Cape Cod Fishing Report
True to the old adage, April has already brought showers to Cape Cod. Despite the chilly, wet, and overcast start to the month, there are excellent freshwater fishing opportunities across the Cape to get the juices flowing for striped bass and tautog fishing over the next few weeks.
Trout ponds are stocked and many of them will even receive a second round later this spring. So far, the trout bite has been excellent. Browns, ‘bows, and brookies are being caught on small soft plastics, spoons, spinners, flies, and even large jerkbaits that were intended for largemouth or smallmouth bass. However, the kettle ponds are still pretty cold and the fish are quite literally warming up to their new environments, so locating schools of fresh stockers has been the key to successful outings. Once you find them, it’s not necessarily lock and load fishing. They take some figuring out. Due to the cold water temps, I’ve found the fish to be hanging further from shore and lower in the column, where slow moving presentations are getting the most attention. Swimming a 1/4-ounce Kastmaster or micro paddletail like the Z-Man Shad FryZ just above patches of grass and weeds was the only way I got bites on my recent outings. As a shore and wading fisherman, finding those out-of-sight grass patches away from the bank comes down to covering water and dragging your lures along bottom for a few casts. Sometimes, snagging weeds can be a good thing.
My most productive outing over the weekend started off incredibly slow (zero fish) until I hiked out to a series of wind-swept points, located some vegetation between the points, and crept my lures above the grass. Suddenly, I was into a pack of hungry rainbows for the next hour before it was time to head home and cook dinner. A few rotund yellow perch were in the mix, along with what I believe was a larger brown trout that spit the hook a few feet from the bank. It wasn’t a 30 fish type of outing—although many anglers are experiencing lights-out action like that—but I hooked roughly a dozen trout and landed 7. I considered it a small win on an outing when I could have been skunked. Compared to bass, trout are almost always on the move. So, when the bite slowed off one point, I moved down to the next and got back into fish. That formula carried on throughout the weekend. To improve your catch rate on the trout ponds this week: cover water, fish different types of bottom and “structure”, and experiment with a variety of lures and retrieves.
It’s still jig and jerkbait season on the bass ponds, but with river herring arriving and some more mild evening temperatures lately, many anglers are switching over to swimbaits, glidebaits, and wakebaits. Those large-profile lures are getting more looks after dark, which is expected.
If jerkbaits aren’t working, bottom baits like jigs, drop shots, and even Ned rigs should be the next go-to daytime lures. And while bottom baits are reliable, moving baits are also producing better results as bass become more active. Lipless crankbaits are an often forgotten springtime killer, and OTW’s Alex Blackwell has been fishing them along ledges where bass tend to hang under high sun before sliding into the shallows for a bigger meal at night. He reminded several of our employees of a lipless crank’s effectiveness during a short lunchtime outing recently; all jigs went untouched while Alex stuck a solid 3-pound-class Larry.
That’s all I needed to see to start working lipless cranks back into my rotation of spring bass lures.
Soft plastic swimbaits, while most effective at night (in my experience) should not be overlooked by daytime bass fishermen either. Fish them low and slow with an occasional pause to imitate a lazy sunfish or perch, and let the pulsing boot or wedge tail do the rest. The appetites of our local largemouth will soon be peaking, and dragging a big weedless swimbait through grass or milfoil—especially during warmer days—can be highly effective. Just ask OTW’s Anthony DeiCicchi, who still reminds his coworkers of the pair of 6 pounders he caught years ago during his lunch break while fishing a soft plastic swimbait as described above. Or, better yet, ask my buddy Ryan Henry, who caught a big bucket mouth just a few days ago on a big wedge tail swimbait in yellow perch pattern.
Bass and trout will keep us busy for another week or so, but as of yesterday, the tautog season is open in Massachusetts. I’m already thinking about white chins and green crabs, and judging by some reports from our local tackle shops, so is the general public.
-
Want to get in on the bite? Find an OTW-approved Charter Fishing Captain on Cape Cod
It’s a little early for any charter operations to be out yet, but that will change in a few weeks. For now, here’s this week’s rundown from a few of our local tackle shops:
AJ Coots at Red Top Sporting Goods in Buzzards Bay said trout and tog are on the top of everyone’s minds. The guys who have splashed their boats will likely be going out to try for tautog this weekend. The shop won’t have green crabs in time for the weekend, but they will be available soon. AJ also mentioned that more than a few anglers have come in asking for sea worms to try for winter flounder. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait a bit longer for those than green crabs, but they will be available at the shop later this spring. However, Red Top does have squid and Gulp available, which are also effective. For everyone else, there are plenty of trout to play with. AJ said the state is stocking great numbers of fish this year, and quality fish at that. According to Mass Fish & Wildlife, roughly 82% of the trout stocked exceed 12 inches, and 45% of those trout exceed 14 inches. Additionally, judging by the Trout Stocking Report, a lot of new ponds have been stocked with trout while ponds that are routinely stocked each year have received some different species for a change. For example, one of the upper Cape ponds I frequent received a dose of brown trout this spring, which hasn’t happened in the nearly 5 years I’ve lived on Cape. Another pond in Falmouth that has been deemed a “bass pond” by locals received a handful of brook and brown trout, which was a nice surprise. The state is also releasing 600 18-inch-plus retired broodstock brown trout, 400 retired broodstock brook trout, and 2,500 14-inch-plus tiger trout. So if you haven’t picked up your ultralight rod yet this spring, now is the time to do some trout fishing—at least until green crabs are available.
Evan at Eastman’s Sport and Tackle in Falmouth reported that participation has been a little slow from the trout crowd this week because of crappy weather, but the folks who have been fishing are doing really well. A few of his customers this week reported 15+ fish per outing. The upper Cape ponds are giving up fresh stockers and quite a few holdover brown and rainbow trout, which are noticeably larger than the fish stocked this spring. Evan said in the larger, deeper kettle ponds where casting distance is required to reach those low-lying trout, 3/8- and 1/2-ounce gold or perch-patterned Kastmasters are catching for his customers. White or gold Rooster Tails and Mepps spinners have been working well, too, when casting distance and running depth are less important. He added that he’s trying to get green crabs as soon as he can, but wouldn’t be surprised if that doesn’t happen until the middle of the month which, typically, is when the shallow water tog bite picks up.
Christian at Sports Port Bait and Tackle in Hyannis reported that largemouth are out on the prowl, and even though herring are showing up and trout are stocked, he’s seeing big bass eating… pickerel fry! Pickerel spawn in the early spring, right around the same time as yellow perch if not before them. And since the panfish are still pretty lethargic in our chilly pond waters, the bass are keying in on the most available forage. Christian said the bass bite has been great, when the weather permits. Milder days and cold nights are making it difficult to develop a pattern, but the prespawn bite is definitely underway and will continue to improve as the month wears on. However, trout fishing is probably the best bet right now, with all but a few of the Cape’s ponds having been stocked. The shop has a solid selection of trout lures and bait, so swing by this weekend on your way to the pond.
Cape Cod Fishing Forecast
For the first time in a long time, we have some decent weekend weather to look forward to. Set aside a few hours to cast to trout, bass, or even pickerel. Temps will be in the mid to high 50s before dropping off again early next week, so it’ll be plenty comfortable outside even with a steady northeast wind on Saturday. Then we’ll have rain and gusts up to 45 mph on Sunday. Wind knot city.
Take advantage of Saturday’s conditions and get out on the ponds. Soon enough we’ll be togging, and migratory stripers will be right around the corner.