Eastern Ma & New England Area Fishing Reports

[Janderson45]

Hey guys, been a little while for me.

 

Fished Champlain (Ticonderoga) most recently.  Bite was real tough down there for the two day tournament I was in.  Managed to save face a little on day 2.  I basically flipped heavy cover the whole time, which is what the majority of the field did.  If you backed out of the cover a little bit you could get bit on some more finesse presentations but the sizes were down and pike bite-offs were frequent.  Frog/topwater bite was virtually nonexistent for whatever reason.. that was a bummer.  Same with just about any type of horizontal presentation, spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, paddletails, swimjigs... the lot of em hardly got any attention.  The bass were really hunkered down in the cover in a pretty negative mood from what we experienced anyway..  Couple guys that got up there early to practice were whacking them pretty good on swimjigs and chatterbaits but that bait completely died over the weekend.  Winds changed from south to north and picked up pretty good under high pressure and bluebird skies.. probably had something to do with it. 

Here's one of my better fish from day 2:

 

My quabbin fishing partner finally got a fishing kayak, so we are planning on hitting it hard this Saturday and Sunday for largemouth.  Will let you know where we end up and how we do.  Doesn't appear that many of you have been chasing those mossybacks lately, or at least not posting about it if you have!

[gjfisher]

Fished cape cod this morning.  Slow day, only 6 bass.  Biggest was this 4lb 4oz LMB, also had two that were 2-2.5 lbs.  All fish came in the first hour.  Once the sun came up the bites slowed down, all I got were two pickerels.

[DogBone_384]

The upcoming week's weather looks good.  Anyone up for a trip to the Quabbin?

["hamma"]

  I visited an old friend, as in Whitmans pond in Weymouth yesterday. I had originally planned on fishing in Plymouth, but things change. So,.. I got about 4 hours to fish, and did my best to make the most of it. I knew the weeds would be up, and the wind right. But its been so long since I've been there last, I forgot what had worked in the past. And even more astonishing to me was the memory loss of the better areas to concentrate my efforts in. Whitmans was one of my friends "home lake", he took me there a few times, he would know the what, where, and whens there. But me? Im lucky I remembered how to find it.,...lol

 So,... I just packed up the crawdad with four rods, and two plano 3600's, with my usual weedy situation lures. And off I went for a battle with the "weeds from hates" (As Sam would say).

    Ummm ,...the weeds from hell ? lost!

 The harvester was running, so I vacated the ramp area, (as thats where he seemed to be staying) thinking it may be good later on in the day as everything will be active once the harvester's day is done, I sought deeper waters though, and I did find it.  I started with a few good sized perch on a rattling squarebill over the deeper weedlines. And pickeral ??? lol the place is stinking with them. I dropped the squarebill cuz of them, and ended up settling with the single hooked approach. And Im glad I did,...

  I was having fun fan casting with a white spinnerbait, and pitching/flipping a black/blue jig. I ended up boating about a dozen bass, and maybe a couple more than a dozen pickeral. Biggest bass? about 5 lbs on the jig, came from under a dock almost on the shore,And she wanted that jig, it was so far in back of her mouth I needed pliers to remove it.. Biggest pick? pushed pike size, caught on the spinnerbait and simply trashed it,.. lol,.. its now retired for good, skirt shredded, wire arm so deformed I dont think even I can fix it.

  I recommend terminator spinnerbaits for this place., or maybe even steel leaders.

 the bass seemed kinda slow, but the pickeral were on fire.

[DogBone_384]

Good to hear a successful trip to Whitmans.  I've never had much luck there and avoid it accordingly.

 

I fished Little Pond in Plymouth twice this week with my wife's friend's son Evan.  Focused mostly on getting him in the right place with the right bait.  It worked.  He managed 5 bass and one Bluegill over our two trips.  I caught a handful of small bass as well.  My first bass this morning had crawfish claws sticking out of his gut.  

