Largemouth Bass Fishing On Cape Cod

This is a guest post from MFCC member Matt Linsky. Matt has been freshwater fishing his entire life and I am excited to have him contributing freshwater posts & reports!

It was late spring and I just set out on my favorite pond. This is "my honey hole"- a super private spot where I do most of my freshwater angling. Hotter and sunnier than usual, I knew exactly where to find those lethargic largemouth bass.

At this particular pond, overhanging trees and lily pads are of abundance, making any weightless, Texas or wacky rigged soft plastic a killer. Typically I'll start off with what I, and many others on Cape Cod, consider to be the best largemouth bait in the world- the Gary Yamamoto Senko.

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When I got to “the rock” (a spot where a massive rock and overhanging trees form a point along with a huge dropoff) I felt good about my chances. The pond was calm that day, and the conditions were nearly perfect. This spot typically produces some of my best largemouths.

As soon as I anchored up, I dissected the cover. Even though I know all the trees, brush and overhangs by heart, I still try to find what looks right in the moment. Sun positioning can shift shade, storms/wind can change cover, there are always little differences if you look close enough..and you should!

To catch big largemouths on Cape you need to dissect that cover to the tiniest of details. The best overhang consists of room for the perfect skip cast, but also ample cover to make for a prime ambush hideout for a lazy fish.

My initial skip was a good one. My wacky rigged Senko (pictured below) was deep in the opening, falling freely on slack line, the exact type of presentation you want.

After no take, I reeled the bait a few inches; still deep in the cover, my worm got momentarily hung up on one of the bush limbs.

The Senko wasn't exactly "hung up" because the weedless worm hook typically prevents that. Instead the bait was dangling on a limb, just breaking the surface of the water. There was only one thing left to do.

Jiggle. Jiggle. Jiggle.

With some twitches of my rod tip, I had the Senko jiggling in the water, a neat trick I learned back in the day that can drive a largemouth absolutely CRAZY.

Sure enough..SLAM! My biggest largemouth of the 2015 season destroyed the worm, ripping it off the tree limb (braided line is a must) and swimming off to the side. I set the hook, and after a gut-wrenching fight, which included me having to guide the slob through multiple tree/bush limbs, I landed the fantastic fish.

There are two things I cannot stress enough when it comes to largemouth bass fishing on Cape Cod.

If you know the bass are in the cover, and more often than not some are, you need to get your bait back in there. Use weedless presentations, allow yourself to cast baits deep into cover or even on shore at first. There is no point in fishing if you aren’t in the strike zone.

The author with a hefty largemouth.

You want to maximize your chances of catching fish, and a risky cast or pitch can go a long way. While working the outer edges is great and necessary as well, you are missing some fish if you don’t get deep in the cover. Don’t be scared. Who cares if you get hung up and have to retie? Work the cover/structure as thoroughly as possible. You don’t want to miss that six pound biggin.

One of my most productive trips earlier this 2015 season was when my father and I were getting little to no bites on the plastic worm. We decided to switch it up and go to our second favorite presentation. This consists of a hula grub, which is a double-tailed grub with a skirt on top that resembles a crawfish or crawdad.

It’s a great bait. We rig these on a 1/8 Oz weedless standup jighead; they can be fished in both shallow cover and in deeper water, and have been super productive jigged through weedbeds. While I wouldn’t “skip” this bait into cover, you can still get it close enough to produce bites when shallow water fishing.

Anyways my father (pictured below) and I caught close to 40 bass that day.

The day was very similar to the other previously discussed- hot, sunny, calm. Just shows you that a fish wants what a fish wants. If we hadn’t switched from the Senko who knows what kind of day we would’ve had.

A good rule of thumb is: fish how you know how to fish. Fish what you know how to fish. But don’t be unwilling to change and try something new. I have a plethora of “confidence baits” and I’m always willing to use any of them.

Also, just get out there in any safe shape or form. Expensive bass boats are great but I fish out of this very simple vessel (pictured below) and I have a blast.

From Senkos to Hula grubs and Brush hog creature-style baits, I’ve caught tons of largemouths all over Massachusetts using these setups, fished from my small simple boat. But at the same time, in the spring or fall a jerkbait/crankbait presentation can go a long way.

Follow the seasonal patterns, learn what works best at certain times of year or in certain whether conditions. Learn what works best for you and put it altogether. You should be able to tackle any Cape freshwater body of water this way.

Read. Practice. Repeat.

And always remember to jiggle, jiggle, jiggle!