Eastern Ma & New England Area Fishing Reports

[Janderson45]

So even though I said I wouldn't for a while, I fished the Quabbin Reservoir again today with my girlfriend.  Had the day off from work, looked at weather conditions and I just couldn't stay away.  We launched in a rental at 7 AM from boat launch 2.  Headed south for a mile and a half before I set up the Lowrance and started looking for fish...

Despite receiving 3" of rain in the past week (more than that region has had in over six weeks) water levels were still down nearly 8' from typical levels this time of year... I was rather disappointed to learn this upon arrival as I was thinking 3" of rain in a short time would make a big difference in this body of water... I was wrong.   Took us a little while to get on them but once we did we hit them hard... I caught 11 SMB while losing 5!!!! (?)  she caught 3 and lost 1.  Biggest of the day was 3.54 lbs, although to be completely honest I need to invest in a pair of boga grips or something because this fish looked 4+ lbs and I don't trust my cheap digital scale.... When I got a look at it I could've sworn it was a 4lber, it was 20.5" long.  It weighed 3.54.  In total I caught 3 SMB that my scale registered at 3+ lbs, but to be fair the other 2 were 3.12 and 3.02 lbs respectively.  One of the fish that I lost on a dropshot was significantly bigger than the 3.54 I landed, easily 4+.... Wrapped itself around my anchor line and shook free.  All the others shook free while going airborne, they were all good fish as well.  I did catch two dinks on the drop shot as well, but after losing a really good bass in front of my eyes on a drop shot (along with a relatively slow bite) I made the switch to a 3.5" green pumpkin tube (tentacles dipped in chartreuse JJ's) on a 3/8ths tungsten tube head, it was the right choice.  Boated all 3 of the 3lb + SMB on the tube.  I targeted 16-28 FOW all day on the Lowrance, and nearly every place I marked a small pod of predator/game fish (smallmouth?) I almost instantly hooked up on the tube (it took a bit more dedication on the dropshot to get bites).  I'm new to fishing tubes and I was stunned how big SMB would crush a nearly dead sticked tube.  Twice during conversation with the girlfriend and I a Good SMB took the tube while it was sitting dead still and took off with it (thanks HI-VIS yellow braid)... See the line running off?? Reel up slack, feel the weight, set the hook.  I wish I could say it was angler imparted magic but this is how I caught the big fish of the day...

water temp at 7AM from fishing area 2 was 74.x degrees, as we worked our way south and the sun came up temps warmed to 80+ degrees in the shallows.  Didn't catch a single fish in less than 15' of water.  She fished a Ned rig all day for her 3 keepers and had a drop shot fish came unbuttoned on her.  I fished dropshot, a tube, soft plastic swim baits, floating balsa jerksbaits, deep diving cranks, lipless cranks, and a spinner bait.  All the bites came on the dropshot and tube, other than spawning conditions and immediately post spawn conditions I can't buy a bite at the Q on horizontally presented baits (even though I see fish clearly suspended at 15' or so) , any advice on this?  I get that they're harder to catch than fish relating to points and ledges, but I have trouble even attempting to target them.

I met an older gentleman at one of the beaching/portable restroom areas around 10AM before I had managed a bite, said he caught a 22" pickerel.. I was surprised to say the least, I've only caught SMB and seldom LMB on the eastern side of the Quabbin, never even seen a pickerel... I would've been interested to hear what he caught it on but he wasn't sharing.

Tight lines friends.

 

Heres the 3.02 and then the 3.54.  Both caught at the same location in roughly 22' on the green pumpkin/chart dipped tube.

[DogBone_384]

FIshing Rhino (Tom) and I fished Great Herring in Plymouth Friday.  We hit the water at about 5:45.  Weather was perfect, starting off in the 70s and moving to the 80's with not much of a breeze.  Surface temps hovered around 80. 