 

Three guys were trout fishing from shore Thursday when one of them caught one and had one of the biggest snapping turtles I've ever seen follow it to shore.  They were kind enough to feed it to Mr. Turtle.

 

Today's surprise was the BIG orange carp that cruised by my kayak this afternoon.  Pretty cool to see a 10+ pound goldfish...

 

Surface temps were 78.x and the three Osprey fishing with us today struck out while we were there.

[Janderson45]

Hit the A1 on Saturday from roughly 8 to 4.  Managed 7 largemouth for the day.  Missed a few good hooksets in real heavy cover.. one that's gonna haunt me for a while, just as I was about ready to pull my jig out and pitch it somewhere else a fish nearly ripped the rod out of my hands.   Reeled down and tried to set, it had already spit it.  I guess we'll never know what was on the other end of my lure.

 

5 of the fish came pretty early, probably before 10:30AM... was a real grind after that.  I told myself before I went that I was going to really stick to a jig in order to improve my skills.  There were a few times when it was tough to resist the temptation of throwing a frog or a finesse worm, but I did.  Fished the same jig all day and only adjusted my trailer once. 

 

Water temps were 74-78 degrees, caught all of the fish in shallow (less than 3 feet mostly) heavy cover.  Best 5 bass probably went around 12lbs although I didn't weigh them all.  Lunker on the day was 3.2lbs.   Didn't manage to get any good photos (need a new gopro mount for my kayak) but here's one I snapped from my cellphone at one point.

 

Weeds weren't as matted or plentiful as I was expecting(last year they were down right crazy), but there were still plenty of them to find some fish in.   One challenge I faced when fishing a heavier flipping jig here was the grass on much of the bottom of the lake... it seems much of the bottom is carpeted in vegetation that only grows 6-8" in height off of the bottom... pitch a jig through some weeds it falls down through the water quickly and then is hidden from sight again in grass on the bottom..  I generally just tried to lift it a few inches off the bottom to expose it again and hold it in that position for various lengths of time before shaking it or lifting it for a drop again.  Wasn't ideal, but seemed to work a few times at any rate.  Most of my bites came on the fall after the initial pitch. 

[MassYak85]

@Janderson45 That's good to hear the weeds aren't as bad as last year. I almost quit fishing there for a little while because I almost couldn't paddle when there was wind + my outriggers + the weeds. I think it was 3-4 years ago there was a great year. The weeds were generally like you described, growing carpeted on the bottom in nice lush green and the water was crystal clear. It was nice because the back half of the pond only had select clumps of lily pads which the fish were just glued to and I had 2 or 3 absolutely killer days just throwing a stick-o and letting it fall next to them. I had a couple 20-30 fish days and I wish I could go back and do those over again because I was still fishing with a 5' UL spinning setup with 10lb braid to worm LOL. I missed like half my hookups because they would just wrap me up and get off.

 

Would you say the weeds are clear enough to fish surface treble hook baits along the lily pad edges? I'm gonna be bakc in MA in a couple weeks and I'm hoping to do a few night trips with a slammer (hoping TW's current backorder date stays correct).  

[Janderson45]

17 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

 

Would you say the weeds are clear enough to fish surface treble hook baits along the lily pad edges? I'm gonna be bakc in MA in a couple weeks and I'm hoping to do a few night trips with a slammer (hoping TW's current backorder date stays correct).  

 

Hard to say or remember for sure as I was fishing in the thick of it, but in general yes I would think you'd be ok to throw a treble hook topwater in certain areas.  I only have the Mini Slammer, which only has 1 treble in the middle of the body, so it's a bit more weedless than the other slammers which I presume have at least two trebles?   Personally, I hate throwing treble hook topwaters around weeds at night, at least during the day you can see the weeds that are going to get your bait fouled up.    There's certainly pockets of water that you'd have no problem, so as long as you stayed in those areas I guess you'd be fine.  As you know with A1 though, you don't have to venture very far in any direction before you either find matted vegetation or emergent stumps to hang you up on.   Sounds fun at any rate, I'm sure there's still some big ones swimming around in there..  I bought all the necessary gear for throwing bigger swimbaits, including a few expensive hard-bodied swimbaits, but I just haven't gotten into it at all yet.  The Mini Slammer is the only one I've caught a fish on.... I rarely am in the mood to chuck them though and don't even bring them with me most of the time. 

