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So I just moved to Enfield and have no idea where I need to go to catch bass. I tried this little pond between Main St and Route near the police station but all I got was a few pumpkin seeds. According to the other guys there it's pretty much just catfish in there which I'm not interested in. Does anyone know where I cango to catch some bass around Enfield? I don't have a boat so there needs to be shore access. Thanks

Crestliner, That is the same Hockanum road i went down. So the ponds are right on the edge of the river? Would you mind taking a look at this and letting me know if location 'B' is close to where the ponds are: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Northampton,+MA&daddr=42.304388,-72.610316&geocode=FWLUhQIdT5Wr-ykFKo58PtfmiTEL29gTC3UWww%3B&gl=us&hl=en&mra=dme&mrcr=0&mrsp=1&sz=15&sll=42.305816,-72.612591&sspn=0.026407,0.066047&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=15&dirflg=d I'm assuming that the ponds are directly south from pin B. Thanks for your help!

Wbassroge, Haha yeah I'm always looking too. I'm sure that there are a ton of spots that I just don't know about. Keep me posted if you find anything good

Crestliner, I'm pretty sure that's the road I took. I don't recall the exact language of the signs that I saw as I was driving in but it was something to the effect that it was privately maintained or something like that. There was a building off to the left as I was driving in that looked like an old auto repair shop. As I drove in further past the signs I passed some farm fields and eventually reached some water. I took off because I didn't want any problems as I assumed that I it was private. Does that sound familiar? Is the Hockanum Rd you're talking about on Rt. 47 on the east side of the river or the Hockanum that's right off route off next to exit 18 of 91? You wouldn't happen to have coords would you? Thanks for your help.

If anyone is curious I think I found it. It appears to be on private property so I didn't bother even trying.

Just wondering if anyone knew where Twin Ponds in Northampton, MA is. I heard that there is pretty good shore fishing there and I'm itching to give it a try. I couldn't find it on google maps. Can anyone shed some light? Thanks

Hey did you find anything out about the boat rentals? I have been to quabbin but was also wondering if there are other places. I know that you can rent at Lake Congamond in southwick but the rates are ridiculous for boats with motors. I think it was something like $20-$30/hour. The name of the place is Saunder's I think. I'm saving for a boat but in the mean time...

Hi guys. My nephew just came to visit and he is eager to do some fishing. The problem is that I'm kinda new to the area and don't know any really good spots to pull decent bass. The only place I've had good action thus far is quabbin. I'll probably take him on Sunday but I figured we could try elsewhere in the meantime. I don't have a boat so I'm limited to places with shore access. I was wondering if any of you guys had any suggestions of where I could take him in the western mass area and get decent action. Here's where I have tried thus far with limited success: Lake Congamond Hampden Ponds Chicopee Memorial State Park Thanks

State officials have decided to limit access of recreational boats at Quabbin Reservoir out of fears of spreading zebra mussels to the water supply. You can read about it here: '>http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/07/15/quabbin_reservoir_closed_to_boaters_amid_zebra_mussel_concerns/ Anyone know anymore about this? Apparently you can still rent boats at the public ramps. Has anyone been here recently? Did they let you bring your boat on the water?

Hey do you guys have a recommendation for a reel that would work well with the 6'6" worm/jig MH rod xml rod (http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0053033122637a&type=product&cmCat=SEARCH_all_NYR&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&Ntk=Products&sort=all&Go.y=0&_D%3AhasJS=+&Nty=1&hasJS=true&nyr=1&Ne=2510&Ntt=xml+casting&N=3355&_D%3Asort=+&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-box.jsp.form1&Go.x=0&_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1) from cabelas? I'm kinda on a tight budget so I'm looking for something under $100. Are the Cabela-branded reels any good? The warranties they have *sound* good but do they give you a hard time if you actually have an issue? I need something that's good for a beginner. I had a BC for about a month before this (it ended up at the bottom of a lake) so I'm not a total newb but I did get backlash every now and then. And I think I'm going to use braided line this time instead of fluoro. Any suggestions or tips? Should i expect more backlash with braid?

I was lucky I guess as I got the worm/jig rod also for 29.99. I'm waiting for it to arrive at the store. I almost waited until today to order. I'm glad i didn't. I saw the magtouch when I went to the store yesterday. I thought it was a pretty decent rod. How often do they have these sales? The savings are unbelievable....

