Eastern Ma & New England Area Fishing Reports

[Mr. Aquarium]

Good stuff dude. I need a boat so I can get on some  nice winter smallies 

[MassYak85]

Ended a 3 day ice fishing stretch today. 2 ponds, probably 15 total hours on the ice, about 40 fish with a mix of picks, bass, crappie, sunfish, and perch. Got to try out my new Jig rod and did fairly well on that. Tipups yielded most of the bass but the size just wasn't there. Today was the slowest day, with rapidly deteriorating ice conditions as the temperature got up to 55. Beautiful day, and a bit surreal to be standing on the water given the weather. Saw a few Eagles too, they are really making a come back for sure. Gonna take a break for the holiday to do stuff with family and then might be back out at the end of the week depending how well the ice holds up. 

[Dunks N Dinks]

anyone know a good site (other than Ebay) to sell/trade used electronics...I have a Helix 9 G2N GPS/Sonar unit and transducer for sale....and a humminbird 360

[DogBone_384]

Took a ride to Plymouth, looking for open water.  Hedges, my ‘go to’, is locked up.  I then drove to Snake Pond, in Sandwich, and found it roughly 1/3 skimmed over, but accessible.

 

I hit the water about 1:15 and stayed until 4:00 when the temperature dropped like a rock.  I needed only the Damiki blade bait that worked well at Hedges.  I got two nice, healthy, smallmouth in the kayak: a 1.24 and 2.02.  Both were in roughly 20-25’ of water, near steep drop offs.

 

Water temps were 39.0 when I launched, and 38.2 when I packed up.  Air pressure was 30.4 and the wind was on/off at about 10 mph from the northeast.

 

I’m going to try to get out again tomorrow, but if I don’t, I caught fish in MA, in open water in all months except January and February.  All in all, a successful year fishing.  Bring on 2020!

 

ADD: I forgot to mention that Great Herring was wide open when I drove by.

[Mr. Aquarium]

Congrats dogbone.  Let’s get you those January and February fish 

[DogBone_384]

1 hour ago, Mr. Aquarium said:

Let’s get you those January and February fish

Hopefully the Cape will stay open.  I will, however, drill holes if need be....

[Mr. Aquarium]

I’ll definitely try to get out on the yak all winter. Even if I have to fish the bigger lakes

[DogBone_384]

3 hours ago, Mr. Aquarium said:

get out on the yak all winter

My Lure is on top of my truck as we speak...

[DogBone_384]

...man, nothing but crickets out here .... 

[Mr. Aquarium]

Chirp chirp 

[Dunks N Dinks]

anyone getting out tomorrow? Might drizzle but there's plenty of open water on the Cape?

[Mr. Aquarium]

I found open water as far north as marshfield (where I live. Not sure about further north. Down south has open water 

I may try to get out this weekend

[DogBone_384]

15 hours ago, Dunks N Dinks said:

anyone getting out tomorrow?

I'm planning on it.  Probably Plymouth and not the Cape.  Packing neoprene waders and my good rain gear.

 

My first choice is Hedges, but if that's solid, I got a couple nice SMB at Snake pond, not too far over the bridge.

[DogBone_384]

I packed my good rain gear and hit Hedges for a spell this afternoon.  It looked almost perfect at the beach, with nary a ripple and misty fog around the tree line.

 

I forgot my blade bait rod so I made do with various crank, jerk, and lipless trebles as well as a black 2.8” Keitech Fat Impact on a 1/10 oz Ned jig head.  I also brought a 1/16 hair jig on a 9’6” Float’n’Fly rod to entice some yellow perch.

 

My first fish for ‘20 came anout 1/2 hour on the water when a 1 1/2 pound SMB took the black Keitech off the bottom, with just a ‘tick’.  It was quiet for the next 45 minutes when two more smallies, 2 and 1 3/4 pounds, respectively, took a SMB colored LV-500 lipless off the bottom.  

Everyone was caught in 12-15’ of water at the bottom of a drop-off on the N/NW side.  It was the only part of Hedges I marked much on my Lowrance.

 

All three fish had a respectable fight in them (for winter), had great colors, and decent bellies on them.

 

Water temps settled in at 40.2 and the air pressure was 29.6.

 

I have to thank Matt & Tim of TactialBassin for their YouTube channel. That’s where I got the 2.8” Keitech & LV-500 idea from.

 

A good start to ‘20.  Hopefully Plymouth & Cape Cod stay open and I’ll get February & March checked off too.

[je1946]

6 hours ago, DogBone_384 said:

I packed my good rain gear and hit Hedges for a spell this afternoon.  It looked almost perfect at the beach, with nary a ripple and misty fog around the tree line.

 

I forgot my blade bait rod so I made do with various crank, jerk, and lipless trebles as well as a black 2.8” Keitech Fat Impact on a 1/10 oz Ned jig head.  I also brought a 1/16 hair jig on a 9’6” Float’n’Fly rod to entice some yellow perch.