 

Thinking about hitting the Quabbin on Saturday as long as the weather cooperates... past few trips were a big time grind and I'm not sure why.  I haven't been out in about a month, so hoping things have picked up or I can figure out why the numbers weren't there for me the past two trips...

[Quarry Man]

Still waiting to get out on the Quabbin. Maybe one day...

[DogBone_384]

Cooler weather is a month away... there'll be a couple more trips to the Quabbin this year.

[KenP]

I've been hitting a lot of the spots less travelled on the wachusett res at dusk till about 845. The bite has been slower than waiting in line at the RMV.

From my experience this time of year a lot of fish turn into nocturnal feeders. Has anyone fished a high pressured lake from sundown to sun up lately and found more activity?

 

I got the new Deps 175 in emerald trout its such a nice glide cannot wait for the fall but wouldnt mind getting bit now if the nighttime is better.

[MassYak85]

10 hours ago, KenP said:

I've been hitting a lot of the spots less travelled on the wachusett res at dusk till about 845. The bite has been slower than waiting in line at the RMV.

From my experience this time of year a lot of fish turn into nocturnal feeders. Has anyone fished a high pressured lake from sundown to sun up lately and found more activity?

 

I got the new Deps 175 in emerald trout its such a nice glide cannot wait for the fall but wouldnt mind getting bit now if the nighttime is better.

I've got a 9" slammer on the way and am hoping to try some night trips in a couple weeks, I'll keep you guys updated on how that goes. Now that you mention it it would be cool to see the sun set and rise while out on the water in the same trip, I might do that. I've had success at dusk before but I've never stayed out super late. Maybe 9 or 10 is the latest I've gone. 

 

I've been tempted to get a 175 myself but I'll need to wait for a serious sale to even consider it. 

[KenP]

13 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

I've got a 9" slammer on the way and am hoping to try some night trips in a couple weeks, I'll keep you guys updated on how that goes. Now that you mention it it would be cool to see the sun set and rise while out on the water in the same trip, I might do that. I've had success at dusk before but I've never stayed out super late. Maybe 9 or 10 is the latest I've gone. 

 

I've been tempted to get a 175 myself but I'll need to wait for a serious sale to even consider it. 

 

The way to get one cheaper than $109 is to get one on ebay or buy a silent killer and modify it. I've been waiting a year to find one in stock on a US based tackle retailer. When you buy one from Japan it can take a month to receive it. It's definitely worth the price. The action is great and the tail fills with water so on the cast it will torpedo in the water and makes very little noise. 

[DogBone_384]

Got a message from Derek and Tom that they killed it on the South Coast the other day, catching numerous Larries between 3 and 5 pounds...   I finished my work and took their success as a challenge and launched on the South Coast around 5:30/6:00 and looked for their spots.

 

Didn't hit the 3 pound mark, but got a dozen Larries to the kayak, lost four (rookie mistakes - ), and had some little ones nipping at my rage tail.  A wacky rigged 4" watermelon/red flake Senko and a blue/black Rage Tail were the right baits to use. It looks like I have to go back when I have more time and get me some 3+ pound bass...

 

Water temps started in the low 80s and finished at 78.x.  

 

Also, thanks to the guy in the blue kayak who told me to cast on the shadow side of visible rocks.

[MassYak85]

6 hours ago, KenP said:

 

The way to get one cheaper than $109 is to get one on ebay or buy a silent killer and modify it. I've been waiting a year to find one in stock on a US based tackle retailer. When you buy one from Japan it can take a month to receive it. It's definitely worth the price. The action is great and the tail fills with water so on the cast it will torpedo in the water and makes very little noise. 

