Eastern Ma & New England Area Fishing Reports

[DogBone_384]

3 hours ago, MassBass said:

pillahs

yup ... typical New Englander!

[dovii]

Looking for pointers around Boston metrowest area. Mostly fish on my hobie kayak, and stay in Westborough/Hopkinton/Ashland area. However, I am now looking to venture out a bit and want to check if experts here would have recommendation for me ?

Would love to try some other spots ~30-45 mins away from Boston metrowest area.

[MassYak85]

2 hours ago, dovii said:

Looking for pointers around Boston metrowest area. Mostly fish on my hobie kayak, and stay in Westborough/Hopkinton/Ashland area. However, I am now looking to venture out a bit and want to check if experts here would have recommendation for me ?

Would love to try some other spots ~30-45 mins away from Boston metrowest area.

I grew up in that area.

 

A1 (Assebett Resevoir Number 1) in Westborough is a great spot for kayak fisherman. Not exactly a secret at this point and you'll have busy days on there but it can be good. Whitehall is another good lake, also very busy with both fishing and recreational pressure. Lots of tournies there, tons of variety for cover. 

[Cory Doras]

11 hours ago, dovii said:

Looking for pointers around Boston metrowest area. Mostly fish on my hobie kayak, and stay in Westborough/Hopkinton/Ashland area. However, I am now looking to venture out a bit and want to check if experts here would have recommendation for me ?

Would love to try some other spots ~30-45 mins away from Boston metrowest area.

Chauncy in Westboro! I fished that lake for years and almost never disappoints. I have 1 go to spot and 3 others that were productive. 

Also, Fort Meadow Res in Hudson/Marlboro. A lot of big bass in there both LM and SM. Another place that never disappoints.

[bass.slayer69]

16 hours ago, dovii said:

Would love to try some other spots ~30-45 mins away from Boston metrowest area.

If you’re willing to drive a bit (and play it a little risky) Lake Waban has been treating me well as of late. I will warn you, Wellesley College is extremely protective of the lake, even though they do not own it. Even in the summer, when no students are there, a guy on a motorboat from the college warned me that I shouldn’t be there when I was on my canoe. I have also been ticketed for parking on Pond St., the closest point of access on public land. However, if you can get in there unscathed, you will be treated to some awesome fishing. Now that I’m thinking about it, most of my honey holes are all sort of questionable in their own right. Whatever it takes to get on some good bass, am I right?

[DogBone_384]

I fished a private pond today with @Fishing Rhino.  Had a good day. Landed 7 LMB. All but one were at, or above two pounds.  Five liked a t-rigged green pumpkin/black flake Palmetto Bug, one a bone Whopper Plopper 110, and the last came on a blue/black 3.8” Fat Swing Impact on an underspin.  Lost two and had a couple of followers.

 

@Fishing Rhino caught at least as many fish, with most being 2 pounds +,-.  Nearly all fish were skinny, looking bigger than they weighed.  
 

We didn’t have electronics today, but the water felt warmer than the air temp.  It was overcast when we launched and rained for most of the trip after the first hour.  Air pressure was 30.2 and winds were 5 - 7 mph.

[dovii]

On 8/3/2021 at 9:49 PM, MassYak85 said:

I grew up in that area.

 

A1 (Assebett Resevoir Number 1) in Westborough is a great spot for kayak fisherman. Not exactly a secret at this point and you'll have busy days on there but it can be good. Whitehall is another good lake, also very busy with both fishing and recreational pressure. Lots of tournies there, tons of variety for cover. 

Thanks. I did go to A1 and that pond has crazy weeds to the point that it’s difficult to pedal my kayak without getting hung up in matting. I have done some shoreline there and a few spots have produced for me, if I am willing to hike a bit.?

20 hours ago, bass.slayer69 said:

If you’re willing to drive a bit (and play it a little risky) Lake Waban has been treating me well as of late. I will warn you, Wellesley College is extremely protective of the lake, even though they do not own it. Even in the summer, when no students are there, a guy on a motorboat from the college warned me that I shouldn’t be there when I was on my canoe. I have also been ticketed for parking on Pond St., the closest point of access on public land. However, if you can get in there unscathed, you will be treated to some awesome fishing. Now that I’m thinking about it, most of my honey holes are all sort of questionable in their own right. Whatever it takes to get on some good bass, am I right?

Ha ha I know, I sometimes think I might be trespassing when going to spots that I think haven’t seen other anglers to get better hookups? never been to waban, so there aren’t any good launching spots on the lake anywhere? Would prefer if I don’t get ticketed when fishing ?

thanks! I will check it out.

On 8/4/2021 at 7:03 AM, Cory Doras said:

Chauncy in Westboro! I fished that lake for years and almost never disappoints. I have 1 go to spot and 3 others that were productive. 

