Dunks N Dinks

Cape Update: Pick(erel) Six Spent an elbow-busting day out on Wequaqet yesterday. The weather was pretty amazing for November (water temp: 55-degrees, sunny and light winds out of NE) ... but unfortunately(??) it was perfect for 3-5lb pickerel mauling everything in sight. The good news is that my buddy and I put nearly 20 fish in the boat (and had 2 largies pushing some serious weight break-off within arm's length), but at least 2/3rds of those fish were toothy critters. The "deal" was that the only active fish we could find (couldnt get bit shallow) were all on offshore spots in 10-18ft around bait that was located in a thick weeds...but the picks were definitely more aggressive in the chilly water. After a few hours of getting broken off fairly often on t-rigged senko's and craws, we finally stepped up the gear and threw reaction baits on braid, which proved a bit more effective. Didn't catch a single small-mouth, which was a bit odd, but then again so was the the absolute display of aggression from the resident pickerel.

Cape Update: Spin Cycle Rather than battle perfect storm conditions offshore in the salt, a buddy of mine and I dropped the bassin' tub into Long Pond on Sunday afternoon to fight the good fight against white-caps and gusts to >20mph (SW). Surface water temp was 55-degrees, down from 60-degrees 3-weeks ago. The initial plan of fishing deeper humps and drop-offs with blade-baits in 25-35ft immediately went out the window as my TM couldn't keep us in place (in need of an Ultrex upgrade...), so we were limited to fishing drift-style and in areas not directly in the prevailing gust. Plan B wasn't exactly scientific but where we found the confluence of rock, weed and bait, the fish weren't too far removed. We did a bit of idling, but as soon as we saw the screen lit up (like below), we would fan cast an assortment of smallie favorites. Biggest fish (a hair over 3.5lb) came on a dead-sticked tube in 6ft near a mooring anchor. Over the course of 5hrs, this pretty random process got us 7 bites with our limit just north of 12lbs. Not too bad (all things considered) for a windy late season outing, with plenty of time to spare to watch the SOX win the series!!

I haven't been out on Cape freshwater since late September (caught a few dinks at Cliffs on tubes last time out)...the weather on the weekends hasn't been very cooperative and my efforts were mostly focused on cleaning up the last of the Albies off of Monomoy... My dad and I also managed to get offshore a couple times to chase some smaller Blue-Fin Tuna that are hanging out a few miles off Nauset beach. Our efforts were semi-rewarded, as we hooked into a what appeared to be a ~150lber on top-water spinning tackle (1800 size reel, 80lb braid)...but as we brought it beside the boat, the leader chafed off and the fish bolted. A very depressing end to what was an incredible bite. I think with the nasty weather inbound its not looking like much fishing can be done ... but if the weatherman gets proven wrong, I may try to get out on Long Pond or Wequaquet Sunday/Monday... Otherwise, the best we can hope for is that the longer-term forecast for November is correct, which shows a 2-week window of a warming trend in the middle of the month. That may be the last window of the season, unfortunately.

I didn't hit the lake this weekend, but I did put some of my freshwater spinning tackle to the ultimate test on Saturday/Sunday chasing green missiles. The Albie bite is on fire off the point of Monomoy and hooking up with one on light tackle is like fighting a 15lb small-mouth that just had a bad break-up. Need to re-spool and replace a few guides after this weekend.

Never made it to the Charles this weekend, but fished Johns Pond on Sunday. Temps were down to 73-74 from 80 a month ago. Fishing was still a bit slow and couldn't get any bites up shallow, but managed to get 4 fish between 1-2.5lbs off the main point in the SW section of the pond. Outside weed lines were the key, fishing a 1/4oz rat-l-trap and small swimbait, popping them outta grass clumps. Thinking that following the bait should be the key going forward as the fish should become a bit more mobile in cooling water...

what's the best ramp to fish the Charles this weekend?

