the winter months. My point is this: Dan is the last guy on the Cape who needs to worry about when or if, they stocked… I’m sure his goal was to get people excited about fishing the cape. Dan and “crew” have caught and RELEASED numerous trophy fish over the years, including many SALMON and Big BROWNS, stop in and see their pics. Thanks to Dan , i was able to ice fish the cape this past winter and catch trout and salmon !!!
Kevin from Boston
Great pic ! I fish the cape frequently year round and have had the pleasure of crossing paths with Dan and his “crew”. These guys are top notch fisherman,who not only share excellent fishing tips, but also” spots” to pursue a trophy trout. This past winter i was able to ice fish the cape, thanks to Dan’s guidance and tips ! Great pic, On The Water !!!
Kevin from Boston
Save ’em for the kiddos.
April 14, 2014 just caught 3 lb big mouth on Little Sandy tonight.
Wow!! Really guys are you kidding me. Dan Jones fishes more hours freshwater than anyone else I know. He keeps three fish a year for the smoker and releases the rest. Rich was with him and the fish were all caught legally and oh by the way they were not caught on BAIT!!!!! It’s spring and yes the ponds were just stocked.. no kidding but did any of you nay sayers go fishing?!?!? The purest of pure… he who points fingers… Really. Dan and Rich are great guys and true outdoorsman so for you to blindly throw this at them is way out of line. Get off the soap box and chill out. Last time I checked it was still ok to eat a trout or two once a year. Gloating over the kill?!?!?!? There freaking put and take TROUT not Blue Marlin!!! Man you all need to chill. CC bandit nice to hide behind a screen name.. that’s a real man right there. Haven’t been this pissed in along time usually I don’t respond to this internet crap but…..man it’s BS!!! Capt. Eric Stewart
Sorry, my name is Taylor. My apology to Dan I know he’s a real good fisherman. I just see some guys right there after the fish are dumped in. Just sounded like fishing for mackerel. Let me see three trout in a day in the middle of the summer, that will be doing something. Catching a lot of fish is fun. To each his own. I go out all year and have caught my share too. I watch the pros on tv and to me it’s just not fishing when they have 20 rods rigged and ready to go instead of tying on a new one when the current lure doesn’t work. That’s lazy. Anyway my apology to you Dan sorry for the hit.