Until the ice forms on the Cape’s freshwaters, the fishing will be pretty steady for trout and bass, as long as fishermen adapt their presentations to the cold temperatures.
Trout again, have been the main event at most Cape ponds. PowerBait is working very well, as are shiners and nightcrawlers. Bait is outfishing lures right now, as the cold waters have made the trout a little too lethargic to chase down an artificial. Nonetheless, spoons and small stickbaits are catching some trout.
In addition to Peters, Sheeps and Cliff have been producing good trout fishing as well, reported Lee at Riverview.
Largemouth bass fishing has been fair. I made a couple bass trips around Cape this week, focusing on shallow ponds. I didn’t land any big bass, but had decent action on suspending jerkbaits. Shallow-diving crankbaits also picked a few bass.
Pickerel have been biting well. They’ve been taking the same lures as the largemouths (jerkbaits and though regularly dismissed as a nuisance by serious bass fishermen, can be a savior this time of year, as they feed aggressively, even through the coldest temperatures. Pickerel will attack all of the aforementioned bass lures, but in cold water, I do very well with white tube jigs. And no matter what time of year, when fishing for pickerel, nothing beats a live shiner.
AJ at Red Top heard a report that smallmouth have been biting well at some of the ponds in Plymouth. This time of year, you can count on the smallies being in deeper water. Keep your offerings near the bottom. Two of the top coldwater smallie presentations are bladebaiting and drop-shotting.
Best Bets for the Weekend
It’s going to be rainy this weekend, which could be good for the fishing. If you are looking for trout, be sure to bring along some bait, at the very least as a backup plan. For bass, remember to keep the retrieve speeds nice and slow.