Cape Update: Cool Runnings Went to Cliffs Friday evening and Saturday morning. Friday was relatively calm and drizzly, which meant being harassed by mosquitoes to no end (which abbreviated the trip). In that short window we caught a few keeper small-mouth and I managed a decent rainbow on a fly that we spotted at the surface feeding. With a healthy application of bug-spray and renewed optimism, we returned at sunrise and started fishing the outer weed-lines in 16-20ft that we had found the night prior. There was a decent amount of bait-fish around, but 2 hrs later and just a few 1-1.5lbers to show for it, we made the audible shallower. We eventually connected with a few decent ~2.5lbers; casting hair jigs and ned rigs into shallow rock-piles was the ticket. The better caliber fish were surprisingly shallow (3-5ft). All in all, we ended up catching 5-6 fish a piece until noon before heading in. One potential reason for the shift shallow could be the trend lower in water temperatures...as far as I see it in my journal, peak water temps were about 3 weeks ago (Cliffs @ 81, now 78, Wequaquet @ 82, now 79, Long Pond @ 80, estimating its about 78). While just a small change on the margin, perhaps the internal bass clocks are clicking into early fall mode. That should (hopefully) improve the fishing, as its been a bit slow since late July...

Lake Boon in Stowe is pretty solid for numbers

Got my butt-kicked fishing at Wequaquet Saturday, 5hrs out there and only 3 keepers. Water was hot (81) and the recreational boat traffic was crazy. Went out shark-fishing yesterday though and managed a small Mako off p-town.

Cape Update: Cold Front Chunker & Conspiracy Theory? Went out on Cliffs Pond Sunday (68 air, 81 wtr) in 10-15mph winds from the N. The first legitimate cold-front in months it seems and it definitely made for a tough bite. Between my buddy and I we managed just 6 fish in 6hrs. With 20/20 hindsight, we should have spent a lot more time focusing out deep, since 4 of our bites came in 20ft+ dragging ned rigs near contour breaks. The highlight was the 4.5lb chunker pic'd below. The most interesting part of the outing however, was not on the lake but on shore, when we met a camper in Nickerson State Park who claims to have caught a 13.9lb (!!!) large-mouth out of Cliffs last summer on a live shiner. Can't find anything in the local papers about it....so begs the question; fact or fiction? Can such a small pond support that sort of lunker? Can pure northern-strains even break 13lbs? Is there a scenario where fisherman can actually be trusted? Lol

Cape Update: Checked in on Long Pond yesterday 6-11am (74 air, 80 water). Top-water bite was on for about an hour or so in the fog...got a 2.5lb large-mouth on a spook and my buddy had a 3lb smallie CRUSH a zoom horny toad in sparse lily-pads (first time ive ever seen that). Rest of the morning we worked on tapering points (16-24ft) with shakeyhead and drop-shot setups and filled out a decent limit. Bite was inconsistent and had to present baits very slow, but ended up catching 7-8 fish and our best 5 went around ~11.5-12lbs. Bonus: Saturday went out on the salt off Harwichport and got a few Sea Bass jigging in 80ft of water.

Spot-on call from DogBone_384 ... partly sunny, light wind & 80 w/ a full moon in play... I was on Long Pond (Brewster) yesterday, and the spook bite was pretty solid from 6-9am. Fishing it in 4-8ft of water over grass and rockpiles I got 4-5 smallie blow-ups and connected on 3 of them. Super aggressive strikes, even the little ones. Rest of the morning was mostly spent drop-shotting in 15-25ft so nice change of pace for sure. Also got my first fish ever on a spybait (Japanese-style technique: details here http://spybaiting.com/).

