Anyone Have Any Luck In Southern Nh Yet? (4/6/12)

[NEBass123]

Does anyone know if you still need to get a key and pay a fee to fish Big Island Pond in Derry/Atkinson? I found some things online that said you did, but they seem like they are from a few years ago. Also, is it worth it?

[PLombard68]

18 minutes ago, BobberBuddy said:

Does anyone know if you still need to get a key and pay a fee to fish Big Island Pond in Derry/Atkinson? I found some things online that said you did, but they seem like they are from a few years ago. Also, is it worth it?

Yes you still need a key. You have to contact the town of Derry and ask for a key to the locked gate on Escumbuit Road. The cost used to be $50 a year, but not sure if they still charge that price or if it's more now. The pond itself is stocked with brook, brown and rainbow trout. It also has Large and smallmouth bass, as well as pickerel, white perch, yellow perch, crappie, bullheads and sunfish. Hope this helps.

[redmexican5081]

4 hours ago, BobberBuddy said:

Does anyone know if you still need to get a key and pay a fee to fish Big Island Pond in Derry/Atkinson? I found some things online that said you did, but they seem like they are from a few years ago. Also, is it worth it?

If you cartop a canoe or kayak there is a free launch off of Stickney Rd but there is only a few places to park and it can fill up fast on nicer days.

[NEBass123]

Thank you both for the info! That definitely helps. I will give the town a call to see what it costs and will probably try it out in the yak as well.

[RMcDuffee726]

What's up gentlemen?  Hope May has treated you well because it has treated me like S^&% so far lol.  I must say that the fishing has gotten slightly better as we have moved deeper into May.  The main pattern I am finding throughout all of my trips are that the fish seem to be located on or near rocks and boulders.  My inclination would be to believe that rocks hold heat throughout the day and that attracts the bass to these locations?  Not too sure though.

 

I still haven't seen beds yet and the water temperatures are at 65F where I am fishing, so I imagine it is about that time.  I plan on going out on Saturday and it looks like it is going to be cold and rainy out so I am not expecting the bite to be too great, but we will see!  Here is the photo of one fish that I caught on my last trip.  I didn't weigh her, but she was indeed pregnant.  I imagine that she fell into the weight range of 5.5lb - 6lb.  A good fish nonetheless.

[deaknh03]

19 hours ago, redmexican5081 said:

If you cartop a canoe or kayak there is a free launch off of Stickney Rd but there is only a few places to park and it can fill up fast on nicer days.

Yep, I've been using that for years, not many people know of it.

[PLombard68]

On 5/15/2018 at 10:35 AM, deaknh03 said:

Yep, I've been using that for years, not many people know of it.

Same here, got to get there early if you want a spot. Very limited. Also, I've noticed NHF&G website shows that the canoe launch has a fee, which it doesn't. Not sure why they show that.

[nhbassin]

Yesterday the water temp was 64-66 at a lake in southern NH and largemouth were on beds, so the spawn is on! I will be searching for big females after work today, which brings me to a question for everyone. Smallmouth will eat anything that touches their bed, but largemouth can be much tougher to entice. What are your go to baits for bed-fishing largemouth? 

[jbmaine]

8 hours ago, nhbassin said:

Yesterday the water temp was 64-66 at a lake in southern NH and largemouth were on beds, so the spawn is on! I will be searching for big females after work today, which brings me to a question for everyone. Smallmouth will eat anything that touches their bed, but largemouth can be much tougher to entice. What are your go to baits for bed-fishing largemouth? 

We were out today, LM on beds every where . Honestly pick your favorite soft plastic and keep sticking in their face. tick them off enough and they might take a swipe at it. That's what I did for a half hour to day to get one to bite.

