Eastern Ma & New England Area Fishing Reports

[MassYak85]

10 minutes ago, Janderson45 said:

Yes they treated it heavily.. I fish it occasionally and have done well twice since the water treatments.  That said it definitely fished better in years past when there was abundant milfoil.  

 

The cove you guys fished treats me well on occasion, but not always.  Out a little ways from that cove headed towards the dam there's some rock walls and a bridge piling or two (if I remember right) submerged in some deeper water.  That location treats me well on occasion as well.  

 

On the far side in the NW corner there is abundant pads and milfoil, with plenty of submerged rock and wood mixed in.  The water treatments killed some of it back, but didn't seem to effect it anywhere near as bad as other spots.  There's also a small winding river that empties into the res in that corner.  If I were to fish it tomorrow that's where I'd concentrate the bulk of my efforts :). 

That's the one area we didn't try hahaha. I did see one guy in a boat zoom straight to that area and thought he must know something we don't, guess he did lol. We mainly fished that NE cove, a bit around the dam, and around the islands. Outside of that cove I barely saw any surviving milfoil. I'll keep in mind the NW corner if I happen to go back though. Thanks!

[Janderson45]

It is kind of a strange place, not my favorite to fish, but I live about 15 minutes away so I hit it a handful of times every year. I much prefer nippenicket or sabattia and they're about the same distance for me so I hit them a lot more.

 

I had one very memorable day at the norton res a few years back, I think I probably caught somewhere around 50-60 fish that day, all bass and pickerel in the milfoil.  Nothing of any  real size though if I remember right. I've heard they have population issues with both perch and largemouth at the res, which keeps the bass on the smaller side.  They stocked tiger Muskie a handful of times in the 2000s to try and combat this, not sure if it's had the intended effect though.

[MassYak85]

20 minutes ago, Janderson45 said:

It is kind of a strange place, not my favorite to fish, but I live about 15 minutes away so I hit it a handful of times every year. I much prefer nippenicket or sabattia and they're about the same distance for me so I hit them a lot more.

 

I had one very memorable day at the norton res a few years back, I think I probably caught somewhere around 50-60 fish that day, all bass and pickerel in the milfoil.  Nothing of any  real size though if I remember right. I've heard they have population issues with both perch and largemouth at the res, which keeps the bass on the smaller side.  They stocked tiger Muskie a handful of times in the 2000s to try and combat this, not sure if it's had the intended effect though.

I fished Sabattia for the first time back in June. I didn't do great there when I went but it definitely has more structure and good milfoil beds than Norton Res for sure. 

 

Funny thing with Sabattia though....I've never seen a Navionics map that was so inaccurate lol. In one spot we found almost a 20ft discrepancy. 

[Janderson45]

Strange, id be interested to see the map.  Are you using the community edits?  They're usually better but can be wildly inaccurate if the person recording the map didn't know what they were doing.  That's happened to me on a pond in Plymouth before, was supposed to have a couple deep holes that got to 30' according to the navionics map.. in reality the whole pond doesn't get deeper than about 12'.  No deep holes ?‍♂️

[LadiMopar]

On 8/21/2018 at 12:26 AM, MassYak85 said:

 

Interesting discussion question though, if any of you guys caught a teener here in MA what would you do? Would you report it for the record/pin for the year? Not tell a soul? 

If my trail of excited utterances at catching something that big (Holy crap! Woohoo! OMG) didn't reverberate across three counties then I'd never tell a soul. ??? ?

[Mr. Aquarium]

i'd take about 1000 pictures and videos, weigh it, kiss it, and let it swim free. i wouldnt weigh it in, thats a life time fish especially for MA and new england.  the fact that i caught that fish  is all i need. i dont need a pin saying that i caught it. a picture is all i need.

[MassYak85]

1 hour ago, Mr. Aquarium said:

i'd take about 1000 pictures and videos, weigh it, kiss it, and let it swim free. i wouldnt weigh it in, thats a life time fish especially for MA and new england.  the fact that i caught that fish  is all i need. i dont need a pin saying that i caught it. a picture is all i need.

I agree I think I'd do the same. Getting good enough measurements and pictures for a replica and then watch her swim away. 

[MassYak85]

Went out on Lake Winthrop for about 4 hours Wednesday afternoon when the afternoon storms were rolling through. Managed to stay somewhat dry though. I was mainly fishing Weedless Rising Sons through the pads, no luck. Tried the slammer on the edges, nothing. Tried a huddgill and same result. Skunked.

 

I went out on Whitehall this evening for a few hours and struggled a bit as well. I did manage to get on a couple smaller ones once the sun went down cranking down a shellcracker above some of the milfoil beds. About as soon as that little pattern developed the Mosquitos decided to start feeding, and discovering I forgot the bug spray called it a night. 

