Cape Cod Fishing Report- March 2025

Cape Cod Fishing Report

Update: March 27, 2025 

Since our last fishing report update, spring trout stocking has continued. Just about every pond slated to be stocked on Cape Cod has received at least one round of trout; it began with rainbows, and over the last week, brown and brook trout have been released in a handful of Upper Cape ponds. Water temperatures are still brisk, so trout have been the main attraction for anglers looking to scratch the itch. However, after a slower-than-usual start to the spring bass fishing season, sweetwater enthusiasts are seeing increased activity from largemouth bass.
 
The pre-spawn largemouth bite is taking form as river herring begin to run the creeks and streams on their own spawning run. Ospreys made a timely return to the Cape a couple weeks back when trout stocking began, and now, pairs of them can be spotted scouting small streams and herring-run ponds in search of easy meals. As water temperatures steadily rise and more river herring pile in, Cape Cod anglers can expect some exceptional fishing for big bass. But it’s not just river herring they’ll be feeding on. I’m starting to see small sunfish in areas of shallow, sandy bottom on sunny days, and with yellow perch also beginning to spawn, there’s going to be a whole lot of small bait in our lakes and ponds.

That said, the big-bait bass bite is still heating up, but a few guys in the OTW office have been plying the ponds with wakebaits and glidebaits hoping to stick an early-season “hawg”. I managed to land a sub 3-pounder on a wake last week—my first surface-bait eater of the year—but a recent string of cold weather around the vernal equinox shut that bite down for a few days.  

During that stretch of colder temps, the most productive lures for largemouth bass were bottom baits, finesse-style paddletails, bladed jigs, and slow-moving, suspending jerkbaits. Over the weekend my friend Pete was visiting from out of town, and while we scratched a few decent fish on 3-inch paddletails and chatterbaits, the bass showed a clear preference for jigs. We also noticed that the fish were schooling tight, so placing a jig in the same vicinity of a previous bite yielded a couple more fish in the bog pond where we spent a good chunk of time on Saturday. We even managed to double-up twice. The second time, I pulled a solid bass from a deep weedline after it ate my chatterbait on the drop, which prompted Pete to pitch his jig in the same spot. He proceeded to pull in a fish of the same class after it, too, ate his jig on the drop. Both bass were around 2 ½ pounds.  

That afternoon, we spent hours plying the ledges of a trout-stocked kettle pond with jigs, paddletails, and jerkbaits without a bite. We walked around the entire pond, strategically ending our outing on the wind-blown shoreline, which just so happened to receive the most sunlight throughout the day. And as the sun dropped below the treeline, just when we were starting to lose hope, Pete swung on a good jig bite. I could tell from his silent demeanor that it was a solid fish. After a couple of nerve-racking headshakes at the shoreline, Pete landed the bass, which went 5 pounds even on the scale.  

Chain pickerel have also been in the mix for those anglers targeting largemouth bass, although they’re preparing to spawn in the near future, too. Typically, big ditch pickles fill in the gaps when a spring bass outing doesn’t go as planned, but lately, they have been sort of MIA. We can expect that to change in the next couple of weeks, as pickerel spawn without much fanfare and will be looking to feed on those schools of young-of-the-year yellow perch, sunfish, and arriving river herring. Chatterbaits, jerkbaits, spoons, paddletails, and lipless crankbaits are all productive baits for pre- and post-spawn pickerel. Just be sure to boost your leader to avoid being bitten off.  

Between the up-and-down temperatures and incessant winds, March has been a challenging month overall. After the long, cold winter we had, spring patterns are taking shape slower than usual. But greener pastures are ahead. We’re just a few days out from the spring tautog season opener on April 1, and a few weeks after that, we’ll see the first wave of migratory stripers reach Cape Cod and the Islands. If freshwater fish don’t get you jazzed up for the fishing season ahead, spring tautog fishing is a great way shake the rust off. Tautog tend to be my first saltwater fish of the year, but with herring moving in, it may be worth casting around for holdover stripers in the rivers, salt ponds, and marshes.  

If you’re eager to catch some tog next week, reach out to your neighborhood bait and tackle shop in advance to inquire about green crabs.  

Here’s what our local shops had to share this week: 

Connor Swartz at Red Top Sporting Goods in Buzzards Bay told me people are crushing trout on the Upper Cape and in the Plymouth area, but the rainbows that were stocked are much smaller than usual. Bass fishing, he said, has been pretty good too, although the drop in temperatures last week slowed things down a bit. Most of their customers are catching on Senkos and small paddletails, but jigs are doing some heavy lifting when the wind is high and blowing in your face. For trout, PowerBait and nightcrawlers have been the top producers—so much so that Red Top keeps running out of worms, which have been the preferred bait. Connor was unsure of when they’ll have green crabs in stock, but they are working to get them ASAP for eager tog fanatics. The shop has their annual spring sale going on until April 6, so be sure to swing by while there are some great deals available. 

