bass.slayer69

Never done too well there. A small bass or pickerel here and there. Carp can be good

Woke up too late today to make the trip down to Hedges - ended up jumping around a few local spots. Ended up settling on a deep rocky reservoir, tried ned, jerkbait, yo-yoing blade bait and a lipless, nothing. Only signs of life I saw were a pretty crawfish and a perch that followed my Ned in. Was really warm and foggy - didn’t even occur to me that it was New Years. Ice season is looking to be short or nonexistent.

Those weekend temps look tasty… might make my first trip to Hedges tomorrow with the waders

Ok thanks

That is the newer HD model, the one I have is the original silver one (LEXA300H)

I recently snagged a used original Lexa 300 off eBay for $90. The reel, while having some boat rash, still performs very well. I was planning on using it for big bass swimbaits as well as some saltwater fishing up here in the Northeast, but I have heard that the Lexa is a freshwater reel only. Would it be good in the salt? Any special cleaning or anything?

Largie was 20 inches 3.5 lbs on the cape, caught in august on a senko. Super skinny, could have maybe pushed 5 if it was fat. Smallie was also on the cape, 17 inch 2.75 pounds. On topwater on a cloudy rainy July day - one of my favorite catches ever It keeps saying the pics from my camera roll are over the 1.46 mb limit

First time out in a couple months and took the skunk. Started off at Norumbega throwing a paddle tail and a ned rig, nothing. Water was really dirty and cold. As the sun started to set, I hit my local largie hole, tossing the spinnerbait and senko. Nothing there either. Wind was brutal. That is probably a wrap on my year - was pretty good. New LMB and SMB PB, striper fishing was just awful this year tho. Good luck to everyone braving it out in the winter. Looking forward to March/April. See you all then

That’s my issue with Schenks. There is a ton of vegetation around the perimeter which makes fishing difficult, and why I prefer Norumbega. I wonder if the two are connected.

This is the impression that I am getting from my reel. If you just keep your thumb away from the bar when engaging, it works perfectly.

South side of Norumbega, there is a little pull-off to the side of the road. Then follow the west side of the trail going north, you will then see it down a fairly steep hill. Good luck.

Just wrapped up a good oil and rinse, the noise while reeling has gone away and it just feels a lot smoother overall. Thumb bar issue is still there but I can live with it for getting a quality reel for basically half off. Thanks for the tips everyone, might try and solve the thumb bar issue if I can figure out what to do.

Thanks for the help everyone, going to just do a deep clean and see how it reacts to it.

The state owns the two, Schenks is 100% legal to fish with no fences or anything blocking it, but to access Norumbega you have to hop a waist high fence, and while I’ve seen the MWRA workers, they don’t seem to care. I’ve never been kicked out, but the worst that can happen is that you just get asked to leave.

While all of these are techically off-limits, the only one that I’ve really heard of being enforced is Cambridge Reservoir

I just picked up a used Curado K for $90 on eBay. Took it out yesterday for the first time and it was great, but I noticed a couple issues. First, the thumb bar has an issue where if you even just leave your thumb on it while it is depressed and try to engage the reel, it sort of clicks and stays halfway between up and down but it still not in gear. Also, there is a bit of a sound when I reel, and it seems to be something with the guide? Can anyone help?

Since you already know it, let me let you in on some info about Schenks. While Shenks does have good fish, the better fishing is found in the bigger body of water to the south, Norumbega Reservoir. It is much deeper, less weedy, very rocky, and has clearer water than Schenks. One of the best smallie fisheries I know of. Main forage are perch and bluegill, have seen some craws around there too. Caught my PB smallie out of there around this time last year on a Ned, making my first trip there in a while this weekend. Also, anyone know how to fish late fall smallies?

There goes another spot ?

As was I up until today. Snuck out in the canoe for a couple hours and the bite was good. 8 bass in around 2 hours on wakebait spinnerbait senko - biggest was 3 pounds even. Fat!

I’ve been looking to find a reel that can serve as an inshore reel here in the Northeast for stripers bluefish black sea bass stuff like that while also being a solid bass reel. I’m on somewhat of a budget ~$100ish. Found a lightly used Curado 200K for $100 on eBay. Should I go with that or go for a new Penn Squall 200, designed specifically for saltwater? Any thoughts?

Managed to sneak in a couple sessions to wet a line last week. Friday evening landed my best non-Cape bass at 17 inches on a spinnerbait. Repeated the pattern last night at around 9ish and got a healthy 1.5-2 pounder. Been doing decent despite not having much time. Next weekend I hope to get the canoe out for one last trip.

I have not, but I did get a blade bait last week in case I get a terrible case of cabin fever. No clue how to use it, though.

Great fish man, in-line spinner is always a go-to in rivers. With school starting back up and my weekends taken over by sports, my fishing season is effectively over. Just wanted to give everyone on this forum a huge thanks for all the tips and tricks I got during my first full year of bass fishing. A little recap: 1. Most importantly, set my new largemouth PB with a 3-6, 18 inch fish caught out of the yak on the cape. 2. Got my first boat, a 14 foot canoe w/trolling motor that has been great so far. Can’t wait to take it out next spring. 3. Got on my first bluefish in over 5 years 4. Learned how to fish many different lures, especially the T-rig, squarebills, and spooks. Still trying to figure out jigs tho. Maybe next year. Finally, this fall, when I get a chance, my only time to fish is after 8 pm. I also have a friend who belongs to a country club that has a pond which is rumored to hold some bigs. Would it be acceptable to go in there at night, or should I just hold off all together? Anyways, thanks again, and tight lines everyone.

Had a somewhat decent day at a pond in Falmouth today. Much less fish than other times I’ve been there, and the water was a little colder than last time I was there. The only fish I managed were on a wacky rigged senko. My buddy caught his pb tho, his only fish of the day. Really tough bite today. Also got out to Morses Pond in Wellesley a few days ago, a lot of small fish but my buddy had a good sized fish on (~4 lbs) but broke off at the boat. Gonna be tough to go back home after this great fishing on the cape this summer

Got on a solid T-rig bite today down the Cape. All dinks but probably landed around 10 fish on a 5” green pumpkin Yum Dinger in around 10-15 ft of water. Water was noticeably colder than the other times I’ve fished this place.