southiesteve

That's very insightful, one of my big goals for this year is to fish the post-spawn more effectively. Every other year I find myself slipping into a predictable lull after the spawn, pitching spinnerbaits at shoreline cover and catching little bank rats after the spawn. This year I'm trying to break that habit and fish deep structure more effectively. I've been hammering them on deeper structure in prespawn all spring, with crankbaits and jerkbaits, and using my sonar to identify grasslines, rockpiles and dropoffs, so I hope to continue that after the spawn. Only one problem though. Bass aren't even on beds yet where I fish. Still dealing with water temps in the 54-58 degree range, 61 last Sunday was the best I've seen yet, but it went back down to the 50's after a front on Sunday night. But when postspawn finally gets here (usually late June around here) I'll be sure to try the jig/rage craw in deeper water.

Urban fishing is my game, and to me it's the most interesting way to fish. I grew up in super ultra rural backwoods New Hampshire and I still fish there a lot on weekends with family. But probably 60% of my fishing takes place within Boston city limits. I fish for stripers and blues in the harbor saltwater, LMB in the rivers and local ponds, and I absolutely love it. I roll around with a 14' camo jon boat on the roof of my station wagon, and I get into all kinds of interesting spots that people are amazed at. I get the same questions and disbelief from people that everyone else mentioned, nobody gets it, except for those rare people who get it fully and are out there doing the urban thing themselves. In fact, I just got home from fishing the Charles River basin downtown, with subways, rail trains, Interstate 93, the Zakim Bridge, the Banknorth Garden, dozens of skyscrapers and the locks and dam system all literally overhead and within casting distance. Pulled up a nice 23" schoolie striper on a chrome rat-l-trap, great times. And of course, I love the Iaconelli show. I really hope they come back and do another run of shows, and hit Boston this time. Boston has unbelievable fishing, definitely on par with the other cities they showed, and fishing is a big part of tradition around here being a major port city with a big commercial seafood industry. But the show is definitely an inspiration for me, it's good to see such a successful pro angler showing the world that it's not all confederate flag wavin good-ol-boys out there catching the big boys. That's no knock on you southerners or the other guys on tv, I love watching them fish as well, but it's refreshing to see a city guy from the Northeast out there doing it big.

For my second post I guess I'll make an official introduction. My name's Steve, I live in South Boston, MA, and I do a ton of fishing around Mass and southern NH, 3-4 days a week in a good week, plus a lot of saltwater striper fishing in season. I'm not exactly new, I've been lurking on BR for about a year and a half, reading the site articles for even longer, but never got into the swing of posting. Figured I'd try to contribute a little more this year, since the discussions have been really helpful to me along the way and I figure I might be able to give back with knowledge when possible. At any rate glad to be here, looking forward to a productive season (already has been thus far, hoping it continues), and if you live around New England, don't hesitate to PM/email me with questions or comments, I'm always up for a little local fishing talk. Cheers.

I've been fishing in the Boston area 4-5 times a week per week the last month and can reliably say that this weather is actually a really good thing. The overcast skies mean more active, aggressive fish, and the fact that the temps have cooled off have kept them off the beds, meaning they're still in pre-spawn feeding mode. I took 4 beautiful fish on rat-l-traps last night, 2 of them absolutely burning the retrieve and the other 2 trolling very very quickly across the lake. Point is the weather is making them more aggressive and you should absolutely get out there tomorrow. Try chartreuse crankbaits and suspending jerkbaits in a perch pattern around the edges and tops of submerged grass. At my lake they are hanging out in 10' of water like clockwork, suspended at the edge of the grasslines and attacking anything that looks like a passing meal no matter how fast it's moving. I also fished this pattern with great success in NH a few times in the last 2 weeks with conditions exactly like the current ones. This isn't really a cold front we're in right now, just because the air temp drops like it has doesn't always mean a cold front. The thing that shuts the bite down is rising barometric pressure rolling through and giving you blue skies, sunshine and dead calm water. Plus, water temps are in the 45-60 range around the state, so it's not like 40's and 50's air temperature is going to cause any major drop in water temp. The water temp takes a sustained influence (2 weeks of 30 degree weather straight) to really feel any impact. With the wind, rain and clouds we're going to have all weekend, these fish should be going nuts like a fat lady at a buffet. Good luck and enjoy.