Cape Cod Fishing Report - February 9, 2017

Fifty degrees on Wednesday and a blizzard on Thursday. The winter of  2017 has certainly been keeping us on our toes. Unfortunately, the inconsistent weather has made fish difficult to pattern and made it impossible for safe ice to form. We have some frigid cold forecasted Friday, but the highs will be in the 40s on Saturday. At this point, Cape anglers hoping for some ice-fishing close to home have thrown in the towel. Fortunately for them, catching fish this winter doesn’t hinge on ice forming. The best fishing I’ve experienced since Fall happened Thursday morning when dropping pressure from the approaching storm ignited a red hot bite with bass and pickerel. In addition to steady hits on a slowly retrieved lipless crank bait, I also caught my biggest bass in two years, a fish that flirted with the 6-pound mark. And I wasn’t the only one.

While the blizzard closed down Southeastern Massachusetts, several Cape fishermen posted Facebook and Instagram photos of big largemouth bass taken before the storm. I have no doubts that the trout were raging as well.

The trout fishing has been steady in Peters, Cliff, Sheeps, and Long Pond in Plymouth. Most of the rainbows have been a robust 15 to 18 inches, all fat and feeding well on juvenile perch and aquatic insects. Before the big game last Sunday, the Peter’s Pond rainbows were ravenous, attacking my Yo-Zuri Pins Minnow with the same fervor with which I attacked a plate of wings while watching the Patriots comeback later that night.

With the exception of the uptick in action Wednesday and Thursday morning, the Cape Cod fishing hasn’t changed very much, and by the weekend, I expect us to be back to the pre-storm action, which consisted mostly of reliable trout fishing in the larger ponds, and a decent bass and pickerel bite when the skim ice melted off the smaller ponds. Friday’s cold combined with the drop in water temperature brought on by the falling snow will put a cover over most of the Cape’s small ponds, but it’ll most likely be too thin to walk on. To bend a rod this weekend, head to Cliff, Sheeps, Peters, or Long. Walk the shoreline with stickbaits, jigs, and small spoons. Keep your retrieve speed slow, as even the trout will be lethargic in the icy water.