[kroberts9]

What's up guys, I can speak on this as I was in a tournament this past weekend. Largies are on beds beds. And smallmouths are still deep but may as well be on beds.here is a 3.95 smallie from 13'

I also had a lunker largemouth of 6.10 lbs off a bed

[nhbassin]

Good to hear that they are on beds everywhere. I found a few good ones on beds yesterday and they wanted nothing to do with a green pumpkin senko, but were aggressively trying to push a black senko off of their beds. Ended up with one just under 4 pounds and lost a few others that were slightly larger. 

[salmotrutta]

Designated trout ponds:Can they be fished at night?Nothing in the lawbook says it cannot.You just can't take trout one hour before sunrise and two hours after sunset.I want to fish one that holds largemouth.

[Jnewt]

How’s the fishing been people? Last week was pretty slow for me. I did catch my first small mouth off a bed though.  There was a huge female with him. Maybe 3.5-4ish but I had to go to work!! It was pretty cool to sight fish for the first time. The male  was so aggressive that right after I caught him I put him off to  the side about 40-50 feet so I could try for the female.  By the time I walked back and reset he came right back and bit the lure again. I left them alone after that. Not 100% sure how I feel about bed fishing yet? 

[nhbassin]

My 2nd (7.1 pounds) and 3rd (6.81 pounds) biggest largemouth in New Hampshire came from designated trout ponds. I would highly recommend giving it a shot, even though I am not sure about the rules for night fishing. Good luck!  

[Jnewt]

d**n nice fish right there. Must’ve about **** yourself. I’d be so jacked up. Congrats 

[salmotrutta]

Couple trout eaters this morning on the Rob's glide.

[deaknh03]

11 hours ago, salmotrutta said:

Couple trout eaters this morning on the Rob's glide.

Nice fish. Nice bait.

[nhbassin]

I got after some largemouth on beds last week and managed a 4 pounder and this 6.6 pounder on a whopper plopper. It was over 21 inches long and had a mean belly! All of the beds I found were in 1-2 feet of water so it was pretty fun to hit them with a top water first for the aggressive ones, then picked off the finicky ones with a senko after. 

On Saturday I took a trip out on Lake Champlain with my buddy and despite multiple hours of heavy rain, we managed to get 7 solid bass each. Most fish were pre-spawn in the 7-14 foot range and we caught the bigger ones on tubes in current. The one pictured below is my new personal best smallmouth and weighed in at 4.1 pounds. If you ever get a chance to fish Champlain, I highly recommend it.  

 

[KlubbaT]

On ‎5‎/‎28‎/‎2018 at 10:45 AM, nhbassin said:

I got after some largemouth on beds last week and managed a 4 pounder and this 6.6 pounder on a whopper plopper. It was over 21 inches long and had a mean belly! All of the beds I found were in 1-2 feet of water so it was pretty fun to hit them with a top water first for the aggressive ones, then picked off the finicky ones with a senko after. 

On Saturday I took a trip out on Lake Champlain with my buddy and despite multiple hours of heavy rain, we managed to get 7 solid bass each. Most fish were pre-spawn in the 7-14 foot range and we caught the bigger ones on tubes in current. The one pictured below is my new personal best smallmouth and weighed in at 4.1 pounds. If you ever get a chance to fish Champlain, I highly recommend it.  

 

I am going to Lake Champlain next weekend. Will be fishing Saturday and Sunday.  My favorite place in New England to fish. 

[nhbassin]

Now that most of the bass in southern NH are done with the spawn, has anyone been catching them on deeper summer patterns yet? 

[NEBass123]

@NH Bassin - Not yet, been catching them in transition areas still and struggling to get the real big ones to bite. I am thinking this week they should start to be in those patterns as the ponds I fish have been spawned out for a few weeks now.

 

I see a lot of people fish the Nashua River. Where is the best place to launch a bass boat on it? I was looking online and saw the Mill Pond Boat Ramp and wanted to check that out.

 

Also, does it have a lot of hidden rocks like the Mack?

 

Thank you in advance.

[Hiteck22]

On 6/12/2018 at 5:52 PM, BobberBuddy said:

@NH Bassin - Not yet, been catching them in transition areas still and struggling to get the real big ones to bite. I am thinking this week they should start to be in those patterns as the ponds I fish have been spawned out for a few weeks now.

