Eastern Ma & New England Area Fishing Reports

[DogBone_384]

2 hours ago, Don51 said:

Good luck with the rig!

Thanks very much!

[je1946]

18 hours ago, Don51 said:

Good luck with the rig!

 

On 7/22/2020 at 7:35 PM, DogBone_384 said:

Great way to start off the morning!

 

I'll be joining the 'big boy' club down there this fall.  A '17 Ranger RT178 just followed me home!

 

 

Congrats on your new rig Mike. Enjoy.

 

[Mr. Aquarium]

Tuna fishing was incredible on Saturday. Left dock at 1 am returned 7pm. 18 hour day. Finally got to hook up to my first tuna. All the other times I’ve gone out in the last 27 years of fishing never even hooked up. Bout d**n time I got to hook up and witness the pure epic adrenaline. This is my great white whale.  We lost a giant on a spinning rod, it spooled us.   We were cod fishing in 260 waiting for the 130s and 50s with live macks to take off. Nope. They wanted 16 ounce cod jigs on bottom. Also hooked up on my cod setup, my fin-nor lethal high speed reel and an ugly stick cod rod.  Wasn’t expecting to hook into a tuna on a 16 ounce Norwegian cod jig on bottom . Sadly we lost that, that clip broke, wasn’t trying for tuna.    Glad to know I could land a small tuna on my cod setup. We had it close to the boat, no color tho. 

I need to get my first tuna badly now,  the tuna bug is real! Hopefully I don’t have to wait another 5 years for my next tuna trip 

 

[MassYak85]

@DogBone_384 Congrats on the new rig that's awesome!

[Mr. Aquarium]

 

Fished with my buddy mark for the first time in months. We did well. We started off by having stripers jump off the dock. Lot of fish around. I landed 2  and missed a good fish on albie snaxs. We had a lot of halfassed hits and follows.   We wanted to see how many different fished species we could catch. We started out In shallow 15-30 feet   Drifting around different areas and bottom. We caught 2 fluke, bunch of winter flounder, a windowpane flounder, couple bergals, few skates, and a 25 inch striper on a hi lo rig with squid, that was a shock.  We head out deep, 50-60 ish. Ended up with a bunch of bergals, few big one, bunch of cod, lot of shorts and one going a couple pounds, we caught a pollack and a big winter flounder.   All my fish were caught a on a 4 foot freshwater bait caster, it was such an awesome day. All fish fought hard, on this setup. 

[DogBone_384]

5 hours ago, Mr. Aquarium said:

We did well

Mr. Aquarium STRIKES AGAIN!

20 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

Congrats on the new rig

Thanks!  Registering the trailer on 8/6 and waiting on the great Commonwealth to mail back the boat registration... (insert crickets here...). 

 

Tomorrow's project is flushing an Elite TI2 7" in the dash and installing the same in 9" on the bow, along with networking the units and integrating the Yamaha's data in the mix.

[DogBone_384]

I got the Lowrances installed.  All I need now is the boat registration... which is out of my hands and the Environmental Police stations where you register boats in MA, are closed, with only a recorded message on the phone line.

 

[MassYak85]

On 8/4/2020 at 7:00 PM, DogBone_384 said:

I got the Lowrances installed.  All I need now is the boat registration... which is out of my hands and the Environmental Police stations where you register boats in MA, are closed, with only a recorded message on the phone line.

 

I've been hearing on other pages and forums people have been having a hell of a time trying to register boats since COVID started. Good luck hopefully you have a better time. 

[DogBone_384]

31 minutes ago, MassYak85 said:

people have been having a hell of a time trying to register boats since COVID started

Yes, it's slow going.  A friend of mine who's also registering his new boat received an email from the EPO saying his application package is being returned to him because he wrote a check and filled out the ST-6 form by hand.  Mass EPO wants the sales tax paid on line and the proof of payment included in the application package.  I filled my form out the same way and assume my application package will return to me as well.

 

Both our boats are insured and trailers registered.  I hope I can get in the water by 01 September.

 

C'est La Vie...

