MJEFF

No doubt it will be very crowded, leave NOW! It is the Nonantum /Daly Field ramp. Lots of parking but you can bet it will be filled by early Friday , I would think. Good ramp, too, 6mph speed limit on the Charles. Good luck. MJEFF

Best way to get to "Stump pond" in Westboro, from Milford, Rt 85 to rt 135(Hopk) , to Rt 30 (West) in Westboro Center, when you come to the golf course, take your next right, 1/8 mile on your left. You can shore fish from the dam, perhas with top water, or floating worms. Loaded with weeds, at this time of year. Some people call it stump pond, A-1 site is the correct term, some call it the bomb site, best for kayaks,canoes and little Bass Raider style boats. Some people who fish there seem to favor , brown worms or alewife colored sluggo's. Black lures seem popular too. No doubt some people use live bait too. Perhaps with all this rain in the past months the fishing will have improved. There are some very nice fish in there. A few years ago I got a 6lb out of there and on that morning I saw a pair of 5+ fish caught... in the same sense I can tell you I fished it with my fishing buddy one night from 8-1pm with topwater and never got a strike. Hard to believe. MJEFF

Got out on Whitehall for a few hours. Water temp 69.2deg. Fished the first floating island on the left and the 11ft hole nearby. I only fished with in 100yrds of that island. I used Senko's, topwater , slow and fast, spinnerbaits, frogs etc. No action at all, there was a light wind and the stucture underneath and the surrounding area does hold fish. Numerous 6lb fish have been taken there. Lots of underwater tree's and laydowns and of course nice green weeds. No follows, no hits but one on a senko in the 11ft hole and I missed it. After 3 hours working all the area around the island very hard, I fished the rocky shore line heading back in towards the ramp. Got one small fish on that rock pile. and I also fished the line of stumps near by. Sun came out around 1:30pm and the water temp jumped a little and I thought the blue sky and sun might help but did not. Naturally, there are lots of floating island to fish, I guess the fish were inactive yesterday. MJEFF :-/

Certainly, Chauncy would be fine as well as A-1 or as we call it "the bomb site" or stump pond. Lake Whitehall also, Hopk Res on 85, (electric only) . Subury River in Framingham, some parts of the Charles, in the Wellseley, Medway area. Lots of different choices. Jeff

Just a quick word about Whitehall, as I live across the street and I am a member of the group that successfully helped stop them from building 35 condo's right next to the boat ramp on the left as you leave the ramp. They were going to put the septic plant right out on the point!!! Whitehall is a State Park with very good parking and launching facilities. It has a 12mph speed limit, no swimming, camping, fires, etc. The state owns approx 100ft around the edge of the lake, less than that in some area's. Whitehall is a jewel as it has very few houses on the lake proper, lots of great islands, some deep water in the south end, usually around 24ft depending on the level of the lake. There is one small hole surrounded by the big island and the floating islands, that is about 17ft in the center. This cove has a small sand bar on the entrance. It before the Res was dammed up it was a pond by itself and was called Mud Pond. The lake has beaver, herons , the occasional otter, and once in a while osprey and even once and Eagle. In the 60's Whitehall had two boat rental places at the south end. In the 30's there were lots of cottages around the lake and the hurricane of 1938 wiped most of them out. The State took control of the lake in the early 1900. There was at one time a very large pipe that transfered water via the pipe to Duck Pond on Saddle Hill Rd and that water went into Hopk Res on rt 85. That is why there is a gate house at the dam/roadway in the north end. That has been blocked off for years. There are some very large bass in Whitehall, I personally saw a picture of a 9,5 that a guy caught a few years ago. Later that winter a 9lb+ was caught thru the ice. Of course Whitehall is over pressured by bass fisherman and tournament and non tournament. During the summer the best times to fish it, can be in the very early morning, around 5am. I hope if you fish there you will enjoy the beauty of the lake and appreciate the BS&T, that a lot of people have put in to keep the lake the way it is. MJEFF