 

I see a lot of people fish the Nashua River. Where is the best place to launch a bass boat on it? I was looking online and saw the Mill Pond Boat Ramp and wanted to check that out.

 

Also, does it have a lot of hidden rocks like the Mack?

 

Thank you in advance.

You don't want to go to Mill Pond ramp on Google you want to go to the Mines Falls ramp. Its on Stadium drive and when you arrive you stay on Stadium and turn right at the skate park. There is a small sign. It is a nice and fairly new paved ramp. No rocks to speak of in the Nashua in that stretch. When you put in and go upstream you wont encounter any rocks until you pass by a golf course on your left which is a couple miles from the ramp.

[NEBass123]

On 6/19/2018 at 9:47 AM, Hiteck22 said:

You don't want to go to Mill Pond ramp on Google you want to go to the Mines Falls ramp. Its on Stadium drive and when you arrive you stay on Stadium and turn right at the skate park. There is a small sign. It is a nice and fairly new paved ramp. No rocks to speak of in the Nashua in that stretch. When you put in and go upstream you wont encounter any rocks until you pass by a golf course on your left which is a couple miles from the ramp.

Thank you Hiteck22. I think that was the ramp I was looking at on google maps. It looks really nice. I am probably going to head there after work today.

[NEBass123]

I went to Robinson Pond this past Sunday around noon to do some quick fishing before it rained. However, I was too late and it started raining right as I got there. It's only 5 minutes from my house so I decided to suck it up and stay until it started down pouring. Luckily, it cleared up after about 45 minutes.

 

I have fished this pond a handful of times this year, but as you all warned me, it is a dink factory. Lots of 1lb bass. It started off the same way on Sunday, catching about 5 or so 1/2-1lbers. I was using a big swim jig to weed some of them out, but the smaller ones were still hitting it. I spent most of the day on a weedy flat around some deep water looking for any big fish.

 

I had just caught a 1lber and said to my fiance that this place must not have any fish over 1lb. My next cast, I got hit almost right away and could tell it was a good fish from the fight. It felt like it could be in the 3-4lb range until I saw it's head for a second and knew it had to be at least 4 or 5lbs. I fought it for another 30 or so seconds and finally got it to the boat. It's whole body came up to the boat and I was pumped as it was one of the biggest fish I have ever seen! I knew it had to be 6-7lbs. I got it in the boat and it weighed in at 6.3lbs which was lighter than I thought it was. The fish was huge and could definitely support 7+ lbs. Hopefully, there are more of these in there to be caught!

 

[je1946]

On 8/23/2018 at 5:14 PM, BobberBuddy said:

I went to Robinson Pond this past Sunday around noon to do some quick fishing before it rained. However, I was too late and it started raining right as I got there. It's only 5 minutes from my house so I decided to suck it up and stay until it started down pouring. Luckily, it cleared up after about 45 minutes.

 

I have fished this pond a handful of times this year, but as you all warned me, it is a dink factory. Lots of 1lb bass. It started off the same way on Sunday, catching about 5 or so 1/2-1lbers. I was using a big swim jig to weed some of them out, but the smaller ones were still hitting it. I spent most of the day on a weedy flat around some deep water looking for any big fish.

 

I had just caught a 1lber and said to my fiance that this place must not have any fish over 1lb. My next cast, I got hit almost right away and could tell it was a good fish from the fight. It felt like it could be in the 3-4lb range until I saw it's head for a second and knew it had to be at least 4 or 5lbs. I fought it for another 30 or so seconds and finally got it to the boat. It's whole body came up to the boat and I was pumped as it was one of the biggest fish I have ever seen! I knew it had to be 6-7lbs. I got it in the boat and it weighed in at 6.3lbs which was lighter than I thought it was. The fish was huge and could definitely support 7+ lbs. Hopefully, there are more of these in there to be caught!

 

Congrats on a very nice LM.