[DogBone_384]

Finally got the Ranger in the water this morning for a few hours at Great Herring, launching at dawn and staying until around 9:30.  It was overcast and breezy from the south.  A good topwater day, or so I thought.

 

I spent much of the time getting used to the electronics and overall boat operation, but managed a white perch and smallmouth, both not much bigger than a double quarter pounder.  I marked most fish suspended and on the bottom in 25 - 30', but try as I might, nobody picked up my offerings.

 

Water temps were in the low 80's, and air pressure was stuck at 30.0.  I planned on going back, but the forecast called for wind gusts as high as 30 mph.

 

If I don't work this Friday, I'll have all day to fish.

[Quarry Man]

staying at our cabin from Monday night - friday

 

fished three different lakes yesterday, marked a ton of fish in 20' range, caught a few small ones on the drop shot.

 

got a few bites shallow on frogs and punching. I lost my 3/4 oz tungstens so its hard to get through the mats.

 

also caught one gator on a spinnerbait.

[Tom D]

Ten foot water area, Water seemed to cool down a bit this week, not much though. Afternoon bite is better. Got one on a wacky worm against a windy bank.

 

[DogBone_384]

I had an afternoon off, so I took a ride to Great Herring and get more familiar with the Ranger and Elite TI2s.

 

I launched around 1:00 PM and stayed until almost 6:30 and managed only a few white perch nips/follows on a black/blue Keitech Easy Shiner on a 1/8 oz. underspin.  I threw the kitchen sink, shallow and deep.  I marked most of my targets suspended in 20+ feet of water.  Even a drop shot by 'the hump' failed me.

 

I talked with another group on a nice old Nitro, who was there before me and left when I did.  They came up with 2 small SMB and 1 Sunny.  I don't feel so bad...  

 

So far I really dig the new boat.  I think the Elite TI2's are WAY more fish finder than I need, but they're paid for and installed... there's no going back now.

 

 

[Mr. Aquarium]

I may not fish as much as I used to. It’s trips like these that make my whole season. Caught my first ever shark. I am beyond excited. Such an amazing beautiful fish. I can’t wait to get back after it again. 

Oh and I caught a couple nice bass today today. Haven’t been bass fishing in months

[MassYak85]

That's sick @Mr. Aquarium! What kind of shark is it?

 

Me my dad hit the 'ol stomping grounds in Worcester on Saturday. Kind of a slow day but one of the better swimbait days I've had. Had a Psycho Gill tied on all day and got rewarded with a 5.11 and a few smaller fish. Swimbait fishing is exciting cause every hit you get the thought of "is this gonna be that 8lber?!" crosses your mind but the gear almost isn't even fair to the fish lol. I snagged an 867 during that crazy sale a while back and it's a dream to fish these bigger baits but wow does it just manhandle fish haha. 

[MN Fisher]

34 minutes ago, MassYak85 said:

Me my dad hit the 'ol stomping grounds in Worcester on Saturday.

Indian Lake, Green Hill Pond or the Assumption College Pond? All of those were good to me when I lived there.

[Mr. Aquarium]

14 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

That's sick @Mr. Aquarium! What kind of shark is it?

 

Me my dad hit the 'ol stomping grounds in Worcester on Saturday. Kind of a slow day but one of the better swimbait days I've had. Had a Psycho Gill tied on all day and got rewarded with a 5.11 and a few smaller fish. Swimbait fishing is exciting cause every hit you get the thought of "is this gonna be that 8lber?!" crosses your mind but the gear almost isn't even fair to the fish lol. I snagged an 867 during that crazy sale a while back and it's a dream to fish these bigger baits but wow does it just manhandle fish haha. 

That’s a sandbar shark, aka brown shark.  It was incredible, we went last night, slow night, 2 runs. No fish. 
 

nice fish buddy, I need a psycho gill

or trout. I love that feeling of swimbaiting 

[DogBone_384]

I had a decent couple days out with the new Ranger.

 

A coworker and his two 'youngins' came with me to Monoponsett in Halifax yesterday.  We didn't catch much, but the kids had a blast.  Towards lunch we saw a stick all by itself.  I tossed a 4" perch Senko at it and came up with a little LMB.  Dana's daughter, who's 7, did the same and came up with one too.  Water temps were in the low 80's.

