Cape Cod Fishing Report
The thaw continues.
Despite a couple of cold nights and mornings, the ice is slowly but surely melting. Earlier this week, local anglers took what may have been their last steps on the ice this winter, or at least until late next week, when temperatures dive back into the 20s and 30s.
Jack Renfrew reported 10 to 12 inches of ice on a pond in Sandwich early Wednesday, of which six were soft white ice over hard, clear ice. He caught a nice mix of trout, bass, and white perch on traps and jigs. However, he noted there was about 2 inches of water on top. With some rain on the way and temperatures forecasted to climb to 50 degrees in some areas of the Cape this weekend, Jack recommended steering clear of the ice early next week.
Paul Caruso, who sent in photos of a couple nice 4- and 5-pound brown trout he caught on Cape ice this week, said he also had about 12 inches of ice on Monday morning (3/2), but he hasn’t been out since then. He, too, is confident the ice will be taking a big hit due to this “warm” weather we’re experiencing. At the time of this writing, the weather forecast shows 40-degree temps all weekend and a high of 50 degrees in Falmouth on Tuesday! After the winter we’ve had, that’s almost flip-flops and t-shirt weather. Almost.
On the last day of February, before more this mild weather took hold with the arrival of March, OTW’s Johnny McIntyre and Anthony DeiCicchi took a short drive over the Canal to hunt for smallmouth bass and they were handsomely rewarded. Johnny said they were fishing roughly 30 feet of water with micro Ned rigs, small tube jigs, and metals. He added that there were roughly 8 inches of ice and some densely-packed snow on top, which melted into slush throughout the day. Again, this was five days ago, so it’s safe to assume there has been a fair amount of melting since then.
Here’s the rundown from a few of our local tackle shops:
AJ Coots at Red Top Sporting Goods in Buzzards Bay reported that the ice is starting to melt, but the puddles we’re seeing on top are mostly due to packed-down snow melting off first. There’s still some safe ice, although he recommended exercising caution if you’re considering going out this weekend. Temps will be in the mid to upper 40s, and rain doesn’t help anything, so we’ll see how long the ice lasts. The shop had reports of pickerel, trout, and a whole lot of perch coming through the ice earlier this week. Bass reports, on the other hand, have been a little quiet. AJ added that they received a delivery of live shiners yesterday (Wednesday), so they should be in good shape for the weekend.
Evan at Eastman’s Sport and Tackle in Falmouth had just returned from vacation when we spoke, so he hasn’t heard much about the local ice scene but he does have a few dozen live shiners available, which will go quickly in the coming days. He mentioned that some folks are having trouble accessing spots due to mounds of snow in roadside pull-offs and small parking areas, but that shouldn’t be too much of an issue going forward with rain and mild temps in the forecast.
Christian at Sports Port Bait and Tackle in Hyannis told me that shiner sales have slowed down quite a bit due to the ice conditions starting to get a little dicey. Prior to recent melting though, the action had been outstanding for just about any species one can target. He anticipates a few more days of fishable ice, maybe through the weekend, before it gets flat-out hazardous. Swing by the shop this weekend for bait if you’re planning to sneak in an ice fishing trip before conditions become questionable.
Cape Cod Fishing Forecast
Cape Cod ice fishermen are ending our winter season on a high note with some big smallies, white perch, and trout. We’ve got at least another couple of days on the ice, but keep in mind that each body of water is different, and some areas may be less safe than others. Stick to shaded coves and near-shore spots if you’re planning to wet a line in the coming days. Be careful around the edges especially, as they are the first areas to experience significant melting. After this weekend, it’d be very wise to stay off the ice or keep a close eye on its thickness. We’re due for another drop in temperatures by the end of next week. Will the ice remain thick enough to fish through after this warmup, or will we be plagued by skim ice? Time will only tell.
I’d like to say that wading season is around the corner, but with the up-and-down weather forecast, there’s no telling when we’ll have open water. My hope is that by the time the last of the ice melts, we should be just a few days to a week out from the spring trout stocking.