Eastern Ma & New England Area Fishing Reports

[MassYak85]

Fished Quinsig today. It was pretty slow. Only caught 3-4 bass. All under 2 lbs. Water temps were still in the upper 60's. The highlight of the day came when fishing a large weed flat that's about 6-8 feet deep and has a little channel running through part of it that gets down to 9-10 feet. I make a cast across the deeper channel and slowly reel back. When I get to the edge of the channel...*tick*, the stretch in the line gets taken up and I swing hard. The tip loads up and before I can even feel the full weight of the fish, SNAP. 

 

The real kicker. I was using an 8" Weedless Rising Son (photo below), and 25lb line. The only way I can explain it is I either ran across a trophy pickerel or one of Quinsig's elusive pike. The line was cut pretty cleanly and I have been pretty anal about retying my swimbaits so far. Sigh. 

 

[DogBone_384]

My wife & daughter went to Manhattan for the weekend which left me free to, well, fish!  I finished my detail at 7:00 Saturday AM, headed home, did the housework, and left for Plymouth.  

 

I launched at Halfway Pond around 11:00 and stayed until 3:30.  I fished it with Janderson45  a couple years ago and nothing's really changed.  Tossing wacky Senkos, Rage Tails, jigs, and shallow crankbaits over as much water as possible netted me two good sized pickerel and a pile of perch. The few docks, points, and fallen trees produced nada as well.  Water temps were 71.x.  There's very little for weed beds around the place and depths average between 3 - 10'.  I remember there being more weeds last time.  I spoke to two other kayak fishermen while leaving and they said all they caught were perch, using live and artificial baits.  I'd say the bass population is scarce there.  

 

Since Halfway was only 'halfway', I moved over to Hedges.  I pushed off shore a little after 4:00 and stayed until I couldn't see anymore (batteries in headlamp were low -  - didn't have spare batteries with me.  I landed half a dozen good sized SMB and lost a couple.  Everyone was caught in shallow water - 6' or less.  A yellow head and perch Whopper Plopper brought in four, and motor oil/red flake Rage tail landed the other two.  Water temps here were 73.x and for the first time the place was as smooth as glass for the last hour I was there.

 

A pretty good day.  I have to pick up the girls from the train station late this afternoon, so I might fish Ponkie until then.

["hamma"]

On 9/5/2017 at 4:22 PM, KenP said:

Got a new PB of 6lb 5oz on the 9" MS Slammer last night at the Wachusett Reservoir. Pic didnt come out good from it being dark and it took a few mins to get the hook out. Weighed it and got it released. This is what makes swimbaits so d**n addicting.

 

Thats Awesome, Ken! congrats bud!

[KenP]

On 9/10/2017 at 0:39 PM, "hamma" said:

Thats Awesome, Ken! congrats bud!

Just so people know you have 1 hour after the official sunset time to fish. I got him with 10mins to spare!

Thanks Hamma!

[DogBone_384]

Ken, don't wear a watch....

 

I have a lot of free time right now so I'm taking advantage of it.

 

Last night I drove to Little South Pond around 4:00 to see if there were really any fish there.  I left the Lowrance head on my work bench (?) And had to figure things out the old fashioned way... It's a bowl with a single long point on it so that's where I started.

 

It was calm so I switched between a Whopper Plopper, wacky rig Senko, and a Ned for a while. Managed two dink SMB on the WP and one hit on the Ned.  There were three other guys fishing there who had the same or worse luck than me.  There was plenty of action on the surface because it was littered with bugs.  Guess they just weren't interested in us.

 

I hit Ponkapog around 3:30 today and did pretty well.  A Wacky rigged perch Senko and green/black flake Swimsenko netted me four good LMB and at least half a dozen Picks.  Three Picks were 2 1/2 to 3 pounds.  Water temps were 73.x in the afternoon and 70.x at dusk.

 

I believe it's going to be a VERY GOOD fall season.

[MassYak85]

@DogBone_384 I can't wait for fall to really get going

 

 

I fished the Merrimack from shore between classes today. Got one smallmouth on a paddle tail. Probably about a pound.  

[DogBone_384]

I tried Little South again this morning at dawn to convince myself there were fish there.  After an hour and a half of nothing I paddled down the little canal and humped my kayak over the hill to Big South.  

 

I'm glad I did because that's where the fish were. I took it slow because it was my first time here.  I got two SMB straight away on a wacky Yum Dinger and Pac Man Whopper Plopper. I beached and walked around the island, finding it was too shallow to cast and moved on.  I found some downed trees and saw some of the biggest LMB I've ever seen live cruising the shore.  I hooked onto one with a green/red flake Rage Tail Menace.  I thought it was a new PB, but shockingly it was 3-5.  Still a great looking fish with bright colors.

