Cape Cod Fishing Report - March 17, 2017

I don’t think I could put the fishermen’s current situation better than John Oswald, who writes our New Jersey Fishing Report. This week, John said, “This winter is to fishermen what the mob was to Michael Corleone: it keeps dragging us back in.”

Those 60-degree days in February seem almost as distant as last March, with wind chills in the single digits most mornings this week.  The plus side, is that the rains from Winter Storm Stella rid the Cape of most of its snow, save some stubborn piles in shaded areas.

The stocking trucks haven’t been on the road since last Thursday, at least according to the MassWildlife Trout Stocking Report as of Thursday evening, but there shave been plenty of trout stocked already, not to mention the big numbers of holdovers in ponds like Sheeps, Peters, Cliff, and Long Pong in Plymouth.

It was a slow week for fishermen, most of whom seemed to hide from the weather, myself included. The one window this week, was probably the hours before the storm hit on Tuesday. The temperatures were mild, the winds hadn’t picked up yet, the pressure was dropping, and I’d bet the house, the bass, pickerel, and trout were feeding. Unfortunately, I slept through my alarm, and by the time, I awoke, the winds were howling and I was already late for work. The day after the storm, hardy souls like our very own Andy Nabreski hit the beaches to gather some washed-ashore bay scallops, their delicious dinners more than making up for the bitter-cold, early-morning scrounging.

The good news is that, love it or hate it, daylight savings time offers anglers with a 9-to-5 an extra hour of after-work daylight to hit the water–as soon as we have some weather that makes that seem like a palatable option.

And it looks like we’re in luck. Temperatures will be creeping back into the mid-40s by early nest week, which should get the bass and pickerel feeding, and the stocking trucks rolling.

Fishing Forecast for Cape Cod

The fishing action will be back on track this weekend. It won’t be unseasonably warm, but it won’t be unseasonably cold, either, and if experience tells me anything, some mighty fine bass fishing can be had in mid-March. Bring suspending jerkbaits, shallow crankbaits, and some soft-plastics, and hunt for bass over deeper weedbeds and drop-offs. For trout, break out the spoons and cover water. The fish that have been stocked this spring, will likely be schooled up, but may have ventured away from the stocking sites. Walk the shoreline, casting a spoon like the Thomas Rough Rider, and keep moving until you find the fish.