Eastern Ma & New England Area Fishing Reports

[Mr. Aquarium]

that'a boy. ive goten skunked plenty of times with swimbaits. but like you said its mental game. ive been bass fishing for 24 years now. i've caught countless 1-3lbser. i wanted to up the average size and that what swimbaits do. 
 

i still get small fish on them!  i got a 1lber on a 9 inch slammer the other day.  just like with anything fishing, your catch rates will increase when you figure swimbaits out, like colors, the retrieve, what lures to use and when to use them. then you have ponds where youll get better action swimbaits then other spots, i dont know why. but thats what i have  found. 
got a spot where youll catch all dinks on conventional gear but since i started swimbaiting here, ill get 5 plus fish

[MassYak85]

22 minutes ago, Mr. Aquarium said:

that'a boy. ive goten skunked plenty of times with swimbaits. but like you said its mental game. ive been bass fishing for 24 years now. i've caught countless 1-3lbser. i wanted to up the average size and that what swimbaits do. 
 

i still get small fish on them!  i got a 1lber on a 9 inch slammer the other day.  just like with anything fishing, your catch rates will increase when you figure swimbaits out, like colors, the retrieve, what lures to use and when to use them. then you have ponds where youll get better action swimbaits then other spots, i dont know why. but thats what i have  found. 
got a spot where youll catch all dinks on conventional gear but since i started swimbaiting here, ill get 5 plus fish

Yea I'm surprised how many bass that can't even fit the whole lure in their mouth will go after a slammer. It sucks too because I put ST-36's on my 9" and those things are d**n sharp. So usually I'll hook up with those 1lbers with the front hook and the back treble will stab them in the back or something. 

 

 

Did anyone get out Sunday before the storm started? If there were ever "pre-frontal" conditions that was it. I thought Saturday might have been good because of that but Sunday seemed great too before the rain came in, too bad I couldn't get out again. I'm not sure I've ever seen the pressure drop as quick as that...

 

 

[Mr. Aquarium]

i was to hungover sunday to get out

[DogBone_384]

Almost 70 degrees on November 2nd!  I launched at Ponkie a little after 3:00 with no real expectations and started with a perch flavored Rapala Shadow Rap shallow.  A few casts later a big, fat, pickerel hit it and ran.  Good start.

 

The pickerel fest continued for a little while when one LMB joined in, grabbing the Rapala while I let it sit.

 

I switched to a wacky 4” perch Senko, searching for takers. A couple more pickerel and one LMB.

 

Water temps settled in between high 62.x and low 63.x.

 

Unless I get called into work, I’m heading to Plymouth in search of some SMB...

[DogBone_384]

Launched at Plymouth just after sunrise to meet two poor guys coming off the water because they had to go to work.  They reported low numbers but quality fish.

 

I paddled across to the 'spot' and gave it a go a few hundred yards to the right of the launch.  I got a nice SMB on a perch colored Zara Spook.  Shortly thereafter I felt my line get a little heavy and pulled up, to my surprise, a 3-8 LMB who inhaled a 4" wacky Senko I'd let sit on the bottom in 8-10' of water.

 

I worked other areas with the Rapala DT16 I'd witnessed another fisherman kill SMB with, but to no avail.  I tried a few more baits, including a perch lipless that's at the bottom of the pond because of knot failure.

 

The wind picked up steadily until I packed up and left at noon when my spinning gear was nearly useless.

 

Water temps were 60.x

 

Still not done yet!

 

Oh yeah, I saw a Bald Eagle early in the AM.  He watched me for a few minutes and flew away.

[MassYak85]

Always awesome to see Eagles! I saw one last week at East Brimfield. 

[Cyacnba]

Stopped by the Charles River in Boston for almost 2 hours and caught 4 or 5 striped bass, which were all around 1lb, and 1 largemouth bass. They were all caught on a Luckycraft Pointer and Megabass Vision 110. Was hoping to catch a monster striper, but regardless, it was a lot of fun.