I've seen them as low as 40 or 50 bucks online, I kind of wish I had pulled the trigger on those. And yea the silent killers are almost always cheaper so I could go that route.

 

If you are interested in a second I do know a couple US places selling the 175 for 90 and 100. 

[Fishing Rhino]

After being computerless for the past two weeks, I'm back on line. Derek is on his way to Ohio tomorrow, and will be searching for new territory to fish.  I'm in the market for someone to fill the empty seat at the bow from time to time.  Sometimes I fish the canoe.  Sometimes I make the drive to Quabbin (been a couple of weeks so I'm due) and sometimes I fish from the Nitro Z8.

[Janderson45]

On 8/19/2017 at 1:04 PM, Fishing Rhino said:

After being computerless for the past two weeks, I'm back on line. Derek is on his way to Ohio tomorrow, and will be searching for new territory to fish.  I'm in the market for someone to fill the empty seat at the bow from time to time.  Sometimes I fish the canoe.  Sometimes I make the drive to Quabbin (been a couple of weeks so I'm due) and sometimes I fish from the Nitro Z8.

 

Sending you a PM.

 

i fished A1 again yesterday in my Kayak.  Managed 7 largemouth and a few pickerel out of the thick weeds with a 1oz punch rig.  Biggest bass was about 3lbs probably.  

 

A relatively good day quickly turned into a heartbreaking experience... the trouble all started when the wind kicked up more than anticipated or forecasted.  What was supposed to be wind topping out at 8mph was more like 15mph with gusts 20-25 out of the west.  That was okay, I had my anchor.  I anchored up in a field of grass and pads towards the middle of the lake, the wind was blowing directly into it and bass were stacked in the area.  Quickly caught a bass and a pickerel from my anchored position, went to pull the anchor to maneuver around the weeds a little.. it was stuck.  Like very stuck on a rotten stump.  Tried for 10 minutes to get it loose to no avail.  Cut the rope and moved on. 

 

So now I've got no good way to hold position, I'm doing my best to slow my drift so I can effectively fish still, but it was a challenge to say the least.  Flipped into a small isolated clump of weeds about a half hour later, didn't feel a bite but saw a 4+ lber charge out from underneath the weeds and I said to myself "that fish must have my bait" set the hook hard and he was on for a few seconds, then he was gone.  Not quite sure how my hookset didn't connect, I think in the excitement of him swimming out at me I didn't reel down enough and had too much slack in my line when I went to set it.    I was frustrated to miss a good fish, especially since I saw the fish and knew it was a good one.   It got way worse.

 

Due to my inability to hold position I tucked in behind a small island where I could hide from the wind some.  I fished in there for another hour without any signs of a bite.  I was about ready to call it quits when I decided to check out another little area with some super heavy cover.  I pitched my punch rig up in there, felt what I thought was a bite, set the hook and WHAM.. gone.  Cut line.  Unsure of whether or not it was a fish or what, I paddled up a little closer to investigate.  There was a very nasty tree lay down in the water, much nastier than the other trees I had been fishing all day.  Tons of branches and roots all over the place.  I figure I must've gotten wrapped in it and broke off at my knot when I set the hook.  I knew I didn't have the best snell knot tied but out of laziness i didn't retie it after a few fish.  When I was up investigating the tree I saw my new personal best hanging out in a deep weed pocket right next to the lay down.  We weren't leaving anymore I was going to catch this fish.  It was huge, the largest bass I've seen in person in my life.  If I had to estimate I would say 7 to 8lbs.  My PB is a 6.36 and this fish was definitely larger.

