Eastern Ma & New England Area Fishing Reports

[DogBone_384]

Even if you don't. I own plenty and will bring a couple extra setups if you want.

[MassYak85]

I hear you, I actually got a little ram mount for my phone on my kayak last year because the way I had to take pictures before made it pretty dangerous. 

 

Also, I should be able to take my kayak out for it's maiden voyage Monday if nothing comes up. Looking forward to some nice pre spawn (spawn?) fishing. Speaking of which how is it progressing for you guys locally? Are the green ones starting to move up on beds or is it still full fledged pre-spawn?

[CTBassin860]

It was looking quite pre-spawnish the other day.small ones up on the shore and i was hammering them with a jig about 20 feet from shore so they were up shallow feeding.Another 80 degree day today so it wont be long before its full on spawn.

[JAB50]

Dogbone,

Seymour is right next to Hinkleys. Big smallmouth in there. Seen a 6lber pulled out of there. I caught several smallies in both places on beds last year! Hit both of those places in the same day if I were you! 

The access for Seymour is after the little town store. It's a little opening by the bike path. You basically drive up into the beach area. When your facing the pond to head out. Go to the left you'll see where a point of land that sticks out(point). That's entire area is a rock/gravel flat! Get there early. Throw senko,spinnerbaits,jerkbaits, jigs and ratl traps. Blk/bl,green pumpkin and watermelon. For the jerkbaits and crankbait a use firetiger/perch colors and silver and blue to match the herring color! It can be dynamite this time of year. Don't be afraid to throw a topwater on that area too. Hinkleys in similar but the water is much more stained than Seymour. 

FYI, pretty much all the ponds and lake Ramps on the cape are accessible(free) without a permit till Memorial Day!

[DogBone_384]

Thanks for the info. I'm heading down there tomorrow morning.  Will check it out. How's parking?  

 

If you haven't already had one, get the breakfast burrito from that General Store.  It was awesome, with bacon, of course!

[JAB50]

You can park to the left of the little dirt/sand homemade ramp if your facing away from the water. I pull up facing into the house that's next door. You can fit a few cars there(Seymour). Obviously, at Hinkleys you can pull up to the pump house or situate your car in a way that leaves it accessible for other cars to load and unload. But, don't get yourself blocked in there. Not much room. FYI on Sheeps pond! If you launch from the ramp; you need to go all the way to the there side of the lake and fish the right shoreline as you make the left around the bend. There is a huge gravel flat where on the point! I don't have a fish finder but on the Sheeps pond map if you go to the far end around the corner there is a big drop off and a few jumps that go from 30-60 ft of water. People catch huge smallies there in the winter! 

[Mr. Aquarium]

Got a couple fish yesterday!  Fished 4 ponds all day! 

It won't allow me2 load the other pics 

[MassYak85]

Nice one! 

 

I stopped by A1 today before Easter Dinner for about an hour. I get there and conditions couldn't be better, upper 80's and STRONG winds blowing right into the dam, they were very active. I got 4 on a swimjig pretty quick and then moved down the bank looking for more action, all my bites came left of the spillway though. There was a dad with his two kids, and a group of guys fishing live bait near the spillway. Seemed like everyone was catching them. All my fish were cookie cutter 2ish lbers. They were all a little skinny which I thought was weird for how actively they were feeding, I would think they'd be stuffed with bluegill. The wind was brutal and whitecaps were smashing into the shore, I ended my hour with the whopper plopper to see if they had any interest in topwater yet. Got one to go after it and saw him do a halfhearted jump after it but he missed. Had to go after that, wish I could have stayed longer but I'll be out tomorrow in my kayak. Might jump around a few places but I plan to be out all day. 

[Mr. Aquarium]

the fish were chewing my slammer up top slow twitched! missed a good fish, caught a few dinks and ended the day on a chunk! 

[CTBassin860]

Ill be headed out today.

