Switching species paid off

One of the few trout I caught, about a 14 inch brookie

On Wednesday I went down the Cape trout fishing again. I look forward to these day trips very much. I could never justify spending all the money in gas to fish a couple hours after work. However, a day fishing as long as I want can be completely justified.

I was gone about eight hours. It is an hour ride each way. Between moving from pond to pond was another 90 minutes travelling. So realisticly, I fished about 4 1/2 hours. I didn't exactly kill em. I caught seven trout in that time. I did get three species, a brown, two brookies and the rest rainbows. The water was still cold and even though I convinced a few to chase my lure, I had to work hard for them. I would have been much better off going yesterday or today since I'm sure the bright sun warmed the water a bit.

My only saving grace was that tackle shops were reporting poor catches from several customers. As long as the weather stays warm, I will probably make another trip next week. If the temperature drops back into the forties during the day with nights below freezing, I'll fish closer to home.

This cold spring, fishing has been slow for trout and absolutely abismal for carp. Winter stripers have moved on and are not anywhere to found. I thought I'd try some bass fishing. The last two days were near sixty. It seemed like a nice oppurtunity to get out in the kayak. I have been scouting lakes that I had never fished. This paticular lake is right along Route 1. I thought there wasn't any access because of the highway and roadside vegitation but with a little scouting I found a parking spot and a place to drop the kayak.

The lake is extremely weedy and unfishable by mid spring. I was pretty sure it was extrtemely shallow. This also meant the lake would warm up quickly. I also knew that "bass fishing" probably meant pickerel fishing with some bass mixed in. Fine with me, I just wanted to catch fish. My go to lure in shallow weedy lakes is an unweighted plastic worm Texas rigged. I use the straight tail 6 inch Zoom worm in "Natural Blue" color. I fish it just under or at the surface.

Both days I started fishing at 5 pm after dropping DJ off at work.I did well the first hour and a half until the temperature started to drop. Fishing really turned off both nights as the sun was going behind the hill. Later in the spring at sunset I'm sure the fishing will really turn on. Now, the fish are extremly sensitive to the slightest drop in temperature and shut off.

I caught five pickerel and a bass last night. The bass was a healthy 2 1/2 pounder. Tonight I landed about 8 pickerel, no bass. I did notice the fish tonight were much more active. I saw wakes of fish coming after the worm from fifteen feet away. Besides the eight I caught, I had many more hits. I lost the largest pickerel I have ever seen right at the canoe. It was huge. I suppose the sunny sixty degree day woke them up some.

My go to bait in weedy lakes. Fish it like a jerkbait