Cape Cod Fishing Report - May 4, 2017

On Thursday, two groups of OTW employees hit the water on their lunch breaks. Anthony DeiCicchi hit a local kettle pond armed with swimbaits and jigs while Ed Giordano, Eddy Stahowiak, and Patrick O’Donnell stormed a South Side beach with flies, swim shads, and soft plastics. At the Kettle Pond, Anthony and I saw swarms of small largemouths in the shallows with a few larger fish already hovering over spawning beds. We caught a bass and a pickerel, 17 and 23 inches respectively, both of which were larger than all the stripers taken on by the group fishing the South Side beach. Eddy Stahowiak had a 27-incher take down his Storm Wildeye Shad.

Some larger stripers joined the schoolies this week with keepers being reported in decent numbers. Squid, mackerel, and tog all add to the saltwater action on tap this weekend, and while the freshwater fishing is going strong, fishermen may need to adjust their tactics as largemouths shift gears into spawning mode.

He’s not mad, he’s just disappointed. This Cape Cod schoolie had his lunch break interrupted by @eddiegiordano’s lunch break today. #onthewatermagazine #stripedbass #surfcasting #capecod #springrun

A post shared by On The Water Magazine and TV (@onthewatermagazine) on May 4, 2017 at 11:42am PDT

There have been breaking fish in the Canal reported Jeff at Maco’s Bait and Tackle in Buzzards Bay. They’ve been small, he said, but they are there.

AJ at Red Top Sporting Goods said there have been big numbers of small bass from the Weweantic to West Falmouth Harbor. Keepers have mixed in with the shorts over the past few days, and AJ has heard of stripers to 18 inches.

Schoolies are everywhere reported John at Eastman’s Sport and Tackle. He’s heard of fish at the Popponesset Spit, Waquoit Bay, West Falmouth Harbor, the Canal, and the Weweantic. John said there have been some very tiny stripers, fish less than 10 inches long, and some small keepers up to 30 inches, and all the sizes in-between.

Nothing says Spring time like topwater Stripers ! #stripedbass #marthasvineyard #topwaterfishing #catchandrelease #letemgosotheycangrow #stcroixrods #xtratuf #shimanofishing #fishshimano #builtforthewild #stormr #thetugisthedrug #whyknotfishing #onthewatermagazine

A post shared by Stavros (@south_of_the_vineyard) on May 3, 2017 at 9:16am PDT

The biggest striper I heard of this week was an 18-pounder reported to Bill at Sports Port in Hyannis. There have been rumors of 20-plus-pound stripers around, but nothing substantiated just yet. That said, I’d be surprised if we didn’t have some 20-pounders to report by next week.

Tog fishing is going steady in Buzzards Bay and in Wareham Narrows according to Jeff from Macos. AJ had heard of tog to 4 pounds this week, but there’s been no word of larger fish. John at Eastman’s said while he’s been selling green crabs, he hasn’t heard many reports back. Same with Bill at Sports Port. Bill said there have been small blackfish around, and some fish were taken over the weekend, but winds have been keeping many tog fishermen close to shore.

25″ Barnstable Harbor #onthewatermagazine #pennfishing #stcroixrods #stripedbass #seagaurflourocarbon #schoolie #capecod #barnstable #fishing #softplastic #bentrodfeeling photo credit @peefer419

A post shared by Michael Kelley (@24privateer) on May 1, 2017 at 2:05pm PDT

Squid are stacked up from Cotuit to Hyannis reported John at Eastmans, who said boat fishermen are loading up. John also reported that squid are moving into some harbors at night, and fishermen casting squid jigs under the dock lights, or lights they brought from home, have been filling buckets with fresh calamari.

Bigger baitfish are all around the Cape, setting the table for the first big stripers of the season, when they arrive. There are mackerel in Cape Cod Bay and the East End of the Canal, and bunker along the South Side. John at Eastmans heard an interesting report of thick schools of bunker from the Sagamore Bridge to the East End of the Canal. This is in addition to the herring that are stacked up at many of the runs around Cape Cod.

First keeper on Friday and this beautiful 27″ fish on Saturday. #fishshimano #myfishingcapecod #stripermigration #onthewatermagazine

A post shared by Hayden Gallagher (@hayden__gallagher) on May 1, 2017 at 5:52pm PDT

No word of bluefish yet. The spring bluefish run is strong in New York and New Jersey, with choppers to 18 pounds being caught in big numbers. We don’t usually see bluefish that big on the Cape in the spring, but hopefully the squid and scup currently in Nantucket Sound will bring some in the blues soon. Last year’s bluefish run was disappointing, but fishermen are hopeful for a stronger run in 2017.

Update 5/5/2017 – Some bluefish have been caught on Cape Cod this week. OTW Sales Rep Patrick O’Donnell caught a small bluefish on Thursday morning, and reader Steve McKenna reported catching two blues on Thursday afternoon. 

Freshwater fishing is good, and the ponds are warming quickly. In smaller, shallow ponds, and even shallow coves of larger pond, bass are beginning to get on their spawning beds. Still, some large bass were taken this week, and Bill at Sports Port reported largemouths to 6 pounds this week. Bill said Senkos and other worms have been the best baits recently.

Fish up to 29″ have arrived. Thanks @craig_munsell for the shot. #moronesaxatilis #striper #stormrusa #stcroix #buffusa #seewhatsoutthere #stripedbass #marthasvineyard #fishshimano #cabelas #onthewatermagazine #whyknotfishing #cheekyfishing #surfcasting #catchandrelease #surfcastersjournal #letemgosotheycangrow

A post shared by Joe Uva (@j_oova) on Apr 28, 2017 at 4:00pm PDT

Pickerel are feeding heavily now as well. Weedless-rigged paddle-tail swimbaits pulled just under the surface are attracting strikes from the slime darts.

Perch and bluegills are active, taking small jigs. Crappies should also be moving shallow as well.

Trout fishing continues to go strong, and some ponds were still being stocked as of this week. As the ponds warm up, trout will begin to move deeper, but will still be feeding near the surface early and late in the day.

Fishing Forecast for Cape Cod

It’s time to beef up the gear a little as keepers join the schoolies that arrived on the Cape more than a week ago. Soft-plastic jigs and topwaters are working well on the schoolies. In fact, many fishermen have reported big numbers of stripers falling to small walk-the-dog topwaters like the Daddy Mac AB Bomb and Rebel Jumping Minnow. White or bone is the best color. Fish are being caught in Barnstable Harbor, Buzzards Bay, in the Canal, on Martha’s Vineyard and in the South Side bays, so Eastman’s assessment that stripers are being caught “everywhere” isn’t far off. Mornings and late afternoons will be best, and keep moving. These small stripers haven’t been picky, so if you make two lure changes and a dozen or so casts without action, it’s time to move.

There’s no significant southwest wind in current 10-day forecast, which may come as a disappointment to anglers hoping to encounter some bluefish. Generally the blues hit south-facing beaches like South Cape, Oregon, Loop and Popponesset on strong southwest winds. This doesn’t mean they won’t move in on a different wind, and it’s worth taking a look—the time is right.

There weren’t many scup reported  over the past week, but that should change this week. Remember black sea bass season is closed for another two weeks, so if you catch any sea bass, which you are likely to do when targeting scup, let them go after making arrangements to meet up again on May 20.

The saltwater fishing is good and getting better, but freshwater fishing is going to be cooling off as the ponds heat up.  If you want to land that lunker largemouth, gator pickerel, or big trout, this weekend is still prime time.