Have been fishing Quinsig for years, off and on and when we need to run the boat and get the carbon out. Some decent fish south of the bridge on the right hand side all the way to the old Roys Marina, that point right out there and the weed bed after it. If you cross the lake at that point and fish the Shrewsbury Police boat house there are always some fish there and south of that. Favorite lures ???, jigs, grubs, tubes and rattle traps and spinnerbaits. If you continue south around the islands, some smallies and largies near the town line marker and early in the year or just at dark, there is a hump near an island as you head towards the bridge to get to Flagg Pond. Lots of lily pads back in that section for frog baits. Find cabbage beds and fish them hard, out on the main lake. There is also some fish in the last cove at the left, at the end of the lake , near RT 20, its deep but there seems to be some fish there. I do agree that the fishing is poor up there. Lots of deep water of course and the fish get hammered with high speed boating. However, I have been out there once in a while at 5am and gotten nothing. As far as Whitehall , I live across the street, it gets hammered too, all the time, fish the "floating islands" black spinnerbaits can produce, dark colored topwater, sometimes. Plastics of course. There are some good stump fields just out of the boat ramp on the right and left. The shoreline all the way to the point as you come out of the launch ramp. I have to say I don't fish it often, as I would rather fish at Quabbin, however when I do fish there after the spring, I try to go at 5am when there are few boats on the water. As far as fish, there are some very nice, big fish. I saw a 9.5 taken in Oct of 07. My fishing partner has taken two 6lb fish. So they are there but often use the floating islands for cover. As you turn right out of the ramp cove there is a lot of sand and gravel, with some very large nests , I got a 5.2 largie last year on a stump, that had been moved in there by the ice during the winter. Those fish that have spawned there have to make there home with in 500yds from there. Of course the weeds don't help the fishing either. Lots of them. Some new trees down the deep end at the south end of the lake. Hope this helps. MJEFF

I have seen many beds in a foot or so, typically largies, I have seen largie nests in 8ft too. Those were in gravel, sand and big stumps. I have seen smallie nests in as much as 18ft of water, on Quabbin . I was on a nest on Winnie, that was on a hump in 20ft and it was extremely flat calm as I spotted it I manuevered for a few minutes and made some casts , then a breeze came up and I lost it, as I should have thrown a marker nearby. The deeper beds always have big fish on them. MJEFF

Unfortunately I cannot fish it twice a week , lucky you! I have to say I think the spawn will be delayed or extended, just my opinion . Everywhere we went to look for beds , shallow and deep ones, we really did not find beds in great quantitys. Certainly the surface water temp must have kicked back to 58deg or so and 10-15ft down well below that. I hope it won't be so windy this coming week. I was reading a report about how different the water temps are in certain area's , like the golf course is always behind some area's like 43 and Graves Landing. I guess its the southerly/northerly winds pushing the cool water around. Do any of the authorities up there take daily temps? It would be nice to have that info or it would be nice to have a fisherman manning the gate who would volunteer to do that and post it every once in a while at the check in shack. Are you old enough to qualify for the "senior" pass? Only 25 bucks , what a deal. Glad to hear your truck will be back in action and you will be on the water soon. I think we will be up there on Sunday, though we prefer to fish during the week. Jeff

Hi everyone, went to the Q on the 21st, water temp 61deg, 59deg in some coves. We launch out of 43, checked some shorelines, a few beds but very few fish on them. Fished humps from 43 to Dana point. Caught a scattering of fish on jigs and tubes at 15-20ft, a few shallow fish on spinnerbaits, no fish on jerkbaits or topwater. By noon, lots of waves and by 1pm whitecaps all over the lake, we were the last boat out of the water at 5pm. Very tough fishing in the afternoon. Overall fish were inactive, air temp 87, water temp never went up 1 deg due to wind and chop. Biggest fish was 3.5lb , lost a 4lb at the boat , caught a 1.5lb smallie on a tube, spit up a 6" pickeral. No largies caught, tough day , fished some of the western shore after the pass. From the water temp situation we have plenty of pre-spawn and post spawn smallies to catch and release. jeff

Glouster is about an hour north of me as it is along what we call the north shore, I am south of that and inland about 35 miles. We are planning a trip to Montreal one of these days this year and I will be in touch as I would love to get out on the water. Thanks. jeff

I am in MA. but I have to say I love your city, I have been going to Montreal for 25yrs , to the Grand Prix..... made some very nice friends up there. Believe me I am not a city lover but we really enjoy staying there. We often would take the metro and just get off somewhere and walk and see the sights. Love that place. Jeff

I use both baitcasting and spinning gear to throw jerkbaits , both suspending and floating. For baitcastting I usually use my 6'8" AllStar spinnerbait rod or a similar size GLoomis and Shimano or Quantum reels. Same brands for spinning. I prefer Lucky Craft suspending and some favorite Rapala floaters. It seems to me the best water temps are 54-62, over all. There are lots of good jerkbaits on the market, but I have never had much luck with Smithwick's.