Business started off slow, but Tom nabbed a couple Smallies and a Larry first while I practiced casting until about 8:30 until I landed a small Smallie.  Fishing was on and off while we moved around when Tom landed a nice 2-8 Smallie at about 10:45 AM.  I jokingly said 'OK, now I have to beat that one...' and like Gomer Pyle says, " SUPRISE... SUPRISE ... SUPRISE..."   less than ten minutes later I dropped a wacky rigged Senko in front of a floating dock and pulled up a 4-7 Smallie!  It's a Smallie PB for me (and almost an overall PB).

Fishing was again on & off for the rest of the day.  Tom caught a few more Smallies and I managed another Smallie, a White Perch, and a long but skinny Yellow Perch.

Overall a great day, and a BIG thanks to Fishing Rhino for offering me the empty seat in his boat for the day.  He's very knowledgeable and a great host.  

 

[Janderson45]

Congrats on the PB smalljaw!  Sounds like you guys had a nice day, I'm gonna have to go hit Great Herring myself soon.

Ive caught more smallmouth than largemouth this year, I guess it's because I keep on finding myself in smallie waters, but it's certainly a strange feeling for me.  Prior years/seasons I've always caught far more largemouth, I'm certainly not hating the change of pace though, the LMB will always be around when I want them ;). 

[CavScoutA21]

54 minutes ago, DogBone_384 said:

FIshing Rhino (Tom) and I fished Great Herring in Plymouth Friday.  We hit the water at about 5:45.  Weather was perfect, starting off in the 70s and moving to the 80's with not much of a breeze.  Surface temps hovered around 80. 

Business started off slow, but Tom nabbed a couple Smallies and a Larry first while I practiced casting until about 8:30 until I landed a small Smallie.  Fishing was on and off while we moved around when Tom landed a nice 2-8 Smallie at about 10:45 AM.  I jokingly said 'OK, now I have to beat that one...' and like Gomer Pyle says, " SUPRISE... SUPRISE ... SUPRISE..."   less than ten minutes later I dropped a wacky rigged Senko in front of a floating dock and pulled up a 4-7 Smallie!  It's a Smallie PB for me (and almost an overall PB).

Congrats on the smallie PB!  

[DogBone_384]

Thanks.  It was a nice fish, fought well.  I was glad I was using a M and not ML rod.

25 minutes ago, Janderson45 said:

Congrats on the PB smalljaw!  Sounds like you guys had a nice day, I'm gonna have to go hit Great Herring myself soon.

Ive caught more smallmouth than largemouth this year, I guess it's because I keep on finding myself in smallie waters, but it's certainly a strange feeling for me.  Prior years/seasons I've always caught far more largemouth, I'm certainly not hating the change of pace though, the LMB will always be around when I want them ;). 

I haven't kept count like I planned on, but I'd say Smallies outnumber Larrys for me too.  Can't complain either way.  It's been a good year so far and we still have fall fishing ahead of us!

And renting a boat at the Quabbin is the best $46 you could spend on a day fishing!

[Mr. Aquarium]

one hit one fish night! fished longer then i should of last night! work sucks right now!! 

got a 5.3 on a topwater!

[CavScoutA21]

28 minutes ago, swamp hawgs said:

one hit one fish night! fished longer then i should of last night! work sucks right now!! 

got a 5.3 on a topwater!

Nice fish!

[Janderson45]

Went out at Whitehall this afternoon/evening.  Got the skunk.  All I managed was one overly-ambitious pumpkinseed.  Didn't have my Lowrance with me or all of my rods.  Tried various 1/4oz Texas rigs, 3/8oz chatterbait, and a few different hard topwater baits as the sun started to set and into the night.  Didn't seem like anyone else that I saw fishing was really doing any catching either.  

Saw an eagle, and then later the most vicious topwater explosion I've ever witnessed.  Huge largemouth annihilated a small mouse/rat that was swimming in the water about 50 feet in front of me, I think it might've been the biggest bass I've ever seen come clean out of the water like that. Spent a while fishing the area of the explosion without any luck. 

