Cape Ponds

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rbenash

Cape Ponds

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Posts: 11

06/23/10 01:52:56

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Hello - new member here and wondering if anyone might be willing to share. I have relatives on Cape Cod and have made numerous trips up in the past. I developed an interest in the ponds quite some time ago and have gotten into the habit of bringing my yaks and gear up to hunt ponds and try to find fish. I have had some good luck with LM and Pickeral but haven't found any smallies on previous trips. Haven't been up in the last 2-3 years, but running up this week and going to fish from the 25-30th. Staying with relatives on South Yarmouth. Interestingly even though they have lived there for years they no literally nothing about pond fishing up there! My SIL's husband was shocked the first time I took him along. Now I always bring both yaks and extra gear for him to use. We typically research a location the day before we fish it. Have done the drag through the woods a number of times to get down to the water with the yaks and found ourselves on a pond that we had to ourselves.

At home here in PA my fishing is 100% smallmouth river fishing in the kayak - so hoping to find some smallies on the Cape. Any info you would be willing to trust me with (PM, etc) would be greatly appreciated. I do have Peter Burdryk's book, the Cape ponds study/reference done by the state as well as a decent url or two that shows pond locations and GPS. This is what I typically use to hunt/research and get on new ponds when I go. Which is great fun - and I usually have a good time regardless. I'm totally catch and release and discrete with any info.

So - if you have a pond or so that has been good to you for smallies and are willing to share along wtih perhaps some patterns that seem to work please post or PM? Who knows I may be able to return the favor if you get down to my neck of the woods some time

Thanks! Either way I'll post with how I've done

Ray

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trico22

#1

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Posts: 19

06/23/10 03:53:12

If you haven't yet, take a look at the DFW's list of ponds on the cape. Their website includes maps for a bunch of ponds that describe access points, bathymetry, and summarize fish populations:

http://www.mass.gov/dfwel...s/ponds/pond_maps_sd.htm

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JeffSod

#2

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Posts: 844

06/23/10 04:04:38

Registered Member

No good fishing on the cape ponds. Leave the gear at home and go to the beach. Nothing to see here that is all move along please. HA

.

I highly recommend the goldie fly for cape smallmouths. You can order them thru the bearsden.com and send them to your place or drive up. It is worth it if you need any fly gear they are very well stocked.

Anyway check your message box later for location info.

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rbenash

#3

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Posts: 11

06/23/10 08:48:50

Ah, well - and hear I thought I might be able to find at least one fish or so while I was up there. Thanks though, this way I can leave all my gear at home

Like that would ever happen

From previous trips etc I have used that Mass.gov website, it's a great resource. I found this one is really cool too just hunt for locations to try out:

http://www.capelinks.com/...=0&t=1&stype=AND

Thanks for all the info, help and PM's. I'll post if a happen to find anything.

Again - thanks for all the help and PM's! I'll reciprocate if you find yourself down in my neck of the woods (Susky Main/NB etc, Juniata, Delaware).

Hopefully I'll have some posts to share this trip.

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Wee Hooker

#4

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Posts: 440

06/23/10 16:58:26

Guide

Gents, I know Ray from another smallish fly fishing web site. Thanks for helping another brother of the long wand out! I personally appreciated it. It's been a while and my location memory is getting worse than my fly tying ;-) Looks like I may be grounded for the weekend myself . Picked up some kind of alergic reaction this week that has me swelled up like a roasted pig! Ouch!

Last Edited By: Wee Hooker 06/23/10 17:02:03. Edited 1 time.

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rbenash

#5

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Posts: 11

07/06/10 07:00:01

My first Cape smallmouth!

Plus this little guy - gave me some clues on overall conditions and what pattern I might need to catch some bigger smallmouth on Sheeps Pond

Learned to get there early after trying Scargo the day before (caught a good number of LM there, but couldn't find the smallies):

I was able to find about 7 more in about 6 hours all in about 20' off the drops that were 12-14". No giants, but tough to find (for me) and all fought hard and jumped several times:

See how crystal clear that water is? That made it necessary to sneak up and use long casts. And no, I wasn't using that wacky worm in the background. A perch crank was the ticket.

These curious little guys kept me company on Sheeps - they came within a foot of my yak looking for handouts. Had to be careful because they wanted to chase the baits
on the cast as well

Now although I only caught 8 smallmouth - I did learn a lot about how to approach it now and think I could do better on Scargo and even on Sheeps next time. I think I'll work on
finding them in deeper water. Tough in the kayak, but I figure I can drop shot or bottom bounce and see what happens.