 

My first fish for ‘20 came anout 1/2 hour on the water when a 1 1/2 pound SMB took the black Keitech off the bottom, with just a ‘tick’.  It was quiet for the next 45 minutes when two more smallies, 2 and 1 3/4 pounds, respectively, took a SMB colored LV-500 lipless off the bottom.  

Everyone was caught in 12-15’ of water at the bottom of a drop-off on the N/NW side.  It was the only part of Hedges I marked much on my Lowrance.

 

All three fish had a respectable fight in them (for winter), had great colors, and decent bellies on them.

 

Water temps settled in at 40.2 and the air pressure was 29.6.

 

I have to thank Matt & Tim of TactialBassin for their YouTube channel. That’s where I got the 2.8” Keitech & LV-500 idea from.

 

A good start to ‘20.  Hopefully Plymouth & Cape Cod stay open and I’ll get February & March checked off too.

Way to stick with it Mike. 

[MassYak85]

19 hours ago, DogBone_384 said:

I have to thank Matt & Tim of TactialBassin for their YouTube channel. That’s where I got the 2.8” Keitech & LV-500 idea from.

 

Outside of just reading forums like this one Matt and Tim have by far had the biggest impact on my fishing. I've tried so many things I wouldn't have otherwise from their videos. 

[MassYak85]

I hope you guys take advantage of the weather this weekend. 60 and sunny on the Cape it looks like for Saturday. I was tempted to pull out the open water gear and kayak and make the long drive down there this weekend but the 20mph wind is gonna make that a no for me. 60 in mid January though is insane. 

[Brian Jackson]

17 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

I hope you guys take advantage of the weather this weekend. 60 and sunny on the Cape it looks like for Saturday. I was tempted to pull out the open water gear and kayak and make the long drive down there this weekend but the 20mph wind is gonna make that a no for me. 60 in mid January though is insane. 

Me and my son are hitting the water Saturday and Sunday. Hopefully gonna put the new Minn Kota PowerDrive and iPilot to the test in these winds. 

[Mr. Aquarium]

I’ll be out in the yak braving the wind

[Mr. Aquarium]

First trip of the year today. It was bit windy out there especially in the kayak.  But it was so worth it. Decided to try and scratch up a holdover striper.   Got one, fought hard as hell. Man, I sure do love these striped fish.    Had a few whacks.  Got a couple of huge white perch also got a few jumbo yellows!  
 

Decided to do a recon mission down the cape Wanted to check out a new spot I’ve been eyeing.  Just wanted to get a feel for it.  Wasn’t expecting to slay the bass.  Got  a bunch of fish. Mostly 1-2 lbs fish. Biggest one was 3.11. All fish came on hudd weedless shad. Tossing an 8 inch hudd. It got CRUSHED. Missed the fish.  I had a few hits on the real prey pond shiner. They didn’t want anything else. Tried a rattle trap, jerkbait and real prey perch.  Man did they CRUSH the weedless hudd shad. The bass  were beating it like it owed them money. 
 

such an incredible first trip of the year. So happy. Couldn’t have asked for a better day.  

[DogBone_384]

Awesome start to the year Mike!  Weather looks warm again later this week.  I might head to the Cape and try my luck there.

[MassYak85]

You guys are making me jealous lol, that's a FAT white perch @Mr. Aquarium.

[Mr. Aquarium]

Thanks buddy!! Plenty of open water down here!!!
Got out again today shore mission.  Got a late start thinking it was going to rain. Pond hoping around carver.  
first spot, small super shallow and weedy.  Been here handful of times never killed it. Don’t hit this spot often.   Hit the dam area. It was the wind blown shore also sun baked. Recipe for good fishin.  Had a few good hits, managed 2 bass few pickerel. Real preys and hudds got the job done.  Nothing big. figured this was the pattern to be following. Yesterday was the same pattern. Fishing the windy  sun baked dam area. Couldn’t repeat the pattern again.  just couldn’t find a spot with the recipe. 

spot 2. Shallow weedy a bit bigger then pond 1. Fished 2 spots on it. The dam area. Nothing. Went to the sunny calm area.  Got  a big hit on the hudd.  Only hit I got here. 
 

spot 3. I’ve heard good things. Biggest out of the 3 ponds I fished. Shallow and weedy.  Started out fishing the sunny side. Started out slower. Got a hit on the hudd. Wasn’t a big fish. Kept walking around hitting the shallow wind blown shore.  Slow fishin. Got one small bass on a chatter bait. 
worked my way back. Started getting more hits as the sun was going down. Couple more big hits on the hudds.  Some small pickerels.  Saw a few splashes and swirls

[LadiMopar]

Hey guys! Hope all of you are doing well this winter.  It's nice to see a few of you are still able to wet a line south and east.  The Cape is a two hour run from here, and not usually on my go to list of places, but if you all keep teasing us more northerly bass-a-holics with your amazing pics...well I might just have to reconsider 

 

The NE Fishing Expo [Boxborough] is coming up quick, anyone planning on being there on Saturday the 25th?  It would be nice to finally meet up with some of you.

[Mr. Aquarium]

I’ll be there as well. Thinking Saturday. Some awesome stuff, lot of swimbaits