Eastern Ma & New England Area Fishing Reports

[DogBone_384]

Welcome to the forum @Sputterbug.

 

I dropped into Whitmans Pond for a short stint late this afternoon.  Picked up a 1 pound Larry on a bluegill Rapala Skitter Walk and lost another at the boat.  Nothing else.   

 

Water temps were 66.x and the air pressure was 29.7.  

[Mr. Aquarium]

Took a quick ride on my buddies boat, we got into fish quick. Fished 430-6.  I got 5 fish with the biggest going 25lbs. All fish were over 30 inches. All on topwater. Then I had to try for weakfish. I got 4 weaks and missed a few. Fished 7-830

[MassYak85]

I saw tons of fish on beds today but it was still kinda slow. Got 7, no bigs. I did see a pretty big one on a bed that bailed to deeper water. I had some good wacks on a WCZ citizen 6, got one pickerel, then broke it off on what was probably a pike. The teeth on whatever it was made quick work of 35lb leader.

[DogBone_384]

4 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

The teeth on whatever it was made quick work of 35lb leader.

Sounds like wire leader is in order!?!?!?!

[MassYak85]

18 hours ago, DogBone_384 said:

Sounds like wire leader is in order!?!?!?!

I might have to. I've never actually landed a pike in MA. But I've had plenty of them break me off. 

 

Went out early this morning and bailed once thr sun came out full force. Brutal day. I managed one small bass while there was still some cloud cover, but it was just one of those days you feel like you're fishing in a lifeless pool. A few pickerel showed up at least.

[DogBone_384]

4 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

bailed once thr sun came out full force. Brutal day.

I'm lucky.  I'm on the coast, just south of Boston, and am generally 20 degrees cooler than 'inlanders'.

 

Why I don't fish for stripers more  ???? That's a whole other thread!   

 

Good luck out there!

[Mr. Aquarium]

On 5/21/2022 at 8:53 PM, DogBone_384 said:

 

 

Why I don't fish for stripers more  ???? That's a whole other thread!   

 

 

I’m surprised you don’t. Stripers are better then bass. I’d rather catch a 20 inch striper then a 20 inch largemouth. They are so much fun! 

[MassBass]

Herring were in the river full force on saturday. Can not say for sure if there were stripers on them. Maybe if i showed up at 4.30am with a pencil popper...but i gotta go to work man...

[GSil]

Hit up furnace pond last tuesday, managed the little one? and the larger one (2.3lbs) on the same spinnerbait. while the other 2 dinks came on a wacky rigged senko.

 

The 2lb'er fought like hell, i thought he was going to be much bigger.

[DogBone_384]

I fished Ponkapoag late this afternoon.  Numbers were good with a mix of LMB, picks, and yellow perch.  Most fish were taken with a yellow perch Rapala lipless, with the rest eating 3.8" Fat Swing Impacts (black and Ayu) and a green pumpkin swim Senko.  The two biggest fish were a LMB @ 1.76 & a 2.28 pick.

 

It was almost calm when I launched and got pretty windy as dusk approached.  Water temps ranged from 72.x to 74.x and air pressure was 30.3.

 

Another fisherman was leaving while I was.  He said he caught a 4 pound LMB near the launch area.

[DogBone_384]

Another 'normal' trip to Ponkapoag late yesterday afternoon.  A handful of LMB and a couple picks.  I threw lipless, topwater, 4.3" Keitech, and a Ned in the beginning but found them late on a weightless watlermelon/red flake fluke.  Most fish were 1 to 1 1/2 pounds, with a couple enthusiastic dinks to boot.

 

The weather was perfect.  Water temps were 76.x on the east side and 79.x in the shallow, western section.

 

I drove by  Canton Reservoir afterward to see if it was open.  Nope, it's still under construction but looks almost finished.

[MassYak85]

Had a great day today at Norton Reservoir. It was only our 3rd time there but so far I have been fairly impressed for how shallow and "featureless" it is. Some "deep" weedbeds gave up almost all the fish. Biggest went just over 3lbs but the average size here seems really good, just no bigs so far. Most fish were between 2 and 3 lbs. And I can't explain why but the fish just act different. I expect bass to shake but the largies here act like smallmouth, making acrobatic leaps out of the water pretty consistently. Idk if it's just because it's so shallow they'd rather do that since they can't head deep. Anyways, I ended with 14 and my dad got 10, as well as a bullhead that hit an underspin that was close to being a pin. We saw tons of beds but only bluegill were on them. Might have had a couple bass on deeper beds but it was hard to tell. Water temps in the low 70s. I think most of the ones we caught were postspawners. Some healthy fish but on the skinnier side.

 

Good luck out there! 

[bass.slayer69]

Had a great weekend on the cape. Fished Saturday and Monday evening and absolutely slayed on senkos. Caught probably 15 fish total with biggest going 2-10. All shallow on weed beds. Looking forward to getting back there soon.

[GSil]

23 hours ago, bass.slayer69 said:

Had a great weekend on the cape. Fished Saturday and Monday evening and absolutely slayed on senkos. Caught probably 15 fish total with biggest going 2-10. All shallow on weed beds. Looking forward to getting back there soon.

Are you t-rigging them or wacky? My buddy has been absolutely killing them on a wacky rig for the last week or 2

[bass.slayer69]

1 minute ago, GSil said:

Are you t-rigging them or wacky? My buddy has been absolutely killing them on a wacky rig for the last week or 2

Both. My philosophy on texas vs wacky is simple: fish wacky until you get too hung up in weeds, then switch to texas. I also have done very well flipping the middle of pads with texas while wacky seems better in more open water

[Sputterbug]

Incredible night fishing. Caught maybe 15 or so.. lost a bunch as well.