Just a quick heads up for the Quabbin fisherman . It will open Apr 18th. I would guess the water temps will be in the 40's.... I am looking forward to meeting some members at the ramp. I drive a red Toyota pickup with a tan boat. I would be interested talking or fishing for an afternoon with any Quabbin fisherman. Contact me at MFurber@aol.com

I also can add that the fee's for fishing Quabbin will be going up this year, as will all State supported facilities. There is also going to be a seasonal pass at the Q. 62 and over $25.00 , under 62 $50.

Thanks , guys.

Thank you all ! From looking around the site , it really looks good.

Roadwarrior , love those smallie in your avatar, are they from the Dale Hollow area? I have to agree, watermellon seed , pumpkin and dark colors with flake. Another decent color up here in the cold north, is sort of an ice blue with flake, whacky style.

Thanks for the bait fish picture, how long have you had the x 135? Do they still make that model? I plan on getting new electronics this year and was considering looking at a X-135 if I could find one. There are lots of bait in the Q, lots of white perch and yellow perch, yes there are lots of small smallies too, but that shows good "spring hatches" of young fish. There are days when we have run into lots of 1.5-3lb fish, but they are not shallow. Most bass guys use artificials and lots of boat renters use crayfish, hellgramites and earthworms. And there are days when we have struck out of good fish too. We were fishing two humps last year, in deep water and had 2-3.5lb fish almost every other cast using tubes and plastics.... hard work fishing deep but that afternoon was magical.

Lots of great advice, if I am fishing very deep(30ft and beyond) I use 10lb braid with flouro leader for a ft or two. I also start at about 6" of the bottom and work up from there. Of course if you find a whole bunch of smallies at one depth and they are running small you may need to change you location or depth to see if you can get out of the school. Often my fishing partner and I will do different approaches , I drop shot, he banges grubs or small swim baits of the bottom until we come up with just what they want. It sure helps having good electronics to locate the fish.

Lots of great advice on this one, Little Georges , or 4.5 plastic swim baits on 1/2 bullet heads. Drop shotting or using big grubs, perhaps going old school and using a sinking rapala style bait, vertical spoon jigging. Anything to get it down in front of there faces.

Generally, I use almost anyones tubes as long as they are soft. Green watermellon, pumpkin, craw colored coffee tubes. Usually with light heads(1/8 3/16) if fishing shallow, 12ft or less. If the smallies are down deep 1/4 to 3/8 , I often carry about 4-5 different colors as there are some days where a new color is just the right thing. Whacky senko style in the same colors too, in less than 12 ft.

Can you guys give us the directions to the ramp on 3A? Live down in Hopkinton and might like to take a trip up there. I have a 16 alum . How far can you travel from there and in what direction? Thanks

I like Gate 43 at the Quabbin, lots of variety's of places to fish, some large coves, quite a few humps, baffle dams lots of good shore line in the spring. There are some very nice largemouths there too and of course the smallies and in the early spring its not uncommon to get hammered by a lake trout or two.

The restrictions on Quabbin are as follows, 20hp two stroke on a boat that has a rating of 40hp or more. 25hp four stroke on a boat that has a rating of 50hp or more. What they don't want is guys coming up with 14ft boats rated for 10hp or so and putting 25's or 20's on them . Years ago they never bothered with that until some guys did just that and were nailing it with site of the ramps. Also so lawsuits in previous years made them tighten up the reg's, as did 911. They are going to raise the fee's at Quabbin this year, not by alot but all the state run facilities, golf courses, state parks, etc are going up. Whitehall has no restictions, just a speed limit of 12mph. Be careful of stumps out in front of the mouth of the cove where the launch ramp is, in the spring the stumps get loosened by the ice and they move around alot. Not a problem with a small boat but sometimes larger boats like Rangers, Tritons etc bump into a few.

I live near the 495/Mass Pike interchange, I fish Whitehall, North Pond, Singletary and the Quabbin, Quinsigamond once in a while, as well as the A-1 site. I also work part time at Dick's in Natick in the fishing section drop by and ask for jeff.