Cape Cod Fishing Report- December 22, 2022

(Above) Stavros Viglas of Martha’s Vineyard shared this photo of a pretty looking winter holdover striped bass he caught in a Vineyard salt pond this past week.

We are already in the home stretch of December, which is hard to believe. This year felt like it flew by, and even though the 2022 fishing season isn’t over just yet, an incoming cold snap could put the nail in the coffin for everyone except ice fishermen. Sub-freezing temperatures and strong winds are in the forecast for the next 6 to 7 days, which will halt any open water freshwater efforts sending some anglers hunting for opportunities on the few headboats still running out of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Although with the high winds forecasted, finding a boat that’s willing to go out is also unlikely over the next week.

Before the freeze began, we had a solid 5-day window since the last skim ice on Cape Cod. Many of us took advantage of that window here at On The Water, and I even seized the opportunity to make some white perch sliders using a the foundation of a recipe from OTW’s Andy Nabreski. Meanwhile, holdover stripers were biting well on Martha’s Vineyard.

WATCH: Living Off The Land and Sea – Catch and Cook White Perch Sliders

Saturday morning started off breezy and bitter cold, but I was cheery and sprightly as I geared up with a small backpack and a 7-foot rod to begin a nearly half-day search for holdover striped bass. I covered a lot of water, fishing salt marshes and backwater salt ponds by foot. Ice cold water seeped through the pinholes in my stocking foot waders after a couple fishless hours, so I retreated to the car to armor up with a second layer of wool socks and some caffeine.

One sugar free Red Bull and a pair of socks later, I was back at it. The fishing was slow, but my guides hadn’t frozen yet and neither had I, so I pressed on. The lures of choice were a colorful array of 3- to 4-inch split-tail and paddletail swim shads that I pre-rigged on lightweight jigheads the night before to avoid exposing my fingertips to the cold. A few large schools of what looked to be silversides huddled along the marsh grass, so I pryed the area for hours with white, green/brown and silver soft plastics. It was now the middle of the outgoing tide and there was good current, but I was reaching bottom with a 3/8-ounce jig which was dragged painfully slowly through the muddy channels. Trying to stay focused was the toughest part, because every inch of my being, especially my now frozen toes, was telling me to call it quits. By 1:30 p.m., I had no stripers, but I had learned where to find the bait, which was step 1 to the process.

To conquer the feeling of defeat that came from a long, fruitless morning search for stripers, I headed to a reliable white perch spot to bend a rod.

The perch were willing to cooperate. The tide was coming in at a good pace, and white perch had schooled on both sides of the current break to pick off any small forage that washed in with tide. The fish immediately took interest in a small shad dart that I tied with chartreuse bucktail hair, and after I caught a handful, it dawned on me that I had not eaten anything all day.

As the tide slowed down, so did the perch fishing, and I decided that the next couple sizable fish would be kept for lunch. In Massachusetts, the legal minimum size for white perch is 8 inches, and the possession limit is a whopping 25 fish. That’s a lot of work for a little meat. Two fish sounded better to me.

Despite my poor filleting skills and the small fillets on these fish, I was excited to try Andy’s blackened white perch sliders recipe. But with no stringer or cooler for this impromptu catch and cook, I formed a small pool with stones collected from nearby to keep the fish fresh as I struggled to hook a second one.

Believe it or not, I managed to get a decent amount of meat off these two 9 to 10 inchers. I bought sweet Kings Hawaiian buns, made a sad excuse for coleslaw with some chipotle mayo, shredded lettuce and a bit of red onion, and dressed each one with a thin slice of Colby jack cheese.

Safe to say I’ll be making these again this winter. The meat was sweet and mild with not much fishy flavor, and it was surprisingly firm. The heat of my homemade blackening seasoning was a bit much, but I was heavy handed on the cayenne. If you’re looking for a rather reliable way to bend a rod and get some fresh fish while you’re at it, white perch is the way to go. However, I have yet to try rainbow trout. I’m not big on keeping freshwater fish, but trout might be on the menu this winter if I’m feeling exploratory enough.

Rainbow trout have been biting well too, though. Earlier this week, I fished a deep kettle pond and found a massive school of shiners tightly packed along the shallow shoreline. The water was crystal clear, and occasionally, I noticed the shiners fleeing what I could only assume was trout. The fish schooled near my ankles and jumped occasionally, but despite the clear water the only evidence of fish nearby were the boils I caught brief glimpses on the surface.

