My wife must have been tired of hearing me say “I’ve only been fishing once this year,” because she just about shooed me out the door Saturday morning. There was a crew from On The Water hitting the remaining ice early in the day, but I set out for open water. I headed for Peters Pond in Sandwich, figuring it was big enough that the high winds would keep the ice off. When I pulled into the parking lot overlooking the north end of the pond, I was relieved to see the light rain dimpling the surface of the pond. Unfortunately, as I geared up and walked closer, I found about a ½-inch of water covering 2 inches of ice.
Leaving Peter’s I decided to take my annual long-shot trip for the sea-run brown trout that allegedly return to Scorton Creek every winter. After a couple hours of that, I returned home fishless on the second outing of 2014.
But, I had another shot on Sunday. With more time to fish, I headed down Cape to Cliff Pond in Brewster. The pond had no ice, and a few fishermen fishing live shiners from shore at the fisherman’s landing, among them Dan Jones and a crew from the Hook Up in Orleans. Before I’d arrived, they had caught a small leftover broodstock salmon and a couple big rainbows.
My plan was to fish lures and take a lap of the pond, looking for active trout. The sunny skies, though nice to be outside in, made for tough fishing. I’d covered more than half of the 2-plus miles of shoreline before a small rainbow trout saved me from the skunk by taking a jointed Rapala. An hour later a second, larger rainbow took the same lure. As I was releasing the fish, a rustling in the trees behind me caught my attention and an adult bald eagle glided directly over my head.
Perhaps the best part of this weekend was driving home Sunday afternoon and still seeing light in the sky around 5:30. Every week, we get a little more daylight and a few more fishing opportunities, and before long, spring will be here.