Eastern Ma & New England Area Fishing Reports

[Mr. Aquarium]

[Mr. Aquarium]

I caught my albie.  But the pictures didnt come out  so good. Oh well. I’m very happy that I caught this fish. It’s not about that picture! I can’t wait to catch more! 

[JG233]

Oh man, that's a rough picture!

[Dunks N Dinks]

Had a challenging session out on Mashpee Saturday. Fished from first light until 4pm and only managed 4 keeper bites. Conditions didn't help, bluebird skies and hardly any wind to stir up the surface. Water temps started on the chilly side around 65, the surface warming up to 68-69 by the afternoon. 

After two hours of trying to force a top-water bite to no avail, I spent most of the day looking for productive offshore areas, and even found a couple spots with a healthy combination of a depth change, bait, and grass. There was no shortage of prey fish, huge balls of 1-2" minnows, but I couldn't coax anything to bite under/around these schools. Either the fish were keyed onto this micro-forage, or they just weren't all that active (had a few short-strikes on a drop-shot'd finesse swimmer). 

It wasn't until I moved a tad shallower and towards the inside-edge of grass formations that i made first contact around 2pm. Even then, the bite didn't feel "on", by any means. I managed to nab 4 smallies in the next 2hrs, making long casts with a finesse under-spin, with most hitting it close to the initial fall (so I'm assuming the strike-zone was fairly small). Got a little lucky and plopped one of my last casts near a quality sally, getting to briefly share the boat with this 19.5" beauty.        

   

[Mr. Aquarium]

Went out for albies Saturday. Sun up to sun down. Saw many fish at sun up. Got my 2nd Spanish mackerel. So stoked. Had a nice albie hit. Saw a lot of people hook up. The spot was packed! There was a lot of fish and even more people. But the albies kept sticking out away for my to cast at them.  It was a long day. Only one fish. But that’s albie fishing. Checked out a few areas as well. Didn’t see much elsewhere 

[DogBone_384]

Fishing Rhino and I launched at Quabbin area #3 at 0600 sharp.  It was 46 degrees according to my truck's dash. 

 

The weather quickly turned beautiful ... too beautiful.  

 

We covered a lot of water today.  Some regular spots and some new.  Tom ended up with a pile of smallies.  I managed one and one bluegill.  All fish weighed in ounces ... I think our 'limit bag' might have been just under two pounds.  I tossed everything but the kitchen sink..... should have brought one.

 

Water temps were 69.x - 70.x.  There was nary a breeze most of the day and the air pressure was 29.8.

 

Tom left at around 3:30.  I stayed until 5:00, determined to finish the day with a bass that weighed one pound! Just like the Red Sox bull pen .... not so much.

 

The day's highlight was the sandwiches my wife made.

 

I'm glad the 2019 Quabbin season is over.  The long drive for me just isn't worth it when I have better fishing closer by in Plymouth/Cape Cod.

[Jigfishn10]

Hoping to get out tomorrow morning, I'm home for the weekend, although I'll have a paint brush in my hand most of the afternoon. Should be a great weekend for fishing.

 

Good luck to those who will be wetting a line this weekend!

[MassYak85]

I'll be out Saturday for sure, maybe Sunday afternoon. Although the temperatures just refuse to drop, gonna be 80 tommorow. 

[DogBone_384]

I launched at Great South just before dawn yesterday with perfect glass-like conditions.  I hooked up with a pretty decent smallie on the first cast using a white/red Zara Spook.  Unfortunately, it spit me at the kayak.

 

Once the sun came up it was a perfect, blue-bird day, just like Wednesday when Fishing Rhino and I fished the Quabbin.  

 

I fished shallow, deep, and in the middle, switching off between a 3.8" Fat Impact, brown/purple hair jig, and various Rapala DT's.  My only fish was a 2.51 small mouth that took the Keitech off the bottom in 30+ feet of water.  I don't think the kitchen sink would have bought me a shallow bite.

 

The grass/weeds I found were in better shape than the Q and Ponkapog.  I saw groups of fry near the beaches almost all the way around GS.  I also marked many bait balls, but couldn't scare up any bites in and around them.  My Lowrance showed the most arches near/on the bottom in 30 to 40+ feet.  I got a few hits deep, but no hook-ups.

 

Water temps started at 68.x and finished at 72.x.  Air pressure was 30.1.  Gonna give it another shot next week.

