Cape Cod Fishing Report
It was a tough week of fishing to say the least. The weather has been all over the place—air temps in the 20s and 30s one day, and the next day it’s raining and a balmy 50 degrees—so it’s been challenging to put together a consistent bite, even in the freshwater ponds.
Tautog fishing has slowed down drastically. Water temperatures have dropped into the mid 40s and, as a result, the fish have moved on to deeper structure. Saturday morning’s trip aboard My Brother Charters out of Falmouth was short, cold, and unfortunately, uneventful. We fished in 80 feet of water for about an hour right around slack tide and not a single tog came over the rail. We had a few delicate bites, but those could have been pesky bergalls (cunner), or small, juvenile tautog, so the skipper, Harvey Russell, pulled the plug early rather than playing the waiting game.
After returning to the dock, my friend Hunter and I headed off to fish a handful of Upper Cape ponds for largemouth bass and pickerel. The edges of the first pond were beginning to skim over, but we gave it a solid effort and Hunter managed to stick one very small bass close to shore while working a spoon over the weeds. At our next spot, I received one good bite on a 3-inch Megabass Hazedong Shad while jigging it over sandy bottom. It must have been a good fish, because when I set the hook, there was immediate heavy resistance before the jig parted ways with my leader. After several hours of pond hopping with hardly any results, we called it quits.
Despite the struggle that comes with fluctuating temperatures and more rain, the ponds have been giving up bass and pickerel for anglers putting in the effort. A photo shared by Goose Hummock Shops in Orleans shows employee Ian McPartland with an extra-large chain pickerel that he caught during a recent wading expedition.
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A few of the OTW staff made it out to a local bass pond during our lunch break today, and with the sun warming a shallow cove, the jerkbait bite was on fire. OTW’s Nick C. and I both stuck a couple of good ones right off the bat. We were joined by OTW’s Jimmy Fee, Liam O’Neill, Adam Eldridge, and Anthony DeiCicchi, who followed suit with a few hefty pickerel of their own.
The action slightly waned as we put a fair amount of pressure on this small piece of water, but as our group dispersed, the fish continued to chew.
I also managed to stick a few well-fed largemouth, as did Anthony. All of the bass we landed were over 3 pounds, and they all came on the Shimano World Minnow—a suspending jerkbait with an interior spring-loaded mirror that wobbles even when the lure is at rest. That subtle movement is likely what enticed the fish to bite. It’s amazing what a little sunlight can do to fire up a bite in cold water.
Here’s what our local tackle shops have to report this week:
Ian Lumsden at Red Top Sporting Goods in Buzzards Bay told me trout fishing has been phenomenal with this warmer weather. They’ve had lots of families with young kids coming in for lures and PowerBait for stockies in the Upper Cape kettle ponds. Largemouth bass fishing, he said, has also been very good for anglers fishing from kayaks and boats, specifically. The shore crowd is also doing alright with bass. He added that holdover stripers are kicking around in the Cape’s creeks and salt ponds, and in the rivers around Buzzards Bay. Stop into the shop to re-up on lures and tackle before your next outing!
Evan at Eastman’s Sport and Tackle in Falmouth said that plenty of people are freshwater fishing this week. He sold out of live shiners completely will have them back in stock very soon. Nightcrawlers, he said, have also been selling well. Most of the bait he’s sold has been for trout fishing in the local kettle ponds. One of Evan’s shop regulars teaches a fishing class at Falmouth Academy, and they’ve been targeting trout around town which yielded a handful of rainbows earlier this week.
Amy at Sports Port Bait and Tackle in Hyannis said she’s talked to a couple customers who said that stocked trout are biting just about everything in front of them this week, including Wooly Buggers and nymphs for the fly fishing crowd. They haven’t had any customers focused on freshwater bass fishing, but there are few dedicated guys catching holdovers at night up in the estuaries. If you can brave the cold long enough, it’s worth packing a few soft plastics and jigs into a small surf bag and jigging bottom in deep holes and around choke points where there’s some moving water.
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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
The weekend looks cold—cold enough that we should finally get some snow on Saturday! While some may roll their eyes at the prospect of snow, I’d much prefer a good dusting over more December rain. Saturday is when the icy temperatures roll in, and they’ll stick around through Monday. However, the next two days should be mild enough to keep the smaller bass ponds and kettle ponds from locking up, so if you strap up the waders on Saturday morning before temps start to drop into the 20s, trout, bass, and pickerel should be chewing. In years past, I’ve found that the change in barometric pressure that comes with a snow storm will drive largemouth bass to feed a bit more recklessly. Spoons, suspending jerkbaits, Ned rigs, finesse swimbaits, and hair jigs are all good choices for coldwater bass and pickerel. Regardless of your target species, fishing in the snow is a lot of fun, so bundle up and give it a go.
Early next week, daytime temperatures will remain above freezing, but sub-freezing overnight temps might put some skim ice back on the shallow ponds. Next week will be a good time to focus on stocked trout in the kettle lakes, which are less likely to lock up with ice. Grab some spinners, spoons, small jerkbaits, small tube jigs, or flies, and wade around the corners and coves of your local kettle pond. Use the MA Trout Stocking Report to see where the closest trout pond is to you.
We’ll have another Cape Cod fishing report next Thursday before going bi-weekly with reports until the spring trout stocking begins in March. Thank you all for reading. Tight lines, and Happy Holidays!