[MassYak85]

Went to A1 today with my kayak. The wind was some of the worst I've ever seen on that lake. Whitecaps on the launch side of the island...the other side which I didn't even attempt to fish looked twice as bad. I spent most of my time doing battle with the wind, so I can't say with confidence what the fish were doing. There were a couple other people out there with me but they left when the wind started getting bad. One guy came and tried to launch a canoe and fish....tried. He didn't make it 50 feet from the launch before deciding it was a bad idea. 

 

I started the day off paddling around and there seemed to be some bluegill up shallow, and I definitely spooked one bass but they didn't seem to be in the shallow feeding frenzy they were yesterday. I'd guess the cooler night and full stomachs might have turned the bite off a bit. The one spot sheltered from the wind wasn't producing so I spent most of my time anchored to my stakeout pole in the full brunt of it. I did manage one dink who bit on a t-rigged sweet beaver. Poor thing had eyes bigger than it's mouth because I set the hook hard expecting at least a decent fish and the little guy flew out of the water lol. It Was probably only 8 inches. I was out there in total only a few hours before deciding it wasn't worth it. The only way I was able to fish was stay in one spot and given I didn't establish a pattern at all made it pretty frustrating. 

 

 

I had something hit my hudd gill but I missed it on the hookset. Closer inspection showed it was some sort of toothy critter. I let it load up a decent amount before setting the hook and it had some weight. Unfortunately the internals of my cardiff reel crapped out the next cast so my swimbait rig was out of commission the rest of the day (honestly I'm growing to hate that reel). I also had a smaller toothy critter follow my swimjig back. I can't say for sure but it almost looked like one of those small tiger muskies I've heard they stocked. The marking looked different than pickerel of that size. 

 

The one good takeaway was my home made stakeout pole worked great during one hell of a trial run. 

[CTBassin860]

Was only out for a little over an hour.Caught one dink on my 3rd cast,so i avoided a skunking.Fared better than the kayakers who weren't catching anything.I'm wondering if the weather the last 2 days but them on the beds.Water has to be considerably warmer.I only had 2 bites the entire time.The guys in the kayaks didn't come close enough to ask if they saw the bass bedding.I fear we may have hit spawn already though.

[MassYak85]

That's what I was a little afraid of, I launched my kayak in sandals and the water felt cold but my feet didn't ache at all, like they usually would if the water was in the 50's or lower. I didn't have a thermometer so I really have no idea. If they did spawn that would explain why all the fish I've caught the last couple days were skinny. That being said I didn't see a single bed while out there, and their tails weren't beat up like they should be if they had been fanning beds, so who knows. Maybe they will wait for more consistent weather to spawn. This week is going to have them confused for sure. Days in the 40's with some cold rain at the end of the week after almost 90 yesterday. 

[Mr. Aquarium]

 

My only fish! 6.3lbs 
So the story behind the fish Today! 
Saw it sitting pitched a 4 inch storm Shad to it! Bam nails it!  Couldn't get around some brush so I had to walk through a thorn bush into the water to land it!  It spits the hook at my feet! I dive in a grab it!

 

[DogBone_384]

Nice job Mike!

 

I got to Hinkley's this afternoon to check the place out before Evan comes down tomorrow. It was so windy the pond had white caps, but I drove all the way here, I'm fishing.

 

I paddled to the far end and found a little shelter from the tree line.  A bluegill jig and green pumpkin/red flake ned proved useless.  A yellow perch flavored shad rap shallow netted a pound-ish yellow perch.

 

Got called back to the condo, but got back around 5:00.  The wind calmed down so much I broke out a Whopper Plopper and tossed it along a shallow point.  I made the right choice. 5 smallies, all between a pound and a pound and a half.  No scale breakers, but I'll take it.

 

Water temps were high 57.x - low 58.x.

 

Let's see what tomorrow brings....

 

Forgot to add the highlight of the day: the bald eagle that flew over me and perched itself in a pine tree 100' away.  You definitely don't see that every day.