 

August has not been kind to me so far.

[Fishing Rhino]

On ‎8‎/‎23‎/‎2018 at 9:18 PM, MassYak85 said:

Went out on Lake Winthrop for about 4 hours Wednesday afternoon when the afternoon storms were rolling through. Managed to stay somewhat dry though. I was mainly fishing Weedless Rising Sons through the pads, no luck. Tried the slammer on the edges, nothing. Tried a huddgill and same result. Skunked.

 

I went out on Whitehall this evening for a few hours and struggled a bit as well. I did manage to get on a couple smaller ones once the sun went down cranking down a shellcracker above some of the milfoil beds. About as soon as that little pattern developed the Mosquitos decided to start feeding, and discovering I forgot the bug spray called it a night. 

 

August has not been kind to me so far.

Try the grass/vegetation line in front of the beach at Lake Winthrop.

[MassYak85]

50 minutes ago, Fishing Rhino said:

Try the grass/vegetation line in front of the beach at Lake Winthrop.

Which beach? The one one near the launch or the far shore? I fished the one near the launch without any interest but there were some nice weed lines for sure. 

[Fishing Rhino]

The larger town beach.  There is a ramp on each side of the pond.   I just googled lake Winthrop and the map shows two parks on the east side of the pond, Patoma Park and Stoddard Park.

 

Assuming that up is north, the beach I am referring to is on the east side of the pond.

 

https://www.bing.com/search?q=lake+winthrop+holliston+ma&form=EDGSPH&mkt=en-us&httpsmsn=1&refig=fe94e0c35fc14a71aa57e922cb0c46b7&sp=2&ghc=1&qs=SC&pq=lake+wintrop&sk=SC1&sc=8-12&cvid=fe94e0c35fc14a71aa57e922cb0c46b7&cc=US&setlang=en-US

 

You can zoom in and out on the "map".

[MassYak85]

Huh, I didn't even know you could launch on that side. I'll keep that in mind whenever I go back thanks!

[Dunks N Dinks]

Got my butt-kicked fishing at Wequaquet Saturday, 5hrs out there and only 3 keepers. Water was hot (81) and the recreational boat traffic was crazy.

 

Went out shark-fishing yesterday though and managed a small Mako off p-town. 

[DogBone_384]

I hit Ponkie with my friend's son one last time before Evan heads off to college.  I managed four Larries and one ticked off pickerel.  Unfortunately Evan didn't catch anything.  

 

Water temps were 78.x.

 

ADD: I forgot to mention that a 4” wacky rigged watermelon/pearl Yum Dinger was the bait of choice.  I went through half a bag of them. 

Edited August 29, 2018 by DogBone_384

[gjfisher]

I hit Dudley Pond in Wayland last Friday.  Last time I fished it was more than a year ago and I did okay.  This time was way tougher.  I spent most of my time focusing on the steep dropoff in the middle of the pond where it goes from 6 ft quickly to 25 ft, and the shallow cove at the northeastern tip.  Texas rigs, swim baits, wacky rigs and jigs were futile.  Dropshot was the only rig that got a few hits.  A 1lb LMB and two picks saved me from being skunked.  The coolest thing about this place is the white swan that lives there.  Not only she's not afraid of me as I paddled towards her, she wanted to get onto my kayak.  I guess she is fed often by the residents living around the pond.  

 

Inspired by the 14lb LMB that was claimed to be caught from a trout pond, I was looking for some trout water to fish.  A friend of mine told me about some non-stop bass action he had a few weeks ago at Ashland Reservoir along the west shoreline near the dropoff.  Has anyone fished there recently?  How is the bass fishing there?  I am trying to decide whether it's worth a 45 minute drive after labor day to check it out.  

[MassYak85]

@gjfisher I've never actually fished Ashland despite living one town over. I have driven by it and people at the ramp didn't seem to be lighting up the bass so I kind of brushed it off. It seemed more like a trout lake but I couldn't help but think about tossing some trout swimbaits after a fall stocking or something. I'm not sure it's worth the 45 minute drive but I have to imagine both the Ashland and Hopkinton reservoirs (both deep, rocky, and plenty of trout) are keeping at least a few bass fat. 

 

A few recent trips to report...

 

Fished Webster Friday, found a decent (3.3lb) largemouth by a dock early on, bit on a jig. Caught a decent (2lbish) smallmouth nearby on the same jig. After that had to really grind it out with a 10" power worm to find a couple dinks on deeper weedlines. Bite was very slow. Day ended fishing a hump in the middle of the lake, snagged my worm on a rock and the wind wrapped my line around one of my guides so I couldn't give any slack....POP! Out came the guide. I did get the worm and weight back but was pretty bummed about the rod. Decided to pack up before I did any serious damage to any more gear lol. Luckily the guide foot just got pulled out of the threads so I was able to glue it back in and so far it's been good as new.

