Eastern Ma & New England Area Fishing Reports

[Quarry Man]

Im in, hopefully ill be around for it!

[je1946]

4 hours ago, Fishing Rhino said:

I'm interested in a get together where we can fish then cook some hot dogs, steaks or whatever.  But I like my own bed at night.  Maybe I'm getting old.  Getting old?  I'm already there.

I'm with ya Tom.  I'd love to fish and do some food on the grill.  Camping doesn't much appeal to me anymore at my age.  I'd stay at a motel, but in a tent or trailer............hummm  I much prefer a comft bed.  They'll understand when they get to our age...lol

[LadiMopar]

20 hours ago, DogBone_384 said:

Hhhmmmmmm......  

 

I’m thinking of a meet and greet somewhere where we can all launch kayaks/canoes and BBQ...... maybe camp a day or two?

 

What says the membership?

 

I'm up for a gathering of the minds and something on the bbq...but like all the others can't do the bivy sack and bed roll anymore....if there was another accommodation near by I could do an overnight.

[DogBone_384]

Air mattress?  Hammock on a pickup truck ladder rack?

 

I just fished Cliff & Flax in Nickerson State Park. Lemme do some recon on camping & facilities.  

 

Anyone familiar with central MA do the same if they have time.

 

Hedges Pond in Plymouth has a beach area and allows propane grilles. The only fish I’ve caught here are yellow perch and SMB. It’s posted $15/day for non residents during Summer months.  Sanitary facilities are sometimes locked.

 

Little Pond in Plymouth is like Hedges, $15/25 (?) /day per car, propane only, and good bass & trout. Non-residents are limited to front beach. It can get crowded in the Summer.

 

Ponkapog in Canton has a small beach area and has no other posts/regulations.  Ponkie is a shallow/weedy LMB and pickerel pond.  There’s a campground I’ve never really investigated until now. Here’s the website: https://www.outdoors.org/lodging-camping/camps-cabins/ponkapoag

 

 

[JG233]

I'll come if I'm free. Dates might be a little tough, but I'm down to camp. 

[LadiMopar]

On 6/10/2018 at 7:47 PM, DogBone_384 said:

Anyone familiar with central MA do the same if they have time.

 

I'm in Central MA, did you have any particular body of water in mind?

[DogBone_384]

26 minutes ago, LadiMopar said:

 

I'm in Central MA, did you have any particular body of water in mind?

Not really. I’ve only fished Quabbin out that way. I figure something kayak and picknick friendly.

[Dunks N Dinks]

Cape Report: Different Kinda Spawn

 

Got out on Wequaquet Saturday (water: 65-67, air: 68-74, bluebird, light wind) and it was  immediately apparent the Blue-Gill spawn was in motion. The "honey-comb" beds were everywhere and on nearly every cast shallow the 'gills would be nipping baits and stealing appendages off soft-plastics in bed defense mode. A classic sign of sluggish post-spawn activity. Keeper largemouths were also seemingly absent from shallow flats as well (with hardly any wind contributing to the skittishness). I split my time deep and extremely shallow; the only way I got bit in the latter was flipping the shallowest back sections of docks with a 1/4 oz brwn/blue jig, for the former I threw a 7/16oz football jig with SK rage bug trailer. Up shallow, the bites were few and far between (~3 fish that way), but every bite was 2-2.5lb range. Out deep, I didnt really have anything dialed in until I had a 1.5lb smallie puke up a barely-digested 4" crawfish on the front-deck (see pic 2). This was a bit of a light-bulb moment, and luckily I had the perfect color trailer to match. From there out, I hit as many drop-offs (7ft to 12ft) as I could and drug up 6 more fish in the time remaining. Finished up with a limit of ~12lb. Overall a tough morning and some sense of redemption by day end, but in hindsight i wish i would've given some time to trying a chatter/spinnerbait near the BG beds to see if larger post-spawn fish would eat a bigger presentation. Also, still pretty amazed at the size of the crawfish they were eating down there....reminder that big baits = big fish...

 

Lastly, was able to get the first 28" keeper striped bass of the year with the old man on Sunday. Fish ate half a chopped mackerel dragging bottom in 16ft on 1 oz egg sinker.    