Vito, Long Pond is a tough place to crack. Having fished there the last two years (probably 8-10 times per year), I still struggle to put together a limit some days. That being said, in my limited experience there are some specimens in there (Ive been lucky enough to get a handful of 4lb+ smallies) and past tourney results have shown there are giants (7lb largemouth a few years ago). Ive found that it is extremely seasonally dependent, and like most clear-water glacier-formed lakes with minimal structure, it fishes deeper than most are comfortable with... without some confidence in their electronics (in my opinion...). If your fishing from shore, probably not worth the effort... The easiest time to fish the lake is no doubt the early spring around the 55-60 water temp mark, when the smallies move up shallower to spawn in 6ft-12ft range. The toughest time is right around now, as the heat and recreational boat traffic keeps most active fish out of the shallows and locked onto the bottom (or suspended offshore). Ive had the best luck in the 15-20ft band targeting areas of sharp contour changes (as the chart ive attached below shows). Slow finesse presentations are usually the ticket (drop-shot, shakeyhead, etc), but in the the spring, yo-yo-ing blade-baits are usually responsible for the best stringers in tournaments. Boat control and watching your electronics to stay in the sweet spots is paramount...which is often tough when the wind picks up as it often does on Long Pond. Hope this helps, but full disclosure, I am still figuring it out too and have plenty more questions than answers about offshore/deeper structure fishing... btw, I'll probably be fishing there Sunday morning...if you see a bass-tracker and doofus in a green hat, gimme a holler

Cape Update: Summer F(eel)s Got out for a few hours Sunday night on Cliffs and only got two bites. Its hot (water: 77) and there were few signs of life. Ended up with a 1.5lb smallie and a nice chunky 3.25lb large-mouth that bit a 3.25" ned rig in 10ft near a boulder pile. Hauled water the rest of the evening before the bugs had me rushing back to the ramp. One question i have for the group is whether anyone has ever made a point to imitate freshwater eels in MA as a specific forage pattern? I noticed that on the MA.gov site, they list that in 1992 Cliffs "gave up a world record American eel (8 pounds, 9 ounces, 46 inches long and 10.5 inches in girth!!!!)". This has me wondering if Im doing it all wrong here....and should I be tossing a 12"/16"/18"??? manns jelly worm on the deepest contour breaks (on a 1oz football/shakey head jig??) I know a few bait shops in the area sell eels as striper bait...but why wouldnt a 5-7lb larry munch on that same offering? Just thinking out loud as Im having trouble cracking the summer doldrum code...

New PB Alert! Just got back from Wequaquet (air 80, water ~77). Overall, the fishing wasn't great with the water hot and bluebird skies overhead...and yet it all came down to one pitch and one $%*#-show of a fight around some lilly-pads in the southern portion of the pond. My new PB goes 7.62lb (just a hair over 23.5").

(Striped) Bass Cape Update With the passing of the solstice and the arrival of the full June moon, its just about peak Striper season on the Cape and this past weekend did not disappoint. Best two days of inshore salty fishing I can remember. The bass are up in the shoals off the southern point of Monomoy and are munching on mackerel and an abundance of squid. Saturday in the fog especially, there were hour long blitzes going on and while most fish are on the smaller side, there were some bigger ones lying below the fray. Here's a 40" fish I got Sunday on light tackle ...hit a bone white 4" Daiwa SP minnow

For the cape my top 5 are as follows... 1) Lake Wequaquet (Barnstable) 2) Mashpee-Wakeby (Mashpee) 3) Long Pond (Brewster) 4) Cliffs Pond (Harwich) 5) Hinckleys Pond (Brewster)

Cape Report: Different Kinda Spawn Got out on Wequaquet Saturday (water: 65-67, air: 68-74, bluebird, light wind) and it was immediately apparent the Blue-Gill spawn was in motion. The "honey-comb" beds were everywhere and on nearly every cast shallow the 'gills would be nipping baits and stealing appendages off soft-plastics in bed defense mode. A classic sign of sluggish post-spawn activity. Keeper largemouths were also seemingly absent from shallow flats as well (with hardly any wind contributing to the skittishness). I split my time deep and extremely shallow; the only way I got bit in the latter was flipping the shallowest back sections of docks with a 1/4 oz brwn/blue jig, for the former I threw a 7/16oz football jig with SK rage bug trailer. Up shallow, the bites were few and far between (~3 fish that way), but every bite was 2-2.5lb range. Out deep, I didnt really have anything dialed in until I had a 1.5lb smallie puke up a barely-digested 4" crawfish on the front-deck (see pic 2). This was a bit of a light-bulb moment, and luckily I had the perfect color trailer to match. From there out, I hit as many drop-offs (7ft to 12ft) as I could and drug up 6 more fish in the time remaining. Finished up with a limit of ~12lb. Overall a tough morning and some sense of redemption by day end, but in hindsight i wish i would've given some time to trying a chatter/spinnerbait near the BG beds to see if larger post-spawn fish would eat a bigger presentation. Also, still pretty amazed at the size of the crawfish they were eating down there....reminder that big baits = big fish... Lastly, was able to get the first 28" keeper striped bass of the year with the old man on Sunday. Fish ate half a chopped mackerel dragging bottom in 16ft on 1 oz egg sinker.