Oh well, I'll catch a good largemouth one of these days hopefully.., 

[MassYak85]

22 hours ago, Janderson45 said:

Went out at Whitehall this afternoon/evening.  Got the skunk.  All I managed was one overly-ambitious pumpkinseed.  Didn't have my Lowrance with me or all of my rods.  Tried various 1/4oz Texas rigs, 3/8oz chatterbait, and a few different hard topwater baits as the sun started to set and into the night.  Didn't seem like anyone else that I saw fishing was really doing any catching either.  

Saw an eagle, and then later the most vicious topwater explosion I've ever witnessed.  Huge largemouth annihilated a small mouse/rat that was swimming in the water about 50 feet in front of me, I think it might've been the biggest bass I've ever seen come clean out of the water like that. Spent a while fishing the area of the explosion without any luck. 

Oh well, I'll catch a good largemouth one of these days hopefully.., 

My friend and I paddled Whitehall this morning, didn't fish though. Wind was crazy and there were a few guys out fishing. One guy in a small center console said he got a few when I asked, not sure if he was going for bass or not though, and there were a couple guys in a Nitro that I don't think were having much luck judging by how much they were buzzing around the lake changing spots. 

How big would you say the one you saw jump was? I've heard rumors of a kid pulling out a 10 pounder last spring but I have no idea if that is true, and if it is, whether the fish survived. I've personally never got anything over 4 in there. 

[Janderson45]

4 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

My friend and I paddled Whitehall this morning, didn't fish though. Wind was crazy and there were a few guys out fishing. One guy in a small center console said he got a few when I asked, not sure if he was going for bass or not though, and there were a couple guys in a Nitro that I don't think were having much luck judging by how much they were buzzing around the lake changing spots. 

How big would you say the one you saw jump was? I've heard rumors of a kid pulling out a 10 pounder last spring but I have no idea if that is true, and if it is, whether the fish survived. I've personally never got anything over 4 in there. 

Looked to be easily 6lbs, but obviously it's hard to judge based off of what I saw...  

I've heard numerous reports of 6+lb bass being caught here, and I believe it... Other than the fishing pressure it now receives it seems like perfect dwellings for a very large northeastern bass to me.. Personally I've only fished it a few times however, and haven't had much luck.  I haven't boated a LMB over 3.5 lbs yet this year but I've probably caught a dozen smallies over that mark.  Looking forward to this summer/fall transition and then fall fishing to hopefully figure out some good LMB before the season is over... 

[Ratherbefishing75]

Haven't had much luck this year and haven't had a lot of time on the water ? I'm hoping that the fall will be better  i actually broke out the live worms and bobber  thaw sat back and had a beer 

[Janderson45]

Looks like quite the gill you caught there!! Sometimes live bait fishing is nice, like you said just sit back and have a few cold ones..

[Mr. Aquarium]

it was a good night last night 

[MassYak85]

d**n dude, nice fish! Also....what kind of rat bait is that?! Judging by the size of your fist it's got to be 10 inches no? Looks custom. 

[Mr. Aquarium]

its a WSB 175 makes a ton  of noise! just got it,  few hours later got fish on it! im going to like this bait A LOT 

[MassYak85]

21 hours ago, swamp hawgs said:

its a WSB 175 makes a ton  of noise! just got it,  few hours later got fish on it! im going to like this bait A LOT 

I bet haha. it looks like a really cool lure. How big was that bass you got on it?

 

Me and my dad hit webster early this morning. It was surprisingly cold. 

Quick backstory: So after having issues with the stock hooks on the whopper plopper 130's I decided to get some ST-56's. I also decided to take off the back treble and just use the front one, since all of the fish I have caught on the lure were hooked with the front one, and all the back one had done was snag weeds or gills.

