Temperatures hit 40 degrees today and at least a little snow began to melt. Can you believe it? Spring is nearly here!
This slight increase in air temp got me thinking about splashing the boat. If you own a boat, kayak or anything else that floats, you can probably relate to how I feel right about now.
So here's a brief video, followed by a more detailed blog post, about 3 spring-time boat fishing trips I feel may interest you.
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Mackerel
Sometimes the mackerel are plentiful all season long off Cape Cod. However spring-time seems to often be the most productive.
The old saying is that "the mackerel stick around until the bluefish show up", which means May and early June ought to be prime time.
Macks are fun to catch on their own, but they also make terrific live bait for striped bass, bluefish and tuna. Stripers will be the main target during the spring.
Mackerel are usually found ​in 50 or more feet of water, so 50 feet is a good depth to start looking for them. Mackerel can pop up just about anywhere, but the spots marked below seem the most reliable.
However, I don't usually catch many striped bass in the areas I catch mackerel.
I think striped bass have a tough time chasing down mackerel in those depths, where mackerel have 360 degrees of room to escape. So I often find myself live-lining mackerel for striped bass in more "confined" places, like over the flats or in an estuary.
Scup, seabass & tautog
Last week I published a video about catching tautog from shore. If you missed it, you can still watch the video by clicking here.
Catching tautog from shore is a lot of fun and you can even catch scup and seabass from shore too. However your odds will definitely be much better this spring if you are fishing from a boat.
A small piece of squid fished on the bottom is all you need to catch scup until your wrists get tired. I am hearing some rumors in our forum about the Shimano Lucanus jigs being killer for sebass, and green crabs for tautog.
Two of the simplest and easiest places to look for good bottom fishing in Buzzard's Bay and Nantucket Sound are marked below.
Kayak fishing estuaries
Estuaries are great places to fish during the spring before the water warms up and the big bass move out. A kayak in particular is ideal for exploring estuaries, which are often protected from waves and wind.
During the spring herring migrate into many of Cape Cod's estuaries to reproduce. This draws boat loads of attention from the local striped bass population.
If you are lucky, you may stumble across an awfully large striper, hunting herring in surprisingly skinny water.​ To mimic the herring I will use big soft plastics or floating plugs in the 6-9 inch range.
Marked below are 2 estuaries I hope to fish this spring via kayak.
Are you ready for spring?
I can hear the snow melting off my roof as I finish writing this blog post. Warm days will be here before we know it!
I first anticipate trying for trout as soon as the ponds thaw. Then I hope to target holdover striped bass, once the sunshine warms them up a bit.
I am chomping at the bit and most of my gear is ready to go. Just a few more weeks and it'll be time to start casting again.​
How about you? Let me know by commenting below.
Sounds good Ryan! Ill be dunking my yak in the weweantic probably last week of april, maybe sooner if it warms up. I didn’t see any markers on the map, which estuaries do u plan on fishing?
It’s be April before we know it. If I remember correctly you did pretty darn well last year in the Weweantic. I will look forward to your reports in just another month or so.
Are you logged in? You should be able to see the markers once logged into the site. Let me know!
Best,
Ryan
Got it! That was the problem, thanks! Ya last spring was fun! I know some big bass were taken out of there too but not by me lol. Ill probably start with the same tactics I did last year (yours) for schoolies but around mid to late may I would like to try to target some bigger bass. Might even try a night trip in the yak. I remember one night in late may last year I was driving over the bridge around sun set and saw a couple guys up stream of the bridge on the marsh bank with a couple of rods in holders. I went back the next morning to launch from that spot and saw a number of dead snagged pogies and a filleted striper rack. The bass had to be close to 40″. So fingers crossed for this year!
Excellent! Yeah getting a big boy back in there would be awesome. I’ve only caught them to 33 inches but I’m usually only there April/early May.
I’ve heard about the pogie thing. Hope it happens for you Brian! You definitely put your time in and I wouldn’t at all be surprised if you hook a monster back there.