Cape Cod Freshwater

When customers come in to The Hook-Up! Bait & Tackle they are amazed by the photos on our "Wall of Shame".  Sure the pictures of 900 lb Bluefin Tuna demand respect, but "H-O-L-D--O-N", what are those pictures of 15 lb Broodstock Salmon, monster Brown Trout, fat Rainbows, 6 lb Largemouth Bass, huge Smallmouth and Yellow and White Perch that would make an ice fisherman's jigg'in finger twitch?  They are a snapshot of the GREAT FRESHWATER FISHING FOUND ON CAPE COD!

TEAM HOOK-UP! is not all about salt water we do it all!  You will see us on and around freshwater venues from one end of the Cape to another.  This page will be devoted to freshwater fishing and include tips from Team Hook-Up! and reports from many of our experts, young and old who share their love of fishing.

                     Check Below for Dan's Fishing Reports

                   CHECK OUT THESE IMAGES OF CAPE COD FRESHWATER!

          Capt. Corey with a nice Cliff Pond Brown Trout                      Capt. Rich with a hefty Sheep's Pond Salmon

                                 Hook-Up! local experts  

There can be no doubt The Hook-Up! Bait & Tackle store manager Dan Jones is the Officer in Charge of TEAM HOOK-UP! FRESHWATER, hence the handle "Lieutenant Dan".  Stop in for some friendly advice and swap a few fish tales.  Bring pictures, as you may end up on this ONLINE WALL of SHAME!

            Dan Jones with a fat Cape Cod Smallmouth

                        Sunrise at Cliff Pond

                               What did Forest Gump say about where the sky ends and the earth begins?

Dan’s Freshwater Report 1-2-2009

 Hello freshwater fanatics! This weeks fishing report is not exactly gangbusters but each time we are out we constantly see and learn new things. On Sunday December 28th Capt. Rich and I headed to Herring Pond located in Eastham, Ma. Herring Pond is 43 acres and a maximum depth of 36 feet. The pond is stocked both spring and fall with all species of trout. There is also a herring run connected to the pond at the southwest corner discharging water to the herring river. With an abundance of bait fish, there is always a chance to land a fat brown trout or a big largemouth bass. The pond also supports a healthy population of white and yellow perch. Capt. Corey has caught some white perch in excess of 11/2 pounds in the past. This turned out to be our plan for the day. The weather for the day was over 50 degrees with southwest wind gusting to 30 m.p.h. We floated crawlers off the bottom in about 12-15 feet of water. The action was not to bad. Numerous fish were lost to short strikes, but overall we did land 7 decent perch up to 13 inches in length . The white perch in photo was the biggest of the day which made excellent table fair.

                        Dan breaks out the fly rod in a futile attempt to interest a good number of rising trout.

One thing that caught our interest was a flurry of fish rising about 100 yards to our left. these fish were rising in a 30 foot circumference area only 20 feet from shore. We waded down and found numerous trout fining and dimpling on the surface feeding on some type of insect on the surface. Together the both of us cast spoons, spinners, and live worms right on top of them to no avail. I decided to grab my fly rod from the truck and with only a wooly bugger attached tried my luck. Nothing! Not even a swing and a miss. As they say I could not match the hatch which was very frustrating , especially when seeing so many trout right in front of you! Oh well, live and learn. The two of us packed it in around lunchtime and decided to fish Monday once again at Cliff pond which was even more frustrating.

     "Catch'em Up"                                                               

Lieutenant Dan

            HAPPY NEW YEAR!

What is it about fishing that brings people together?  Young, old, rich, poor, male, female and even Red Sox and Yankees fans.  If it looks like it was cold in the above picture, it was!  Captain Eric was there all rigged up and looking for that 20lb salmon, but it was also a chance for him (and us) to catch up with his son Corey who is soon to be off on a shake down cruise as part of his education at Mass Maritime.  Winslow is a great guy.  His roots go way back on Cape Cod and it is great to hear him talk about " how it used to be".   If you know Dan Jones, our store manager, you know he is a hard core fisherman.  It seems that over the summer while fishing Bass River he fished along side a young man who also loved to fish, his name was Ben. Ben and his dad stopped in the store the other day and Dan invited them to join us at Cliff Pond. The fishing was terrible but the company was great. We cooked up some "healthy" sausage burgers, shared some stories and F-R-O-Z-E our tootsies off. Later in the day I got a call from Dan.  He was out ON THE ICE fishing!  Tomorrow we ice fish...

                                                                          Capt. Rich     

                                            A TIP FROM CAPT RICH

Dan often mentions my SLIP BOBBER in his articles and asked me to describe it for you.  So here it comes.  The slip bobber is a bobber that allows you to place the bait at any depth, while still maintaining the ability to cast.  There are many variations of this set-up but this is my preference.  The secret to the slip bobber is the "BOBBER STOP"  the one I use is a tiny rubber stop, that you place on your line.  It grips the line and will not pass through the bead above the bobber but will pass through the rod guides when casting.  Here are the things needed and steps to putting a "SLIP BOBBER" together.

First - Run your line about 8 inches through the wire loop where the Bobber Stops are stored (see illustration below)

Second - Place a bead on the line

Third - Run line through the Slip Bobber.

Fourth - Tie on a swivel

Fifth - Add an 18" fluorocarbon leader and hook.
 

Once the Bobber Stop is on the line lubricate it and slide it a distance from the hook that represents the depth you want the bait.  After you cast, the line will slip through the bobber until the bobber stop hits the bead and your bait will be at the depth you want.  You can add a split shot down near the bait if you want to keep the bait down or let the bait swim.  This is my #1 set up for Broodstock Salmon.  Good Luck, Capt Rich

                             THE

I spoke a little about The Worm Blower a few weeks ago. It is an awesome tool to add to your arsenal of freshwater gear. For very short money ($3.69), it can definitely help you fill your limit or just add to the overall amount of fish caught. There are a few different ways to float a worm off the bottom. I like to thread a 1/4 to 1/2 ounce barrel sinker up the line. I prefer to use only 4 to 6 pound monofilament. Then place a split shot, to stop the egg sinker, at the distance above the bottom that you want the bait, and finally a circle hook.  Capt Rich likes to add a Fluorocarbon leader and uses a Spro Swivel as the stop for the egg sinker.  The Fluorocarbon is not only transparent below water but abrasion resistant to rocks, stumps, and the fish teeth.

When baiting the worm I start from the tail end hooking it 2 to 3 times close and exposing the remaining 3-4 inches to be filled with air. Just stick it in and squeeze some air in. Test it in the water before casting to be sure it floats. Casting the rig is a delicate procedure. You do not want to whip it out causing the worm to fly off and having to re-bait. Myself and the guys prefer to wear chest waders to allow for more casting distance. After casting, allow the worm to settle, place your rod in holder, and slowly reel in any slack line. Be careful not to drag the barrel sinker on the bottom. This will cause the sinker and bait to get snagged up in weeds. Your worm will now be floating about 15-18 inches off the bottom. We like to attach a type of strike indicator (a bobber attached to a paper clip). Hang the paper clip on your line between the first and second rod guides and when a fish strikes it will either go up or go down if the fish is swimming towards you. Raising the rod when the line is going out  will hook the fish, especially when using circle hooks. Circle hooks are designed to self hook the fish without you having to forcefully set the hook . Capt. Rich prefers another method similar to mine where he places a SPRO Swivel below the egg sinker as a stop instead of the split shot.  Both methods are shown below.

         Strike Indicator