Eastern Ma & New England Area Fishing Reports

[CTBassin860]

• Hit the pond for a couple hours today.One bite on a PB&J Rage Craw T-rigged.Missed the hookset of course.Was pitching it right in front of their faces and they were just laughing at me underwater.So many muskrats too.I dont ever recall there being that many.It will get better in the next week or so.

[carlm01]

Anyone fishing the Concord or Merrimack Rivers in MA /

[Mr. Aquarium]

fished saturday all day! skunked! my buddy caught a 3lbser and missed a good fish, i had a few pickerel hit.

sunday got a late start, caught a couple of dinks.

[MassYak85]

Fished Webster on Sunday....skunked. Probably my worst day of fishing there. No one I talked to did well either. Tried to reason it out, water was low 50's and I didn't see any shallow spawning action so I figured they might be right off the flats on some deeper structure. Well if they were I wasn't throwing anything they were interested in because I didn't get much action aside from some slight nibbles that I have no idea what they were. Ended the day in a shallower cove that had the only green vegetation in the lake it seemed, so I thought it would be promising. There was definitely more life there and plenty of bluegill, but the skunking continued. I saw a few dink bass who were not interested and I saw one chunk torpedo out of some of the shallow grass but that was it. 

 

Oh...and the day started off about as good as it ended. Guess who realized they forgot their tackle bag at home when they got to the ramp. This guy . Luckily I had some swimbaits in a separate box, and the lures I had tied on from my previous outing so it wasn't a complete loss. Pretty sure I still would have gotten skunked if I brought it so no harm there. Only thing I might have tried differently is a jerkbait if I had one.

[JAB50]

My brother fished Webster on April 11th. He got 3 and his friend caught 4. The fish moved in real shallow around noon he had told me! And we're very spooky. Water temps were around 53 that day. So, sounds like it  hasn't changed much. They were also fishing out of a 21' Ranger too. So, they could a better view than you. I'm sure it still needs to warm up a little more. The smallest were the more active fish they caught. 

[Cyacnba]

Fished at the Charles River yesterday in the Waltham area (next to Moody St). Got a small bass, missed a chunky one, and caught 6 pickerels. Not sure why people don't like pickerels, but I had tons of fun yesterday. They were in shallow water, so you could see them attacking the bait (Rage Craw Menace) out of nowhere. It was pretty cool.

[MassYak85]

2 hours ago, JAB50 said:

My brother fished Webster on April 11th. He got 3 and his friend caught 4. The fish moved in real shallow around noon he had told me! And we're very spooky. Water temps were around 53 that day. So, sounds like it  hasn't changed much. They were also fishing out of a 21' Ranger too. So, they could a better view than you. I'm sure it still needs to warm up a little more. The smallest were the more active fish they caught. 

I was actually there with my dad so we were in his boat, and even standing up on the back casting deck, polarized glasses, and Webster's very clear water I couldn't see much up shallow. I was surprised too because low 50's + a nice sunny warm day I would think they would want to start moving up. The only bait I saw either was in that shallow cove with the new green weeds which made sense but not much bass with them. 

 

I forgot to mention I did see a HUGE Crappie up shallow but that was the end of any excitement. 

[DogBone_384]

Got out of EMS class and drove to Halfway Pond where I fished with Janderson45 last Summer.  The story didn't change: a few hits here and there from Yellow Perch and a small Pickerel.  I managed one decent Pickerel over by the island on a Rage Tail Menace.  

 

I got bored and moved over to Hedges Pond where I knew the SMB would cooperate.  Two SMB, each just under two pounds thought my gold/orange Rapala suspending jerkbait was good.  

 

Water temperature at both ponds ranged from 57.x to 58.0 degrees.

 

Planning on attacking the Quabbin Friday... looking forward to it.

[Quarry Man]

Anyone fish near Lancaster MA? My mom grew up near there, and I want to find some people to fish with when I visit my family.

[JAB50]

Anyone been out fishing lately?

 

[MassYak85]

1 hour ago, JAB50 said:

Anyone been out fishing lately?

