Cape Cod Fishing Report
April is here, marking the start of spring tautog season throughout New England. The water is a bit chilly for early-spring togging, but our neighbors in Rhode Island are already picking away at some small fish in shallow water. Like striper fishing, the tog bite hits a sweet spot when water temperatures approach (or reach) 50 degrees. Once we get some consistently mild overnight temperatures, they should start chewing well around shallow rock piles in Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound, especially near the Elizabeths. Many of our local shops are hoping to have green crabs in stock by mid April, which is right on schedule with when the dandelions begin to bloom—a telltale sign among tautog fanatics that the spring bite is on.
The best fishing this week remains in the kettle ponds and bog ponds. Trout are the main attraction, with rainbow, brown and brook trout stocked across the Cape. Use the state’s trout stocking report to see which species were stocked in your local ponds. Spin fishermen are doing well casting inline spinners, spoons, and small jerkbaits like the ones from Baker Lures, along with micro plastics from Z-Man and small hair jigs fished beneath a bobber.
Bass fishing continues to improve, but with inconsistent weather patterns and temperatures fluctuating drastically from day to night, patterning a bite is still a challenge. In the kettle lakes, largemouth and smallmouth are moving up onto ledges and flats where they can easily slide back into deeper water under cold conditions. In shallow herring-run ponds and bog ponds, anglers are already pulling bass from downed trees and docks on jigs, wakebaits, and swimbaits. Just ask OTW’s Anthony DeiCicchi, who managed to catch 14 pounds of bass on Tuesday with a 3 pounder and 4 pounder on jigs in the morning, and a 6-pounder on a wakebait at night. If you’ve been following our little office bass tournament, that fish gave Anthony a comfortable lead ahead of Robbie Tartaglia, Jimmy Fee, and me.
Personally, I’ve struggled to catch a bass bigger than 3 pounds, but with a month remaining in our office tourney, I’m hoping to pull a solid 6-pound-plus fish before my focus shifts to hunting for stripers in the salt ponds and marshes.
While wakebaits and swimbaits have been productive nighttime lures, chatterbaits, jerkbaits, jigs, and even glidebaits have been responsible for some quality daytime bass as the pre-spawn bite ramps up. Fishing live shiners beneath a float is another great way to catch bass in numbers during the afternoon and evening—especially if you have some young kids in tow—and just about all of the Cape’s tackle shops have shiners in stock.
Here’s what our local tackle shops and charter captains are reporting this week:
Connor Swartz at Red Top Sporting Goods in Buzzards Bay told me they’re selling lots of shiners and nightcrawlers to trout and bass fishermen. There’s been a lot of activity in the local ponds both on and off Cape, and the bass bite is only going to continue to improve with warmer weather and more river herring, which have arrived in spotty waves thus far. He added that only a few small tautog have been caught in the west end of the Canal, but since green crab pots can’t be placed yet, he’s unsure of what those angler were using for bait. Red Top is planning to have crabs in by the middle of the month. This Saturday is the last day of their spring sale, and there are tons of deals in store. There’s a buy 2, get 1 free deal for Seaguar products so I know I’ll be swinging by to restock leader material.
Capt. Brian Coombs of Get Tight Sport Fishing reported that he’ll begin looking around for stripers in Buzzards Bay during the last week of April. He doesn’t plan to do any spring tautog fishing, so if you’re looking to intercept some of those early migratory bass as they reach Cape Cod, give him a call before he resumes sailing out of the Boston area in early to mid May.
Evan at Eastman’s Sport and Tackle in Falmouth said his buddy has been largemouth bass fishing daily and is doing very well in Falmouth ponds with plenty of fish in the 2- to 3-pound range. He’s been using curly-tail grubs on 1/4-ounce jigheads and said the bass are very aggressive—a clear sign they’re putting on the pre-spawn feed bags. One customer has been fishing for crappie using a similar rig, but the biggest draw has been trout fishing in places like Grews and Ashumet ponds, and he’s selling a ton of shiners as a result. He also said he has one customer who is throwing small flies like Woolly Buggers on a floating line and he’s been catching plenty of trout. However, the majority of people are casting inline spinners and spoons, which have yielded similar results to flies and shiners. Evan added that there has been lots of interest in saltwater from customers, but there’s not much happening on that front yet despite tautog season being underway. He’s hoping to have green crabs and seaworms in stock by the end of next week.