[MassYak85]

Fished Whitehall today. There was a little activity in the morning but it was really slow all day. Only got two fish, like 5 hours apart. 2nd fish was about a 2lber on the slammer. I still can't believe for such a large lure it gets the most subtle bites I have ever seen for a topwater. I landed it next to a downed tree and just did half-turns of the reel to subtly walk it away from the tree. While doing that I see what looks like a very slight wake right behind it but I could barely distinguish it from the ripples the bait was making. Next thing I know the lure just slips below the surface tail first. The bass just grabbed the tail and pulled it under. I doubt I would have even known I got a bite had I not watched the whole thing unfold and set the hook right away. 

[Mr. Aquarium]

just got back from my trip up north! it was tough fishing mostly because the kid we took up was a pain in the arse and wouldnt listen to us, he kept running in the water, spooking fish, cross over lines, or try and snag fish. 
we didnt get any steelhead or browns like we wanted to. i hooked into a  big steelie, lost the fish at the net. hooked and lost some big king salmon, was using 8lb floro carbon for trout so i was a little out matched for a 20lb fish. 

i landed a few kings. biggest was 31lbs on a 10lb floro. all in all we didnt get skunked and fishing was tougher then normal for me and my buddy.  i can safely say that kid wont be coming up on this trip again! 

[Mr. Aquarium]

got out tuesday night! tried for crappies with a slip bobber and variety of lures, only crappie i caught was going after bass! on a mission for a 2lber. caught lengthy 1lbser on a mega bass iloud, a loud 4inch topwater, killer night bait.  had a few hits while using the bobber but they werent bitting the lures on the bobber its self. caught a nice chunky bass on a big swimbait. had few hits and thats it!  my buddy caught a 4lber on a slammer, my fish was 3.2

[MassYak85]

Good to hear of slammer fish still being caught, I might try and get out this weekend but looking at those temperatures it's going to be brutal. 18 degrees Friday night! I was still seeing high 50's last weekend for water temps...I'm sure we can kiss those goodbye. Anyone have good luck after the first really sharp cold snap? I almost wonder if it might kick them into high gear to feed up. 

[DogBone_384]

I’m going to try to get out next week and will pack for SMB and trout.  There are a couple ponds in Plymouth that have both.  Trout = dinner.

[Mr. Aquarium]

got out last night!  had many hits at spot one. handful of small fish, biggest 2.5ish  most fish were on the slammer. had most hits on a different wake bait but couldnt connect. hit a trout spot close by. lot of fish rising. had a hit and caught a brown trout on a 4 inch wake bait.  wasnt really prepared for trout but said screw it why not! glad i did

[DogBone_384]

I'm planning on fishing Plymouth next week at a couple ponds that have SMB and trout .... anyone interested in meeting me, drop me a PM.

[Mr. Aquarium]

im going back to Upstate NY next weekend, wish i could join ya

[MassYak85]

I hit A1 for a couple hours late morning. I honestly only made probably 30 casts. The water was so clear, the sun was out and almost no wind until later on that I just stood up and paddled around to see what I could see. Managed to find the exact location of the old creek bed as it passes by the island as well as what I think could be a verrrrry prime location come spawn for whichever big fish wants to claim it first. I saw probably 5-6 bass as I was paddling around, all pretty decent fish in the 2-3+ lb range. There was still a couple places where the weeds were holding on and green. To my surprise there were two coves that were actually iced over. The swans were out in full force as well, there must have been at least 100, I stopped counting at 70. The casts I did make were with a hudd 68 and a 9" slammer. My hudd is a ROF 12 and even though it's weedless, I feel like to fish it slow enough to be effective this time of year it still is getting hung up in the weeds too much. I might get a ROF 5 or even 0 and add some nail weights to fish the weedier lakes better. I did actually get a little interest in the slammer. I must have let it sit for like 2 minutes after casting it out and I see it get nudged ever so slightly and a fin pop up right next to it. That was as close as I got to a bite though. The wind picked up and I decided to call it quits, still a great day though and I took away some useful information for next season. 