 

I plan to go out tomorrow. But this afternoon I stopped by the subury reservoir for about an hour. Saw a fish on a bed, probably a little bit over 2lbs. He wasn't having any of it so I just fan casted the general area looking for the ones that might be feeding. Hooked into a decent one, probably around 3lbs, but I was up on a steep bank and couldn't get down to the water fast enough and it shook off. Hooked and landed another but it was a dink. 

[DogBone_384]

The Smallies at Hedges had a serious case of lock jaw today.  I launched around 9:30-ish, worked the whole place, throwing everything but the kitchen sink in the water.  Packed up and left at 3:30 to get to my daughter's Lacrosse game.

 

Water temps were high 56.x to a shade under 60.

 

There were a lot more beds today than the last time I was here.

 

Thankfully a Yellow Perch liked the drop-shot Fluke jr. I threw, so no skunk for me.

 

The plan is to attack the Quabbin tomorrow.  Hopefully those fish will be more cooperative.

[Janderson45]

Let us know how you do at the Q Dogbone, I plan to fish the Quabbin on Sunday with my buddy.   I'm curious to see what water temps are since I was there 2 weeks ago.   They were 41-44 degrees 2 weeks ago, my guess is low 50's for this weekend but with some seriously warmer weather for the next 2 days maybe it'll bump the temps up even more?

 

Probably going to try and get out in the Kayak somewhere tomorrow as well.. not sure where yet, depends on exactly how ambitious I'm feeling and how long I sleep in... looks like winds are supposed to kick up quite a bit tomorrow afternoon. 

[CavScoutA21]

The stretch of the Charles River across from my work (near Eliot Bridge) I fish during my lunch time has been productive for me with 4 fish (b/t 1-2 pounds) caught and several missed strikes.  I noticed a lot more people fishing today too.

[Mr. Aquarium]

bites been super tough for me ever since the cold front saturday. this weekend looks promising tho. that cold front shut them down.

[MassYak85]

Went out today on A1 in my kayak. Got there around 9 and left around 3. It started off overcast with a little wind. I got two small bass and a pickerel right away to the left of the ramp. Once the sun came out and it warmed up they didn't seem to be feeding as actively, so I decided to just paddle around for a bit and explore. With my outriggers I can stand so I was able to get a pretty good view of the shallows. There were a ton of 2 - 3 lbers up shallow, some seemed like they were on beds but were easily scared away so I don't think they were guarding eggs yet. I couldn't get any to bite sight fishing. 

 

All of my bites came on either a swim jig or a plain paddle tail swimbait. I did also get a dink pickerel on a spinnerbait. All in all I got 3 bass and 4 pickerel. Not great, not terrible. It was a beautiful day though so I can't complain. The "lunker" of the day was about 2lbs even. 

6 hours ago, Janderson45 said:

looks like winds are supposed to kick up quite a bit tomorrow afternoon. 

 Pre-frontal ahead of Sunday's 20 degree temperature drop, should be good. 

[Mr. Aquarium]

tomorrow should be good! warm day with some storms rolling through early.  cold front sunday!! bite should be really good tomorrow 

[DogBone_384]

Fishing Rhino and I launched from fishing area #3 as soon as the gates opened.  It was a slow start.  I struck first with a lake trout (roughly two pounds) off a 3/4 oz. gold Binsky blade bait.  We worked our way to the same place JG233 and I caught our Summer Smallies last year.  It's about 20 minutes from the launch where two channels come together  and form an X.  Tom grabbed three good SMB between 8:45 - 9:15, all from is gold Binsky.  I grabbed one SMB in the same area with, yes, a gold Binsky.  All four SMB were between 2-3 pounds and healthy.

 

We moved around for a while with nothing more than great weather.  We started back around 2:00 and stopped by a couple humps by "Hamma's Island".  I landed a nice 3-12 brown trout or salmon (?) on a brown/orange hair jig.  Like a dope I took a picture of the scale and not the fish.  It was brown spotted with a white bottom.  

 

All in all a good day at the Quabbin.  Water temps were 56.x - 57.x in the eastern waters we fished and 53.x - 54.x in the western sections.  Barometric pressure was 29.4 when we arrived and rose slightly during the day.