Also, Fort Meadow Res in Hudson/Marlboro. A lot of big bass in there both LM and SM. Another place that never disappoints.

I fish on Chauncy often, and it started getting lesser productive for me over the years. Admittedly I have not fished on kayak here though, which I will do now ? hopefully I figure out your spots from years ago ?

fort meadow does not seem to have a boat ramp for non town residents (I don’t live in Hudson or Marlborough), looking at google reviews. I have driven past it so many times visiting the ice rink nearby never really thought of fishing there. I will do a drive around and see if there are any other spots I can launch from.

[dovii]

On 8/2/2021 at 6:37 PM, MassBass said:

Reporting in, hit the river in perhaps its most urban stretch. Paddled out in a rental yak, and spent some time with a chatterbait but hauled water. Soon switched to  a proven spinner. Hucked the spinner off the back of the yak for a quick troll, and bam smallie on and jumpin. Brought him in for the catch, photo, release. Continued on trolling and casting the inline. Came to a great bridge with an expanse of pillahs and switched to a rattlebait. Savage strike, fish on, then he jumped and threw the bait, then jumped again just for the heck of it! Made an adjustment and put new trebles on the rattlebait. Fished more and more pillahs, tried dropping and swimming a white grub around the pillahs, I was getting sunfish nibbles alot I reckon, but no solid bass takes. Put the rattlebait back on and bam landed a sm. Trolled back and landed a good white perch on the spinnah.     

That is so cool, catching fish in Charles. I hate driving into the city but maybe on a weekend I could try here. Are there public boat launch areas I can launch kayak from?

[DogBone_384]

4 hours ago, dovii said:

Are there public boat launch areas I can launch kayak from?

I’ve launched here a couple times.

 

https://g.co/kgs/obmGZG

 

Here’s a link for all public ramps from the MA’s website:

 

https://mass-eoeea.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=c956ffbcff3142c2b6295985cce37372

 

Good luck!

[MassYak85]

7 hours ago, DogBone_384 said:

I’ve launched here a couple times.

 

https://g.co/kgs/obmGZG

 

Here’s a link for all public ramps from the MA’s website:

 

https://mass-eoeea.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=c956ffbcff3142c2b6295985cce37372

 

Good luck!

That launch is good and has lots or parking. Only issue is that section of the river has so many rowers. Some are good about looking where they are going, some are not. Trying to fish the shoreline is like playing in the middle of a street sometimes. If you're in a kayak, bring a whistle. 

[MassBass]

23 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

That launch is good and has lots or parking. Only issue is that section of the river has so many rowers. Some are good about looking where they are going, some are not. Trying to fish the shoreline is like playing in the middle of a street sometimes. If you're in a kayak, bring a whistle. 

It is fast and furious. There are big yachts, big party boats, infinite inexperienced kayakers, and rowing teams training for speed. If you want to just sit and jig- you will quite literally get run over! 

[DogBone_384]

2 hours ago, MassBass said:

It is fast and furious. There are big yachts, big party boats, infinite inexperienced kayakers, and rowing teams training for speed.

I live only a few miles from there. One of the reasons You’ll find me at Hinckleys and/or Snake pond tomorrow… it’s worth the drive.

[dovii]

On 8/4/2021 at 7:03 AM, Cory Doras said:

Chauncy in Westboro! I fished that lake for years and almost never disappoints. I have 1 go to spot and 3 others that were productive. 

Also, Fort Meadow Res in Hudson/Marlboro. A lot of big bass in there both LM and SM. Another place that never disappoints.

went here after you suggested and caught some nice ones very quickly! Had the whole pond to myself, and it was for the most part no wind which is nice at Chauncy (it doesn’t have as much cover so if it’s windy I fine it harder to fish there).

Thanks for the suggestion again!

[DogBone_384]

Launched at Sheep around 11:00 this morning and met @Saltysmalljaws as he was coming off the water.  He said he had a good morning and that the smallies were chewing.  I took his advice and quickly found a 2.33 SMB in about 20' of water on a green/gold flake tube.  That was the highlight of the day.  I marked plenty of fish, roughly where Jake said he'd had luck, but drop shot, deep crank, chatter bait, tube, and a 5" perch wacky rigged Senko produced zilch.  I had a couple follow my  TacticalBassin' deep crank, but that was it.

 

I left Sheep and went over to Hinckleys, hoping for some late afternoon topwater action.  Nope.  Three and a half hours of throwing what I threw at Sheep and more, came up with a 3/4 pound white perch.

 

Water temps were in the low 80's.  Winds were light in the late morning but picked up to 15+ by the time I launched at Hinckleys.  Air pressure was 30.

 

To add some salt... I stopped by Hedges to make a few topwater casts from shore.  Four casts later my Whopper Plopper was gone.

 

Not worth the four hour round trip.   Tomorrow's another day.  

 

Hope everyone that got out this weekend did better than I did today.