 

I didn't have a punch rig tied on anymore since I had just broke it off, so instead of rigging up a new one I decided to improvise, which in hind sight was a very very poor idea.  I backed off the spot where she was holding and picked up a 1/2oz jig I had tied on.  The jig was a perfect bluegill imitator and I knew I could get her to bite it.  My first cast was slightly off target so instead of working the bait I quickly brought it in and pitched it again.  This time I hit my mark.  Let it drop in front of her face on the initial cast, then it settled to the bottom, I lifted it up again and shook it ever so slightly and she flew out and hammered it.  FISH ON!!! Crossed her eyes with a hookset and the 40lb braid on my reel is now SCREAMING under tension,  I've never heard braid make this noise before.  Incredibly high pitched whine as it was under tension across some branches.   She tried to dive but I took the fight too her too quickly and had her head turned.  So with little other choice the bass headed for the surface where she gave me her biggest head shake to try and free the lure.  This was one of those fish that was too fat to actually get out of the water, it was just able to lift its mouth out do the water and violently shake.  I still had it pinned, but now with a bit more leverage on her side she dove down into the weeds again, dove down hard.  Next thing I know CRACK... my rod broke.   18" down from the tip.  Still thinking I had her hooked I reached for the line and tried to handline her in.  Pulled it up to find nothing but weeds on my jig.  Breaking the rod and my reaction time to grab the line must've created enough slack for her to shake free.  I was devastated  say the least.

 

370 dollar dobyns rod.  Champion Extreme HP 784.  Obviously not the right tool for the situation in hind sight, but I still never imagined that I was pushing the rod to the limit of breaking?  Perhaps the blank already had a weak spot or defect where it broke?  Good thing expensive rods come with good warranties...

 

anyway, I left the lake disappointed and replayed that battle in my head probably 100 times.   Now I know where she lives though, and I'll be back to do battle again. 

[MassYak85]

@Janderson45 Oh man, that's heartbreaking but exciting at the same time. I've mentioned it before but I had a close encounter with a similar class fish back in the spring. Knocked about 5ft of slack into my line fishing a mattlures bluegill and I couldn't catch up to get a good hookset. But the amount of water that thing moved swimming away was unlike anything I've ever seen. It literally looked like a small torpedo got shot in a 50ft path away from by lure. 

 

It's interesting because I rarely do too great size wise (fish over 4) at A1 but stuff like that keeps reminding me they are definitely in there. Sorry to hear about the rod though, I'm sure Dobyns will take care of you. 

 

I've got to try punching more, I have the gear and have done it a couple times at A1 with success but it's pretty low on my list of favorite techniques. 

[Janderson45]

Yeah there are definitely some huge ones in there.. they just have so much real estate to tuck themselves away into it's really hard to locate them.  After my past few trips I'm starting to think that they really get up shallow in the super nasty stuff and bury themselves.  Pretty sure my last trip I heard a bass take down a bird in some of the super thick heavy cover. There's some really deep holes in the vegetation located throughout various spots toward the center of the lake too that they must hang out in.  I feel your pain I've only ever actually caught one 5lb fish from there but my last few trips i think I've learned a lot about it.  

 

370 dollar rod, 25 dollar anchor and two 10 dollar 1oz tungsten sinkers.  Expensive fishing trip!  Still would've left on top in my mind if I landed that beast.

 

 

Heres the rod carnage..

 

And heres the jig that fooled her 

 

@MassYak85 let me know when you're back around and I'll meet up and kayak fish it with you if you're interested.  

[MassYak85]

@Janderson45 Yea sure if it works out that sounds great! 

 

And I hear you about them being deep in the thick stuff. Sometimes when I'm frog fishing and not getting bites what I'll do is just start paddling around in the lily pads and look for swirls, that way I at least know when I get in a spot that is holding good fish. It works pretty well actually. On the western side of A1 I've paddled back as far as I could into those super thick pads and I was still getting blow ups on my frog where it was so thick I couldn't go any further. 