Amy at Sports Port Bait and Tackle in Hyannis reported that there are a lot of trout being caught in the newly stocked kettle ponds, most of which have been rainbows. Their customers are catching trout on the fly and on PowerBait, nightcrawlers, live shiners and gold spoons, all of which are in stock at the shop. Amy said a couple guys have been fishing the bigger bass ponds like Wequaquet with shiners and finding steady action, but nothing of substantial size. She also talked to a friend who said a couple herring runs on the Cape are seeing small schools move in, and the ospreys have taken notice. Amy added that they should have green crabs available by mid-April for spring tautog fishing. Stop in to re-up on bait and lures whether you’re going out for bass or trout! 

Riverview Bait and Tackle in South Yarmouth said the most reliable fishing right now is for stocked trout, but there has also been a good smallmouth bass bite in many of the lower and outer Cape kettle ponds. Trout anglers fishing nightcrawlers on the bottom have reported catching more smallmouth bass than salmonids. Largemouth bass activity is picking up in smaller, shallower ponds, too. There have been small schools of herring arriving out near Chatham, and they even mentioned sightings of full-size pogies on the south-central side of Cape. Baitfish are slowly but surely returning to our waters; it’s setting up to be a great spring!  

Cape Cod Fishing Forecast 

Well, we did it folks. We made it through another New England winter. And with tautog season opening on Tuesday, we’ll be back to providing weekly Cape Cod fishing reports. Here are your best bets for a bent rod over the next week. 

Stocked trout are at the top of the list for most light-tackle and fly fishermen. Water temperatures are colder than usual for this time of year, so rainbows, which thrive in colder water, will likely be the most active and are certainly the most abundant in our ponds at this time. Shore-based anglers will find the most action by covering water with moving baits like spoons, inline spinners, and small jerkbaits. If the trout are hugging bottom and less willing to chase down lures, bouncing small soft plastics or hair jigs is a great way to trigger bites. Bait and wait fishing with PowerBait nuggets and nightcrawlers is a good option too, especially if you’ve got some youngsters in tow. Fly fishermen know which patterns perform best this time of year, and there have been plenty of insect hatches happening. Caddis patterns, nymphs, Woolly Buggers, ant flies, and small streamers will all catch fish in kettle pond coves and around submerged structures like fallen tree branches or rock piles.  

Largemouth bass and chain pickerel are chewing well and have shown a willingness to pursue moving baits, despite colder-than-average water temperatures for late March. Bottom baits have been responsible for some quality fish, too, but it’s time to start packing away the Ned rigs and instead opt for jigs with bulkier profiles. Add a creature bait or paddletail trailer to your jig to weed out some of those smaller, more aggressive bass. And if you’re really looking for a potential PB-beater, head to your local honey hole after dark with swimbaits, glidebaits, or wakebaits to gauge their interest in bigger baits. Herring will continue to pour in throughout the month, so bass fishing will only improve from here.  

By this time next week, we’ll be a few days into spring tautog season. Tog fishing usually starts out slow as they move into the shallows from deeper environs, and while soft baits like clams and sea worms are productive, good ol’ green crabs will do just fine if you can’t get your hands on either of the former baits. The first places to look for tog are jetties, shallow rock piles, and mussel beds in around 10 to 15 feet of water, making them an approachable target species for shore and kayak anglers. Now is a good time to start tying up rigs! 

Thanks for reading. Now get out and fish! 

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March 13

So it begins. Trout stocking is underway in Southeast Massachusetts! On Monday of this week, the state began stocking Upper and Outer Cape ponds with rainbow trout. The Massachusetts DFW has been updating the online trout stocking report daily at midnight, so keep an eye on the map to see which ponds are being stocked and when. Rainbow trout tend to come first, followed by brown, brook, and (possibly) tiger trout.

Even if the stocking trucks haven’t paid a visit to your local pond yet, it’s worth making a few casts this week. “Holdover” stocked trout from last fall or spring have been actively feeding in the kettle ponds, and they’re being caught on spoons, micro plastics, hair jigs, and more. Earlier this week, OTW’s Adam Eldridge and I hit an Upper Cape pond in search of rainbows before any fresh stockies had been put in, and the fishing was great. Within an hour, we landed around 10 trout and lost a few more, and they were almost exclusively hitting gold spoons, which did a fine job of reflecting sunlight in the cloudy, wind-churned water.

The following day, we returned to the same spot with OTW’s Liam O’Neill, and while Liam and I struggled to produce a bite, Adam caught trout after trout on a 1/4-ounce gold and red Acme Little Cleo. Again, we fished the windward side of the pond and found the fish stacked up in a shallow cove. We couldn’t help but notice a couple of ospreys circling overhead, which were likely hunting for the same trout as us. It’s so good to see those raptors back in Massachusetts—they are a sign that scout river herring should not be far behind.

