Eastern Ma & New England Area Fishing Reports

[bass.slayer69]

Just wanted to get everyone’s opinion,

What are your go-to colors for lures in general? Just got into bass fishing last year and still not really sure what the forage is in the lakes around here. I’m assuming there’s no shad, and I think the bass eat mostly just bluegill, perch, and crawfish. Any thoughts?

[Jigfishn10]

Hey @bass.slayer69, welcome to Bass Resource.

Crawfish and shad patterns work well up here even tho we don't support a shad population.

As far as colors? My deal with colors is this: Can it be seen in the depth of water during the the type of day we're having? 

Tell us about the waters you fish?

[Mr. Aquarium]

25 minutes ago, bass.slayer69 said:

Just wanted to get everyone’s opinion,

What are your go-to colors for lures in general? Just got into bass fishing last year and still not really sure what the forage is in the lakes around here. I’m assuming there’s no shad, and I think the bass eat mostly just bluegill, perch, and crawfish. Any thoughts?

That’s a loaded question. But soft plastics I stick to black, green pumpkin, watermelon, any variants of those. Hard baits I fish a lot of swimbaits.. not much crank baits or spinner baits. 

my favorite big wake bait is a 9 inch slammer. My favorite colors are solid colors, white, black, red, purple, chartreuse. That’s a general rule of thumb for my topwater selection. 
I also own a lot of shad color swimbaits, shad colors pretty generalized color. Matches lots of bait fish around here. 
 

soft swimbaits I keep it natural as well. Trout, shad, shiners, perch.

jigs are the same as soft plastics, black, pumpkinseed, watermelon, and their variants 

[BigEyedF11sh]

3 hours ago, bass.slayer69 said:

Just wanted to get everyone’s opinion,

What are your go-to colors for lures in general? Just got into bass fishing last year and still not really sure what the forage is in the lakes around here. I’m assuming there’s no shad, and I think the bass eat mostly just bluegill, perch, and crawfish. Any thoughts?

Perch and bluegill patterns definitely work as far as hardbaits go.  My baby bass shad rap has caught a few fish too.  Like previously stated your shad patterns will still get bit as well; I think most of the shad patterns are good herring imitators which are especially prevalent in a number of ponds down here in the Southeast part of the state.

 

I fish a lot of jerkbaits and I don't so much get caught up in the color itself but I try to match the finish to the sky and water conditions mostly.  Matte type finish on calm and sunny days in clear water and something with a little more shine and glimmer the windier, cloudier, and more stained the water gets.

[Frezzy]

On 2/18/2021 at 5:08 PM, Jigfishn10 said:

Hey Jason, sorry just saw this. I work with a few guys in the area so I’ll ask tomorrow and will get back to you. I can’t imagine the res not having bass in it. ?

I got a lot of unleaded jigs from Sieberts (sponsor here) for a very reasonable price. Give Mike a shout and he can give you the unleaded jig line-up.

You want a killer patter? 
Tie in a silicone skirt like you would on a regular bass jig then tie in 2 pieces of zonker strips for trailers. Tie then skin side our and on an angle. They’ll look like craw pincers when your done. ?

Cool!

I’ll have to start a new thread. Didn’t realize all the positive feedback 

Hey Jig, thanks for asking around.  Look forward to hearing back from you. Jason

[Jigfishn10]

1 hour ago, Frezzy said:

Hey Jig, thanks for asking around.  Look forward to hearing back from you. Jason

Sorry Frezzy, I struck out.

I did happened to find this write up:

https://www.mafishfinder.com/hopkinton-reservoir-167-location.html

[bass.slayer69]

8 hours ago, Jigfishn10 said:

Hey @bass.slayer69, welcome to Bass Resource.

Crawfish and shad patterns work well up here even tho we don't support a shad population.

As far as colors? My deal with colors is this: Can it be seen in the depth of water during the the type of day we're having? 

Tell us about the waters you fish?

I fish small lakes and ponds around the greater Boston area, such as Crystal Lake in Newton, Morses pond in Wellesley, and lake cochituate, just to name a few. 
Some have fairly clear water and others have stained water, just never had any luck with brighter colors in stained water.