[Mr. Aquarium]

i need to get some ROF 0s 

i went out saturday to a new pond and CRUSHED IT!!!!!  fished the yak in this new spot! fished blade baits, 1/4 ounce hair jig, a small swimbait on a jig head and a jerkbait but the blade and hair jig CRUSHED IT!!! well the hair jig did most of the damage.   at first i paddled to the side where the trees blocked the wind,  thats where the steeper drop off was and dropped into a deep flat. caught fish along the edges and the flat. they were schooled up. as the wind died i fished the rest of the pond. went to a flat with green weeds and CRUSHED THEM!! i caught well over a dozen fish, most were 1-2lbs but the kicker was a chunky 4lber,  super fun on light line and light rods.  the hair jigs crushed em! just a black 1/4 ounce hair jig. slow hopped along bottom! id cast out let it hit bottom, twitch, let it fall, twitch, fall, repeat. 
hair jigs have been something i wanted to get into when it gets cold!  glad i use them! 

sunday woke up at 430 am drove west, chasing salmon and lake trout! wanted to get some beautiful spawning salmon, only caught my first last august so im very very happy to get a few more. walked the river a mile or 2, saw a couple and caught a couple. after lunch went to go get perch to use for bait. caught about 7 or 8 small perch, then went to my favorite spot for lakers! the guys with shiners next to me cleaned house!  i wasnt able to cast as far as they were. had one run on a shiner they gave me

[DogBone_384]

Made a trip to Bass Pro in NH to pick up the new Abu Veritas, replacing my 2.0 that broke on the second cast of ownership (based on reviews it must have been built on Friday afternoon).

 

Sad to say I saw ice on a lot of the small waters I drove past on 93NB.  My truck told me it was 38 degrees in Hooksett and 45 in Boston.  

 

I guess I'm just going to HAVE to try out my new stick tomorrow.  It'll be somewhere in Plymouth, where the SMB and trout hang out.

[MassYak85]

The ice is definitely coming DogBone, here's a look at A1 from this past weekend, there was some pretty interesting ice formations on one of the shorelines.

 

 

 

 

 

[Mr. Aquarium]

plymouth will be ice free most likely till january!  ive been on ice tho in marshfield small pond 2nd week of december! but i dont see that happening, doesnt happen much!  havent fired up the auger in 2 years! 

[DogBone_384]

I launched in Plymouth this morning at 1000.  I saw a nice school of frye in the canal between the two waters.  'Sweet', I thought, should see some action.  I started along the West shore, where I've done well, with a black/blue hair jig, perch colored blade bait, and Rapala Shad Rap deep.   I continued to the South end, back across to the island, and over to the canal.  

 

I threw in the towel at 3:00 without so much as a nibble.  I tossed a Mepps spinner just for the heck of it, hoping for a perch, but nope.....  not my day.

 

To add insult to injury, the wind died down as i hit the launch.  I also saw three NICE bass at the canal's mouth - they swam off slowly as I approached.  I made a few more casts with a wacky Senko in hopes of grabbing one.  Nope.

 

Water temps were 50.x when I arrived and 53.x when I left.

 

I'll try to get out at least one more time this year.  I don't want my last trip of '17 to be a skunk.

[Mr. Aquarium]

d**n! blades and hair jigs out deep!! over deep structure, how big was that bass?  
id fish jerkbaits up shallow along the drops 

[DogBone_384]

That’s roughly what I did.  I found the bite nearly shut off there for the hours I was there for most of this fall. If I get back there I might try a Yamamoto Heart Tail.

 

The biggest of the three bass I saw at the end was 3+ pounds, anyway.

[Mr. Aquarium]

im gona get out there next weekend on  the yak!  i love coldwater bassin

[MassYak85]

I'll be out somewhere this weekend, not sure where yet. @Mr. Aquarium, do you happen to have any experience cutting open hudds? I want to see if I can shave off some of the weight on my Hudd 68 ROF12 to make it more like a ROF5 or even less. But I don't know what the harness really look like. I've got plenty of Mend-it to seal it back up but just want to know if I'd be wasting my time.