Cape Cod Fishing Report
Has Cape Cod’s ice season come and gone? If so, it was the most short-lived ice season there ever was… about 36 hours to be precise. Thankfully though, there’s plenty of winter left.
Last week’s report covered a bit about ice fishing safety in anticipation of some safe, fishable ice developing on Cape Cod. However, even after some frigid overnight temps in the teens, finding a lake or pond that was fully locked up with more than 3 inches of ice proved challenging. The bog ponds, and a handful of smaller shady ponds saw some ice skaters, but few, if any, anglers. Now, with a forecast of rain and temperatures in the forties for the next week, open water anglers can rejoice (at least for the moment). Skim ice is all but gone, making shore and kayak fishing possible once again. I personally didn’t get out on the ice, but a few anglers around Cape Cod jumped at the first chance they’ve had to punch holes in over 3 years.
While tapping through Instagram stories at my home tying station over the weekend, wishing to be fishing, I noticed that Alex Ridgway—a captain with Cape Cod Offshore—had found some ice. “Must be just north of Cape” I thought. Turns out, Alex and his buddy Drew were catching trout and yellow perch locally through some sketchy, but fishable ice. Alex said the ice was thin enough that Drew ended up doing a little polar plunge during their outing; reason number one why you should always go ice fishing with a friend. Besides taking a dip, they were otherwise successful. They set traps in a shaded cove of a kettle pond and found stocker rainbows were chewing.
Those shallow, wooded bog ponds would have been a great place to look for some ice fishing action too. But as the weekend progressed and I began to feel under the weather, fully accepting defeat in the way of ice fishing, my buddy Hunter Thayer texted me a picture of a fat winter largemouth that he pulled from a bog pond just over the bridge. Thankfully, Hunter’s pond was fully frozen, but he spent a couple cold hours punching holes and dunking shiners with no activity when a trap finally went off. This was his reward for a couple of slow hours on the ice:
The ice is all but gone now, especially after the rain we’ve had. But with overnight temps dropping into the 20’s over the next week, we’ll probably remain in a state of fishing limbo—not enough ice to fish through, yet still to too much ice to cast from shore. It’s days like these that we miss catching pickerel and dinky largemouth. Long stretches without wetting a line is bad for your health (at least that’s what I heard). So even if you’re not much of a freshwater fanatic, keep an eye on weather windows this week and get out there to make a few casts. If you have fishable open water, think micro soft plastics, suspending jerkbaits, hair jigs, small spoons, PowerBait or live bait for the best odds of hooking a few fish.
A.J. at Red Top Sporting Goods in Buzzards Bay said this weekend they had a day of ice before this mild weather and rain washed it all away. Despite sub-freezing overnight temps, they’re anticipating a week of open water with 40 degree weather forecasted, and any rain should keep that skim ice from forming overnight. AJ said the shop sold out all the shiners they had over the weekend and that there were plenty of largemouth caught through ice in some of the shallower ponds around the shop, which is better ice fishing action than there has been in the area for the past 3 years. After all the skim ice thaws around the edges, pickerel and bass will be more actively feeding and the shop is stocked up with plenty of Megabass and Berkley products ranging from soft baits to suspending jerks for all the shore fishermen waiting to get back out there.
Lee at Riverview Bait and Tackle in South Yarmouth said they had a handful of people come in on Monday morning to grab bait and ice fishing gear, but he is unsure of their results, and after all this rain, any safe ice is long gone. They’re hopeful for some open water this week after all the ice thaws, which should find bass, pickerel and trout putting on the feed bag.
Christian at Sports Port Bait and Tackle in Hyannis said he worked the shop over the weekend and sold well over 15 dozen shiners, cleaning them out… in his own words, “people were rabid for some ice fishing!”. Unfortunately, the ice is now thinning if not completely melted in some spots. Christian said the best bet to find some fishable water is to keep your search local and avoid surprises by driving longer distances to find the conditions are not as expected. While they haven’t heard back from many of the patrons who came in for shiners, there’s a good chance the bog ponds gave up some bass while smaller kettle lakes saw action mostly from trout and perch. Other than the flurry of ice activity though, shellfishing has been the main draw. The shop just reloaded rakes and waders due to the high demand. Swing by for all your freshwater and shellfishing needs.
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Cape Cod Fishing Forecast
While many of us were hoping for some solid ice this time last week, we’re now hoping for just the opposite. The weather for the week ahead looks grim: rainy with air temperatures cold enough to put skim ice back on the ponds overnight. The challenge this week will be finding some fishable water and a weather window where it’s not gusty, 35 degrees and pouring rain. Look to some of the bigger bodies of water to open up first, as less ice formed around the edges, so it will melt faster. Largemouth bass, trout and pickerel will be the most likely targets for anglers fishing both artificial and live baits.
I’m hoping to find a little action from white perch this coming week. Small Berkley PowerBait tube jigs and hair jigs beneath a float seem to do well, and I’ve got eyes on a couple new-to-me brackish ponds where they may be schooled up.
Keep an eye on weather windows, scout your local spots throughout the week for fishable water, and don’t hesitate to try something new as the ponds (hopefully) thaw out completely.
Above all else, be safe, have fun and if you find the time to get on the water, fish hard and cover water to make it worth the effort. 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.)