As spring gets officially underway, water temps are rising and fish are starting to feel more like themselves again!

Though newly arrived striper should be upon us any day now, many members are biding their time taking to the sweet water to target freshly stocked trout, as well as increasingly active large and smallmouth bass.

Luckily, it appears the we have reached the time of year where all types of fishing will only steadily improve for the foreseeable future.

With that being said, let’s take a look at some notable catches over the last few days from members of the My Fishing Cape Cod community who have been taking advantage of the spring bite!

In this post, I'd like to highlight just a few of the notable catches I have seen over the past several days from inside our members forum.

Bass Bonanza

As local freshwater ponds and lakes begin to consistently clear the 50 degree mark, pre-spawn bass are bunching up closer to shore and becoming significantly more active.

Right now, it's hard to beat soft plastic worms, ned rigs, and small topwater wake baits on the bass front. As waters warm well out of the 40’s in most areas, nights become more and more productive for targeting big bass, many of which can now be seen slapping the surface of the water at sunset, a sure sign of spring!

To kick off the week, MFCC member Brandon Mccurley caught this very impressive smallie on what was supposed to be a trout outing! Great catch Brandon, and what a nice surprise!

To read more about this catch visit this thread in the forum.

Similarly, MFCC member Stephen Madden set out to target freshly stocked trout, and ended up hooking into some very nice looking smallmouth bass which were feeding in the shallows.

In what appears to be emerging as a theme, Chris White landed his first smallmouth of the year on a soft plastic while targeting trout! It seems that even where the trout are being finicky, the spring bass bite remains red hot.

 In addition to smallmouth action, largemouth bass are stirring as well. Mike took advantage of the nice weather and landed this very solid 3.5 pound largie the other day.  

Other Freshwater Activity

Though large and smallmouth bass have been heavy on the radar over the past few days and weeks, other freshwater species like bluegill, pickerel, and of course freshly stocked trout have been active as well, though some days have been hit-or-miss for the latter.

MFCC forum member Amos Putnam went fishing with his son the other day, and although they did not encounter any bass, they did end up with a few impressive sized bluegill and a small pickerel.

Amos says the bluegill went right for the worms they were using, and the pickerel preferred a Panther Martin spinnerbait. If you are planning on using nightcrawlers any time soon, you may want to buy a bigger box, because those bluegill will run through your supply like wild fire!

Despite not seeing any bass on his outing, Jack Collins landed a special fish this weekend, catching his first pickerel. It was his first fish of 2021 on the fly, and his first fish on a fly that he tied himself. Congratulations Jack!

Though the trout action has been hot at some times, and finicky at others, there is no shortage of excellent trout fishing opportunities right now in the area, and the MFCC community is taking full advantage!

Member Anthony Besaw only had a few hours to spare, but that didn’t stop him from hooking into some very nice looking trout on the cape several days ago.

Tim Mugherini hit a recently stocked stream, and ended up running into a good share of brown trout which where piled up in a deep hole.

Tim caught six browns and said the fish were extremely feisty, and it was probably the most fun he’s had trout fishing this season!

Gene Dorney was hoping to find some bass in some of the transitional depth water recently, and ran into some nice trout instead! Looks like a jerkbait did the trick.

Going Forward: Saltwater Action

With longer days, steady reports of herring flowing in, as well as rising estuarial and harbor water temperatures around the Massachusetts shores, holdover striped bass fishing is only getting better by the day.

We can only expect that the holdovers lurking in the back bays, harbors, and rivers become increasingly active through the next few weeks until migratory striped bass begin to arrive on our shores. In any case, holdover striper fishing is no longer a frigid affair!

As far as other saltwater options, tautog, white perch and haddock are officially on the table. Although we await more consistent reports for tog and the like, I would expect that sooner rather than later.

For now, saltwater enthusiasts definitely do have some options, the likes of which will only be steadily expanding until the arrival of fresh migratory striped bass. I hope everyone in the My Fishing Cape Cod Community has a great week, and tight lines!

MFCC Member Dan Zunino with a nice early spring striper.

Bonus Drawing!

MFCC founder Ryan Collins thought it would be fun to put all the people mentioned above into a drawing for a MFCC hat, gaiter and $25 gift card to the Goose Hummock.

You can see who won by clicking play below!

Ryan would like to say thank you to everyone who’s been posting recently. Stay tuned because we hope to do another drawing like this soon.

Have a great day everyone!