8 hours ago, Mr. Aquarium said:

That’s a loaded question. But soft plastics I stick to black, green pumpkin, watermelon, any variants of those. Hard baits I fish a lot of swimbaits.. not much crank baits or spinner baits. 

my favorite big wake bait is a 9 inch slammer. My favorite colors are solid colors, white, black, red, purple, chartreuse. That’s a general rule of thumb for my topwater selection. 
I also own a lot of shad color swimbaits, shad colors pretty generalized color. Matches lots of bait fish around here. 
 

soft swimbaits I keep it natural as well. Trout, shad, shiners, perch.

jigs are the same as soft plastics, black, pumpkinseed, watermelon, and their variants 

Never really fished jigs much, trying to get into next year, figured I’d go green pumpkin and black and blue

 

[Mr. Aquarium]

2 hours ago, bass.slayer69 said:

I fish small lakes and ponds around the greater Boston area, such as Crystal Lake in Newton, Morses pond in Wellesley, and lake cochituate, just to name a few. 
Some have fairly clear water and others have stained water, just never had any luck with brighter colors in stained water.

Never really fished jigs much, trying to get into next year, figured I’d go green pumpkin and black and blue

 

Those 2 colors are pretty much all you need 

[Jigfishn10]

18 hours ago, Mr. Aquarium said:

Those 2 colors are pretty much all you need 

I agree, can’t  go wrong with those 2 and maybe watermelon (my fav) if you're bottom bouncing. If you find yourself in clear water white with name your favorite fleck is another fav of mine. Just keep that between us tho.

[JAB50]

For jigs, black n blue. Go with 1/4oz to 3/8oz. Buy the Strike king Denny Brauer baby structure jigs. Great jigs. If you want non lead, look at the Keitech casting jigs. For a trailer, look at craw and creature style baits, stay 3” to under. 

 

[MassYak85]

On 2/16/2021 at 10:25 AM, Frezzy said:

Hey Guys,

Does anyone know how the bass fishing is in Hopkinton Reservoir?  I fish there quite often with my boys for stocked trout in the spring, but never really tried for bass.  I live a few minutes away, so might try it out once the ice breaks up.

Thanks,

Jason

I grew up in Hopkinton. Ashland and Hopkinton reservoirs both have good trout fishing, I've never sunk serious time into them targeting bass. Biggest out of Hopkinton I've got is maybe 3lbs. They're in there for sure. With the trout stocking I can't imagine there aren't at least a few monsters that grew fat on stocker rainbows. 

[Jigfishn10]

@MassYak85, I noticed on the link I posted that they had stocked some landlocked salmon, you ever tie into one?

[MassYak85]

On 2/19/2021 at 10:35 AM, bass.slayer69 said:

Just wanted to get everyone’s opinion,

What are your go-to colors for lures in general? Just got into bass fishing last year and still not really sure what the forage is in the lakes around here. I’m assuming there’s no shad, and I think the bass eat mostly just bluegill, perch, and crawfish. Any thoughts?

There's not necessarily shad but many lakes have shiners and some lakes have alewives. I've done very well with flashy silver spinnerbaits, jerkbaits, tailspinners, and blade baits even in some of the small ponds. Craw and bluegill patterns are my usual go-to's though. 

 

1 hour ago, Jigfishn10 said:

@MassYak85, I noticed on the link I posted that they had stocked some landlocked salmon, you ever tie into one?

I wasn't aware they stocked those there, I thought it was only rainbows and browns. But I guess it makes sense why they'd try there, nice deep reservoirs without pike. Both reservoirs get a good amount of shore fishing pressure but the only way to target the deeper structure really is in a kayak or canoe. You can launch boats at Ashland but the parking is extremely limited, and Hopkinton doesn't allow gas engines. 

 

I've tried chucking a hudd at both around the trout stockings but never connected with anything at either. 

[Mr. Aquarium]

On 2/20/2021 at 4:06 PM, Jigfishn10 said:

@MassYak85, I noticed on the link I posted that they had stocked some landlocked salmon, you ever tie into one?

The Q and chu are the only places in Ma stocked with salmon. They used to stocked  broodstock Atlantic salmon in places around the state but hurricane Irene destroyed the hatchery. They got them from VT. 
 

