UPDATE (4:30 p.m., 3/16/18) – Stocking trucks were seen rolling on Friday, depositing frisky foot-long rainbows at a number of Upper Cape ponds.
Above: A lunch-break rainbow taken on Friday during a trip to confirm rumors of stocking trucks on the road.
March is only two weeks old, but we’ve had three nor’easters, with the last one leaving much of the Cape without power since Tuesday.
Understandably, the trout stocking has been delayed as the crew at the Sandwich Hatchery waits for more stable weather to make the rounds.
Still, holdover trout have been biting. Browns and rainbows continue to be caught at the larger kettle ponds like Peter’s, Cliff, and Long Pond in Plymouth.
Small swimming plugs like the Rapala X-Rap or Yo-Zuri Pins Minnow are working well with the trout, as are small tube jigs, Trout Magnets, and Maribou Jigs.
The snow, and upcoming melt, will chill the small, shallow ponds that had been producing good bass and pickerel fishing, which could slow down the bite. Cold-water tactics like suspending jerkbaits, blade baits, and curly-tail jigs will help fishermen catch until the waters warm back up. Live shiners will also work, but call ahead to your nearby tackle shops to see if they have the baitfish in stock. An extended power outage can lead to die-offs in the bait tanks of tackle shops.
Daytime high temperatures aren’t forecast to break out of the 30s until next Wednesday, with nighttime lows in the teens forecast for Saturday night. We’re definitely feeling the teeth of the proverbial March lion so far.
Even if the weather is keeping you from hitting the water this weekend, you can still get ready for spring and binge fishing videos on line. This video on Cape Cod largemouth bass fishing that we put together last spring with St. Croix Rods got me motivated to string up my swimbait rod this week (by flashlight). I hope to use it soon.
And, while it might be hard to believe when looking out at the big mounds of plowed snow, a friend reminded me today that we’re just one month away from seeing the first scout migrating schoolies on the South Side of the Cape. Given the numbers of small stripers we saw last October, we should be in for a banner spring. Here’s a short film we made with Grundens last fall on the scrappy, small stripers that will be returning to the Cape a little bigger this year.
And while you can catch a new episode of On The Water’s Angling Adventures on NBC Sports Boston at 10 a.m. on Sunday, you can watch full episodes anytime on our YouTube Channel, HERE.
Fishing Forecast for Cape Cod
Because of the ice-cold snowmelt pouring into the ponds and the frigid nighttime temperatures, I’m going to cross the bass and pickerel ponds off my list this weekend to focus on trout. For holdover browns and rainbows, there’s no such thing as too cold. Cover some ground with jigs and stickbaits, and you’re bound to catch a couple healthy trout even before the ponds get stocked.
I left a message for Andy Nabreski and Jimmy Fee about two weeks ago asking Andy about scallops being pushed ashore in the pending noreaster and where on the marsh they went for holdover stripers; did they know certain holes or just any bends in the creeks, etc.
Ya gotta git out n look around