There’s wind and rain incoming, and temperatures not quite cold enough to make ice. Cape fishermen are making the most of the conditions by enjoying the extended open water season.
After skimming over for a few days, the small bog ponds have reopened. A bucket of shiners is a ticket to fast action with fat perch, largemouth bass, and pickerel. Fish the shiners under a float, two to three feet down. Cast them along weedlines in 5 to 8 feet of water and wait. You shouldn’t have to wait too long. The pickerel were ravenous at a small Upper Cape pond on Wednesday afternoon, and a shiner didn’t last long when fished under a float.
Lures were also working. A wide-bodied jerkbait attracted bites from pickerel, and a large streamer fly tempted fish to nearly 24 inches.
The bass weren’t biting quite as well on Wednesday, but this is still a great time of year to catch a big bass.
The fish are a little more lethargic, requiring a change in tactics. Suspending jerkbaits are king for coldwater largemouths. Don’t be afraid to pause for 15, 30 or even 60 seconds in super chilled water.
Shallow cranks work well on sunny afternoons in shallow ponds. Soft-plastic paddle-tails fished on weighted swimbait hooks and
Smallmouth bass are biting, but you’ll have to go deep. The kettle ponds that receive stockings of trout are also productive smallmouth spots this time of year. Probe the bottom with dropshots or blade baits. The fish aren’t feeding heavily in the cold temperatures, so you may need to work an area hard waiting for a bite window to open.
Of all the Cape’s freshwater fish, the trout are the least affected by the cold. Rainbows and browns are still feeding well and can be caught on small jigs, stickbaits, and spoons. The bigger ponds that have strong holdover populations, like Cliff, Sheeps, Peters, and Long Pond in Plymouth.
Powerbait will still pick off a few rainbows, but most of the trout have forgotten their hatchery roots by now, and will snub the brightly colored blobs of dough. Worms will be a better bet, especially after the rains that soaked the Cape on Thursday evening.
Fishing Forecast for Cape Cod
Get out and catch your last fish of 2016 and then your first fish of 2017 this weekend. Trout are a good bet for action, but some shiners fished for bass and pickerel in a shallow pond is a solid plan B.