There’s not much left of the saltwater fishing season on Cape Cod. Trips to Coxes Ledge for cod, casting for mackerel or pollock in the East End of the Canal, and taking the last few green crabs to the rocks for tautog. Stan at Red Top said anglers might find some straggling schoolies in the Canal, but that he hasn’t heard much on stripers in a week.
The freshwater fishing is keeping anglers busy on the Cape as we approach Thanksgiving. Trout are getting the most attention, as rainbows continue to strike PowerBait, nightcrawlers, and a variety of lures. Brown trout are hitting shiners, nightcrawlers, and stickbaits.
Largemouth bass fishing continues to be good, with lipless crankbaits and spinnerbaits working best.
Bladebaits and drop-shot rigs are catching smallies over deep water humps in some of the larger trout ponds. Look for the smallies to be holding on the bottom in 40 to 50 feet of water.
Yellow perch are schooled up and ravenous. They can be caught with small jigs or spoons in 15 to 30 feet of water. Catching several dozen in a day is not unheard of, and the cooler temperatures have made some very large perch active.
White perch are also on the prowl. In ponds with a herring run, the whites will be haunting the schools of these baitfish, sometimes driving them to the surface as they feed. Small stickbaits, like the Rapala Floating Minnow, are perfect for targeting white perch. Don’t be surprised if you also catch a mix of largemouth, smallmouth, and yellow perch as well. I recently had a day when I caught a combined 50 fish of four different species by casting a small stickbait around a school of juvenile herring.
Fishing Forecast for Cape Cod
Trout are your best bet for adding some fish to your Thanksgiving Feast. Target them early or late in the day for the best results. Lingering a little past dark could give you a shot at one of the big holdover browns that are cruising the shorelines of Cape Cod ponds right now.
Anyone catch any mackerel at the east end in the last few days?