 

It was almost time to go so I worked the area near the little canal and managed four more SMB and a big nasty pickerel. I caught the SMB with the Rage Tail and the pickerel on a Ned rig.

 

There were also clouds of frye all over the shallows.  It was funny to see bunches of them chase after my rage tail.  Surface temps were 71.x while I was there.

 

It's gonna be a good Fall. I can feel it. 

 

ADD: I forgot to mention that almost all the fish I've caught in the last week or so were in 6' or shallower depths, even the SMB.

 

Also found this site for those who fish the Cape.  It's got a lot of good info, including depth maps.

 

https://sites.google.com/site/brewsterponds/

[Cyacnba]

I fished at Jamaica Pond yesterday from 11:30AM to 2:30PM. Caught 9 bass, all chunky, and the biggest one weighted 5lb. It seemed like all the big ones decided to bite yesterday.

[MassYak85]

Hit the upper charles in waltham today. It was an interesting day, one of my better in that section of the charles. Ended with 9 bass, all under 3lbs. It probably could have been a 15-20 fish day but I was just off my game as far as hooksets and landing fish. The largest one was probably 2 1/2, I didn't weigh it since the hook got it right in the gills and I wanted to give it the best chance of survival. All my fish came on plastics today. I started off with a heavy tungsten weight, a flipping hook and a Rage Tail Structure Bug. I got 4-5 right off the bat just casting it into the heavy pads. Other fish came on a jig and I ended the day fishing a 10" black grape power worm. My biggest fish came on the worm and I lost a 3lber inches from the boat on the worm as well...it was my fault. I played the fish too long and probably worked the hook loose. I also broke off a worm (along with a tungsten weight) on another fish, which I hope was a pickerel or else I'm going to start getting paranoid about my knots. And I lost another tungsten weight in a rock wall pitching a structure bug. I probably had another 5-10 hits on various things that I just hesitated and missed. Maybe I was just a little rusty since I haven't used T-rigs much this year. 

 

The day also started off with a slight hint of fall in the air with some mist and full cloud cover, only for the sun to come out around 1:30 and give a brutal reminder summer is still here. 

[DogBone_384]

I rescheduled my fishing trip to the Cape this week but went down to Plymouth this afternoon in search of Smallies, figuring I'd do well before the storm.

 

I sure did...  I started on a flat on the west side of the pond around 3:30 and within the first hour had 5 SMB destroy as many Rage Tail Menaces.  Three SMB weighed in an ounce under three pounds.  Things slowed down after an hour or so but were still good.  I got three more SMB and one white perch.  Three came on a 4" perch flavored Senko, wacky style.  All the bass had good bellies on them... proof the feed-bag is on for sure.  Everyone was caught in 6' or shallower tonight. 

 

I threw a 130 sized Whopper Plopper for the heck of it, with no takers.

 

Water temps were 73.x - 74.x.  It was almost calm and very overcast, typical weather the day before a storm.

 

ADD: I gut hooked one of my Smallies and as i reached for my forceps it coughed violently and spit the 3/0 Keitech almost completely out. I assume the jig wasn't too deep, but it was cool to see they can do that.

 

[DogBone_384]

HEY!

 

We're coming up to the end of Quabbin season.... who's interested in getting a group out there before it's over for the season?

[Mr. Aquarium]

i havent been there all season

[Mr. Aquarium]

@DogBone_384 very nice to meet you buddy. how did you do?  when i got back to the car i get a phone call from a buddy, the stripers and blues are going nuts. i hauled ass back home jumped in the boat. slayed the stripers! all light tackle topwater fish! 

[DogBone_384]

Had a good day hooking onto them, but keeping them ON the hook back to the kayak was a different story.  Evan got three, including one about two pounds, and a couple getoffs.  I had 5 unhook OTW back, including a couple really nice ones. Smallies are great acrobats and experts at unhooking themselves.   

They were all shallow, on the rocky flats, including the one way back by the southern cove.  A hard candy Rage Tail Menace on a 3/16 oz. jig head was the bait of choice.  There was a lot of surface traffic, but nobody wanted my perch Whopper Plopper.

 

Paddling back to the beach I marked a LOT of big targets around 20' deep almost all the way across the 40' deep section.  Makes me think of a swim bait on a MH or H rod. 

 

I'm heading to the Cape tomorrow after work, but have a couple appointments in Plymouth so I'll fish Plymouth until dusk and head to the Cape afterwards.  I expect big things in Harwich this week.  The weather forecast looks great.

 

Water temps were surprisingly warm, 73.x - 74.x. 

 

It was nice to meet another BR member on the water.  It'd be good to get a couple group trips before the bass go to sleep for the winter.

[Quarry Man]

If I'm around, id love to go.

[DogBone_384]

9 hours ago, Quarry Man said:

If I'm around, id love to go.