 

Fished Quinsig Saturday. They treated Flint Pond recently so I wanted to stay out on the main lake. We found a few dinks in the weeds between the islands but not much luck elsewhere. I was pretty adamant about staying out of Flint because of the dying weeds but my dad wanted to give it a shot. I managed to hook into a 4lber right next to a stick in the weeds so go figure....guess I was wrong to think the treating would shut off the bite there. Funny thing with that bass, I caught it on a 10" power worm but it was hooked straight through the nose, not the mouth. I'm thinking it picked up the tail and started swimming off with it and when I set the hook it had the front of the worm draped over it's face. I had always assumed the bigger bass just headshot those worms or inhale the whole thing...wrong again lol. 

 

Fished Whitehall this afternoon for a few hour. Tried a shady shoreline when I first got there with a stick-o, then tried a frog in the pads, and a 10" power worm (can you tell I like power worms in the summer lol) a little deeper. No takers so I went out in the middle in front of the ramp. On my "last cast" a dink came up and munched on the tail of my worm so I decided to stay a bit longer and fish that area. Glad I did, got a couple smaller bass and a pick within 15 minutes on the worm. These were only like 1lb bass but they CHOKED the 10" worm. I gut hooked both of them and the bites were not subtle. Bluegill started coming to the surface to feed on bugs so I tried the G2 shellcracker waked up top and cranked down over the weeds for a bit but no luck so packed it up and headed back. 

 

 

[Mr. Aquarium]

well fished my arse  off all weekend.   had a 3 day weekend. thursday night went on my uncles boat to chase some stripers. ended up with one schoolies his buddy caught, i missed a large fish on a live mackerel. had 2 other runs and missed them both as well.  friday up at 3am, fished the canal, it sucked.no fish. saw fish busting up top. small fish blitzing, feeding on peanut bunker. my buddy hit me up and wanted me to fish his in his car top boat for some bass fishing in the afternoon at one of our favorite spots. he managed a 2lb smallie on a tube. i missed 2 solid fish on a jig and caught a healthy 3.5 larry.   saturday fished the canal with some buddies who are up for the weekend from jersey, one of the guys is a plug maker. great plugs.  up at 3 am. fished 430 to 11, saw fish once again, after the current switch at a different spot. 945 ish, saw lots of fish blitzing. but of course we were on the other side.  saw a GIANT splash, idk what the hell it was but it was big.  called it a  day. 
sunday was planning on going for pike with the same buddy i fished with friday,  didnt end up going, flat tire in his trailer.  so i went back to sleep. fished in the yak for an afternoon bite at another honey hole. wind was blowing a good clip, tough fishing in the yak. managed a small bass on a swimbait.

[Ralph Nicholas Vito]

Went fishing this thursday - sunday ..... caught 2 large mouth >.> what's going on i couldn't stop them from biting june to early august ... now the lure i was catching them on the most is getting NO love

 

 

 

 

 

Also any of my Massachusetts buddies here know the regulations on baitfish ? Was taught by my father just to dump any minnows i had left after the weekend into the lake or pond (usually ***) and i was told JUST a few minutes ago that this is illegal in many states and im not trying to do ANYTHING freaking illegal not my kind of thing

[DogBone_384]

Water temps are high right now Ralph.  Bass will generally look for deeper water, shade, and weeds where it’s cooler. I fished the Cape a couple weeks ago and experienced similar success.  Try fishing early mornings.

 

Search around BR for tips on fishing in hot weather.

 

As for Massachusetts fishing regs, check the state’s website.

 

Things will pick up as water temps drop in September & October.

 

Best of luck.

[MassYak85]

15 minutes ago, DogBone_384 said:

Things will pick up as water temps drop in September & October.

Counting down the days lol. Although I'm sure when I'm chucking hudds or fishing jerkbaits in a winter jacket, gloves, and having to de-ice my rod I'll regret saying this haha. 

[DogBone_384]

Yeah, I'm off until Saturday but am staying hunkered down the next couple days, save a couple side jobs I have.  Friday looks like a good day to go SMB hunting in Plymouth.

[Mr. Aquarium]

1 hour ago, MassYak85 said:

Counting down the days lol. Although I'm sure when I'm chucking hudds or fishing jerkbaits in a winter jacket, gloves, and having to de-ice my rod I'll regret saying this haha. 

i cant wait to go blade bait fishing 

 

[Fishing Rhino]

Don't wish your life away.  

[MassYak85]

I love summer don't get me wrong but the transition into Fall is my favorite time of year, and not just for fishing. Those 90+ degree days on the water just drain me is all. 

[Janderson45]

Few teaser pics of the new toy  :

 

just picked her up the other day, will have more pics and vids up soon!