Cape Cod Fishing Report- December 8, 2022

When the weather has cooperated, fishing has been good on Cape Cod this week. The kettle ponds are booming, with quality largemouth bass putting on the feed bag, big rainbow trout striking anything that moves (whether live or artificial) and pickerel on the prowl.

Chain pickerel have been particularly aggressive this week. I’m not sure if it is due to the steady 50-degree temperatures we’ve had, but I’ve tussled with a handful of 20-inchers this week and they are a handful. Yellow perch patterned jerkbaits and crankbaits have triggered strikes from the bigger pickerel while smaller ones have favored Kastmasters and 3-inch paddletails. While fishing in a nearby bass pond, a yellow perch Rapala Shad Rap put 3 big chain pickerel in my net in under 90 minutes on Sunday. Each of them measured around 20 inches and one measured 23, but they were all fattened up in preparation for impending temperature drops. Right around this same time last year, I noticed pickerel, largemouth bass and bigger trout chasing baitfish in shallow, and on many of those same outings, I’d see schools of tiny 2- to 3-inch yellow perch congregating around my wading boots for cover. The perch spawns typically happen in mid- to late-spring, but it seems like the young of year yellows push into shallow, sunny areas in December, leaving them less cover from vegetation and making them vulnerable to predators.

After struggling to free my lure from the chompers of the third, and largest pickerel that day, I decided to finish off my evening by testing out some shad darts I tied. I headed to the white perch spot, and after a few casts and some quick action, I was joined by Jimmy and Maura Fee. Like me, they wanted to top off their Sunday with a bent rod, and in short order, Maura did just that. After a few casts from atop her father’s shoulders, the bobber on Jimmy’s rod dipped beneath the surface and Maura set the hook into something big. It took some time to reel in, but once the fish surfaced from the cloudy water near our ankles, a beast of a white perch showed itself.

The longer I looked at this perch, the bigger it got. We measured it and photographed it at 14-inches on the nose, which is recognized by the Massachusetts Sportfishing Award Program as a “Pin Fish”. A pin fish is designated not as any state record, but as a substantial and noteworthy catch for a given species in Massachusetts waters. For example, a chain pickerel measuring 25 inches or larger is a Pin Fish in Massachusetts. In this case, a 14-inch white perch is solidified as a Pin Fish. This one was released to swim another day, but there is an option for catch and keep sportfishing awards as well. All of the rules and information needed to submit a successful Pin Fish to the state, including fish weights and measurements, can be found at this link. I remember catching and submitting a 14-inch white perch last winter, so I can only imagine how excited Maura was to be filling out the same form!

While that mondo perch bit on a fly tied by Kevin Blinkoff, all of my fish came on my newly tied chartreuse shad darts, which I was introduced to by Andy Nabreski. Check out this article on the versatility of these little jigs. The perch seem to favor bright colors like white, neon green and pink, which just so happen to be the same colors of bucktail I had laying around at home. Its a fun off-season activity, jig tying, and I hope to get better at it. It was very rewarding to catch a fluke on one of my own shad darts this past summer after seeing Andy tie them.

One species that has eluded me this week has been largemouth bass. I hooked a good one before those 3 pickerel, but lost it at my feet. Devastating. However, Anthony DeiCicchi stuck a couple big ones on jerkbaits when he got out, and a friend of my buddy Jack caught a thick one on a live shiner.

Although their intended target was brown trout, a chunky bass and an exceptionally fat rainbow trout were the only takers; still a much better live-bait outing than my yellow perch experience last week. Bass are fattening up before winter, and the more 50-degree days we have, the longer that transition will last. If water temperatures remain reasonably “warm”, freshwater fishing should be good through the month, and bass will continue to feed on everything from jerkbaits to live shiners.

But freshwater fishing is not the only pursuit of anglers in the off-season. Our friend Stavros Viglas on Martha’s Vineyard got into a solid holdover striper bite this past week. He’s been fishing the Vineyard salt ponds, and they’ve been good to him. Stavros reported:

“With the ocean temperature dropping, the squid and bass have gone but the resident holdover fishing has been exceptional. Mild temperatures have kept the bite alive. Native brook trout and other freshwater fish still seem to be pretty active as well.”

Check out Stavros’ page on Instagram @south_of_the_vineyard for more great, local content.

With that report from Stavros, I’m wondering what I’ve been doing down at the kettle ponds when I could be looking for holdover stripers. With quality fish like that around, I’ll be marking some dates on the calendar when I have the free time to hunt a little harder for them.

For now, freshwater fishing will keep the masses occupied. Like I mentioned last week, our options are plentiful. White perch, yellow perch, largemouth and even smallmouth bass, chain pickerel, trout and crappie are all viable targets at this point in the season, so pick up an ultralight rod or your favorite bass wand and take advantage of the ponds that pepper the Cape Cod landscape.

Here’s a quick rundown on the bite from our local shops:

A.J. at Red Top Sporting Goods in Buzzards Bay reports:

“The saltwater season has pretty much wrapped up for us, except for some guys coming in to grab stuff for mackerel. There has been a decent mackerel bite in the East End of the Canal at the bulkhead, and honestly, there’s still some good bluefin tuna fishing going on out on Stellwagen Bank. Most of those fish are giants being caught live mackerel,  so if you’ve still got a boat in the water… maybe send it for one last trip. Most of our customer are trout fishing otherwise, and one customer caught a huge smallmouth bass on Cape Cod this week that must have been a 4-pounder easily.”

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

“We haven’t had a ton of customers coming in for lures or bait, but the ones who have stopped in on their way to the water have reported good trout fishing in the kettle lakes and quality bass fishing on small Rapalas in a lot of the smaller ponds. Pickerel will probably be mixed in if you’re throwing hard plastics like that, but they put up a good fight with lighter tackle this time of year. Trout fishing will continue to be the main attraction for most of the freshwater anglers. Rainbows are plentiful, but there are holdover browns and tigers popping up in some of the bigger lakes that are leftover from the spring stocking.”

Sports Port Bait and Tackle in Hyannis reports:

“Our customers have been reporting rainbows biting well as the water has been cooling. They’re chewing on Kastmasters in both blue/silver pattern and classic gold. When the bite dies, sometimes a simple color change is all you need rather than swapping out lures entirely. There has been a good crowd of guys using night crawlers for trout during the day, too. They’re fishing them under a bobber which has been providing some steady action when a steady or fast-moving spoon isn’t getting it done.”

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

Cape Cod Fishing Forecast

If your greatest interest lies in fast and reliable action, rainbow trout should be the prime target. Find a couple white perch holes too and they will usually bite well for an extended amount of time.

For the patient angler who is interested in bigger, quality fish over quantity, setting out some night crawlers or live shiners could be the ticket to hooking a big largemouth bass or brown trout, especially at night. Dress for the conditions and over prepare, because bait and wait fishing gets tougher as temperatures drop.

If mackerel is more your speed, you’re in luck; the East End of the Cape Cod Canal is fishing well for mackerel still. That surprised many of us last week, so with those fish to still around now, there’s no telling how long that bite will last.

Holdover striper fishing should be picking up in the next few weeks. It sounds like there’s fish in the rivers on Cape, so it’s just a matter of hitting the right tides and putting an appetizing bait in front of them.

Lastly, if you’ve got your boat in the water, this weekend could be the last shot at some late-season bluefin! The bite is going off just a bit northeast of the Cape, and judging from recent reports and social media, there are still some good fish out there. Be extra careful if you choose to brave the icy seas for a shot at those bluefin.

Wherever fishing finds your this week, respect the fish, respect each other, be safe and fish hard. Catch you next week!