Fly fishing Cape Cod freshwater ponds for bass, trout, perch, pickerel, and more. Fly fishing tackle and techniques, flies, stocking, a few ponds by name and a chance at records.
Flyfishing Cape Cod freshwater ponds and rivers for Bass, Trout and fun. The Cape's freshwater fishing is strongly influenced by two environmental factors. First, the maritime climate of Cape Cod is more similar to that of Northern Georgia than mainland Massachusetts just twenty miles inland. That means a longer growing season for freshwater fishes than . . . anywhere else in New England. Secondly, the anadromous spawning of alewives introduces an enormous biomass of forage to all Cape & Island Ponds connected to the ocean by herring runs. This means better fed freshwater species reaching a larger size in less time than elsewhere in the Northeast. Great news for the fisherman!
Freshwater Flyfishing the ponds. Cape Cod is reputed to have over 365 ponds; certainly enough to keep even the resident fishermen of the Cape busy trying new places every year. Cape ponds fall into two categories. Most are kettle ponds left over from the last ice age and are deeper than they appear with firm sandy bottoms. The minority are flooded marshes that regardless of size are rarely over six feet deep and mud bottomed throughout. Almost all ponds have public access, though you may have to hunt for it a bit, and all allow boats (a few prohibit motors). Wading is often nearly as effective as boating and allows fishers to circumnavigate many smaller ponds in a morning and larger ponds piecemeal a day at a time. Flyfishing Largemouths. Largemouth bass grow bigger on the Cape due to the longer warmwater season and better forage. Many Cape ponds hold largemouths over ten pounds. There is some spinfishing pressure on Cape largemouths but it hardly affects the flyfishing at all. It is not unusual to drop a big deer hair popper into pads chewed up by the efforts of many spinfishers and catch five pound bass just because of a patient and careful presentation. Flyfishing is consistently successful even under the midday sun of July and August because of the ability to present smaller or slower artificials to the fish. Tackle: 6 wt. Rod; floating or intermediate sinking line; 6' - 9' leader testing 8 lb. is sufficient. Flies: wooley bugger (brown, black, green), muddlers, Dahlberg divers, weedless poppers, deceivers (white/black).
Flyfishing Smallmouths Like largemouths, smallmouths benefit from the increased forage base of alewife fry but also from the healthy yellow perch population of most Cape ponds (and in some places escaped golden shiners). Like some other New England locations, yellow is the best color for attracting smallmouth interest. Smallmouth fishing begins in April when the first fish start to come up shallow for the pre-spawn. While the water is still cold, sinking lines and streamer flies are most successful. Later throughout the summer, smallies can be taken off shoreline structure with streamers, crayfish and small poppers in yellow/brown. Tackle: 6 wt. Rod, sinking lines and 8' leaders of 6 lb test. Flies: Clousers in yellow, orange, red and black; muddler, crayfish, leech, sliders.
Flyfishing Trout. Trout (and salmon) fishing the Cape means fishing the ponds for some of the 100,000 plus rainbows, brookies and browns stocked every year . . . (more) into Cape waters. It means fishing for holdover 'bows and browns weighing upwards of ten pounds; many living long and deep. It means fishing for sea run browns in some of the larger rivers draining into the sound and bay. Stocking starts in March . . .wooley buggers, hornbergs, matukas and hare's ears on the end of sink tip lines account for many early season trout. As the water warms, sinking lines with the hornberg again but add a crayfish dropper or a nymph. In the heat of summer, go deep with deceivers trolling or fish at night. Over the winter, sea run browns often come up the rivers on a rain and can be taken on patterns imitating spotted killifish and chubs.
Flyfishing tackle and flies for bass, trout and more fun fish. A 6 wgt. Rod and sink tip line, if one only brought one line would suffice for most freshwater applications. Except for trying to reach down to early smallmouths and mid-summer trout, most flyfishing is successful in 2 - 8 feet of water. A six pound test leader will also be adequate unless you know you are going after pickerel in the sticks. There is almost no timber or rock to deal with on the Cape but toothy browns, pickerel and bigger bass may require a short shock tippet of 20 lb. mono. If you could only bring one fly ( and you have probably noticed by now which one ) bring a wooley bugger. Brown is the color but, of course, green, black and yellow (with grizzly hackles) are often the key. The Cape does have leeches but frankly, I think this fly imitates nothing so much as just some universal twitchy thing. . . .
A freshwater fly collection need not extend beyond the wooley bugger already mentioned so often. But a few specialty flies may save the day. Clouser's are king on smallmouths, with Muddlers, Matukas, Sliders and Leeches in support. Many of the wisest of the old timer flyfshermen on the Cape fish with a Hornberg on their leader and a crayfish dropper while pursuing trout. Pickerel hit wooley buggers and deceivers with abandon. Largemouths go for the WB and Dahlberg Divers, poppers, and terrestrial lookalikes. Sunnies, and we have big 'uns, start by jumping small wets in prespawn and graduate to the surface for small poppers and Yellow Humpies in warmer water. The biggest sunfish are deep in the summer and like leeches and microjigs. Perch prefer flies with yellow in 'em, nymphs, little streamers and scud patterns.
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