Cape Cod Fishing Report - December 22, 2016

Anyone waiting for fishable ice on Cape Cod is going to have to wait into the New Year, at least if the 10-day forecast is to be trusted. Daily high temperatures in the mid-high 40s and rain will be keeping ice from forming. But don’t let that ruin your Christmas.

Open water fishing is fantastic. Rainbow trout are biting well on spoons, jigs (check out a video on fishing small jigs for winter trout HERE), and spinners, and they have been running bigger than I’ve seen.  Most of the trout have been 16 to 20 inches, and hefty.

Some browns are being caught as well. The browns are interested in larger meals, which makes live shiners or stickbaits a better bet for tempting Salmo trutta.

Bass and panfish are still biting as well, the problem lately has been the thin layer of ice covering many of those ponds, although Thursday’s rain should take care of that. Shiners, suspending jerkbaits, Senkos, and lipless crankbaits are all good cold-water producers.

There have been reports of good-sized smallies being caught from deep water on some of the larger ponds. Blade baits and dropshots are deadly on these cold-water smallies. Kevin Gould caught smallies to 4.6 pounds this week. He said two hours of effort yielded 6 fish, all 3 pounds or better.

The freeze undoubtedly knocked back the weeds some, exposing the hiding spots of big pickerel, making them an excellent target during the next week’s mild weather. Pickerel will snap at shiners, big spoons, spinners, and paddle-tail soft-plastics.

Fishing Forecast for Cape Cod

Though most fishermen may have a tough time getting a pass to fish this weekend, the week after Christmas looks great for enjoying some winter open water fishing. The trout ponds will be the best shot for action. Covering ground while casting lures is always my favorite strategy, but staking out a spot with some live bait could be the best way to tangle with a big brown. If you take a small boat, a deadly method for trout this time of year (or any time of year) is chumming with grass shrimp. See a video on grass-shrimping for trout HERE.

When the skim ice leaves the small ponds, pickerel, bass, and perch will be ripe for the picking with live shiners, jerkbaits, and shallow crankbaits.