 

We saw some good sized SMB schooled near a shallow section not a few hundred yards from the launch (on the left as you're leaving the launch).  I had to get back home so we couldn't stop and cast.  

 

I'm going to be back on the Cape with my kayak Tues - Thurs next week.  Planning on hitting Hinckley and Seymore (if possible) and perhaps Long Pond.  

[JAB50]

Dogbone,

Let me know if you do go to the Cape. I'll be there on Friday May 5th. Your updates will give me a good idea of what to expect. It will help me out greatly with how I will fish too! 

[DogBone_384]

Just doing my part. 

[JAB50]

Ha ha! Seeing your sacrificing yourself for the good of your fellow anglers. You should just take the whole week off!

[Janderson45]

Didn't get out today but hitting Gate 31 at the quabbin bright and early tomorrow.. a bit nervous about the cold front shutting down the bite but other than that it looks like it'll be a nice day to be out there.   

 

If if you don't mind me asking Dogbone, how deep were you guys fishing/catching?

 

  Also, regardless of whether or not it was a salmon or brown trout 3-12 is a pretty decent one.  4lb landlocked salmon is a bronze state pin I believe.   There are some brown trout in there but they're pretty rare to catch these days is my understanding.  

[MassYak85]

10 hours ago, DogBone_384 said:

Fishing Rhino and I launched from fishing area #3 as soon as the gates opened.  It was a slow start.  I struck first with a lake trout (roughly two pounds) off a 3/4 oz. gold Binsky blade bait.  We worked our way to the same place JG233 and I caught our Summer Smallies last year.  It's about 20 minutes from the launch where two channels come together  and form an X.  Tom grabbed three good SMB between 8:45 - 9:15, all from is gold Binsky.  I grabbed one SMB in the same area with, yes, a gold Binsky.  All four SMB were between 2-3 pounds and healthy.

 

We moved around for a while with nothing more than great weather.  We started back around 2:00 and stopped by a couple humps by "Hamma's Island".  I landed a nice 3-12 brown trout or salmon (?) on a brown/orange hair jig.  Like a dope I took a picture of the scale and not the fish.  It was brown spotted with a white bottom.  

 

All in all a good day at the Quabbin.  Water temps were 56.x - 57.x in the eastern waters we fished and 53.x - 54.x in the western sections.  Barometric pressure was 29.4 when we arrived and rose slightly during the day.

 

We saw some good sized SMB schooled near a shallow section not a few hundred yards from the launch (on the left as you're leaving the launch).  I had to get back home so we couldn't stop and cast.  

 

I'm going to be back on the Cape with my kayak Tues - Thurs next week.  Planning on hitting Hinckley and Seymore (if possible) and perhaps Long Pond.  

Sounds like a good day!

 

I was out on quinsig again today, 7am - 1pm. It was a much nicer day than I was expecting, very sunny and just a light breeze. It was a pretty strange day as far as the lake is concerned, starting off shallow it was almost 70 in some spots! So spent some time shallow seeing if any were still spawning, didn't see a ton of activity and didn't catch much. So went out to the main lake...saw temps as low as 54, so I'd guess there's still a decent amount that haven't spawned yet. Also, starting out there was tons of dead vegetation and muck floating on the surface, when I left it was gone (maybe it sank?). Only caught a couple small bass there, but did have fun on my med-light spinning setup slaying some rock bass, perch, and dink bass with a grub before leaving. Packed it up and headed to Maspenock. The wind really kicked up and clouds started coming in. Only thing I was able to get them to bite on though was a shakey head. Got about 4 pickerel and about a 2lb bass in a few hours. Water temps also varied a ton, I saw as high as 68 and as low as 59. 

[DogBone_384]

My work schedule allows such sacrifices.  It's tough.

[Mr. Aquarium]

got out saturday! tough bite, spent more time trying to decided where to go then actually fishing. caught a 3.6lbser and another chunky 2 missed a few other fish.  fished 2 ponds and a small culvert ive been gettin some good action. 
went to see if the stripers were around, lost count on how many i caught, all micro schoolies but super fun on freshwater tackle!