[je1946]

4 hours ago, Dunks N Dinks said:

Cape Report: Different Kinda Spawn

 

Got out on Wequaquet Saturday (water: 65-67, air: 68-74, bluebird, light wind) and it was  immediately apparent the Blue-Gill spawn was in motion. The "honey-comb" beds were everywhere and on nearly every cast shallow the 'gills would be nipping baits and stealing appendages off soft-plastics in bed defense mode. A classic sign of sluggish post-spawn activity. Keeper largemouths were also seemingly absent from shallow flats as well (with hardly any wind contributing to the skittishness). I split my time deep and extremely shallow; the only way I got bit in the latter was flipping the shallowest back sections of docks with a 1/4 oz brwn/blue jig, for the former I threw a 7/16oz football jig with SK rage bug trailer. Up shallow, the bites were few and far between (~3 fish that way), but every bite was 2-2.5lb range. Out deep, I didnt really have anything dialed in until I had a 1.5lb smallie puke up a barely-digested 4" crawfish on the front-deck (see pic 2). This was a bit of a light-bulb moment, and luckily I had the perfect color trailer to match. From there out, I hit as many drop-offs (7ft to 12ft) as I could and drug up 6 more fish in the time remaining. Finished up with a limit of ~12lb. Overall a tough morning and some sense of redemption by day end, but in hindsight i wish i would've given some time to trying a chatter/spinnerbait near the BG beds to see if larger post-spawn fish would eat a bigger presentation. Also, still pretty amazed at the size of the crawfish they were eating down there....reminder that big baits = big fish...

 

Lastly, was able to get the first 28" keeper striped bass of the year with the old man on Sunday. Fish ate half a chopped mackerel dragging bottom in 16ft on 1 oz egg sinker.    

Nice report D&D.  Never be surprised at the size of anything a LM will eat, they have no problem woffing down a 10" trout or a 6" blue gill.  They will be actively pursuing blue gill big time here very shortly.  Crank bait time, also jig trailers with blue and or chartruese.  JJs magic dye works wonders.  Gd luck, and keep the reports coming.

[DogBone_384]

Fishing Rhino took me over to Noquochoke, a pond in Dartmouth he'd not fished in a number of years.  It was very windy, but his Chevy 350 of a trolling motor did an excellent job keeping us in place.  Tom's electronics were out of service but water temps felt pretty good. 

 

Weeds are abundant here and my jig and Gamakatsu weedless wacky hooks did a respectable job, texas-rigged is highly recommended.  

 

We fished 3 1/2 hours or so.  I ended up with  3 LMB and a small pickerel, all on a green/chartreuse tail Yum Dinger on a 3/16 wacky hook.

[Janderson45]

That's a good looking craw, didn't think they'd still have the orange color this time of year, wonder if they still need to molt on the cape?  

 

I had similar results with a bit of a post spawn lull in central mass.  Ended up coaxing 5 largemouth into biting but it was definitely S L O W.  I found some big girls up tight in shallow cover, I think that a lack of deep water and suitable deep water cover at this particular fishery makes the females take up residence shallow after the spawn.  If they were indeed females that I found up in shallow cover they were very spooky.  Missed what felt like a very nice one of a flippin bite, and then proceeded to spook every other fish that my flippin bait landed near.  You'd just see a swirl on the surface and they'd be gone - circumstances where I'd typically expect to get bit on the initial flip and fall.  I backed out and started working a finesse worm through the weeds, frog on top of the mats, and bluegill colored pitchn jig in the flooded brush and timber.  Got 3 on the worm (missed two or three as well, very hesitant to eat it) and 2 on the jig... nothing on the frog.  

 

One of the jig fish I got at the end of the day was in an incredibly snaggy and gnarly area, a place that a year or two ago I would have never even imagine flipping a jig into.  Well new year and new me, I flipped my jig deep into the brush with 20lb fluoro and a heavy power jig rod and stuck him real good.  Had to pull him out over branches to land him, it's pretty amazing how branches seem to just part ways for the fish when you're yanking em outta there... because of the location and style of bite I thought for sure I had Hooked into a stud... and it should have been a stud if you saw this spot.  I was pretty disappointed after only a few seconds when I realized it was just a dinky little male... choked the jig good though! 

 

 

 

Couple of the finesse worm little guys

 

[MassYak85]

@Janderson45 How's the pad and weed growth on A1? I imagine the pads have become fairly established by now but none of the super thick mats we sometimes get in mid summer? I will be back in a couple weeks and that will probably be one of the first places I hit. I'm hoping to get some time in with the Slammer there before it gets too choked up.

