Eastern Ma & New England Area Fishing Reports

[Mr. Aquarium]

ill be goin until the big ponds have ice

[Janderson45]

Ice starting to form on ponds/lakes by me.. might give it one last go if the weather looks good this weekend.. Plymouth or Cape should still have plenty of open water I think.   Any recommendations on particular water bodies?  

[DogBone_384]

Hedges Pond is a small kettle off Hedges Pond Road, right off route 3. It holds SMB and yellow perch. You can cover the whole place in a couple hours.  You can wade the entire perimeter or drop a kayak/canoe off the beach.  You’ll need a wheel cart to get your boat from the parking lot to the beach.  It’s not a far walk.

 

PM me  for more info.  Google Earth shows you the basic topography of it too.

[Jpescetto]

Loch Raven MD. Got out Sunday December 10th early morning. Day after the snow storm. Clear sky's and 29 degree's. Snow still all over the ground. Some areas 4 inches. I'm shoring fishing this time of year. Ive never tried bass fishing in December in my life. Always thought it was a waste of time. Come to my surprise I caught the biggest bass I have ever caught. 8.55am I felt like a strong snag, keep in mind Loch Raven has heavy grass and vegetation right under the surface, yanked the rod just to check and felt a huge pull back. Had a nice battle. Bad thing is I was by myself. The wife was suppose to come but 29 degrees is a little cold for some. I was able to weight it once I got my scaled set. I some how switched my Berkeley scale from lbs to kgs and was trying to figure it out with a 4.8lb bass in one hand. Panic was setting in but I got it.  Weighed it. Took a picture with it on the ground next to my book and also got a 30 second video of me weighing it and releasing it. 

[Mr. Aquarium]

awesome fish! congrats bud!

[timcauliffe]

Planning one last outing with a good friend this weekend. I'm in the Hudson, MA area and looking for open water in the 45min range. I've been fishing the Sturbridge area, but any one have anywhere in that area that's not iced over yet?

 

Have a 14' v-hull with 10hp if that helps. I would drive around and do it myself, but figured I could ask here first.

PM me if you don't want spot burners!

[Quarry Man]

2 hours ago, timcauliffe said:

Planning one last outing with a good friend this weekend. I'm in the Hudson, MA area and looking for open water in the 45min range. I've been fishing the Sturbridge area, but any one have anywhere in that area that's not iced over yet?

 

Have a 14' v-hull with 10hp if that helps. I would drive around and do it myself, but figured I could ask here first.

PM me if you don't want spot burners!

I would love to fish with you. I am from PA, but have family near and in Hudson. Haven't been up in a while, but will be there after xmas. 

[Fishing Rhino]

All the ponds around here are now covered with skim ice.

 

Haven't been fishing since the middle of October, and won't be able to wet a line until the middle of March.  Ruptured my left Achilles tendon in early November and will be in one of those air cast boots for four months.  After consulting with my doc, we opted for the more conservative treatment rather than surgery.  

 

The most recent studies show that the results are close enough to be called the same.  The up side of non-surgical treatment is that I can remove the boot for taking showers.  Surgery requires a cast and you can shower, but you have to use some type of plastic sleeve/tube that can be sealed at the bottom and sealed at the thigh.  

 

You also need to use crutches for all moving around when you have a cast.  With a boot, you can use a knee scooter to get around.  They are very handy for all below the knee injuries.

 

 

 

[deaknh03]

41 minutes ago, Fishing Rhino said:

All the ponds around here are now covered with skim ice.

 

Haven't been fishing since the middle of October, and won't be able to wet a line until the middle of March.  Ruptured my left Achilles tendon in early November and will be in one of those air cast boots for four months.  After consulting with my doc, we opted for the more conservative treatment rather than surgery.  

 

The most recent studies show that the results are close enough to be called the same.  The up side of non-surgical treatment is that I can remove the boot for taking showers.  Surgery requires a cast and you can shower, but you have to use some type of plastic sleeve/tube that can be sealed at the bottom and sealed at the thigh.  

 

You also need to use crutches for all moving around when you have a cast.  With a boot, you can use a knee scooter to get around.  They are very handy for all below the knee injuries.

 

 

 

What the heck happened Tom?

[Fishing Rhino]

I was playing with the dog, skipping in the driveway, came down on my left leg and it snapped.  It didn't totally part so I didn't require surgery.

[JG233]

2 hours ago, Fishing Rhino said:

I was playing with the dog, skipping in the driveway, came down on my left leg and it snapped.  It didn't totally part so I didn't require surgery.

Hey Tom, 

I didn't know that happened. Here's to a speedy recovery! And at least it happened at the end of the season rather than the middle of the summer. See you in March for some prespawn fishing. 

[DogBone_384]

I’m sure we can get a rod holder on that scooter if recovery is slow... where there’s a will, there’s a way...

 

Water’s starting to ice up here too.... this is salt water at the end of my street.

 

 

[Mr. Aquarium]

my brother was pond skating yesterday down here in marshfield! 
God d**n rhino! that sucks! at least its in  the winter! get a wheelchair, strap some snow tires and get out ice fishing!!! hahaha. or may get on a cod fishing boat down in Rhode Island

[MassYak85]

1 hour ago, Mr. Aquarium said:

my brother was pond skating yesterday down here in marshfield! 
 