These rainbow trout were creating short-lived blitzes on the shiner schools, which was really cool to see. I hooked into four rainbow trout in the span of 90-minutes before the wind shifted, but it still wasn’t easy. Each trout bit on a different style retrieve, and 3 of the 4 were large enough that they could have been holdovers from the 2021 fall stocking.

One fish hit on a low and super slow retrieve, the second hit on a twitch and retrieve, and the third fish struck the Kastmaster on a steady retrieve through the middle of a shiner school; the fourth take was my favorite, despite it being the smallest fish of the day. The bite had slowed but in my past experiences at this spot, a frantic retrieve of the spoon across skimming across the surface would draw violent strikes from rainbows as they chased down what they figured was a fleeing shiner. I flipped the bail before the spoon splashed down, and keeping my rod at a 90-degree angle, began a fast retrieve with an occasional twitch of the rod tip to skip the lure on top. Almost immediately, a tell-tale swirl behind my spoon indicated a trout had taken interest, and after one more twitch, I watched the trout slurp my blue-chrome Kastmaster from the surface.

Trout fishing can be dull at times, but when it’s freezing cold and windy outside, and our favorite ponds are locked up with ice, we’ll be missing those brisk days of open water. To keep the trout biting when they’re in close, play around with the retrieval speed and don’t hesitate to switch up your lure or lure color even if you might think it’s what the fish want.

Enough about rainbow trout and sliders; let’s hear from our friend Stavros Viglas on the haps around Martha’s Vineyard. He reported:

“There is plenty of water to fish on the Vineyard this week. The holdover striped bass bite continues to be hot; with gusty winds and higher temperatures, the fish have been plenty active and will remain active until the cold snap. They’re staying low and nosing around for crabs, picking up any small, lingering baitfish along the way. The freshwater ponds are still seeing plenty of trout and chain pickerel landed on the regular. Meanwhile, on the shellfish front, dip netting and dragging for scallops has been excellent.”

Stavros insists that the best time to fish for holdovers is during windy conditions. The wind kicks up bait and decreases visibility in the water, which makes the stripers easier to pick off. I know I’ll be taking a page out of his book the next time I get out for holdovers.

Here is the rundown from our local tackle shops this week.

Connor at Red Top Sporting Goods in Buzzards Bay reports:

“Believe it or not, there are still some slot-size stripers in the Fall River and New Bedford areas biting on slowly fished soft plastics at night. The fishing is very hit or miss, there have only been a few guys putting in the time because they’re timing the tides to fish the warmer water, and they’re only getting a few fish in one night at the most.”

Evan at Eastman’s Sport and Tackle in Falmouth reports:

“Shellfishing has been great around town, but fishing has been pretty slow aside from those anglers hitting the trout ponds. Oystering in West Falmouth is good right now, and we’re selling clam rakes, baskets and shucking knives to meet the demand. If we get ice over the next week, we’ll order some shiners for ice fishing.”

Amy at Sports Port Bait and Tackle in Hyannis reports:

“Trout fishing has been good this week, we had a few customers doing well with Kastmasters and nightcrawlers but otherwise fishing has been very slow with the near-freezing temperatures.”

• Want to get in on the bite? Find an OTW-approved Charter Fishing Captain around Cape Cod and the Islands!

Cape Cod Fishing Forecast

As temperatures reach the high teens over the next week or so, fishing is going to get difficult. Its tough on anglers and our gear to fish through extreme cold, so be smart in choosing when and where you go out fishing. Prepare for the worst case scenario when it gets to be this cold; stay closer to home, carry emergency safety gear and extra warm/dry layers, and limit your outings if the fish aren’t biting. We may even get some sturdy ice on shallower, smaller ponds over the next 5 days, so keep the ice fishing gear ready. It won’t last, as temperatures should return to above freezing after next Thursday, but I’m sort of hoping to try ice fishing for the first time this winter. We shall see.

Before the ponds freeze, the best bet for putting a bite together will be to try saltwater or brackish creeks for white perch, or larger lakes for trout because they’ll take longer to freeze over. Wherever fishing finds you this coming week, be safe, respect the fish, respect each other and fish hard.

Thank you all for reading along with our reports each week throughout 2022! We’ll have one more report for the year next Thursday, but until then, Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas to all of our dedicated readers and anglers! I hope to see some of you out there this winter.