[Jigfishn10]

Get out those lipless cranks boys & girls. It's that time! The weeds are starting to die off and its time to grip and rip. LOL

 

I love to either yo-yo or rip thru weeds for bass this time of year as well as early spring. Start off fast and if no takers slow it down and yo-yo. Hoping to get back out soon, this is a fun pattern to fish.

[basshunterman9]

Went fishing in Jamaica Pond in Boston yesterday. Talked to a lot of shore fisherman who weren't doing well so I decided to rent a rowboat out (they allow fishing on it and even give a discount if you have a fishing license). Found the fish all schooled up on my sonar unit near the flats and dropoffs away from the shore at depths of around 20-30 feet with some big ones at at 40 feet. Caught a total of 13 bass in about 2 hours of boating. The largest was a 4 lb 3 ounce largemouth. Also caught 5 pretty good sized yellow perch, with the largest being just over a pound. Lots of fishing to be had in the right areas!

 

 

[JG233]

Real nice one! 

[MassYak85]

My dad and I got out both days this weekend. Saturday on Quinsig. Perch (yellow and white) were schooled up and while trying to find a jerkbait bite we got them pretty fired up and probably got like 30 of them. We moved in search of the fish we were actually after (bass) but couldn't come up with anything consistent. I got a few, nothing big. I DID manage to hook into what I think was a pike. I set the hook on a stick-o and new right away I either had a PB bass or PB pickerel. I saw it come to the surface but I must not have gotten a good enough hookset. If it was a pickerel it was probably around 5lbs, but I'm going with a pike. I've run into them before a few times on quinsig but have never landed them. This one shook about 20ft from the boat. 

 

Went out today on Maspenock. Wind was blowing good and the lake is being drawn down, water was real murky too. Tried fishing areas I thought current from the drawdown would be going through. Couldn't really pattern it the way I wanted and overall it was a tough day. I managed one decent (2.5ish) bass on a squarebill and a handful of pickerel, who were uncharacteristically finicky. 

 

Like @Jigfishn10 said, I was hoping they'd be shallow getting their fall feed on with some bluegill or perch but it didn't seem that way. Tried a spinnerbait and cranks burned fast and the only one who would take was that one bass. 

 

I'm thinking I may not be fishing deep enough, especially after seeing @basshunterman9's report. Seems they may be schooling up deeper right now. And I definitely haven't been fishing that deep. That's still something I have to work on. Mentally I know 20ft isn't that deep but I struggle to fish deeper than that. 

[DogBone_384]

Sounds like deep is the key this week ....

[Don51]

Shouldn't be, you have some real mild weather coming in! Gotta get those water temps down!  LOL

[Jigfishn10]

I agree. They seem to be in a transition from their summer haunts but they'll be on a feed soon. This week will be tough fishing with the cold front coming in. I'm hoping to dodge the rain drops on Wednesday after work.

 

Good luck out there.

[Dunks N Dinks]

No freshwater outing this weekend, but I did score a nice recreational Bluefin Saturday a few miles off Chatham...60" and did a number on my 50W 

[DogBone_384]

Dropped into Ponkie for a couple hours this evening to see what was what...

 

The water level is down from just a couple weeks ago.  My Lowrance showed 4' where it's normally 7'.  The weeds are still very thick but browner.  Water temps were 68.x and BP was 29.9 inHg.  Winds were 5-6 mph from the east.

 

I managed two fat dink LMB.  One on a green 5" wacky Senko and the other on a Yozuri wakebait in bluegill.

 

Lastly, I saw a good, healthy coyote getting a drink at the launch as I paddled back.  The deer I've seen recently have their winter coats on too.  I might have to put the fishing rod down for a bit and get out the bow & shotgun....

 

Naw, I'll just have to make time for both!

[DogBone_384]

If bluebird weather produces little, what about rain?  I gave it a shot this afternoon at Great South.  I launched around 3:45 and stayed a little after dark.  With a light rain, wind from the E/NE, and temps in the 60’s I fished deep where I marked targets with a 3.8” Keitech.  

 

The rain got heavier, but not bad enough to stop.  I zig zagged in the 30 - 40’ areas between the island and south points and moved shallower when daylight waned.  

 

In the end, I managed 2 good white perch by dragging the Keitech on the bottom deep, a 2 pound LMB with the same Keitech in 15-20’ on the SW bank.  I caught two SMB (1.5 & 1 pound) while trolling a Rapala DT6 in Ike’s Demon back to the launch.