 

I then went solo, to Great Herring in Plymouth in search of some smallmouth bass.  In typical Cape Cod/Plymouth fashion, it was pretty calm until I launched.  Shortly thereafter I may as well have been on the ocean.  Water temps were in the high 70's here.  I tossed a ghost-chartreuse-shad LV500 lipless and hooked onto something ticked off.  I assume it was a good size SMB, but it got off under the boat before I could hoist it.  I nabbed a nice white perch with the same LV.  Nothing else I tried worked.  All targets were found suspended in 15-20'.

 

Today's adventure was to Lake Chaubunagungamaug in Webster, MA.  I launched at dawn and stayed until lunch time.  I got 4 LMB and 1 SMB to the boat, lost 2 SMB and 1 LMB.  The biggest was a 2.94 LMB that was caught in 8' on a 3.8 Fat Swing Impact.  The other bass came on a bluegill flavored Rapala DT16 suspended in 25' and the SMB took a 4" perch Senko I let sit at the bottom of a drop off in 20'.  It was nearly calm and water temps were 81.x, a perfect day for topwater, but I didn't mark much in the shallows.  It seems to be a trend the last few trips out.

 

The state records are still intact, I'm getting more comfortable with the new boat and electronics, and SURE AM looking forward to September & October hunting SMB on Cape Cod!

[roadwarrior]

[Saltysmalljaws]

On 8/14/2020 at 9:25 PM, DogBone_384 said:

I had an afternoon off, so I took a ride to Great Herring and get more familiar with the Ranger and Elite TI2s.

 

I launched around 1:00 PM and stayed until almost 6:30 and managed only a few white perch nips/follows on a black/blue Keitech Easy Shiner on a 1/8 oz. underspin.  I threw the kitchen sink, shallow and deep.  I marked most of my targets suspended in 20+ feet of water.  Even a drop shot by 'the hump' failed me.

 

I talked with another group on a nice old Nitro, who was there before me and left when I did.  They came up with 2 small SMB and 1 Sunny.  I don't feel so bad...  

 

So far I really dig the new boat.  I think the Elite TI2's are WAY more fish finder than I need, but they're paid for and installed... there's no going back now.

 

 

Can’t ever have enough electronics haha. They’re great units. Once you get the hang of them it can be like clockwork

[Dunks N Dinks]

Got out on LPH for a quick Sunday afternoon session. Took a lil while to find a good combination of depth, bait and wind-blown structure (that didnt have jet-skis nearby)...but eventually got onto a nice little spybait pattern and got 5-6 bites in an hour spurt. Marked a bunch of bait balls getting washed over a 8-12ft drop offshore and sally was either just behind or hanging out underneath. Biggen of the day was ~3.5.

[MassYak85]

On 8/17/2020 at 8:06 PM, MN Fisher said:

Indian Lake, Green Hill Pond or the Assumption College Pond? All of those were good to me when I lived there.

Quinsig actually. It can be hectic on nice days with all the pleasure boaters but it gets slept on by a lot of people I feel because of that.

[Mr. Aquarium]

Went out beach shark fishing Monday, 8-midnight, we had a lot of bites.  I almost got spooled on my rod, 500 yards of line. My rod only had 2 bite, rest of my buddies  had better action. The each got one, 3 sharks landed,  of course after my final buddy landed one, his first one, I had next rod, guess what, that’s when the fish stopped biting.    Oh and I did a face plant on the d**n, rocks, I guess it just wasn’t my night.  Bette luck next time 

 

check out the video on our YouTube channel, Eastcoast fishing adventures 

[MassYak85]

Hey guys I'm gonna be meeting a couple friends in Mashpee this weekend and it sounds like they might wanna do a little shore fishing (freshwater). I'm not familiar with the cape at all really, any recommendations for ponds to check out with decent shore access near there? 

[DogBone_384]

It's late August, 7x.x degrees, and raining ... Am I the ONLY one that smells a great SMB season this fall !?!?!?!?