Cape Bassin' Report (MDW Special) Lake Wequaquet (5/26) 72 & Partly Sunny w/ ~8mph wind from SW, water 66-67. Slow start, but a sweet day down the stretch. All about adjustments as the shallow power-fishing bite was hard to come by. Fish appear to be almost completely spawned out, though some were cruising near old beds, but very finicky. If they saw you, they werent gonna bite. Picked up most on a drop-shotted 4" roboworm or ned rig in 6ft-10ft near (soon to be emergent) lily pad stems or had to really soak it in front/side of docks. Later in the day as the wind picked up, fished an offshore spot in south-west portion of lake and picked up my first real swim-bait fish of the year (see first pic), which was a solid 3-halfer that bit a keitech 4.8 swing impact fat in ~12ft. The spot was a bottom composition change from rock to muck/grass. Ended up with a limit for a bit better than 12lbs on ~15 bites. Long Pond (Harwich) (5/27) 75 & Bluebird w/ little wind, water 64-65. Got my butt kicked...no other way to describe it. Caught 6 fish and only 2 keepers (all smallies). Saw a lotta dinks up shallow and couldnt really get much of a pattern going deeper. Tried everything from a power grub to a zara spook to no avail. Sheesh. Cliffs Pond (Brewster) (5/28) 55 & cloudy, light rain w/ <10mph from N, water 63-65. If you havent been here (10mph-restricted), you need to put it near the top of your list. This was the first time here for me with a tin rig (previously a yak), and it was totally epic. Not only is it a beautiful pond, but its also completely secluded within Nickerson State park (which btw has great mountain-biking/hiking trails). It also gets very limited fishing pressure (mostly trout fisherman from shore). All said and done, my buddy and I finished the day with a ~16lb mixed species limit, with a 4lb largie and 3 smallies over 3lbs on more than 25 bites. The key was focusing on the areas of the pond with the largest boulders and fishing verrrryyy slooowww at the risk of losing a few baits to the rubble. The fish seemed very much locked in on crawfish (a few leftover in the livewell by EoD), which we matched by using a variety of football jigs and shakeyhead rigs (1/4-1/2oz). Bites were all very passive (just dead weight after knocking rock), so a braid to flouro leader setup was pretty critical sensitivity-wise to detect strikes.

Cape Fishing Report (Fresh & Salt!): Got out on Lake Wequaquet Saturday morning from 6am to noon and much like last weekend, the overcast/low pressure/drizzly conditions made for a decent bite. However, I do think the cold front has put the largie spawn “on hold” for now or the weather at least created a window between waves. I saw only a few very skittish fish holding in bedding areas, while most other pre-made beds were left unguarded (no sign of fry). Hopefully the tail-end of this week will see bedding activity resume given the weather we’re being blessed with currently. I started in the southeastern-most portion of the lake with a rebel pop-r (water temps ~63), but after breaking it off on a decent-size pickerel and a few small followers, I switched to a jig (strike king 3/8oz) after the sun rose and set to work on docks and the multitude of flooded bushes in that part of the lake. My thought there was that the cold-front was going to decrease the strike-zone and bury the larger fish into deep cover or deep water (so I started shallow first). I picked up a few good largemouth that way in the first few hours before slowly working my way into the mid-section of the lake where rock/gravel becomes more prevalent than wood/muck. Switched to tube/shakeyhead combo and caught a half-dozen smallies under 2lbs and one decent 3lb largemouth of a sunken tree that way. Most fish were holding in about 6-10ft of water around brush or rockpiles. I called it a day thereafter, as I wanted to get back to the ramp and out of the water before the other >20 boats (team tournament was going on). All said and done I had about 15 bites, landed 14 and best 5 went for ~13.25lb. From the looks of the team tournament results that got posted (winning duo had >17lbs), I was about one or two good bites off the pace. Oh well. If only the 6lb pickerel I caught on the s-waver was a bass (see below). Lastly, I got out striper fishing later in the ‘yak that afternoon near the mouth of stage harbor in Chatham and the schoolie bite was on fire. Found a lil current eddy off a sandy spit that had them stacked up and could catch 14-18” fish nearly every other cast on a SP Minnow or topwater popper. Plenty of fly fisherman were also nailing them from shore on 3” streamers. Hoping that the bigger ones get in this weekend. If anyone wants to go PB smallmouth hunting at long pond (Harwich) next Monday/Tuesday…shoot me a PM

