I have a hunch that striper activity on Cape Cod is about to explode.
But before dedicating more time and effort into striper fishing, it’s worth taking a few good shots at largemouth or smallmouth bass on your local pond. Last week, I joined my coworkers Andy Nabreski and Patrick Washburn for some beers & bobbers after work, and after a slow start we were handsomely rewarded with consistent bites. Patrick picked up a few dozen shiners from Falmouth Bait and Tackle and I met him and Andy on the water.
While waiting for bobbers to drop, I casted around artificial swimbaits and paddletails in hopes of getting a bite, but to no avail. “Wait til the sun dips behind those trees, then it’s gonna turn on,” Andy said.
He was right. Moments after the spring sun cast its last shadow on the pond, Patrick hooked a chunky largemouth in the 1 1/2- to 2-pound range. Then another one around the same size. Andy followed suit, and then a couple pickerel even came out to play.
I lost a decent fish on a big take, then lost a shiner to small nibbles on the next cast. After re-baiting my hook, I looked down to see a painted turtle taunting me with my shiner in its mouth.
When I looked up, my bobber was gone. I stuffed the camera into my waders pouch, frantically reeled in the slack and reared back carefully to avoid pulling the hook. Immediately I knew it was a big fish, but I didn’t know how big. After a couple short runs into the weeds and around branches, I saw the head on the fish and began cussing up a storm, anxious that I was about to lose the fish. “Oh you’ve hooked a hog,” Andy said. He was right! I grabbed it by the lip, securing the catch. Although the scale was dead, this fish measured 23 inches long, and it was fat. Fatter than any largemouth I had seen in person.
I claimed it my new personal best bass, and even though it didn’t come on an artificial lure, I’m happy to have finally danced with a true Cape Cod bucketmouth.
Once my heartbeat returned to normal, a few minutes passed and Patrick hooked into what seemed to be another largemouth, until it took a quick dive into submerged brush in an attempt to break off or pull the hook. Patrick dragged the fish out and hoisted what was probably about a 25-inch chain pickerel.
Activity in saltwater is on the rise too, as more herring continue to flood our bays and rivers. Earlier this week, I sprinted down a stretch of beach to capture the carnage of gannets diving on schools of herring as they fought against the strong ebb tide. There were no fish under them from what I could see, and like a fool, I left my rod at home. That’s the last time I make that mistake.
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And if that isn’t enough evidence of big baitfish entering our waters, local angler Tom D’Amato captured some cool footage of seals harassing a pod of bunker by pinning them against the shore.
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Based off the amount of bait we’ve seen this week, it’s a safe assumption that the first migratory stripers could arrive to Cape Cod by Saturday, if not earlier.
Another noteworthy happening in the salt, OTW’s Patrick Washburn observed a handful of tautog in the Cape Cod Canal via the Mass. Maritime Academy’s underwater live stream.
Soon enough, we’ll be seeing migratory stripers pass by on the live feed as they head north! Hopefully even sooner, we’ll be seeing them hooked on the end of our lines.
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Want to get in on the bite? Find an OTW-approved Charter Fishing Captain around Cape Cod and the Islands!
A.J. Coots at Red Top Sporting Goods in Buzzards Bay reports:
“Our buddy Ralphie was holdover striper fishing in brackish water out of state this week, and was fishing an 8-inch straight tail soft plastic when he hooked into a big northern pike. That was a fun surprise to hear about at the shop, and totally weird for a pike to strike a bait like that. More locally though, tautog fishing has been slow because due to regulations, we can’t get green crabs until the 15th (Saturday). They are in the Canal in numbers though, so that’s a good sign. Also, on Monday we weighed in a 4.5 pound brown trout, so there’s still some good freshwater fishing to be had. And to fuel the fire of anxious striper fishermen reading this report, a local angler said he caught a squid around south Cape this week, and when there’s one, there’s more.”
Evan at Eastman’s Sport and Tackle in Falmouth reports:
“There are a lot of people buying tog tackle, crabs and jigs this week. I’m assuming there are anglers catching in Buzzards Bay already, but nobody has come back to report, which is somewhat expected of the spring tog fishing. My boat is going in the water next week so hopefully I’ll get out there to do some togging as well. There are a couple guys still routinely catching some trout, largemouth bass and pickerel, but it seems like striped bass fishing is about to really kick up a notch in the next few days as schoolies begin to arrive.”
Morgan at Sports Port Bait and Tackle in Hyannis reports:
“Saltwater fishing been slow so far but there are some guys on boats catching tautog, although they were very quiet about where, of course. Some anglers came in to the shop and said they saw a pod of squid in a local harbor which was great news, however, we have yet to hear of any migratory schoolies chasing them. Freshwater has been crazy active with yellow perch, rainbow trout and brown trout all biting well. Floating PowerBait and mock egg sacs are working well, but for anglers casting lures, the gold Kastmaster has been particularly productive and that could be a result of the recent yellow perch spawning activity.”
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Want to get in on the bite? Find an OTW-approved Charter Fishing Captain around Cape Cod and the Islands!
Cape Cod Fishing Forecast
Squid, herring and bunker, oh my. There is bait everywhere. Get the inshore rods and surf rods rigged and ready.
Start tautog fishing this weekend from the jetties and kayaks in shallow water, but bring a rod rigged for stripers too. Small swim shads and some topwater plugs that imitate squid are good to keep at the ready.
I’m so excited just writing this. It’s all happening, folks. I hope that by this time next week, we have some solid reports of tautog being caught around Cape Cod and Buzzards Bay, and some stripers making their way into Vineyard Sound in pursuit of herring, bunker and squid.
You know what to do. Get out there, be safe, fish hard, and make a report!
Remember, our friends at Goose Hummock Shops in Orleans are hosting a Kid’s Fishing Festival on Saturday, April 22 on Flax Pond in Nickerson State Park! There will be food, prizes, and plenty of fish caught. Keep it on the calendar. We hope to see you there!
We want to hear from you! If you’d like to contribute to our fishing reports, reach out to me via email (mhaeffner@onthewater.com) or via Instagram (@hefftyfishing) with a sentence or two reporting your experience on the water, along with any fish photos related to your report.
Turtle Soup, anyone? Yes, turtles like fish ,too. I caught a turtle last year while fishing for trout. Thankfully I got the hook out of his mouth. But my epic turtle experience came at Quabbin. I was fishing for smallmouth and my line started to twitch. I set the hook into what I thought was a smallie of a lifetime. But it was weird. It was heavy but there was no fight. Then I see part of a tree branch pop out of the water. Darn! I caught some wood, not a fish. Carefully I reeled it in, not wanting to break my line. I got the branch up to the boat and reached down to grab it. I started pulling it up and I noticed that my line was wrapped around the log, but the hook was still down in the water. After pulling up a few feet of this branch, I see this enormous snapping turtle coming up with my hook in its mouth. I mean this sucker was BIG! YIKES!!! One of the biggest snappers I’ve ever seen. I freaked and dropped the whole mess and cut my line. I wanted nothing to do with this bad hombre. The branch swam away and I kept all my fingers.