 

Also I'd recommend in the early spring before any of the vegetation has a chance to come back, find a nice clear day with no wind and just take a paddle around with some polarized glasses in the shallower areas. There's some very interesting bottom details especially in that shallower section to the left looking out from the ramp. I am still not sure what they are, but I can only describe them as dredges that snake around on the bottom. They're about a foot or two deep below the normal bottom and maybe 2 to 3 feet wide. And they are shockingly well defined. My best guess is that the beavers use them to move around under the thick matted vegetation in the summer. But I'm also guessing the bigger bass might also do the same thing. I haven't had a chance to test that out yet unfortunately, but if I'm right and you could somehow remember where they were I think a well placed punch rig or frog worked right over the top could be deadly. I almost considered putting a couple sticks in the mud next to it to mark them. But that's the catch, they're relatively narrow and once they're covered by vegetation It's going to be very hard to find them again I think. 

[DogBone_384]

Derek, best of luck in Ohio. Don't forget us up here when your fishing season stretches deep into the Fall....

[gjfisher]

Janderson45 I feel your pain, having lost at least 4 big fish just recently within 10 feet of the boat.  Every time that happened, I asked myself what I would do differently?  One time, I would have landed the fish if I used my net. Another time, I should have checked my leader and retied.  

 

I am still a beginner bass fisherman but every time a experience like this made me a bit better. For example, now I set hook a lot harder when I fish from my kayak.  When I fish a crankbait and hook a big one, I keep tension on the line and my rod tip down to keep it from going airborne.  

 

Like you, after I lost a big fish, I replayed the fight in my head at least 100 times.  Sometimes I found things that I would do differently.  Other times I just threw up my hands and said "man, that's bad luck".  

 

I am curious, in your case, knowing what you know now, what would you do differently that may have helped you land that big fish?  Use a different setup?  Throw a different bait?  

[Fishing Rhino]

16 hours ago, gjfisher said:

Janderson45 I feel your pain, having lost at least 4 big fish just recently within 10 feet of the boat.  Every time that happened, I asked myself what I would do differently?  One time, I would have landed the fish if I used my net. Another time, I should have checked my leader and retied.  

 

I am still a beginner bass fisherman but every time a experience like this made me a bit better. For example, now I set hook a lot harder when I fish from my kayak.  When I fish a crankbait and hook a big one, I keep tension on the line and my rod tip down to keep it from going airborne.  

 

Like you, after I lost a big fish, I replayed the fight in my head at least 100 times.  Sometimes I found things that I would do differently.  Other times I just threw up my hands and said "man, that's bad luck".  

 

I am curious, in your case, knowing what you know now, what would you do differently that may have helped you land that big fish?  Use a different setup?  Throw a different bait?  

 

Many fish are lost because the drag is too tight.  Maybe it's not tight enough to break the line, but it can also pull a hook if it is set in soft tissue.  Those happen most often when the fish is close to the boat.

 

When I have a good fish on the line, I'll back off the drag a bit when it gets close to the boat.

[JG233]

22 hours ago, DogBone_384 said:

Derek, best of luck in Ohio. Don't forget us up here when your fishing season stretches deep into the Fall....

 

Thanks guys!

I hope to fish with you again next summer @DogBone_384. 

I'm getting settled in out here. I have meetings and events all this week. Next week classes start, and I start teaching. 

I'll get some pics up once my kayak arrives from AZ and I start getting out there to catch some fish. 

[gjfisher]

5 hours ago, Fishing Rhino said:

 

Many fish are lost because the drag is too tight.  Maybe it's not tight enough to break the line, but it can also pull a hook if it is set in soft tissue.  Those happen most often when the fish is close to the boat.

 

When I have a good fish on the line, I'll back off the drag a bit when it gets close to the boat.

Thanks for the pointer, Fishing Rhino.  Yeah I tend to over tighten the drag, and that usually happens after I have a good fish on and she starts pulling the line.  I would then turn the drag almost all the way and in a few instances the fish managed to break loose if I didn't get a good hookset.  I have to correct that!