You'll likey find me in Plymouth (undecided location) this afternoon and Harwich Wed - Friday.

[Quarry Man]

I live in Paris, have a lot of family in ma, mostly Lancaster in eastern ma I think near Stowe and Marlborough and Berlin and hudson

[DogBone_384]

Got down the Cape late, having to repair my kayak cart's flat tire, and fished Hinckley's until dusk.  I started off where Fishing Rhino told me he'd had a decent day.  If it weren't for the perch, I'd have been shut out.  Got back there and fished from dawn until dusk.  I fished the entire place and ended up with two LMB, and three SMB, all between 2 1/2 and 3 pounds.  Again if it weren't for the perch and pumpkinseed, it would have been a low numbers day.  Wednesday's highlight was the 3-1 SMB I picked off the drop off next to the launch on the last cast of the day.

 

I fished Sheep's Thursday AM, starting to the right of the launch, working the shoreline around to the two points that make up the large flat where I heard stories of great success.  After four hours of throwing soft, hard, jigs, and blades at different depths all around the flats' drop offs, I'd not had so much as a strike, so I packed it in and headed for Plymouth where I figured I could do better.

 

I launched in Plymouth mid afternoon, but didn't last long.  The wind was howling so that my anchor was useless.  I started with what I'd caught SMB on the last few trips but struck out.  I moved to a lipless and DT crankbait and again got zilch.  There was one other person there fishing a neon red crankbait and caught 5 SMB the first half hour I was there.  He said he caught them at 30'.  I had only silver and perch colored hard baits, tried a little more but packed it in after only one white perch.  It was good enough I didn't get shut out.

 

I'm fishing the Quabbin with a neighbor Monday.  I'll have my VHF radio on channel 16.

[Fishing Rhino]

Looks like things have really slowed down in the Bay State.  Typical, for me at least, this time of year.

[MassYak85]

Finally got my MS Slammer. I canceled my TW order after the 5th backorder date change and ordered it from another site. Got a 9" in dark rainbow. It looks amazing! Mike does an incredible job with the paint on these things. I boiled the tail to get it perfectly straight, changed the hooks and will be testing it out this weekend. 

[Mr. Aquarium]

31 minutes ago, MassYak85 said:

Finally got my MS Slammer. I canceled my TW order after the 5th backorder date change and ordered it from another site. Got a 9" in dark rainbow. It looks amazing! Mike does an incredible job with the paint on these things. I boiled the tail to get it perfectly straight, changed the hooks and will be testing it out this weekend. 

YOUR GOING TO LOVE THEM!!!!!!!! 

fished 3 ponds yesterday evening, new spot, newer pond and a pond i do ok at.  my buddy was with me who doesnt fish! so i had to call it quits early cuz he wanted to watch football. didnt get to the pond i originally planned, which i do well at, but traffic sucked so we said screw it new spot!  ZERO FISH!!! one hit at the newer pond. zero fish at the other 2 

[MassYak85]

Hit the charles today. There was some decent activity early, I got a 3.3 and another small guy and lost a couple others. It really slowed down after mid morning though. Got to try out the slammer, no takers but I really like it so far. It's really neat how the action changes just based off retrieve speeds. From what I could tell you have like 4 options, really slow where it is just barely rocking back and forth, a little faster and it starts to make a really nice knocking sound with the wood and wobbling really wide, faster still still and the tail starts to splash some water as it goes back and forth, and burning it goes down about a foot. 

[DogBone_384]

Mid morning seems to be the shut off now.  I fished Plymouth yesterday morning and did well until 10:00 when the lights went out.  I stayed until 2:30 PM working shallow, deep, drops, while tossing lipless cranks, wacky Senkos, and a couple DT16’s without so much as a nip.

 

Weather permitting, I’ll be back there tomorrow after work.

 

Oh yeah, surface temps were 67.x at dawn and 68.x when I left.

[Quarry Man]

4 hours ago, DogBone_384 said:

Mid morning seems to be the shut off now.  I fished Plymouth yesterday morning and did well until 10:00 when the lights went out.  I stayed until 2:30 PM working shallow, deep, drops, while tossing lipless cranks, wacky Senkos, and a couple DT16’s without so much as a nip.

 

Weather permitting, I’ll be back there tomorrow after work.

 

Oh yeah, surface temps were 67.x at dawn and 68.x when I left.

Can you deep crank milfoil beds? I fish a lake in ma thats deep and clear. Mostly rock bottom, but around 15-20' is a bunch of leaves and milfoil only on the bottom. I wanted to try deep cranking there.

[MassYak85]

Went out this morning in the rain. My first slammer fish is officially a 12" bass who apparently thought he could stuff a 9" lure down his throat. I did manage to get a couple other blowups from better fish in the morning though so it was definitely an encouraging outing.