So we start fishing before the sun is up, and I have that whopper plopper tied on. We are fishing in a cove with some lily pads in it. First cast a bass comes up and tries to take it....didn't fully take it. A few minutes later, same thing....and a few after that, same thing. I'm a little annoyed they aren't fully committing and I feel because I took off the back treble I might be missing fish. So I steal one off my S-Waver and fish it a little longer, FINALLY one takes it. I set the hook, feel it's weight, aaaaaaaaaaannnnnnddd it comes off. 0 for 4 on the whopper plopper, but they weren't really crushing it like the usually do. For the next few hours I didn't get a single bite. My dad managed one small bass and a couple pickerel on spinnerbaits up shallow. The day got pretty hot so we tried fishing deeper, my dad hooked into a decent one on a carolina rig that weighed 2.3. We tried a section of shore that drooped to 20 feet really quick. A few minutes with the dropshot there produced a 2.5 and a couple dinks for me. No more bites after that though. We left around 12 because it was just really slow and the lack of wind made the heat kind of miserable. Tons of skiers and wakeboarders out today too. The guy we talked to at the ramp had a pretty similar day, slow and had to really work for 3-4 fish. But hey, certainly beats getting skunked. 

I'm moving into my dorm tommorow, I decided I'm going to to take a rod this year (why waste a chance to be living 1 minute walking distance from the Merimack river?). Hopefully some decent smallies swim swim my way this fall. 

[DogBone_384]

Fished Cape Cod two days this weekend with Fishing Rhino (Tom).  We launched between 5:45 and 6:00 both days.  The weather was perfect with temps in the '80s and BP hanging right around 30 with variable wind.  The first day I got ten fish to the boat, a mix of Larrys, Picks, and Yellow Perch. and lost a couple here and there.  Day two was just a touch better, landing an even dozen fish, mostly LMBs, with a couple little Picks and Perch.  Tom tore it up both days, landing between three and four fish for every one of mine.

I learned a lot fishing with Tom, too.  Some new baits, fresh techniques, and retrieve patterns.  A gracious host and excellent teacher.  He's SO GOOD, in fact, I managed big fish of the day two of the three days we fished this month.  There's still a ton to learn.  IF I get some time tomorrow, I'll take what I learned and apply it to Ponkapog.

Thanks again Tom!

[Mr. Aquarium]

On 8/27/2016 at 7:59 PM, MassYak85 said:

I bet haha. it looks like a really cool lure. How big was that bass you got on it?

biggest was 3 and change!! caught a 2 and change on it as well

[Cyacnba]

Recently moved to Waltham and found a great spot in the Charles River with bunch of smallies. Caught 4 today, and I saw one that's at least 2lb.

[CavScoutA21]

Very nice Cya.  The lower Charles has dried up for me.  I haven't caught anything out of it in weeks.

[Cyacnba]

I went back and caught my PB smallie on a Whopper Plopper 90. They were crushing the Whopper Plopper

[MassYak85]

I brought my WP 90 to school, hopefully some Merrimack Smallies will be hungry this fall. 

[Janderson45]

I've got the rest of the week off and not much for plans if anyone would like to meet up in kayaks or whatever someplace let me know! 

[Cyacnba]

I tried with another topwater lure, the Ima in bone color. It got crushed on my first cast by what would have been my new PB smallie until a snapping turtle bit the fish out of nowhere. I lost my lure and the smallie, but while I was trying to get my lure back, I managed to let the fish free out of that turtle's mouth lol.

[DogBone_384]

Took my wife's friend's son to Sunset Lake, Braintree, for one more go around before he head's back to school. Sunset is down a few feet, but still ranges between 2-24' with a lot of hills, drop offs, and weed flats.

Surface temps were high 70's and BP was 29.8 with a slight breeze from the NW.

Evan threw a red craw hard bait, Zoom U-tale on a pink jig head, and a white spinner bait. He hooked a nice bass but got spit off before he got it in the kayak.

I switched between a 4" wacky rigged Senko, blue/black Kreature, and a bluegill Whopper Plopper.  Mr. Wacky garnered 3 bass around a pound or so and a nice 3-0 Larry at dusk.  A 2-14 pickerel ate my Whopper Plopper in 2' of water. Boy he was ticked!

Lucklily I'm on vacation and have to take my daughter to work at 4:45 AM tomorrow and my kayak is coincidentally still in my truck. I'll be at Ponkie at first light.