Eastern Ma & New England Area Fishing Reports

[Mr. Aquarium]

Since it’s been nice out I decided to stop by an estuary to see if any holdovers were putting around. Figured I would catch a schoolie or 2 if I was lucky enough to get anything. Had my freshwater spinning  rod with a small savage swimbait, not sure the name. After a few casts of nothing. This fish came up and inhaled the little 4 inch bait. 
 

25lbs. 2nd striper of the year!!!!  I’m still shaking

[Don51]

Sweet!  ?

[MassYak85]

Dude that's huge! Congrats! Must have been an insane fight on a normal spinning rod. 

[Mr. Aquarium]

On 3/11/2020 at 12:19 PM, MassYak85 said:

Dude that's huge! Congrats! Must have been an insane fight on a normal spinning rod. 

It was a blast. So much fun dude. 
 

Great afternoon shore fishing. Got 6 bass, 3, 3.11, 3.15 and 4.6. TK with no lip fished on the surface got the most fish. Had some good blow ups and missed fish. Got the 4.6 on the RP alewife. A few pickerel and the 3.15 on the Swaver

[DogBone_384]

The first half of my assault on Cape Cod bass is over.

 

I fished Cliff and Bucks on Monday the 9th.  Cliff was tough, with a sustained 15 mph wind.  I gave it a go for two hours of nothing so I packed up and went to Bucks.  Bucks proved to be Bucks, getting two LMB (2.49 & 2.88) on a Megabass jerkbait and black/blue jig, respectively.  I never felt the first bass take the jerkbait and there was just a 'tick' on the jig.  Winds were SW @ 15+ mph at both ponds and air pressure was 30.2.  Water temps were 41.x at Cliff and 44.x at Bucks.

 

Tuesday the 10th found me at Hinckley's with Saltysmalljaws.  I caught a nice 1.54 SMB straight away on a yellow perch Shad Rap just off the launch.  An hour later a 2.82 SMB bit a 2.8" Keitech on an 1/8 oz. underspin on the eastern side of the point, in about 8' of water.  We worked most of the pond with nothing for the next four hours, packed up and called it a day.  Water temps were 43.x - 44.x, air pressure was 30.0, and winds were 17 mph from the SW.

 

I met Saltysmalljaws at Goose pond on Wednesday the 11th.  It was my first time here.  Salty caught 4 or 5 really nice bass while putting me on the right spots.  I came up with nothing, but that's the way it goes.  Water temps were 43.x - 44.x, air pressure was 30.1, and winds were about 10 mph from the north.  I moved to Bucks to try to redeem my poor performance, and sure enough, Bucks got the skunk off my back.  I caught 2 LMB, one on a green pumpkin Ned and the other chomped a bluegill lipless, weighing in at 2.49 and 2.62.  Water temps at Bucks was 46.x - 48.x.  

 

Saltysmalljaws met me at Upper Mill Pond this morning, another new water for me.  We spent much of the day there.  It's a big water for a kayak.  Salty caught 3 (?) good SMB, and I, try as best I could, came up empty.  Water temps were 44.x - 45.x.  Winds were light, from the SE, and air pressure was 30.2.  In attempt to de-skunk myself, I hit Hinckley's on the way to Dennis Port.  After about three hours tossing a Ned, purple/brown jig, two different blades, miscellaneous treble hooked baits, I gave it up and packed it in.  

 

It was great to fish with another BassResource member.  Thanks a million to Saltysmalljaws for sharing his knowledge of fishing and the local waters.  He's an encyclopedia of fishing for sure.

 

I'm here until Monday morning, so there's more fishing to be done.  My goal is to break the one or two fish pattern I'm in and get some good fish, in good numbers.  With water temps approaching the higher 40's it'll be game on for sure very soon.

 

Good luck to anyone else getting out there this weekend.

[DogBone_384]

Since there's no work or fishing today, I'm looking for more places to go.  I found MA's 'map of lake/pond maps'.  It might help the new membership reading this thread.

 

https://www.mass.gov/info-details/massachusetts-pond-maps

 

Good luck to everyone this spring... it's gonna be a GOOD one!

