Cape Cod Fishing Report - February 27, 2020

In the ponds around the Cape, a predator is stirring. It has a large mouth, needle-sharp teeth, and chain-linked camouflage. It lies in ambush, awaiting a passing baitfish (or duck) and pounces. It grows to 30 inches, and fish exceeding 20 inches are common. Yet, most anglers would rather not catch them.

But I’m not one of them. As February draws to a close, the chain pickerel is putting on the feedbag as it prepares to spawn once the water reaches 50 degrees. This makes the next few weeks prime time for targeting these miniature muskies.

This week, we’ve hooked pickerel to 23 inches while wading shallow ponds around the Upper Cape. Right now, small jigs and jerkbaits are working best, but as the water warms, larger offerings will tempt more fish. Pickerel are suckers for suspending or slow-sinking presentations, so keep that in mind when selecting your lures.

AJ at Red Top Sporting Goods mentioned the good pickerel as well, reporting that some largemouth bass anglers are complaining about catching more pickerel than bass. For late February, that seems like a good problem to have, though I admit, in mid-April, when I’m looking for lunker largemouth, I’m a little less accepting of our toothy “slime darts.”

Ice Breakers

AJ also said the trout fishing is excellent right now. In addition to rainbows and browns, he’d heard of a big brook trout taken this week as well. Powerbait is AJ’s top pick, but said spinners and spoons will work as well.

Right now, all the trout being caught are holdovers, the survivors or the fall or spring 2019 stocking, but AJ heard the stocking trucks might be making fresh deliveries of trout in the near future. All the ponds are free of ice and warming quickly, so conditions look prime for an early March start to the trout stocking.

White perch are schooled up and feeding in brackish waters around the Cape, and are approaching their heaviest weights of the year as they prepare to spawn. Small spoons, jigs, spinners, and live grass shrimp or mummichogs are a lock for catching perch. The challenge in catching white perch is usually in finding the school. Once you do, they aren’t very picky about what they’ll eat.

And it hasn’t all been slow on the bass front. Matty Z worked low and slow with a Ned Rig to catch a 7.6-pound largemouth, along with a few 4-plus-pound smallies. Deep structure and slow presentations are key to catching quality bass in the larger kettle ponds right now. Bladebaits, dropshot rigs, and the Ned Rig are all good bets.

Fishing Forecast for Cape Cod

The pre-spawn pickerel bite is not to be missed, especially if you haven’t been fishing in a while. The smaller, shallower ponds will have the best action right now, but as the weather warms, the larger, deeper ponds will wake up as well.