Cape Cod Fishing Report
You know winter is officially setting in when you have to break the ice to wade to your fishing spot.
That’s what I found myself doing on Monday afternoon when the On The Water offices were closed for MLK Jr. Day. Skim ice had formed around the edges of the bass pond, and to get to the flat where I wanted to cast from, it required a little extra work. I used a nice-sized branch as a club to clear a path through the patchy skim ice, putting a few more holes in my waders in the process, and got to fishing.
In no time, a wind knot jumped off the reel of my bass setup as the braided line froze around the spool. Ice had already clogged up the guides, and there was no fixing this wind knot while waist-deep in ice water. I instead opted for the trout rod for its lack of braid, and stuck one tiny largemouth bass on a slow-rolled spoon.
Since then, the smaller ponds have been frozen over and my freshwater wands received a much-needed break. The temperature hasn’t climbed above freezing in a few days, and it doesn’t look like it will again until early next week. In fact, this weekend calls for overnight temps as low as 11 degrees! As a result, hopeful whispers of local ice fishing plans are floating around the OTW office. With air temperatures already in the twenties, and dropping to nearly single digits by Saturday, the ice should be nice and thick on some of our smaller ponds come Sunday. The only thing that could hinder the ice setting safely on some of our larger lakes is the high wind we’ve had all week.
When looking for ice fishing spots, err on the side of extreme caution. Shady shorelines and coves will have the safest ice because during the winter, the northern hemisphere tilts away from the sun, so the sun takes a “lower” path in the sky. As a result, some areas receive little to no sunlight. Those are the places to test the ice first.
Sunfish, yellow and white perch, crappie, largemouth bass and pickerel are the prime targets this weekend, mostly because they inhabit the smaller ponds which are most likely to have safe ice. Larger, deeper lakes like Long Pond, Wequaquet or Mashpee-Wakeby will likely remain open, or at least too open for safe ice fishing. However, there are a handful of smaller ponds with stocked trout and smallmouth bass that may freeze enough to fish. It’s all a matter of testing the ice with an auger or spud bar before committing to a day out there.
Since I went crashing through the ice on my first-ever ice fishing outing in Maine this December, I’ll be taking extra precautions when stepping out there this time around. It’s worth reviewing these two articles from On The Water before attempting ice fishing, even as a refresher for the seasoned ice fisherman:
The opportunity to go ice fishing on Cape Cod hasn’t come around since I moved here over 2 years ago, and as much as it pays to be concerned with ice fishing safety, the most important part is to have fun and enjoy being out there. I’m excited to see what the weekend has in store, and I would love to hear reports from anyone else who gets out on the ice. Shoot me an email (mhaeffner@onthewater.com) or reach out on Instagram (@matthaeffner) to share your photos and a brief report to be featured in next week’s Cape Cod Fishing Report—which will hopefully have more fishing pictures than this week.
The local tackle shops have nothing to report in the way of fishing this week. At this point, anyone who is planning on fishing is either heading south, or keeping their fingers crossed for safe ice.
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Cape Cod Fishing Forecast
Ice, ice, baby. Setting traps and fishing with small hair jigs and micro soft-plastics will be the name of the game this weekend, and probably into Monday or Tuesday of next week when more mild weather returns.
As much as I’m excited to do some ice fishing, I finally have a new pair of waders on the way, and I look forward to 40-degree temperatures thawing out the ponds so I can break them in next week.
Remember to use extreme caution on the ice this weekend. A general rule of thumb is that 4 inches of ice is safe ice. Bring extra warm layers, a thermos with some warm soup, coffee or cocoa, and safety gear like spikes and a throw rope in the event of an incident.
Assuming there is safe ice, I hope to get some ice fishing photos from those of you who brave the conditions this weekend. Cheers to winter feeling like winter for once! Be safe out there, and thanks for reading.
(If you’d like to contribute to our weekly fishing reports this winter, email me at mhaeffner@onthewater.com with a brief report of your day on the water and what you caught, or message me on Instagram @matthaeffner.)
Great reporting as always!! Appreciate it as it’s almost time for a winter trout expedition and maybe/ always fly fishing with streamers!!