[MassYak85]

@DogBone_384 You seem to be doing pretty good! I still need to connect with my first bass. 

[DogBone_384]

10 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

I still need to connect with my first bass.

I've got a second Lure 11.5.  If you don't mind the drive, I'm coming back to the Cape in the next couple weeks, as well as trips to Plymouth.  

 

Shoot me a PM if you want to come south.

[MassYak85]

I might have a free Saturday end of March I'll let you know! 

 

Got out for a quick shore session before dinner today. Managed a pair of 2lbers on a crankdown swimbait. I would have never thought to try it but hearing a tip from someone on another forum I decided to try and coax a reaction bite by burning it in short bursts. It worked! That definitely opened my eyes to what these bass are willing to do in water this cold. I had one charge the shore after it, threw the bait back out and it crushed it when I brought it back past him. Acting more like I'd expect from bass in much warmer waters. I think I'm gonna keep my mind more open this year to trying stuff against conventional wisdom. I had always thought truly cold water demanded slow presentations. 

[DogBone_384]

I finished my Cape trip at Goose and Hinckeys ponds. I did well at Goose, with 6 LMB to the kayak.  5 of 6 were 2+ pounds. All took a purple/brown tube off the bottom. Water temps were 46.x, winds were southerly around 10mph, and air pressure was 30.4.

 

I struck out at Hinckleys,  throwing the kitchen sink in the water, but the kitchen was closed.  My Lowrance screen was full along the S/E - E shore, especially in the 12-16’ range.  It was dead calm just before dusk when I saw two surface breaks, so naturally I tossed a perch popper and Whopper Plopper for a few to try to get a reaction bite.  Nobody took.  Water temps were high 47.x.

 

Overall a good week of fishing.  Thanks again to saltysmalljaws for sharing his time & knowledge of his home waters.  It was nice to fish with another BR member.

[Saltysmalljaws]

Water has been warming quickly and packs of active fish are congregating in staging areas and occasionally pulling up to feed. Especially in areas where the sun is beating down or the wind ya been directly blowing. Small differences in water temperature has been a player too.

 

Sorry about the hiatus. I have been fishing and catching all winter. A lot of my cohorts are on the Massachusetts bass fishing page on Facebook. Look forward to sharing knowledge with the guys on here as well. 
 

Truly was a pleasure to fish with @DogBone_384 . There is no better time to fish ladies and gents. Virus or no virus, I practice staying outdoors and social distancing on a regular basis ? 

[DogBone_384]

17 minutes ago, Saltysmalljaws said:

I practice staying outdoors and social distancing on a regular basis

I second ...

[DogBone_384]

I took my first trip to Ponkapog for 2020 this afternoon.  The weather was just too nice and I had paint drying.  I launched around 3:00 and stayed until dusk, starting on the north shoreline and working west.  An hour into it a 2 1/2 pound pickerel inhaled a Yozuri square bill around the rock/weed transition. 

 

Shortly  there after another big pickerel followed a bass colored Live Target shallow crank right up to my kayak, looked me in the eyes and slowly turned off.  Picture the movie Jaws when the shark looks right at Sheriff Brody, it was cooler than landing the first one.

 

I switched between a couple treble hook baits and a green/red flake swim Senko until dusk.  The kitchen was surely closed, so I packed it in and went home to finish painting my daughter's furniture.

 

Water temps were 49.x and air pressure was 30.5.  Winds were scant until around 6:00 when they picked up pretty good from the southeast, bringing the clouds with them.

[Mr. Aquarium]

Maiden voyage of my new boat. Finally got out to give it a test run. Got out after work for a quick mission.  Started fishing about 5. Took 20 minutes to find the fish. Flippin a Texas rig up shallow got the most fish. I missed a ton of fish. My buddy left is rods in my car, so I grabbed one to see how it is. Well that cost me a lot of fish. The d**n braid was slipping so I couldn’t get a good hook set. Fished jigs chatterbait squarebill. But the swimbaits and Texas rig worked. Only couple hits on the swimbaits. All the rest were on Texas rig creature bait 

[Bassin_Harrison]

Any suggestions for ponds that can be bank fished (don’t have my kayak) that are within like 45-60 min away from Abington area? Want to try something new, but want to keep it in reasonable distance because my mom agreed to drive me lol
Thinking about going to Hedges to try for some smallies, but would love some new suggestions for today and the future. 

