On The Water - Cape Cod Fishing Forecast

With strong gusts and heavy rains forecasted to batter the Cape this weekend, the best news might be the extra hour of daylight we’ll be cashing in beginning (very) early Sunday morning. Is there better news for fishermen than that extra hour of after-work sunlight that comes out of nowhere, right when we need it most?
     So, now the quandary becomes: how to spend that extra hour? Let’s start with the most exciting news I heard this week, which came from the Outer Cape, where anglers are bailing salmon from Cliff Pond in Nickerson State Park in Brewster. I heard from the guys at the Goose Hummock that three salmon were weighed in this past weekend, all double-digit fish. That’s right, an 11-, 14-, and 17-pound salmon. Sunlight warming up Cliff Pond has likely got these fish stirring after a long, cold winter, and anglers are taking advantage.
     Dan at the Hook-Up in Orleans had an interesting salmon story. He said an angler was fishing a fly under a bubble, and the salmon hit the bubble! Setting the hook, the fisherman snagged the salmon with the fly, but lost it after a short fight. However, moments later he hooked the fish again, it apparently wasn’t deterred from feeding by a small flesh wound, and landed it, a 10-pound salmon. The Hook-Up was selling a good number of shiners to salmon seekers, but fish were being taken on spoons as well. Dan said the best time to target these fish was late afternoon to sunset, when the water temperatures tick upward and the fish are most likely to feed.
     From Eastman’s I heard an interesting story. A few cod crazies were taking advantage of the mild march weather and trying to do the unthinkable, cull a Canal cod. It doesn’t sound like they had any luck. It’s been a while since I heard about the last cod dragged out of the ditch, but there are also very few anglers trying to do it. So, there could be cod quietly cruising the canal, as they used to in years past. You never know unless you cast.
     Jim at Eastman’s remembered the days when St. Patrick’s Day marked the time when anglers started the search for winter flounder. Those days are seemingly gone for the moment, although another kind of fishing does heat up around the holiday. If you listen very carefully, you might hear the stocking trucks rolling. OK, maybe not yet, but they’re getting ready. Check our weekly forecasts and our Facebook page for the latest on stocking updates. Fishing for freshly stocked trout is a great way to get the kids out of the house and celebrate the official arrival of fishing season.
      Grews Pond in Falmouth and Peters Pond in Sandwich are both great bets for early-spring trout action. It’s tough to top a Thomas Buoyant spoon or a Phoebe Wobbler slowly fluttered through the water column to fool fresh and famished stockies.

Best Bets for the Weekend

Don’t forget to change your clocks before turning in Saturday night. And then use that extra daylight at the end of the day to cash in on some of the season’s first fishing opportunities. If the weather forecast holds true, it might be a challenge, as rains and wind batter the Cape, but find some breaks in the rain and hit a local pond is search of some salmon. Or, take some shiners and bobbers to a local pond and see if you can’t fool some bass, which are starting to stir as the water warms. If you’re really dying to soak in some salt, see if you can’t turn some heads by pulling a cod out of the Cape Cod Canal.

Do you have a current great catch photo? Email it to us and you might just see it in the fishing report. Send photos to photos@onthewater.com, and be sure to include the angler's name and the size of fish.