 

Gonna try to get back there before the weekend .... I’m making progress in figuring out GS.

 

Water temps were 69.x - 68.x, winds were roughly 10 mph from the E/NE, and BP was 29.8 inHg.

 

ADD: I got an email from MA fisheries this afternoon with the stocking calendar.  Cliff Pond and Sheep were trout stocked yesterday.

 

https://www.mass.gov/service-details/trout-stocking-report

 

 

[LadiMopar]

Hi guys!

Been a busy summer and I haven't gotten out nearly as much as I wanted to, my tournament season is now over and am looking forward to the hunt for big fall LMB.

 

Been reading the posts in here and just thought I might add that some of the "better bites" I've been getting have been real early in fairly shallow water (2-5 ft) around docks and grass beds on Savage Gear paddletails, color doesn't seem to make a big difference; and in slightly deeper water (8-12 ft) on a Neko rig using 5" Daiwa Yamamoto Neko Fat Soft Bait, in grn/wht combo. Figure any senko type bait would work just as well.

 

Most of the water I fish doesn't get much more than 15-20 ft deep but maybe I'll scout out some of those deeper spots and see if I can scare up something bigger. ?

 

[Mr. Aquarium]

Went out for my first legit bass mission since May! Did some shore banging. Got a chunky bass at spot 1 on a Texas rig. Spot 2 I saw a lot of bait bustin. I missed 3 decent fish. Each broke me off on 3 different rods and 3 different baits.  A Texas rig, a wobble jig head paired with a 5 inch swimbait, a 4 inch savage swimbait. Tried a spook, lipless crank and chatter bait but didn’t get any fish. I got a big pickerel on the savage. Spot 3 Is one of my favorite spots. BUt day fishin sucks cuz of all the pickerel. I had a bunch of hits on topwater. Manage a few pickerel. 

[MassYak85]

Planning on making the trip back to MA for some fishing this weekend. Gonna be curious how the bite is after this stretch of cold rain coming up. 

[gjfisher]

I went out this morning after the rain and had a decent outing.  I started with a 6th sense crush 50x crank in craw color and fished it along a steep dropoff from 4 ft to 12 ft.  Got 5-6 fish that way in the first hour.  That bite died soon after so I was back to square one--trying to figure out a new pattern.  Tried jerkbait, flip a jig, t-rig, lipless crank, swimbait, etc. for three hours and got two seemingly random fish on a jerkbait and a chatterbait.  While picking a bird nest I accidentally found a pattern by deadsticking a wacky rigged worm.  Got three fish that way on consequtive casts!  All in all got 12-13 fish, nothing big but half of those are 2-3 lbs with fat bellies.  Water temp was 57.  Cloudy with a light breeze.  

 

[DogBone_384]

Fished Bucks Pond yesterday, Hinckley’s and Snake today.  It was very windy at Bucks, but I managed a nice LMB on a green/gold 5” wacky Senko, two dink LMB on a bluegill Yozuri square bill, and a tiny SMB on a white/pearl 4” wacky Senko.  I can’t count the big LMB because the hook broke and it never made it to the kayak.  It was in the 70’s, water temp was 68.x, and the air pressure was 30.1.

 

I struck out at both Hinckley’s AND Snake.  I threw everything I had except a jig, blade bait, and jerk bait and couldn’t buy a bite.  I added a small Keitech on a drop shot at Snake in a last ditch effort to save the day ... no such luck.  

 

I didn’t mark much at Hinckleys, but Snake looked like a yard sale, with targets EVERYWHERE.

 

It was drizzling when I got to Hinckley’s before dawn and then overcast the rest of the morning.

 

I fished deep and shallow, fast and slow.  The only thing I can come up with is that it was just the calm after a rainy night and the bite was shut off.  Not exactly what I expected from the Cape, but I gave it my best.

On 10/7/2019 at 9:01 PM, MassYak85 said:

Gonna be curious how the bite is after this stretch of cold rain coming up. 

See above ....

[Skunkd]

Just back from MV for 2 wks  9/21-10/4. All in all a great trip. Fantastic weather. Weighed my 1st ever derby albie @ 8.62 lbs. That was fun. Caught about a dozen more cookie cutter albies right around 25". All safely released. Found tons of small bass to 32" in the ponds and stumbled on some bruiser blues to 10lbs on Chappy. Ate a ton of good food, read "Commander in Cheat" by Rick Reilly about Trumps legendary golf cheating...hilarious. Already planning next years trip