Today was my first of two consecutive days off. My plan for today was to fish at Nickerson State Park in Brewster, MA ( far down the Cape) I planned on fishing there all day and learn the ponds as much as I could. I left the house before seven. Much to my surprise, I was at the front gate in ninety minutes. I planned on it taking two hours. I first fished the boat ramp area of Big Cliff Pond. When I got there a guy said he just caught a brown. Good news I thought. The wind was strong in my face so my only real option was a spoon. I worked the shore line on both sides of the ramp. Never got a hit. I probably covered about 1/3 of a mile.
I thought no big deal, there are other ponds to explore. I then went to Flax. The wind was also in my face. Even though this pond is smaller than Big Cliff, the wind was much stronger. I bet it was over 35 mph. No luck there. I then drove to a parking area between Big and Little Cliff. Little Cliff was calm and the wind at my back. I worked my way around the open areas of the pond. I caught two pickerel and 1 brookie. At least I wasn't going home skunked!! However that is a hell of a ride for one trout.
I fished Little Cliff about an hour then tried Big Cliff on the other side of the parking area. No luck again. I then drove to the calm side of Flax hoping there might be rising fish and I could use my fly rod... Nope.... At this point it was 12:45. I'd been fishing for fours without much to show for it, and worse the wind was brutal.
I decided I was done with Nickerson and instead of fishing there all day I'd try some other spots on my way home until I caught trout. Worse case scenario was I wouldn't catch anything but it would break up my ride into pieces. I drove back to Sandwich and fished a pond I've only fished a couple times before. On my way to Sandwich ( heading west) the sky was covered in clouds. There was no sun to be seen. This perked me up. I was very happy with the cloud cover and thought it might get the trout in the mood to eat. The pond is only a few acres and a good portion of it has a wooded shoreline. When I walked to the windy side, it still wasn't bad. I could cast a roostertail far enough so I put on the yellow coachdog color that weighs 1/16 ounce.
The fish started hitting almost on my first cast. My first fish was a brown then a brookie. I thought right then I had a shot at a trout trifecta since all I needed was a rainbow and they are pretty common. I caught ten trout on the Roostertail in about an hour. I did get a rainbow so I got my first trifecta of the year. The ten trout got broken up like this eight browns, one rainbow and one brookie. I decided to go back to the car and get my fly rod.
I came back with it and my spinning rod. The fish were on the shoreline with the wind coming at me. I couldn't get my fly out deep enough. Every time the wind would calm down I'd try it. I didn't get anything on it. However... I was still nailing them on the Roostertail. I worked the shoreline a few times. I ended up catching twenty five trout at this pond! It was awesome. The final breakdown was 16 browns, 7 brookies and two rainbows.
At 5:15 I decided to leave. The wind was calming down and the water was almost flat. I thought I could catch an insect hatch at Fearings. This was a mistake. I got caught in over a mile of traffic backed up at the Sagamore Bridge. After that I got caught in traffic along the Cape Cod Canal for another fifteen minutes at the rotary. I didn't get to Fearings until past 6:30. What I should have done was stay at the pond in Sandwich. The fish were still hitting. If the wind would have completely died I could have put in my kayak and got them on the fly rod. Lesson learned.
Twenty six fish for the day was still my best day ever by 6. Also, I caught 16 browns and 7 brookies made it that much better.
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