[Janderson45]

11 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

@Janderson45 How's the pad and weed growth on A1? I imagine the pads have become fairly established by now but none of the super thick mats we sometimes get in mid summer? I will be back in a couple weeks and that will probably be one of the first places I hit. I'm hoping to get some time in with the Slammer there before it gets too choked up.

 

You're pretty much spot on, there's some lily pads, hydrilla and milfoil growing well in lots of areas but nothing is even close to regular summer levels yet.  My buddy that I was fishing with was abusing pickerel all day with a topwater spook out in the middle.. that's a pretty decent indicator as last summer/fall there was hardly any real estate that you could even work a topwater bait with treble hooks.

 

There were more people fishing A1 last Sunday than I've ever seen before... I had to drop my kayak off and park way down the street.  There were about 5 or 6 aluminum bass boats, a couple of smaller pelican bass raider type rigs, and a whole bunch of kayaks (though some of the kayakers were just out for a paddle) - think the bass boats were having a little tournament as they all got off the water about the same time.  Pretty funny to watch them all circle each other in the middle- none of them had the guts (don't blame em) to really get up in the stumps.

 

I always manage to catch a few there but it's been a long time since I've had what I would consider a good day-  haven't caught anything bigger than the 3lb range in quite some time either, I'm starting to wonder if something happened and this place isn't as good of a fishery as it once was..  

 

oh and the Tiger Muskie they supposedly stocked a few years back??  Never seen or caught one... and I'm there a decent amount every year.   I'm willing to bet the mortality rate for small Muskie there is incredibly high.. they stocked 500 fingerlings back in 2015- I wonder how many are left now and how many have actually been caught?  

[MassYak85]

7 hours ago, Janderson45 said:

 

You're pretty much spot on, there's some lily pads, hydrilla and milfoil growing well in lots of areas but nothing is even close to regular summer levels yet.  My buddy that I was fishing with was abusing pickerel all day with a topwater spook out in the middle.. that's a pretty decent indicator as last summer/fall there was hardly any real estate that you could even work a topwater bait with treble hooks.

 

There were more people fishing A1 last Sunday than I've ever seen before... I had to drop my kayak off and park way down the street.  There were about 5 or 6 aluminum bass boats, a couple of smaller pelican bass raider type rigs, and a whole bunch of kayaks (though some of the kayakers were just out for a paddle) - think the bass boats were having a little tournament as they all got off the water about the same time.  Pretty funny to watch them all circle each other in the middle- none of them had the guts (don't blame em) to really get up in the stumps.

 

I always manage to catch a few there but it's been a long time since I've had what I would consider a good day-  haven't caught anything bigger than the 3lb range in quite some time either, I'm starting to wonder if something happened and this place isn't as good of a fishery as it once was..  

 

oh and the Tiger Muskie they supposedly stocked a few years back??  Never seen or caught one... and I'm there a decent amount every year.   I'm willing to bet the mortality rate for small Muskie there is incredibly high.. they stocked 500 fingerlings back in 2015- I wonder how many are left now and how many have actually been caught?  

Yea I'm not holding my breath on the Muskie population to take off there lol. My biggest bass I ever got there is like 4.8 and I've had a few great 20-25 fish days a few summers back but it can be tough for sure. Nice thing like you said is kayakers pretty much have exclusive access to half the lake because of the stumps and insanely dense pad fields on the western shore. I have definitely had some run-ins with BIG fish a couple times in early spring so I know they are still in there. And I've seen big ones pulled through the ice, but for such a small pond it certainly gets a lot of pressure and they don't have much deep water to escape to.

 

Do you know if you are technically allowed on there at night? I have fished it at night once for a couple hours but I never bothered to check the signs. 

[Janderson45]

I've pulled two over 5 there a few years back but nothing even close to that the past two years.. seems like it's loaded with 2-3lbers though.  I'm sure there's some Bigguns kicking around still but I haven't figured out any real effective way to find or catch them yet, I missed a 5+ on a jig last there last summer and proceeded to snap my rod in frustration.. lol. The amount of cover limits what you can throw for much of the year (as you know) which might have the older wiser and larger bass a bit conditioned to the typical Texas rig/jig/frog combinations.  I'm always experimenting with different soft plastics and rate of fall to try and find a sweet spot.

 

No clue as to the rules on night fishing, but I'd be pretty surprised if it wasn't allowed.  I've stayed thru sundown and into the early evening a few times but never put in a true night mission there... I bet it would be fun and maybe get you a nice big topwater fish or two... but the beavers scare me if I can't see them.. haha! 