 

[Mr. Aquarium]

Great day fishing in RI. Caught my first chub mack. Big schools moving around. Caught 4 lost 1. Caught a new PB scup while looking for triggers and puffer fish. Tons of big scup. 
 

On our way back home we checked a salt marsh pond.  Lot of different minnows. Mullet, rainwater killifish, mummichogs, sheepshead minnows, and striped killifish. But there’s one that we can’t figure out. 
 

It’s the one in the first picture. 
 

also caught a 4 spine stickleback on Friday 

[MassYak85]

@Mr. Aquarium I gotta admire how much you enjoy catching other species even if they're tiny lol. 

[DogBone_384]

1 hour ago, MassYak85 said:

@Mr. Aquarium I gotta admire how much you enjoy catching other species even if they're tiny lol. 

Hence the name ….. 

[Mr. Aquarium]

16 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

@Mr. Aquarium I gotta admire how much you enjoy catching other species even if they're tiny lol. 

I love catchin all species big or small. My goal in life is to catch as many species as possible 

I’ve caught a total of 91 species 

[MassYak85]

I've been struggling last couple times out. Doesn't help I'm waiting on a spinning rod still so I've been kind of forcing the power fishing more than I should.

[bass.slayer69]

Got out at a pond in Falmouth on the yak for a few hours this morning. Got 4 fish in the boat, 2 on a Choppo and the other 2 on a 5” senko. Biggest of the day was 3-6, a new PB for me! Wasn’t much but it felt good to land one of my first decent fish. The bigger fish were hiding among some vertical weeds that I saw on the surface. They seem to be getting a bit more aggressive and really inhaling lures, maybe a sign of a slight fall transition? Good luck if you can get out this week, should be beautiful weather

[gjfisher]

On 8/16/2021 at 12:47 PM, MassYak85 said:

I've been struggling last couple times out. Doesn't help I'm waiting on a spinning rod still so I've been kind of forcing the power fishing more than I should.

Definitely tougher for me as well on those dog days of summer!  Three patterns still work for me most of the time: 1. topwater, usually popper or plopper in early morning; 2. chatterbait at transition points from weed to gravel/sand when there's a little chop; 3. finesse, usually 4 or 7 inch worm in june bug color.  I always bring my spinning rod these days if I want to catch some fish.

[MassYak85]

On 8/19/2021 at 3:52 PM, gjfisher said:

Definitely tougher for me as well on those dog days of summer!  Three patterns still work for me most of the time: 1. topwater, usually popper or plopper in early morning; 2. chatterbait at transition points from weed to gravel/sand when there's a little chop; 3. finesse, usually 4 or 7 inch worm in june bug color.  I always bring my spinning rod these days if I want to catch some fish.

I've been stubborn about downsizing the worms. Early half of summer I usually kill it on a 10" power worm but it seems once the water temps peak they don't always respond as well to it. 

[DogBone_384]

Got out to Ponkapoag in Canton Wednesday evening for a while.  Caught three LMB and one pick.  Nothing of any size, but one Larry fought pretty good. Various green/red flake soft baits did the trick.  Water temps were in the low 80's, winds were about 10 mph from the south, and air pressure was 30.2.

 

Finished work early this afternoon and took off to Hedges in Plymouth for the first time in a while.  Conditions looked perfect for topwater: mostly cloudy and near-glass smooth water.  I threw a Whopper Plopper, Rapala Skitter Walk, Vision 110+1 jr, Lucky Craft Pointer, various DT's, various drop shot baits, a 3.8" Keitech, ... breath .... a green/gold flake tube, and a green pumpkin/red Zoom Baby Brush Hog.

 

The night sure didn't pan out as I'd hoped, but I nabbed two SMB and one FAT yellow perch.  One smallie took the tube, shallow, right next to a lay-down.  The perch grabbed the clown V110 jr, and the second SMB ate the Baby Brush Hog near the grass along the NE shore. 

 

Water temps at Hedges was 80.x and air pressure was 29.9.

 

It's been a tough year, but fall is not far away.  Jerkbaits and drop-shotting are on my 'improvement' list... Cape Cod calls!

[bass.slayer69]

Got on a solid T-rig bite today down the Cape. All dinks but probably landed around 10 fish on a 5” green pumpkin Yum Dinger in around 10-15 ft of water. Water was noticeably colder than the other times I’ve fished this place.

[DogBone_384]

Took a friend's son to Mash/Wake yesterday.  Not a bad day, a handful of dinks and one decent SMB towards the end of the day.  This was Evan's only fishing trip this year.  He caught a handful of yellow perch, one white perch, and a nice SMB (roughly 2 pounds).

 

I marked most fish suspended in 20'+ and saw one big SMB cruise under my boat while sitting in 15' or so, near a steep drop off.

 

Water temps were 84.x, it was hot and humid with light winds from the SW.  Air pressure was 30.1.