Who turned on the A/C? It is BRICK out there, as my New York friends would say. Thanksgiving brought some seriously icy weather to the Cape, and even a few snow squalls here and there in the days that followed. It feels like we could be in for a long, particularly cold winter.
As much as I enjoy pond hopping for bass, trout, perch and pickerel throughout the winter, I’ve got an ice rod collecting dust at home that is begging to be used. Since moving here in late 2021 the winters have been pretty mild, so the waders have been put to use 12 months a year; mine are still hanging on the back of the front door, ready for action, but there was some skim ice developing on the smaller, shallower ponds this week after evening temperatures dipped into the high 20s and low 30s.
And as some of the ponds begin to see skim ice, believe it or not, there are some late-season stragglers still migrating south around the Cape this week. Late last week, a large school of bunker pushed around P-Town with big bass in tow, and since then, brief blitzes have been spotted along the south side by anglers and shell fishermen off of Falmouth, and points east near Chatham. Man, it would be great to catch a couple more bass in the surf this weekend to cross December stripers off the list of goals for 2023. If you plan to pursue these fish (that is, if they’re not gone already), I’d imagine the best course of action to be driving along the south side beaches, posting up in parking lots, and scanning the surf with some binoculars and a cup of coffee from the comfort of a heated car. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday morning in early December!
December also marks the unofficial start of show season, and this weekend, GW Customs is hosting “The Fishing Show Before Christmas” on Saturday and Sunday at Stone Path Malt’s Tap Room on Kendrick Road in Wareham. Stop in from 1-8 p.m. on Saturday, or 1-5 p.m. on Sunday to do some holiday shopping after scanning the surf or spending the morning on a trout pond.
With gusty, frigid conditions, freshwater fishing has been challenging but feasible this week if you can tuck away from the wind. I spent Thanksgiving on Long Island, but I was able to land a lone rainbow trout before work earlier this week. Since then, the best action seems to be on the smaller bass ponds that have yet to see skim ice. Finesse tactics like the float and fly rig are producing largemouth bass and pickerel, but resorting to live baits like shiners and nightcrawlers has also been a reliable tactic. If you can reach drop-offs or deep weeds and grasses, fishing a live shiner beneath a bobber is sure to produce bass, pickerel, trout and of course, pesky yellow perch. When I talked to Connor Swartz from Red Top Sporting Goods in Buzzards Bay, he said he did well catching largemouth with live shiners in an upper Cape pond in the late afternoon on the sunny, wind-blown shoreline. Despite near freezing temperatures, Connor said the bass were stacked up and feeding pretty actively in a trough where the dropping shoreline meets a submerged weed line. He caught a handful of bass up to 2.5 pounds before he ran out of shiners and lost feeling in his hands. (Note: waterproof gloves are a great holiday gift for any year-round angler!)
When I called Red Top to talk fishing, I got word from Ian Lumsden that a few anglers fishing the east end of the Canal had fish on bucktail jigs, with some flurries of topwater action. But after the full moon on Monday, the current has been ripping. Ian said 6- to 7-ounce bucktail jigs have been pulling up bass to slot size. And on Saturday, after a wave of late-season migrators pushed down the outer beaches, Ian’s buddy put a 44-inch striper on the beach while fishing eastern Nantucket Sound. With the freezing temperatures we’ve had, it’s unlikely those bass are still in the neighborhood, but this weekend wouldn’t be the worst time for a last-ditch effort in the surf. Otherwise, there is still decent tautog fishing in Buzzards Bay, according to Ian and the Red Top regulars. They had a few customers that experienced slow fishing in 20 to 30 feet, but after moving t0 40 and 50 foot depths, they were able to put a few keeper tog in the cooler. The majority of anglers stopping in, however, have been interested in trout fishing. There customers are picking up nightcrawlers, PowerBait and shiners in hopes of catching some big brown trout, but the general consensus is that it has been a tough bite. However, Ian’s friend and Red Top employee, Dom Piccuito, has had good action fishing plump killies under a bobber for brown trout up to 4 pounds. The killies can be trapped in the rivers over muddy bottom, and sometimes, they work better than live shiners.
While floating shiners (or killies) can be productive for cold water bass and trout, there are times when they just won’t come off the bottom. In that case, rigging nightcrawlers or PowerBait on a lightweight bottom rig is a good fall back tactic for trout and bass. Last week, I went fishless with spinners and spoons on a local trout pond while the gentleman next to me caught smallmouth and largemouth bass, along with a few rainbow trout using nightcrawlers on a basic fishfinder rig. Sometimes when the going gets tough, you just can’t beat live bait.
A call to Canal Bait and Tackle in Sagamore confirmed that there are still some bass kicking around in the east end of the ditch, although most of the anglers down there are fishing for mackerel these days. They said the bass are being caught on heavy jigs after the full moon on Monday, and since there are still mackerel around in numbers, it may be worth a trip over the course of the next week.
Evan at Eastman’s Sport and Tackle in Falmouth said that the fishing has been pretty quiet this week but he’s still moving good amounts of shellfishing gear in the colder weather. He’s out of town for a trade show this week, but the shop will be open on Saturday for anyone in need of freshwater bait and tackle or shellfishing equipment.
Christian at Sports Port Bait and Tackle in Hyannis brought some good news, sharing that a customer of theirs caught some big bluefish with squid on a nearby beach. He stopped by the shop for bait, leader and hooks, returned two hours later for wire leader after breaking off a couple fish, and reported back to the shop with two gator blues shortly thereafter. Another one of their customers said mackerel fishing in the east end of the canal has been off the charts this week. Christian and I agreed that with big and plentiful schools of mackerel in the east end, the decent striper fishing should continue with a chance for a late-season cow or two. Otherwise, the shop has been quiet, save the few customers coming in for worms and PowerBait. They have one shop regular who puts in his hours fishing live shiners after dark for brown trout, and he shared that he has also been catching the browns with mouse imitations. If the wind lays down, throwing disruptive surface flies or lures like jointed Rapalas is a great way to entice a bite from some of the larger brown trout in our kettle ponds.
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Cape Cod Fishing Forecast
You know it’s been a cold week on Cape Cod when the forecast for 50 degrees sounds warm and inviting.
The best bet for bending a rod this weekend lies in our freshwater ponds, or in the east end of the Canal. Mackerel are in thick, so tie up a couple sabiki rigs to get in on the action. There are even some bass pushing slot size beneath the macks, taking heavy bucktail jigs. With mild (comfortable) temperatures forecasted for Saturday and Sunday, it may be possible to check off December stripers from the bucket list. Check the tides and plan your outing accordingly.
In the ponds, bass and pickerel will be chewing. Suspending jerkbaits, spoons, and micro soft plastics like Ned rigs will be a coldwater bass fisherman’s best friend. Bass will be hanging deeper, but trout have been in shallow this week. I spooked a few that I probably could have caught if I treaded more cautiously along the shoreline, but only one rainbow was willing to play ball. Under sunny skies, I still find the Kastmaster to be an unbeatable trout lure. But if artificials won’t produce, swing by your local tackle shop for nightcrawlers, PowerBait or shiners and a few bobbers. Many of our local shops are now running on their winter hours, so they may only be open on weekends; take advantage of that!
And if, for whatever reason, the fish don’t cooperate, you can find consolation in a little end-of-season shopping at the GW Customs fishing show in Wareham this weekend.
Hope you all had a safe and happy Thanksgiving. Thanks for reading along.
If you’d like to contribute to our weekly fishing reports this winter, email me (mhaeffner@onthewater.com) with a brief report of your day on the water and what you caught, or message me on Instagram @matthaeffner.