As far as the largemouth though it was a huge success IMHO. Managed about 50 over the 3 days. About 12 in Scargo (all under docks or in the weeds on wacky rig). Then about another
35-40 in the two smaller ponds I hit (found them years ago) when I get up there. All on finesse spinnerbait/chart grub trailer and whacky rig (watermelon red flake)

These 3 were the largest that I was able to get successful photos of. They ranged from 16.5 to to 17 inches and fought hard and jumped more than I expected. The largest
which was 18 and 3.5 lbs flipped off my work deck and into the drink while I was trying to snap the photo (tough to get photos when fishing alone). These were flipping around and
often out of position to get good view of girth, etc. But I always try to get them back in the water ASAP. In fact I usually only take pics of fish 18" or larger.

And there are always those bonus fish on the cape:

This perch photo is deceiving (fishing into dusk) colors were vibrant and it was about 8" hit hard!

And the chains are so beautiful looking!

Thanks again for all the kind PM's and support info! Apologize for the poor photos, but felt obligated to report since everyone was so helpful with my smallmouth search questions!!

I kept looking at my raw thumb on the drive back down on Thursday

Last Edited By: rbenash 07/06/10 07:57:22. Edited 1 time.

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gillbuster

Cape Ponds

#6

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Posts: 1417

07/06/10 15:50:46

Outfitter

Great photo essay... And I must say a healthy display of a Cape Cod "Grand Slam" Glad to see you had good success and had a memorable fishing trip. Thanks for sharing and keep posting some fishing pictures when you have a chance...
Tightlines
Gillbuster

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JeffSod

#7

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Posts: 844

07/06/10 17:28:58

Registered Member

Fantastic report! Thanks for taking us along and sharing. Photos look great too.

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Gerbubble Bug

Cape Cod Smallmouth

#8

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Posts: 743

07/07/10 05:34:37

Master Guide

I believe a while ago, Scargo Lake in Dennis was designated by the state as a Smallmouth Pond. Have done pretty well there. It's a good sized lake, can be waded in spots, but I'd use some type of floatation. Gets pretty windy at times, but definitely worth a look.
Thanks,
Tom

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rbenash

#9

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Posts: 11

07/07/10 08:28:15

Gerbubble Bug wrote:
I believe a while ago, Scargo Lake in Dennis was designated by the state as a Smallmouth Pond. Have done pretty well there. It's a good sized lake, can be waded in spots, but I'd use some type of floatation. Gets pretty windy at times, but definitely worth a look.
Thanks,
Tom

Hi Gerbubble - Scargo was the first lake I tried last Monday morning. I didn't post any photos from there because there really weren't any "picture fish". I wasn't able to hook up any SM, but after fishing Sheeps I think I could go back and catch some now. I was sort of expecting them up on top since folks were suggesting the herring were still active. What I find odd is that I actually found no feeder in Scargo, and in fact never saw a feeder in Sheeps either. Could be underground, who knows.

Anyway there is some good weed beds for wading at Scargo, but I wouldn't expect to find the smallies there at least after the spawn. Pickerel, LM, or perch perhaps. I did catch about 12 LM there (Scargo) and it did get windy the whole time out. Nothing big, 1lb photocopies, but all welcome and beautiful. All of the LM I caught were under the docks or weed beds. There was a FF wading there that was working the longest weed bed on the lake, so I didn't jump in on him but let him have it. He did tell me he caught one LM and had a good chase from what to me sounded like a chain hit him.

I got on the water about 6:30 and left around noon. The boaters and swimmers started coming out, but a cool thing is that motors are limited to 3 HP. It is stocked with SM (at least that's what the sign said). No parking/permit required which is great. I now think that if I got on the water by 5:30 or earlier and fished the drops instead of edges I could have got on to some SM. I did see some smallies down about 10 feet on one of the drops but couldn't get them to react to what I was throwing. I know more about what to throw for them now in deeper water there and also think that if you drop shot or bottom bounce in the deeper water say 15-20 feet you may find some bigger ones. I am going to try those techniques next time up to see how it works. Drop shotting and bottom bouncing from the kayak is a little tricky in the wind but I think I think I can work it next time.

FYI - I didn't find a significant topwater bite the whole time I fished the 4 ponds from Monday thru Wednesday. Perhaps night fishing might have found that. I have had a good TW bite in the past but that was about a month later typically than I was fishing this time up. Now if there's a herring run in progress a TW bite would definitely be there IMHO, but I have never been on a pond on the cape yet when that was happening. I think I would have to get up there a little earlier to get into that.

Last Edited By: rbenash 07/07/10 08:33:39. Edited 1 time.

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