I love salmon they are so fun. I’ve caught a few in Ma. But NY salmon are incredible 

[BigEyedF11sh]

We got 40’s on Monday and Tuesday, 48 and above freezing over night Wednesday, and 45 on Thursday...hopefully some water unlocks for us this week!

[Meowmicks]

Went down to the cape today with the kayak for a day on the water. Launched at Flax at about 11:30am, beautiful blue skies and about 10mph wind.

Tried a whole lot of everything (including a BPS blade bait) but got skunked again. Thinking I probably wont be going back there.

 

 

 

[Mr. Aquarium]

Can’t give up on it yet. It’s still cold out. Give it another chance when it gets a bit warmer  

[Meowmicks]

14 minutes ago, Mr. Aquarium said:

Can’t give up on it yet. It’s still cold out. Give it another chance when it gets a bit warmer  

Did horrible here last summer too, its just the only open water right now that I know how to access.

 

Have you had any luck there in the past?

[Mr. Aquarium]

9 minutes ago, Meowmicks said:

Did horrible here last summer too, its just the only open water right now that I know how to access.

 

Have you had any luck there in the past?

Ahh gotcha. Which flax pond?? 

[Meowmicks]

10 minutes ago, Mr. Aquarium said:

Ahh gotcha. Which flax pond?? 

Yeah, or Cliff.

[DogBone_384]

11 hours ago, Meowmicks said:

Have you had any luck there in the past?

 

If you're talking about Flax pond in Nickerson State park, I've had decent luck there. 

 

Most recently, I fished it in March and May, 2019.  I caught one rainbow in March and 3 SMB / 1 LMB in May.

 

I've never fished Yarmouth's Flax pond.

 

I'm heading to Cape Cod today, and possibly Saturday & Sunday.  Not sure if I'm taking my kayak or boat.  Today's forecast calls for lots of wind.

 

Best of luck to those who get out this weekend!

[Meowmicks]

1 hour ago, DogBone_384 said:

 

If you're talking about Flax pond in Nickerson State park, I've had decent luck there. 

 

Most recently, I fished it in March and May, 2019.  I caught one rainbow in March and 3 SMB / 1 LMB in May.

 

I've never fished Yarmouth's Flax pond.

 

I'm heading to Cape Cod today, and possibly Saturday & Sunday.  Not sure if I'm taking my kayak or boat.  Today's forecast calls for lots of wind.

 

Best of luck to those who get out this weekend!

I had no idea there is another Flax pond in MA, I was at the one in Nickerson State park.

 

Good Luck out there!

[BigEyedF11sh]

Got out for a little bit yesterday before class, found the two best shore fishing spots on Monponsett off 58 were open and void of ice. The open area big enough to comfortably cast on the east side where the pull off is and the culvert on the west side that connects the two ponds.

 

slowrolled a spinner bait and dragged a z-man finesse Ned jig through both spots thoroughly and got out of there.

 

hoping to get out somewhere on the kayak this weekend for sure.

[Mr. Aquarium]

Nice dude. I got out Tuesday. 2 chunky bass and a fat pickerel. Weedless hudd, lipless crank and jig got em. Tough bite 

[DogBone_384]

Drove down route 3 and found the Hedge's north shore fairly open, but not open enough to launch.  Crossed over 'the bridge' and stopped at Snake Pond.  Snake was 70% open, but like Hedges, 'open' was still inaccessible.  I'm sure a couple more 40 degree and sunny days will get us there.

 

@Mr. Aquarium pointed me to the Agawam River, in Wareham, so off I went.  I threw a variety of baits over three hours and came up with nothing more than dead weeds, wind knots, and 8# fluorocarbon wrapped around my prop.  At the least I got 'the jist' of the place and will likely return later in the season. 

 

Water temps at the launch was 43.x and as far north as I travelled was 44.x.  Winds were about 15 mph from the west and air pressure was 30.1.  It was clear and sunny.  

 

All in all a nice day to explore a new spot, unfortunately I couldn't get any fish to play.

 

It's supposed to be WINDY on Cape Cod Saturday, but calm on Sunday... 

 

If any of you get out, look for an ORANGE Toyota Tundra or old, GREEN, Honda CR-V parked at some Cape Cod water: that's me.  Both have BassResource decals on their butts...