Cape Cod Fishing Report - December 14, 2017

Besides the possibility of some harbor pollock in the Canal, Cape Cod fishermen are stuck in the sweetwater for a few months – and if this weather pattern continues they’ll be left fishing on the water.

While many fishermen are hopeful for a long ice-fishing season on the Cape, others, like me, are in no hurry for the ponds to freeze over.

Bass and pickerel are still biting well in the smaller, shallow ponds. Suspending jerkbaits are the hottest bait, but Rat-L-Traps are catching as well. Some lunker largemouths can be caught at this time of year. A few years ago, Christmas came early for one fishermen working a small Lucky Craft Pointer at Long Pond in Plymouth when an 8-pound bucketmouth took the bait. Fishermen are currently finding 4-pounders at many ponds, and catching good numbers as the bass tend to school up in the colder water.

Smallies are being vertically jigged from depths of 30 to 50 feet with blade baits and dropshot rigs. Some of the largest smallies of the season are caught this way at this time of year. Look for humps or underwater points in those depths, and keep your bait on the bottom.

Trout fishing is very good reported Hayden at Red Top. Fishermen have reported brown trout to 21 inches in Peters Pond and Rainbow Trout to 19 inches in Mashpee Wakeby. Bill at Sports Port in Hyannis had heard of browns of 4 pounds being caught by fishermen trolling with stickbaits.

I’ve still been catching white perch, though the fast and furious action of last week has waned to a few fish an outing. I caught a half-dozen today on my lunch break filming a new feature for the On The Water YouTube Channel, Lunch On The Water. Look for the episode to hit next week, but I’ll be sure to post it here.

Fishing Forecast for Cape Cod

Trout are the top pick this weekend with big browns and rainbows being reported recently. If you have a kayak or small boat, trolling stickbaits is a good bet. From shore, slinging spoons, stickbaits or jigs will work.  The water temperature has dropped with last weekend’s melting snow and this week’s bitter cold, so slow down your retrieve for the best shot at hooking up.