[JAB50]

Nice job Dogbone! Keep me updated. I'll be back up there in 2 weeks. I'm hoping they are at least on beds when I get up there. I'm hoping I don't hit it wrong. Don't be afraid throw some suspending jerkbaits too! If the smallies are that active. They'll probably be all over it. Throw a green pumpkin 5" senko too! I've down well swimming ball head grubs and football headed spider grubs(twin tail) too!

[DogBone_384]

Jab, the first Smallie's tail was raw & red. It was on the bed.  

[Janderson45]

Those are some nice bass Mike, you fishing all around the south shore for those still?

 

Encouraged by your MS Slammer bites I tossed mine around for a few hours last night, not even a sniff.  What do you run for line on your large swimbaits?  I'm trying 20lb CXX but other than it's nearly indestructible I can't say I love the stuff so far..

 

Can't speak for other bodies of water, but I haven't seen ANY spawning activity at any of the places I've been to recently.  I was at the Quabbin this weekend though, so obviously water is colder there... it was 41-44 degrees throughout the day.  Bite was tough for most guys out of Gate 8 it seemed.. fish were cooperating in the morning but once the wind picked up (30+ MPH gusts out of the south by noon time) the fishing really got tough... Me and my buddy caught 4 fish before 10 AM, then not a sniff afterwards.  2 small landlocked salmon and 2 rainbows.  All of the fish went around 2lbs.  Best fish caught out of our group of 30 or so fisherman was a lake trout that went just over 5lbs. 

 

If there was starting to be any spawning activity over the past few warm days this cold front should knock them off the beds and back to their staging areas.. however I would bet in most areas they were just starting to move up towards spawning grounds and now a cold front will knock them back to earlier season prespawn locations.  I'm going to try to get out in the kayak one day this week either before or after work, but it's tough for me to get any quality fishing in during the week right now... also frustrating that I can't seem to find any good shore fishing spots to just mess around for an hour or two.  

 

Any of you guys that fish the Charles... I know I've seen a few of you.. where do you fish it from typically?  I work in Watertown and am interested in finding some locations on the Charles for shore fishing either before/after work or on my lunch break.  Any help is appreciated. 

 

If I don't get out in my kayak during the week I'll definitely be out in it this weekend.  Location is TBD, but if anyone wanted to meet up to kayak fish I could be swayed to travel.  Let me know!

[Mr. Aquarium]

i just spooled up with 20lbs trilene big game. ive used 20lbs seguar floro before, also braid!  so it depends on prefrence to be honest! each has their pros and cons

 

[JAB50]

Dogbone,

Hinkleys water is really dirty compared to other ponds and lakes down there. Doesn't surprise if they are making beds. They'll spawn for a couple of weeks there. The smallies spawn at different times and in different spots there. When you work your way down the left side bank with your back to the pump house. I found beds 50-70yds off shore. As you work your way down you'll come up to the little herring run. I found several  smallie beds there last year. Let me know if you find any.

[MassYak85]

5 hours ago, swamp hawgs said:

i just spooled up with 20lbs trilene big game. ive used 20lbs seguar floro before, also braid!  so it depends on prefrence to be honest! each has their pros and cons

 

How is big game for memory, CXX is a slinky even with line conditioner. It gets better after a few long casts but backlashes with the stuff are quite nasty as it already seems to want to uncoil off the spool. I've heard people on SU give praises to P-Line PF original as well and have been tempted to try that. 

[JAB50]

I've been using P-Line since the early 90's! It's phenomenal line! Berkley Big game is good stuff too; when it comes to their heavier line. Use some line conditioner if you feel like memory is an issue. Can of reel magic. I throw flourish almost exclusively now. Sunline Sniper. But, I did buy a revo beast and sunline flipping braid to spoil on it. Seaguar Abrazx is good too. I bought a 1000yd spool of 10lb test when Tackle Warehouse had it for 50% off during their Xmas sale.

[DogBone_384]

Took a friend's son, Evan, to Hinkley's today.  I'd say the surface temps were higher than the amient temp, 57.x versus high 40's low 50's at best.  Regardless, Evan and his mom drove down, we're fishing!

