Slow Going

The weather report for Friday called for a high of 50 degrees and rain. So as of Thursday night I had decided not to do a daytrip trout fishing down the Cape. I stilled planned of fishing rain or shine. However, I figured the trout fishing would not be very good during a cold rain. So I decided to stay close and fish near home.

First I went trout fishing at a couple ponds in Seekonk, MA. I was fishing by 8 am. It was cold and cloudy and it looked like it would rain any minute. I didn’t have any luck at the first pond so I went up the street to the second. Both ponds were stocked on Thursday. I tried spoons, spinners, and a casting bubble/fly. I didn’t get a hit.

Finally I resorted to (sigh) Powerbait. Within 10 seconds of my first cast I got a hit. It was a 13 inch rainbow. I caught it in the same spot I had been casting lures for half an hour. This proved to me the trout were not in a chasing mood and I felt better about my decision about not going to the Cape. I reluctantly continued using Powerbait for another hour. I held the rod in my hand and set the hook as soon as I felt a tap. I ended up with four bows and a few other hits. Occasionally, I’d leave the Powerbait rod in and cast lures. Still I never got a bite on lures.

I left about 11 am. Catching trout on Powerbait is only slightly more fun to me than not catching anything. So I left in pursuit of other fish. About noon I put my kayak in a really shallow weedy bass lake. Within 10 minutes of putting my craft in the water, the sky cleared and it warmed up to almost 60 degrees. I tried much of the lake. I caught two pickerel and a bass on an unweighted Zoom fluke. I didn’t exactly kill them there. The sun was high and bright so I left about 1:45 to get some lunch and do a couple things at home.

After supper I met up with Dave and we carp fished until after dark. I ended up with one. Dave had baited the spot up several times, yet it was the only runner we had.

All things considered, I’d say today was a very slow day. On the Water reports fantastic trout and bass fishing down the Cape this week. Northern and western Massachusetts are still reporting ice in some locations and fishing has been slow. Based on my fishing trips the last week, I think fishing has been horrible for this time of year. We are going to get some warm weather next week. Maybe things will perk up then.