[MassYak85]

1 minute ago, Janderson45 said:

I've pulled two over 5 there a few years back but nothing even close to that the past two years.. seems like it's loaded with 2-3lbers though.  I'm sure there's some Bigguns kicking around still but I haven't figured out any real effective way to find or catch them yet, I missed a 5+ on a jig last there last summer and proceeded to snap my rod in frustration.. lol. The amount of cover limits what you can throw for much of the year (as you know) which might have the older wiser and larger bass a bit conditioned to the typical Texas rig/jig/frog combinations.  I'm always experimenting with different soft plastics and rate of fall to try and find a sweet spot.

 

No clue as to the rules on night fishing, but I'd be pretty surprised if it wasn't allowed.  I've stayed thru sundown and into the early evening a few times but never put in a true night mission there... I bet it would be fun and maybe get you a nice big topwater fish or two... but the beavers scare me if I can't see them.. haha! 

Screw those beavers lol. I nearly had a freaking heart attack that one time I went out at night! I was just past the island, no lights to speak of, I'm the only one out there and the water exploded like 50 feet behind me. I've learned not to get excited that it's a fish by now but it still surprises me when it happens. 

 

One thing I want to try this year are big worms with split shot. Eco pro makes some TINY tungsten split shot, I got a few sizes and if you put a couple a foot in front of a Jelly worm or something of similar size it gives it a really nice fall and should allow it to rest on top of the weeds. 

[Quarry Man]

^ works great with a 1/0 ewg (vmc w/ 3 barbs is best imo for this presentation) a split sot 8" above the line and a zoom finesse worm. worms great for pitching with 6 lb test.

[Janderson45]

24 minutes ago, Quarry Man said:

^ works great with a 1/0 ewg (vmc w/ 3 barbs is best imo for this presentation) a split sot 8" above the line and a zoom finesse worm. worms great for pitching with 6 lb test.

 

Id want a 5/0 super line EWG and about 50lb test braid for what he's talking about doing.  Very large worm and very thick cover (weeds and stumps) looking for big bites only  .

 

I actually use pretty much all straight shank hooks with my worms, but if I was fishing a real big worm I'd go for EWG.  

[Quarry Man]

i was talking about the similar rig but a finesse version that I've had great luck with

 

[DogBone_384]

I fished Jacobs Pond in Norwell for a short while yesterday afternoon.  I've not been there since October '16, the year Norwell killed off most of the vegetation.  Jacob's is shallow, 3-4' at best, and the weeds are back in full force.  

 

I stayed for a little over an hour, got a coupe small bass to bite and packed it up.  Water temps were 73.x.

[MassYak85]

On 6/14/2018 at 8:16 PM, Janderson45 said:

 

Id want a 5/0 super line EWG and about 50lb test braid for what he's talking about doing.  Very large worm and very thick cover (weeds and stumps) looking for big bites only  .

 

I actually use pretty much all straight shank hooks with my worms, but if I was fishing a real big worm I'd go for EWG.  

I've got some 4/0 and 5/0 straight shank worm hooks that seem to pair up nicely with the bigger worms, and I like them better coming through weeds than the EWG's.

 

I did get some Magnum Baits Mauler's (BIG creature baits) and 10" stick baits to try as well. I've got some 7/0 Owner EWG Jungle and 6/0 Flipping hooks for those lol. 

 

If you couldn't tell I got a new frog/punch/flip rod I've been waiting to crack some fish on lol. Fresh 65lb braid and I've been practicing pitching in my yard lol. 

[DogBone_384]

Launched at Ponkapog for a while before my wife's dance recital (yes, my wife dances even though our daughter stopped a few years ago... it's great).  Not much going on there.  Water temps were 69.x - 71.x and the weeds are in full bloom.  Depth's are still 6' at the deepest.  A few dinks and perch nibbled at my jig, a tiny LMB tried swallowing a 5" wacky worm, and a assumed pickerel bit the tail off my Rage Tail.

 

I got a couple small strikes on a Zara Puppy and landed three LMB with a Yozuri square bill on the way back to the launch, with the largest being 1-15.

[LadiMopar]

On 6/11/2018 at 11:05 PM, DogBone_384 said:

Not really. I’ve only fished Quabbin out that way. I figure something kayak and picknick friendly.

 

Sent you a PM with info.

[Ratherbefishing75]

Father’s Day behind the Hanson town hall  got a couple large mouth and a yellow perch 

[timcauliffe]

Solid one from Lake Boon a couple weeks ago. No scale. Pushed 22”.