 

I had a Swamp Hawg like day today.  Caught my first LMB on a bluegill jig and three SMB on Fishing Rhino's secret weapon.  Everyone was north of three pounds.  The biggest SMB might have been a PB.  My digital scale crapped out on me.

 

Poor Evan threw everything he brought with him, as well as Fishing Rhino's secret weapon, but came up empty.  

 

The amusing part was the number of clams we caught.  We each caught three or four, whether they closed on a trebel hook, line, or snap swivel, it was a trip.  I don't remember ever catching a clam before.

[Fishing Rhino]

Boats and bananas do not mix.

 

Yesterday, JE1946 took me out on Quabbin.  Things were going well 'til I hauled a couple of bananas out of the lunch cooler.  John promptly scolded me for bringing bananas on the boat as they bring bad luck.

 

I spoofed the "superstition", and things went downhill from there.  Lost a couple of lures that got hung up on the bottom, and snapped a rod trying to free a third from the bottom.  Bananas 3, Tom 0.  To add insult to injury when we got back to the landing, I ended up in the water when I stumbled taking the step onto the float.  Could have been worse.  At least I stayed upright, and the water was not quite waist deep.

 

Banana curse 4, Tom 0.  Oh wait, I almost forgot.  Among the fish we caught were three or four lake trout.  The banana curse struck twice more.  John had a laker break off at the boat, long before the bananas' presence was made known to him.

 

Curse 5,  Tom 0.

 

Ooops, one more though this could be more a matter of ignorance than luck.

 

Never caught a lake trout before.  When I got it to the boat, I lipped the fish and promptly got three puncture wounds (correction five puncture wounds) for my efforts.  But what the heck.  If I hadn't caught the fish, I wouldn't have gotten wounded.

 

 

Bananas 6, Tom 0.

 

As an aside, we did catch a few smallmouth, and I learned not to lip a laker.  And,............I did not say that I shoulda stayed in bed.

 

I will say, I shoulda left the bananas at home.

 

Funny, the water did not seem that cold.  Even afterward I did not feel cold walking around soaked to the waist.  I was lucky in another regard.  I did bring my foul weather gear, so I had a pair of dry rain pants to put on instead of driving home in my skivvies.

[je1946]

50 minutes ago, Fishing Rhino said:

Boats and bananas do not mix.

 

Yesterday, JE1946 took me out on Quabbin.  Things were going well 'til I hauled a couple of bananas out of the lunch cooler.  John promptly scolded me for bringing bananas on the boat as they bring bad luck.

 

I spoofed the "superstition", and things went downhill from there.  Lost a couple of lures that got hung up on the bottom, and snapped a rod trying to free a third from the bottom.  Bananas 3, Tom 0.  To add insult to injury when we got back to the landing, I ended up in the water when I stumbled taking the step onto the float.  Could have been worse.  At least I stayed upright, and the water was not quite waist deep.

 

Banana curse 4, Tom 0.  Oh wait, I almost forgot.  Among the fish we caught were three or four lake trout.  The banana curse struck twice more.  John had a laker break off at the boat, long before the bananas' presence was made known to him.

 

Curse 5,  Tom 0.

 

Ooops, one more though this could be more a matter of ignorance than luck.

 

Never caught a lake trout before.  When I got it to the boat, I lipped the fish and promptly got three puncture wounds for my efforts.  But what the heck.  If I hadn't caught the fish, I wouldn't have gotten wounded.

 

Bananas 6, Tom 0.

 

As an aside, we did catch a few smallmouth, and I learned not to lip a laker.  And,............I did not say that I shoulda stayed in bed.

 

I will say, I shoulda left the bananas at home.

 

Funny, the water did not seem that cold.  Even afterward I did not feel cold walking around soaked to the waist.  I was lucky in another regard.  I did bring my foul weather gear, so I had a pair of dry rain pants to put on instead of driving home in my skivvies.

Funny story to say the least.   Don't be soo hard on yourself Tom, or should I say don't be so hard on the bananas.  We did manage some Smallies.  Thanks for a gd (but somewhat unusual) day.lol  Next time leave the banana's at home.