Let’s call it a wrap on the Cape ice fishing season. After a few weekends of fishing on local ice, it’s time to set our sights on ice-out and the soon-to-be-stocked trout.
Most of the large trout ponds never iced-in to begin with, and fishermen caught rainbows and browns all winter long on bait and lures. In early March, a fresh batch of trout will be stocked to join the holdovers, and fishermen will enjoy fast action with rainbows, browns, brookies, and tigers. If you can’t wait that long for trout, head for Peter’s, Cliff, Sheep, or Mashpee-Wakeby, where strong holdover populations of trout will be willing to strike stickbaits, jigs, nightcrawlers, and small live shiners.
Pickerel appear to be in pre-spawn mode right now, as they typically drop their eggs soon after ice out. During the last days of ice fishing on the Cape, large pickerel were biting well on tip-ups, and that good action should continue for fishermen setting shiners under floats in the same areas they had been setting shiners under tip-ups. Suspending jerkbaits, jigs, and inline spinners will also work for these late-winter pickerel.
Bass activity picked up this week, with fishermen reporting good bites on jerkbaits, live shiners, and on the float-n-fly rig.
All’s quiet on the saltwater side, for now, but the first herring should be reaching the runs soon. White perch will be picking up their activity as the water warms in the estuaries. Expect to catch perch on small jigs and spoons. Fish close to the bottom for the best bet for perch action.
Fishing Forecast for Cape Cod
The forecast is showing a break from the cold and the snow, and could be enough to open up more of the smaller ponds. I’m looking forward to loading the kayak back onto my truck to get after the bass and pickerel that will be growing more active by the day.
And if you’re waiting for summer and stripers to get excited about fishing again, be sure to check out this weekend’s new episode of OTW TV on NBC Sports Boston – catching big stripers in Boston Harbor with Captain Brian Coombs, a regular contributor to this report in the springtime.