I might do some scouting wednesday morning and try and get out if I can find a place that seems "safe". 

[DogBone_384]

Yeah Tom ... you ever ice fish Sawdy?  I have 5 rods, an auger, and ice tent (still NIB).

[Fishing Rhino]

4 hours ago, DogBone_384 said:

Yeah Tom ... you ever ice fish Sawdy?  I have 5 rods, an auger, and ice tent (still NIB).

Never ice fished anywhere, but Sawdy is a popular place for ice fishing.  I think the problem might be the stream that runs between the two sections of the pond.  It will be the last place to freeze over solidly enough to walk across safely.

 

I've seen a white (snowy) egret that spent the winter in the small section where we launch.  While it was frozen over, there was still.  It was usually perched on the rocks near that channel.

 

But, it must be frozen enough at times because I know of a couple of people that ice fish it when it's safe.  

 

I wouldn't know where to start when it comes to ice fishing.  Deep water?  Rocky bottom?  Seems to me the guys I talked to that ice fish it set their gear in eight feet of water, for starters.  Don't know how deep they set the shiners they used for bait.

 

 

[DogBone_384]

I've never ice fished either.  I've got an ice fishing transducer and bag for my Lowrance.  I might start by drilling a hole big enough for it and seeing what it shows before going for it with the auger.

 

ADD: Didn’t feel like sitting around so I drove to Plymouth to recon some ponds.  

 

• Hedges is iced over on the two beach sections.  I walked out about 6’ from the beach closest to the parkinglot.
• Long Pond is wide open.
• Big Sandy is wide open.
• Little South looked about 1/3 iced over. Can’t say for sure if it’s worth trying to get a kayak across the ice to the open part or if the little canal was open.
• Big South is unknown.
• Lout Pond is wide open but the only part you can launch a kayak from is posted as private.

 

Tomorrow’s weather looks pretty good.  I just have to decide if I work or fish.... 

 

 

[MassYak85]

I'm planning on hitting the ice somewhere tomorrow, might have to drive around a little but I've heard of people getting on this past weekend in the Worcester area so I like my odds. 

[DogBone_384]

I fished Big Sandy in Plymouth for a while today, tossing a chrome Binsky, black/blue hair jig, gold/red Mepps, and rainbow trout Rapala.  Managed one decent rainbow on the Rapala.  

 

Found a couple humps but didn’t mark much.  The NE shore showed clouds of small fish between 10-15’ but couldn’t coax even a nudge.

 

It was just the 2nd time fishing here and if memory serves me right I caught only rainbows.  

 

Water temps started @ 38.x and were 40.x when I left for work.

[Mr. Aquarium]

oh d**n! glad to see open water! going to head out this weekned! saturday most likley 

[MassYak85]

On 12/19/2017 at 7:55 PM, DogBone_384 said:

I fished Big Sandy in Plymouth for a while today, tossing a chrome Binsky, black/blue hair jig, gold/red Mepps, and rainbow trout Rapala.  Managed one decent rainbow on the Rapala.  

 

Found a couple humps but didn’t mark much.  The NE shore showed clouds of small fish between 10-15’ but couldn’t coax even a nudge.

 

It was just the 2nd time fishing here and if memory serves me right I caught only rainbows.  

 

Water temps started @ 38.x and were 40.x when I left for work.

Hahaha, that's awesome you were on open water, I was actually out on the ice for a little while today, only managed a slime dart though before an officer asked us to leave because they were getting too many calls about "people out on unsafe ice". You'd think people would have better things to do than call the police over other people enjoying themselves but hey, who am I to judge. Ice was safe in the area we were fishing, we wouldn't have been out there if it wasn't. At least the officer was really nice. 

 

It always amazes me how in our small little state, you could be open water fishing or ice fishing just an hour apart. It seems I have an interesting choice to make then on Friday before the storm hits, ice fish or open water fish?

 

 

 

Speaking of ice...

 

@Mr. Aquarium You are "famous" my friend, spotted on Facebook. 

 

[Mr. Aquarium]

hit me up on facebook guys! 

love gettin recognized!! caught that fish jiggin for big sunfish on 4lb line 1.5 ultra light rod. thought i had a record blue gill! 

going to get out open water this weekend! hoping the fish are chewing! 
cold is coming back next week. highs below freezing!! 

[DogBone_384]

What’s Facebook?

[DogBone_384]

It's started.....

 

https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown/generic?iso=20180416T00&p0=43&font=cursive

 

Countdown until SMB hunting down the 'Cape...

[MassYak85]

So cochituate is WIIIIDE open (minus some of the shallower coves) if anyone is looking to do some open water fishing in central mass. I guess I shouldn't be surprised given how deep it is but it's so weird to drive 20 minutes and see open water after leaving an area with fish-able ice. Next week's temps look VERY cold. I imagine every lake in the state will lock up. And the lakes that already have some ice will be plenty safe. 

 

I also drove by Foss reservoir (sudbury flows into it), it looks like it's down about 8 feet, I'm guessing they stopped letting anything out of the sudbury, it's pretty crazy. It's a shame you can't (legally) get on it, I saw some killer structure exposed. It looked like there was an old rock wall leading from the deeper channel right into the exposed shallows.