Cape Cod Fishing Report - February 18, 2016

I’d just hopped into the car on my way to Peter’s Pond a little before dawn this morning when my phone range and my co-worker Eddy Stahowiak informed me that ice covered all but a small portion of the pond. Disappointed, I turned off the car, shed my waders, and invited Eddy over for breakfast to discuss where we’ll be doing our fishing when winter loses its grip on Cape Cod’s waters.

Last weekend’s deep freeze was enough to put fishable ice on a few ponds, reported Lee at Riverview, but the mild temperatures early this week made that ice too unstable to fish. Lee said the fishermen who got out on the ice had good results.

Since then, however, Cape fishermen have been dealing with lakes that have too much ice for shore fishing and too little ice for ice-fishing.

Stan at Red Top has been hearing good reports on the pickerel fishing in Plymouth. He didn’t have specifics, but if you can find open water on a predominantly shallow, weedy pond, there’s a good chance there are pickerel in there—and those pickerel will be biting.

Pickerel will strike at a variety of lures this time of year, including Senkos, jerkbaits, and swimjigs, but live shiners are nearly fail proof. The added benefit to fishing shiners is that they might also tempt a big largemouth that is otherwise too lethargic to chase down a lure.

I’m hoping the mild temperatures this weekend will clear the ice off Peter’s and the other Cape Cod ponds, so we can get back to chasing trout, bass, pickerel and panfish until the stripers return in just about two months.

And with March fast approaching, it won’t be long until the hatchery trucks hit the road with fresh shipments of browns, rainbows and brookies.

Best Bets for the Weekend

Get some live shiners and swim them in a shallow pond for pickerel and bass.