With a lot of tournament pressure on the cape waters the last few weekends, I decided to switch it up and trailer-ed the boat up to the Maynard/Hudson area to fish with a few buddies...and it was well worth it. Navigating the small dirt ramp at Lake Boone at 6am was a bit hairy, but a quick double-up on topwater frogs just after sunrise quickly set the tone for the day. All said and done, we had boat-flipped no less than 30 largemouth (a lot of dinks) after 6hrs of light rain and chilly 49 degree temps...but the fishing was definitively hot, with males up guarding nests with water temps ranging between 62-64 degrees. Senkos and drop-shots were the ticket for the smaller / shallower males, while we took only 5 fish >2.5lbs (biggest came in around 3.66lb) on chatterbaits (1/4oz) in heavier cover or on t-rigged creature baits in deeper water (6-10ft). Had we been able to stay a while longer, I think I would have given a huddleston or wake-bait a shot on points/rip-rap to get something beefier... Anyhow, not a bad way to spend a rainy day, but looking forward to getting back to the cape and getting my first striper of the year this weekend...might also hit up Lake Wequaquet on Sunday if anyone has any good up to date info...

~3-4 weeks is the norm, so you should be in luck i think. May even be able to see some largemouth beds...I'd start looking in the stained northern end first near wood/grass.

Long Pond (Harwich) Update: Its on down here...water temps crossed 60 degrees Saturday and the 1st wave of smallies are on the beds (most in the 7-10ft zone, so bring your best polarized lens if your're looking for em). Despite the fact that there was 20+ boats on Long Pond this Saturday (Captain Bub's Trail I think), I was able to find a few nice 2.5lb+ spawners early on, and then had to really slowwww down to get bites in the afternoon with the fish getting pretty skittish as the sun got high. Started off pitching a green pumpkin tube and then a wacky-rigged senko for bedding fish, then switched to a drop-shot and targeted both 'cruisers' up in the bedding areas as well as steeper contour breaks near grass. At the end of the day, had ~10 bites, landed 8 of them and best 5 went for ~11.5lbs (missing a kicker for sure). Anyone been out on Wequaquet lately?

New member here, Quick cape freshwater report ya'll might find useful...just my rando thoughts FYI Last 3 weekends ive been out on Long Pond (Harwich), Mashpee-Wakeby, and Wequaket (Barnstable)...and the conditions haven't exactly been ideal but things are starting to look more constructive... Water temps have been grinding (slowly) higher this month from around 43-45 range to high 40s this past weekend, which still has the smallies locked in winter(ish) patterns, though i have spotted a few 'cruisers' on steeper banks. This is probably subject to change in next few weeks as we near the 50-degree mark (and full moon this weekend), which should get the largies more active and shallower to a degree (pre-spawn-ish). For the most part, ive had the most luck fishing in the 14-20ft zone on rocky banks/points/contour lines. Ive been using a two-pronged approach of reaction baits (blade baits and lip-less) and then following up with more finess-ey type stuff (drop-shot and ned rigs) if i see anything on my graphs or get bit. For the most part, it seems like being around grass/weeds has been most productive, with several smallies coming on the 'pop' after pulling the faster moving baits out of grass clumps. Still haven't really come into contact with any decent schools of fish, its been more of a grind it out feeling...but quality fish are there (see attached) and hopefully the quantity is on the way as the weather turns more stable...good luck out there