October 26 2022

Nighttime Swimbait Fishing for Largemouth Bass on Cape Cod

by Jack Renfrew
4 comments

*This post was originally published on November 14th, 2021

I've been fishing the waters on and around Cape Cod pretty much my entire life, and my thirst for fishing began at an early age.

As is the case with most kids, I got my start with my father - specifically with a bluegill caught in Johns Pond in Mashpee where we lived at the time.  

Since then I've strived to be the best angler I can be in both freshwater and saltwater fishing.  But this is a story of targeting the biggest largemouth bass that inhabit Cape Cod's waters.  

Jack caught this big bass on November 10th, 2021 and posted it to his Instagram page. The lure in the photo is a Huddleston size 5 swimbait.

For quite some time now I've done well on big bass in numerous bodies of waters around Cape. As of late I have been doing a lot of night fishing using swim baits and soft plastic lures.  

Somehow the pictures of my catches caught the attention of Ryan Collins from My Fishing Cape Cod and he reached out to me about the possibility of joining me and filming our outing.  

I was humbled that he took notice of my piscatorial escapades and heartily agreed!

The author (right) joined Ryan of MFCC (left) for a night of swimbait fishing and filming. Members of My Fishing Cape Cod can watch the video from this trip by clicking here.


Fishing for Largemouth Bass at Night

This particular evening we met at 6pm and I explained to Ryan how and where we'd be fishing.  Ryan got me wired up with a GoPro and a microphone, and after a short walk through the woods we arrived at the water's edge.  

I'd been watching the barometer and felt confident that the evening would produce for us.  Fishing for these larger bass with lures the size you'd typically expect to use for saltwater species means that this type of fishing is not about quantity but quality.  

You won't catch many, but the ones you do catch will be good ones.  

For lures we used a six inch Huddleston ROF 5 in perch and rainbow trout (top left in the photo above) and Savage Gear weedless swimbaits (bottom left) all tied direct to the braid using a Palomar knot

The equipment used this particular evening were a Shimano Curado 300 spooled up with 40# Power Pro. For rods we used Dobyns 7' 9" 1-5 oz swim bait rod and a Dobyns 7' 3" swim bait rod.

After a small intro for the camera we got down to fishing.  Ten minutes had barely gone by when I had a big thump on a 6" Huddleston perch lure.

I set the hook hard and was fast to a nice bass on my fourth cast of the evening!  

After fishing for a few more hours we only had a few missed bites, so we packed up and headed to another pond I know intimately.

This proved to be a good move for us. 

A lost lure and a few hairy steps through some muddy water and we were back at it.  Ryan got the next hookup and it turned out to be another good bass. 

Moments after that fish he was tight to another as we fished near a herring run and used a slow retrieve over the weed beds.  That seemed to be the presentation the fish liked best.

It was at this moment I thought of a friend of mine who had recently passed away unexpectedly.  His name was Ray, and he was always one to put down his own rod or shotgun to help a kid or a newcomer with things.  

I thought about Ray as I too set my rod down and helped Ryan out with some tips.  I know Ray was still watching and I hope he smiled a bit as he always did.

Talking with Ryan and explaining how this worked was a great experience and something new and exciting for me. Helping him out and taking pleasure in his success was a thrill.

But as with all trips this one too came to an end.  After six plus hours of fishing, with some very nice fish caught and great conversation, we decided it was a good time to call it quits for the night.


In Conclusion

Special thanks to Ryan Collins from My Fishing Cape Cod for capturing the fishing trip on film, and special thanks to my dad (aka Capt Jack) for introducing me to everything outdoors and for my good looks. 🤣

Also a special thanks to my little brother Grayson for protecting me while growing up and for teaching me how to talk to girls...

Best of luck and stay safe if you make it out fishing this weekend!

Tight lines ?

Jack


Watch the Video

Click below for a full-length video about our adventure fishing swim baits for big largemouth bass.

About the author 

Jack Renfrew

My thirst for fishing began at an early age, and I've been fishing the waters around Cape Cod pretty much my entire life. Since then I've strived to be the best angler I can be in both freshwater and saltwater fishing. Recently I've focused my attention on targeting big largemouth bass using big swim baits.


  • What a great blog Jack! Enjoyed the heartfelt personal touch. Loved the pictures of the lures you used. Congrats on a productive fishing trip! Looking forward to seeing the video! Excellent job!

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