Stocked trout aren’t the only fish starting to chew after a long, cold winter. During a lunch break outing on a local bog pond, I caught a nice mess of largemouth bass and chain pickerel in a shallow, grassy corner while casting 3-inch Vudu Mullet swimbaits. They are mesh-jointed, armed with a single belly treble hook, and closely resemble the size and profile of juvenile river herring. A slow-and-steady retrieve over patches of grass produced 8 small bass to around 1.5 pounds, and the pickerel, while aggressive, were on the much smaller side. Meanwhile, OTW’s Jimmy Fee managed one special fish during the outing—a native brook trout that swiped at his Z-Man micro plastic in a deep hole between shallow grass flats.

That evening, I caught a few more bass by working the small swimbait like a jerkbait, using a twitch-twitch-pause retrieve, and the bass responded by swiping at the lure on those brief pauses as the bait fluttered down through the water column. Surprisingly, most of the bass were hooked within 10 feet from the bank. They are slowly but surely leaving their deep winter haunts in search of food and eventually, a place to make their beds for the spring spawn.

Largemouth bass activity has also improved in some of the larger, deeper kettle lakes, where OTW’s Anthony DeiCicchi has landed a handful of Larrys in the 2- to 3-pound range on suspending jerkbaits, like the Shimano World Minnow. When the wind temporarily died down on Monday night, Anthony and I jumped at the opportunity to throw wakebaits in search of some quality early spring largemouth, but not a fish stirred. Water temperatures are still very cold, so a few more days of mild weather and sunshine should find those bass looking up for a larger, slow-moving bait, especially after a string of overnight temperatures in the 40s. Listen closely for those spring peeper frogs, which tend to signify warmer water, followed by improved bass fishing at night. Until then, focus on casting finesse-style soft plastics, jerkbaits, jigs, and chatterbaits around sun-shone coves, points, and structure like grass patches, rock piles, or downed timber.

• Want to get in on the bite? Find an OTW-approved Charter Fishing Captain around Cape Cod and the Islands!  

Here’s what our local tackle shops are reporting this week:

Connor Swartz at Red Top Sporting Goods in Buzzards Bay told me the shop was closed in the beginning of the week, but trout stocking has begun and there’s been a rush for shiners, nightcrawlers, spinners, and spoons. A handful of people are coming in for bass gear as well. They have seen a lot of customers getting the saltwater itch, so they’ve been respooling reels and sending others out for service. In addition to select Upper Cape ponds receiving the first round of rainbow trout, a bunch of ponds in Plymouth and Brockton have been stocked, so there are plenty of options for some weekend trout fishing excursions. Check out the recent video on Red Top’s YouTube channel that shows what a day at the Sandwich hatchery during the fall trout stocking is like. 

Evan at Eastman’s Sport and Tackle in Falmouth said the Plymouth area has been stocked with rainbows, as well as some ponds in Sandwich and Mashpee, but at the time of this writing, the Falmouth ponds had yet to be stocked. Still, he sold a bunch of spoons and spinners this weekend in anticipation of the trout stocking. Last week, after giving a presentation on local trout fishing at the Falmouth Academy, the kids got out and caught some leftover trout in Grews Pond. He’s also had customers coming in to pick up shiners for bass, trout, and pickerel over the past week. Evan said he’s got small shiners and nightcrawlers in stock, as well as PowerBait dough, eggs, and more, so swing by for bait if you’re planning to hit the trout ponds this weekend. 

Riverview Bait and Tackle in South Yarmouth shared that they haven’t seen the rush of trout anglers coming in just yet, but with more ponds being stocked daily, they’ve got shiners, nightcrawlers, meal worms and more in stock for the weekend. Stop in for your bait and tackle needs on the way to the Outer Cape kettle ponds! 

Cape Cod Fishing Forecast

For a couple of days this week, the wind laid down enough to make throwing wakebaits and surface lures for largemouth feasible, but that’s about to change. Friday (tomorrow) evening is the last calm before the storm. Throughout next week and into the weekend, the wind machine is going to be on full blast, with gusts ranging from 30 to 50 m.p.h. in some cases. Regardless of your freshwater quarry, these conditions are going to be very tough to fish through. However, trout stocking will continue, and hopefully, the forecast will change a bit. The weatherman has been proven wrong before.

Focus on fishing in the lee side corners of ponds for bass, pickerel, and trout, and whenever possible, fish the areas that receive the most sunlight throughout the day. When the wind settles enough that casting into it is possible (without a massive bow in your line), fishing for bass, trout and pickerel should pick up right where it left off. The silver lining is that there’s no temperatures below the freezing mark throughout the next 10 days. Soft-plastic paddletails, Ned rigs, jerkbaits, swim jigs, bladed jigs, and small lipless crankbaits are some of the more productive early spring bass lures. For stocked trout, marabou hair jigs, micro plastics, small jerkbaits, spoons, and spinners are all great choices, but because they are pellet-fed, hatchery-raised fish, PowerBait nuggets can produce better numbers in some cases.

Do your best to duck out of the incessant wind over the next week or so; freshwater fishing is only going to improve from here. And before you know it, spring tautog season will be underway come the first week of April, with migratory stripers only a couple of weeks behind.

Thanks for reading and good luck out there.