Okay thanks for the advice. I'll have to check out the XML rods also. I see online that some of the models have HUGE savings.

Sweet! Actually, I didn't realize this but there is a Cabela's about 40 minutes away from my house -- must be new. I'm definitely heading there tonight and will probably pick up that rod if all goes well. Now all I need is to pair it with a decent beginner bait caster

yeah i don't have a boat either and I would probably get a 7 ft. model which would be a pain to bring in my car.

Thanks for the responses guys. They actually have a 2pc. model on sale now if you want to pick one up. At least online. is the 2pc a bad choice for a bait caster for some reason?

Have any of you guys tried Cabela's magtouch rod? I was thinking of trying one out for a not-yet-purchased bait casting reel. I'd be ordering online so I can't actually feel it. Anyone have any input? Sorry I can't post a link yet... Oh and is there a reason not to get a two-piece rod? It's half the price of the single piece.

I think it was Stren monofilament....

What should I be getting? I'm using an improved clinch knot. My scale is really old, maybe it's off. I'll test it out tonight with some weights to see if it's accurate.

Hello everyone. I'm a novice fisherman with very little boat experience and was hoping to get some tips. A friend and I rented a boat yesterday and fished all day. The morning was very quiet and we got nothing. But in the early afternoon I finally got one on my line. I was having a hell of a time reeling and when he got up close my pole was bending so much I thought it was going to break. I got a flash of em and he sure looked big. Anyway, as I was getting him closer to the boat he tried to run for it. I noticed my line wasn't going out and I feared that I was going to lose him. So I quickly tried to adjust my drag but in the excitement I INCREASED the drag! He took off under the boat and of course you can probably guess that eventually my line broke. Okay so that's the story. I know that I blew the drag part of it but even if set properly I think I still would have had a hell of a time. The place we were fishing was really weedy and I think my gear was not appropriate given the conditions. I was using a medium, light action rod, with 10 lb. test (I had a tough time sometimes cutting through weeds). So what gear do you guys recommend when fishing weedy/lily pad areas? How do you guys set your drag? Is it a percentage of the line strength? I tested how much force my line could take after tying a hook and I got about 5 lbs on my 10 lb test so I was thinking maybe setting it to 3 lbs. I guess it probably also depends on my knot and line type. Should I get a net to help bring em into the boat or is that against 'the code'?

Once again excellent and detailed information crestliner. Thank you! I will definitely try it out. I'm tired of drifting around and ending up stuck on rocks near the shore.

Crestliner, that's some great information. So the big ones are around these humps? And any idea how to anchor when renting a boat at quabbin? They don't provide them. How much weight do you think you need to make your own? I'm planning on heading out to quabbin this weekend we'll see if I can follow your instructions and land some quality fish.

I fish there a lot but only from the pier and shore. I've caught some decent LM (3-4 lbs) but mostly I don't catch anything. It's usually crowded on the pier and a lot of the people who fish there take everything they catch home. If you can get out on the water, I've heard great things. Have a friend who lives on the lake, he says he pulls out lots of quality LM and trout.

I've only been to quabbin twice and both times I started at fishing area 3 at the boat ramp. I've caught mostly smallmouth. About half I caught on texas-rigged plastic worms and had good action with spinners. I know this is far from where you're launching from but I've had good luck between Walker pond and Walker Hill. I'd post a link to a map but I'm not allowed to yet (too few posts). Good luck and let us know how you did. I'm curious about what it's like on the north side of the reservoir.

Thanks for the quick resonses guys. I didn't mention this in the post but I did use needle-nose pliers when trying to get the hook out. It makes sense that it may be that I'm not setting the hook soon enough. At any rate I think it's best if I just go barbless. At least until I can learn to set the hook sooner. What kind of rigs do you guys use?

Hi guys. I went fishing yesterday and caught a bunch of smallmouth. I have very little experience with smallies (I usually catch largemouth). I had a heck of a time removing the hooks from most of the fish I caught. Granted I don't have much experience but I never have a hard time with largemouth. I couldn't seem to hook these fish in the lip. The hooks were set further back towards their heads sometimes near their eyes. I was using offset-shank, extra-wide-gap, 1/0 hooks texas-rigged. Should I be using a different rig when going after smallmouth? I was thinking that maybe the wide gap of the hooks was the problem. Do you guys have any tips? I was thinking of just going completely barbless so I won't have trouble in the future. I was feeling really bad for these fish because I was taking so long to remove the hook. Thanks