Alex MacMillian at FishLinked Charters in Wareham shared: “We have a double charter scheduled for April 25th, although we may get in a few days before that to do some scouting. I’ve heard some tog are already poking around the west end of the Cape Cod Canal, and stripers have been popping up on the beaches down in CT. It should be a hot start to the season, if I had to guess. The storefront is officially opening on May 1, but is open by appointment only until then—folks just have to call ahead to schedule a time.”
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Capt. Kurt Freund of Fishsticks Charters on Martha’s Vineyard said he’s planning to splash the boat on May 1 and will be available for charters immediately. He’s hoping to do a bit more spring tautog fishing before stripers, sea bass, and bluefish begin to dominate the schedule. Kurt offers pick-up and drop-off in Woods Hole or Falmouth, so you don’t have to make it to Vineyard Haven to book a charter! Give him a call to inquire about upcoming availability.
Amy at Sports Port Bait and Tackle in Hyannis reported that not much has changed since last week’s report; temperatures have remained pretty stagnant and most people who are fishing the ponds are catching rainbow trout, which are certainly the most abundant of the stockers. They’re selling lots of nightcrawlers, shiners, and spinners and spoons. Amy said she hasn’t heard anything regarding the young tautog season, but she said they have some frozen squid, mackerel, bunker and clam tongues in stock, which surprisingly, have been selling well. It’s good to see people getting out fishing even if it just means sitting on the water’s edge with a couple of baits out; soon enough, we’ll have some reliable local saltwater action from tog, stripers, and squid.
Capt Drew Downing of Down East Charters in Chatham reported he’ll be up and running for striper fishing in early May. Give him a call or complete this form online to lock in your date before the season is underway!
Capt. Elena Rice of Reel Deal Charters in Truro said they’ll be running charters beginning in the second week of May for striped bass. Once black sea bass season opens in mid-May, they’ll be offering those trips as well. You can find their full calendar with all available trips here.
Cape Cod Fishing Forecast
Largemouth bass and stocked trout are your best bet for a bent rod this weekend. Bass are feeding more aggressively with each passing day of mild weather, and they can be caught on jerkbaits, lipless and standard crankbaits, jigs, chatterbaits, and a range of soft plastics from paddletails and flukes to craws and grubs. If you’re into bass fishing at night, or looking for a place to start, 4- to 5-inch wakebaits like the FishLab Bio Shad, Megabass I-Jack, and 6th Sense Speed Wake are all easy to use with a medium-heavy spinning outfit. If I remember correctly, I picked up a few of each of those three wakes at Red Top and Eastman’s. Fishing 3/4- to 1-ounce wakes is easy; just cast it out, keep a high rod angle, and crawl it slowly across the surface. The bass may be a little slow to eat at night compared to the afternoon or evening, so pick apart shallow coves, flats, points, and drop-offs. On Tuesday, Anthony and I had our only eats of the night in surprisingly deep water as we casted parallel to shore over ledges and around docks.
Trout fishing is at its best this time of year, and even though largemouth are beginning to eat recklessly, the more reliable option is to cast spoons, hair jigs, small plastics, and small jerkbaits for rainbows and browns. Plus, you can keep a couple for the table.
Looking ahead, anticipate a slower start to the striper season. In years past, milder ocean temperatures have found the first fresh arrivals reaching the south coast of Martha’s Vineyard by mid April; this year, I reckon those early schoolies will be trickling in a week or so behind schedule.
Until then, dust off your sweetwater setups and get to casting for trout, bass, pickerel, and panfish to scratch the fishing itch until the tog bite ramps up or resident stripers begin to chow down on arriving river herring.