Thank you! 

[Don51]

That's a tough one. Fields Park in Brockton. Island Grove in Abington. Hobarts in Whitman. Burrage WMA in Hanson. Not a lot of shore fishing opportunities in the area.

[Bassin_Harrison]

2 minutes ago, Don51 said:

That's a tough one. Fields Park in Brockton. Island Grove in Abington. Hobarts in Whitman. Burrage WMA in Hanson. Not a lot of shore fishing opportunities in the area.

Yeah my dad and I have tried most places in the area, but I figured I'd ask anyway. I haven't been to Fields Park I don't think, I've fished in D.W. in Brockton without much success. Really dirty and lots of garbage on the bank and in the water there, same with Island Grove. I actually live just a few minutes away from Hobart, usually ride my bike down there most days during the summer. Best I've pulled out of there in over two years now was around 5.5 lbs. Everybody says there's giants in there though so I'll keep at it. 

Guess I'll just hit Hedges in Plymouth today, wish I had my kayak out. 

 

Thanks Don

[DogBone_384]

1 hour ago, BigBass'n_Harrison said:

Thinking about going to Hedges to try for some smallies, but would love some new suggestions for today and the future. 

If you have waders, Little and Big South in Plymouth have plenty of shoreline that'll reach drop offs.

 

Little Pond, also in Plymouth, as well.  It's a trout/LMB pond.

 

Ponkapog, in Canton, also comes to mind.  Again, waders are a big plus.

 

Good luck, water temps are in the high 40's, fishing should be pretty good.

 

Congrats on a 5.5 pound bass.  That's great for anywhere in Massachusetts.

[Bassin_Harrison]

44 minutes ago, DogBone_384 said:

If you have waders, Little and Big South in Plymouth have plenty of shoreline that'll reach drop offs.

 

Little Pond, also in Plymouth, as well.  It's a trout/LMB pond.

 

Ponkapog, in Canton, also comes to mind.  Again, waders are a big plus.

 

Good luck, water temps are in the high 40's, fishing should be pretty good.

 

Congrats on a 5.5 pound bass.  That's great for anywhere in Massachusetts.

For sure going to have to invest in a pair of waders, was planning to before this season started but never got around to it. I’ll definitely check those places out, thank you!

[DogBone_384]

39 minutes ago, BigBass'n_Harrison said:

going to have to invest in a pair of waders

If you plan on fishing in colder temps, get neoprene waders.  I got lightweight waders first.  They didn't work well in colder water temps.

[Bassin_Harrison]

5 hours ago, DogBone_384 said:

If you plan on fishing in colder temps, get neoprene waders.  I got lightweight waders first.  They didn't work well in colder water temps.

Will do, thanks

[Don51]

Waders open up a whole new world. Tons of places to fish with them. Fish will be moving in shallow, should be a good way to approach. ?

[MassYak85]

Whitehall continues to kick my a**. I usually do well enough that it tempts me to go back but I've had very few banner days there. My dad had some success with jerkbaits the last couple time but we haven't found any size this season yet. Gonna try somewhere else tommorow. 

[Dunks N Dinks]

Got some human social distance and even better bass close quarters contact today on Wequaq. Buddy and I had a 40 fish day (~20% pickerel) after finding a few schools of 1-2lbers up shallow chasing perch. Jerkbaits and ned rigs all day. biggest of the session was 3.2lber. Followed the schools in circles on the graph in 8-12fow for almost 2 hours pretty wild.

[Mr. Aquarium]

Got a handful of fish today in the boat. All fish and hits today were up really shallow on the windblown shore line in brush. Only in one area. Fished the whole shoreline and out deeper. Found smaller fish up shallow. Tried looking deeper for a bigger fish.  Got 2 crappies deeper on a rattle trap. All bass came on the Texas rig creature bait. Stopped for a quick shore mission on the way back home. Got a pickerle and missed a good fish on the jig. Talked to a guy on a kayak, he said he did pretty well.