This past Sunday afternoon I headed out freshwater fishing with MFCC member Jeff Coates, his son Jared, and MFCC member Mike Osborne and his son Lucas.
This past spring and summer, Jared and Lucas participated as a team in Bassmaster High School. The duo fished several tournaments at lakes throughout New England, competing against other high school anglers.
For our trip together on Halloween Eve, the weather could not of been any nicer with flat calm conditions and beautiful fall foliage. We were all excited and happy to be on the water.
Sophomore high school angler Jared Coates drove the boat during this trip.
I fished with these guys a few weeks ago and we caught huge pickerel but no big bass. I was really hopeful that we would hook into some lunker largemouths on this trip but only time would tell!
We launched at 2pm at a pond in this general area of Cape Cod.
We started by fishing a small cove with weeds. The cove looked fishy, but unfortunately we didn't have any luck. We knew bigger bass were around, but that they just weren't biting.
Perhaps weather conditions were too picture-perfect?
Jared commented how we would typically prefer for there to be a slight chop on the water, because that will sometimes get the fish biting. Nevertheless we kept at it and continued casting and covering water.
Jared and Lucas started getting more bites once the sun sank lower in the sky.
For about 30 minutes they had bites on every third cast or so. It was a mixed bag of pickerel and small largemouth bass. The big 4+ pounder we were hoping for was still proving to be elusive.
At around 5pm fish started breaking the surface of the glass calm pond. Leading up to this point we had cast a variety of different lures from spinnerbaits to senkos. This was when Lucas switched over to the lure pictured below, which works great for largemouths on Cape.
It was "the bottom of the 9th" and time was running out. The sky was getting darker with each passing minute and it was now or never to catch a quality bass.
Just before we called it a trip Lucas felt a solid thud on the end of his line. He set the hook and was on with a quality fish. We all hoped it was a big bass and not another huge pickerel.
Sure enough it was the right species, and boy was it a nice one! Jared grabbed the net and quickly scooped the "bucket mouth" from the water. We estimated the fish to be 4+ pounds. It was a real beauty!
After releasing that fish, Jared, Lucas and I headed back to the boat ramp with smiles on our faces. Catching that quality largemouth was the perfect ending to a very fun trip on a beautiful fall evening on Cape Cod. Thanks guys for putting in a solid effort. 💪🏻
A nice bonus was that I captured a lot of footage during this trip which I plan on sharing in early 2023 during season 6 of My Fishing Cape Cod TV. I am really looking forward to sharing the video!
In Conclusion
Freshwater fishing on Cape is definitely a great option right now. So far this fall the weather has been mild and freshwater pond temperatures are still in the high 50's and even 60 degrees in some ponds.
In addition, be sure to check out our Freshwater Forum for the latest bass and trout reports shared by our members. And of course, please don't hesitate to reach out if I can personally help with anything.
Tight lines! 🎣
About the author
Ryan Collins
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Would love to increase my trout arsenal some more for the fall bite
What a great ending! Love the enthusiasm those young adults bring to the table!
Very Interested in more info about the youth bass tournaments for my son Reece. Thanks
Sounds great Joe! Ron Belanger runs the program and can be reached at [email protected]. Let me know if Reece ends up joining! It sounds like a lot of fun.
Thank you !!
thanks for the opportunity
My pleasure! Good luck if you make it out fishing this weekend Piotr!
Hey Piotr, congrats! You won this giveaway! I’ll reach out to you via email right now.
Great time of the year.
The best!