Eastern Ma & New England Area Fishing Reports

[DogBone_384]

2 hours ago, 1984isNOW said:

I know they say it's more about the season and daylight, but below 50° still just feels like the fish are asleep

 

Except for last Saturday, they were.  In general, 50* is the magic number.

 

There are a few smaller waters around Plymouth / Cape Cod where you can catch SMB year round, pending ice, which I’ll leave to you to figure out ….

[Banned User]

13 hours ago, DogBone_384 said:

which I’ll leave to you to figure out ….

I'm about 2 hours away from Plymouth if I'm the only driver on the road, add x to get to the Cape and you have nothing to worry about haha.

 

I wish I could target smallies within a reasonable drive from me

[padlin]

I’m also 2 hrs away, this time of year I wish I were closer. Reading about you easterners out fishing while my ponds are still ice gets me a tad jealous.

[DogBone_384]

9 hours ago, 1984isNOW said:

I wish I could target smallies within a reasonable drive from me

 

How far are you from VT, or Candlewood in CT?

[Banned User]

3 hours ago, DogBone_384 said:

VT

About 2 hours to touch vt border

 

3 hours ago, DogBone_384 said:

Candlewood

3 hours to some random spot on near candlewood lake

[DogBone_384]

I fished a different Cape lake yesterday afternoon.  I managed one 1# Larry with an Easy Shiner on an underspin, shallow, just off a point.

 

Water temps were 47.x - 48.x.  Winds were light from the NW and the air pressure was 30.1

 

It’s been a tough week down the Cape, but looking back at my log, I’ve only repeated my last 5 year history.  I’m leaving the boat at home tomorrow and heading to smaller waters with my kayak this weekend.

 

I’m heading back to the mainland this morning, debating if I’m hitting one more pond over coffee.

 

They should be biting.

[Banned User]

3 hours ago, DogBone_384 said:

log

Whats your process for this?

 

I've tried to keep a log but always forgot to write anything down or save anything

[DogBone_384]

10 hours ago, 1984isNOW said:

I've tried to keep a log but always forgot

I have an Excel spreadsheet and use the Anglr APP while I’m fishing to log fish species, weight, weather conditions, lure type, etc.

 

The APP is my memory bank and I fill in the spread sheet later.  It goes back 8 years.

[DogBone_384]

I gave Thursday's lake one more shot yesterday.  Winds were light when I showed up but increased to 15+ quickly after I launched.  I stayed shallow, working points that lead to steep drop offs and one arm on the windblown shore.  

 

I threw the 'normal' late winter baits: bladed jig, jerk bait, shallow crank, wacky Senko, jig, and t-rigged worm and came up empty.  After 3+ hours of not so much of a whiff, I packed it up.  There were three other boats there.  One guy launching at the same time I did said he caught a 8# LMB there recently.

 

Water temps were 48.x and air pressure was 30.1.

 

It was another tough winter/spring transition.... I'll figure it out one of these years.

[Chris Cavanaugh]

Snow up here today, melting on contact. Just another temp swing that messes up the short-term fishing. 

[Banned User]

9 minutes ago, Chris Cavanaugh said:

messes up the short-term fishing. 

Yup,  aggravating

[Chris Cavanaugh]

5 minutes ago, 1984isNOW said:

Yup,  aggravating

I should have got out yesterday as I had the day off, though not completely free. My son had hip surgery last week so staying home to be there in case. the weather looked nice so figured grab a couple rods and go this afternoon. 

[Banned User]

@Chris Cavanaugh sorry to hear about about your boy, hope he recovers quickly.

 

You didn't miss anything man, fishing still been junk. I'm on the North shore and waters still in the 40s, I predict one of those lightning spawns that I totally miss this year.

[DogBone_384]

Tossed the waders in the car and hit my favorite "I need a smallie" pond.  It was WINDY and I got off two casts with the bait-caster I brought and blew up an eagle's nest.  I picked it out, walked back to my car and got my spinning rig.  That lasted about 45 minutes and coughed up a giant wind knot.

 

Luckily I bagged one 1.8# smallie on a green pumpkin / black & gold flake tube.

 

Better one than none.  April's checked off.