The majority where 2 1/2 -2 3/4 almost like I was catching the same fish over and over again. All seem to fight beyond their weight. The water was warm sky overcast, some wind. Caught all but 2 on a Spinnerbait. Just kept firing at stumps and pads, They were on it almost instantly.

Near dark I caught the 2 biggest 4.13 and 4.9 also lost a beast that twisted off on some pads. 

[Frezzy]

17 hours ago, Sputterbug said:

Incredible night fishing. Caught maybe 15 or so.. lost a bunch as well.

The majority where 2 1/2 -2 3/4 almost like I was catching the same fish over and over again. All seem to fight beyond their weight. The water was warm sky overcast, some wind. Caught all but 2 on a Spinnerbait. Just kept firing at stumps and pads, They were on it almost instantly.

Near dark I caught the 2 biggest 4.13 and 4.9 also lost a beast that twisted off on some pads. 

Sounds like a great night.  Nice fish!  Are you fishing from the bank or in a boat?

[Sputterbug]

Fishing from canoe.

[Sputterbug]

Went out this morning to a different pond that I was told has had some big fish caught in it. This was the second time there. Caught a few small ones and this weird mutant pickerel on the shorter side but huge around.

 

Missed easily the biggest one of the year so far. I was snaking a large plastic worm along the surface near some grasses and had just a massive wake building up behind it. It had this slow but steady momentum, I was sure it was going to strike. I was running out of space as it was getting too close to the boat so I let the worm drop down. There was a huge boil but it never hit it. Be thinking about this one for a while.  

 

[MassYak85]

16 minutes ago, Sputterbug said:

Went out this morning to a different pond that I was told has had some big fish caught in it. This was the second time there. Caught a few small ones and this weird mutant pickerel on the shorter side but huge around.

 

Missed easily the biggest one of the year so far. I was snaking a large plastic worm along the surface near some grasses and had just a massive wake building up behind it. It had this slow but steady momentum, I was sure it was going to strike. I was running out of space as it was getting too close to the boat so I let the worm drop down. There was a huge boil but it never hit it. Be thinking about this one for a while.  

 

I've had similar wakes that still haunt me. One spring I had a fish knock like 4 or 5 feet of slack into my line fishing a mattlures soft gill. I wasn't able to catch up before it spit it, turned, and shot off. And I'll never forget the wake it left. This was fairly shallow maybe 3 FOW but it was windy as hell and I just saw this torpedo looking wake fire off away from me that stood our even amongst the wind waves.

[Chris186]

Hit Cook Pond on Saturday, we put a good whuppin on’em. 18 in the boat, another 5 or six didn’t make it in. One was a little over 4lbs, and she was still full of eggs but she destroyed a Spinnerbait. Most were in the 2lb range all spawned out, also had a couple of pike in there. Most were on top water, couple on a crankbait and the rest on plastics.

[DogBone_384]

I had a day off yesterday so I started in Plymouth hunting smallies.  Ended up with one LMB just over 4 pounds, two LMB just under 4, and one more LMB weighing 2 1/2.  I hooked one good SMB on a bone Whopper Plopper 110 that self-extricated at the kayak.  It was about 2 pounds and I'm counting it because it bounced off the kayak's side.  Two more SMB got into the kayak, also by the bone Whopper Plopper.  

 

I went home, did some chores and went to Massapoag for an afternoon trip.  I ground it out for a while, throwing a similar mix to what I threw in Plymouth, and ended up with one LMB and one SMB late in the evening.  Both were about a pound and both came on a bluegill Rapala Skitterwalk.

 

The weather was perfect in Plymouth and the wind picked up a bit by the time I finished at Massapoag.  Plymouth water temps were 68.x and 74.x in Sharon.  Air pressure was 30.

 

I've also fished behind my neighborhood for stripers a few times over the last week.  Not much to report yet: one schoolie to the kayak and one good sized follower that turned off at the surface.

[MassBass]

Hey, had a tough outing at the local river stretch. Lost one in the bushes, caught a dink, and lost my special prop bait. Gave a mouse wakebait a good effort but only had something small smack it. However, last weekend some people from work and I went out on a charter party boat. They went all the way out to Jeffrey's Ledge. We caught haddock, cusk, and pollock, I also pulled up a small redfish and sculpin. Weather was perfect. Great time had by all. Cusk fillets cooked up well.

[bass.slayer69]

Had another great day in the Metro Boston area. Had 10 fish in a couple hours with my buddy in my canoe - all on poppers or senkos, big fish was 2.5 lbs. For me at least the fishing has been lights-out lately. 

[Mr. Aquarium]

19 hours ago, MassBass said:

Hey, had a tough outing at the local river stretch. Lost one in the bushes, caught a dink, and lost my special prop bait. Gave a mouse wakebait a good effort but only had something small smack it. However, last weekend some people from work and I went out on a charter party boat. They went all the way out to Jeffrey's Ledge. We caught haddock, cusk, and pollock, I also pulled up a small redfish and sculpin. Weather was perfect. Great time had by all. Cusk fillets cooked up well.

What boat did you go out on. I need to go back out on one. I went on Eastmans in NH. It was December, snowing, we caught so many big pollack. Pulling up 2 20lb fish at that same time from 200 feet deep.  So much variety to. Haddock, cusk, pollack, redfish and sea ravens