[Mr. Aquarium]

I can’t catch  chit out there! The bass bite has been dead. One fish here and there randomly. You think you figured them out only to waste time on that one bite you found.  Catch one up shallow in the trees on a jig, so you flip trees with a variety of baits to not get another bite. Then you get another random fish out deep  on an under spin.  
 

yesterday was a grind, few picks out deep, got one on a flash swimmer kitech on a shallow tree. Had a few whacks on the flashy swimmer deeper but couldn’t stick em. Not sure if they were small bass or pickerel t boning it and not getting the hook. 

[MassYak85]

I haven't been out yet. Not as motivated to brave the wind and the cold this year haha. I think in a week or two I'll start getting out there. 

[Mr. Aquarium]

2 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

I haven't been out yet. Not as motivated to brave the wind and the cold this year haha. I think in a week or two I'll start getting out there. 

It’s nice to get out hoping for a good bite and seeing nature. The scenery has been great. Bald eagles, hawks, otters, other birds and animals. 
 

but this weather sucks. Warm cold warm cold. I never do well in this roller coaster weather!

[TheSwearingAngler]

I put on a clinic Sunday, nothing big but the numbers, lost count… high teens maybe 20. Secret bait, secret pond. Only having this kind of success at one pond.

[BigEyedF11sh]

What’s up guys, long time no post.  An insane year at work really cut into my fishing time last year but I’ve been back at it this season.

 

Recently bought a truck which got me motivated to get my old man’s bass tracker that he’s been storing in my yard up and running. New water pump, thermostat, water tube, and a trolling motor swap later and she’s back in business and fishing better than ever.

 

Launched twice in the past 2 weeks, both at my local herring run pond. A place that gets pretty beat up making them tough to catch in numbers consistently, but the ones you do catch are usually healthy herring eaters.

 

First launch was last Tuesday; Mostly a trial run for the big motor after I put in a couple weeks worth of work trying to get rid of the overheating alarm that was plaguing the Old Man and I.  Of course I had to bring along a couple rods with my favorites pre-tied on. I had the jerkbait (vision 110+1) glued to my palms as is typical for me this time of year, as well as my weightless senko rod. No bass but managed two small pickerel on the senko.  Satisfied with the motor running well I called it a day.

 

After a week of miserable weather, and yesterdays trolling motor swap (had to take breaks and cover the boat with a tarp to let the showers roll through) I was chomping at the bit to test out my new toy. Launched at the same spot around 2pm, temp was about 42° and windy with blue bird skies.  Supposedly it warmed up to 45° during my time on the water but if it did, I didn’t notice. Water temp was still 48°-49°.
 

Started out on the main lake in about 10-12 feet of water hucking around the jerkbait focusing on the elbows and points of the entrances to the shallower spawning coves hoping to stumble across some bass moving in or out. I managed to fool one real early and he shook me at the boat which totally de-railed my session, I spent most of the afternoon trying to recreate this bite in the same location and locations similar, despite telling myself I was going to cover a lot of water today.

 

I kicked off the spot lock and switched over to the big explorer gill glide bait, and eventually a big paddle tail to no avail. With only an hour left to spend on the water I went with my original plan of tying on a reaction bait and covering more water.

 

I went with a rappala shad trap 7, a crankbait I love and hate. I’ve caught plenty of fish on it but it casts like an absolute potato chip, especially on a day like today.  I finally made my way to the 2 big islands where there is a nice shelf of mostly rock bottom on the main lake side of the larger island. The top of this shelf closest to the island is about 3 feet of water which eventually drops off pretty drastically to about 10 feet of water.  Making long casts perpendicular to the shore I dragged the shad trap through the rock and then out over the drop-off where I managed to fool 2 really healthy LMB.  It seemed like the lip of the crank beating the tops of the rocks was really what was getting them to react in a way the jerkbait wasnt.  Didn’t have a scale with me so I’m not going to play the guessing game but the bigger of the two is pictured below.

 

Hard bottom in close proximity to the main body of water seemed to be the key today. It also seems like these fish are still a little cold to be actively feeding, getting reaction bites seemed to be the move over the slower finesse stuff.

 

Wish I had more time, kinda figured this pattern out in buzzer beater fashion but I promised the wife I’d be home for the dog before she left for work.

 

Lets hope for warmer weather, hoping to be in here with some more reports for you guys soon!

 

 

 

 

[DogBone_384]

9 hours ago, BigEyedF11sh said:

I’ve caught plenty of fish on it but it casts like an absolute potato chip

 

I've never heard this description ... awesome ... Glenn would delete the descriptives I tend to use...

 

Great report, and welcome back!