Eastern Ma & New England Area Fishing Reports

[MassYak85]

Looks like a nice cool down this weekend. Should make for some pleasant fishing, we'll see about catching lol. 

[guidoStow]

I had a couple interesting days of fishing in SE MA this last week. Last saturday before Henri came to call caught a 15.5" white perch, a wonderfully strong fighting fish on a fly. Released her to fight another day without a photo. Only to discover when I checked after I got home it was big enough for the state award program... oops...

 

Then once things had settled after the storm I had two fantastic days on a private farm pond. Nice strong fighting fish topping out at 19". Some on top water poppers but mostly on a fly equivalent of a 6" black worm.

 

The right kind of vacation...

[DogBone_384]

5 hours ago, guidoStow said:

I had a couple interesting days of fishing in SE MA this last week.

Welcome to the forum. 

 

SE MA and Cape Cod have the best fresh water fishing by far.

 

Hang onto this thread.  Its members are great people and full of top notch info.

[guidoStow]

4 hours ago, DogBone_384 said:

Welcome to the forum. 

 

SE MA and Cape Cod have the best fresh water fishing by far.

 

Hang onto this thread.  Its members are great people and full of top notch info.

Thank you!

 

Several of my favorite trout ponds are in the SE and Cape areas. Some fine fishing being horded in that part of the state!

 

Yes it is filled with gems...

[bass.slayer69]

Had a somewhat decent day at a pond in Falmouth today. Much less fish than other times I’ve been there, and the water was a little colder than last time I was there. The only fish I managed were on a wacky rigged senko. My buddy caught his pb tho, his only fish of the day. Really tough bite today. Also got out to Morses Pond in Wellesley a few days ago, a lot of small fish but my buddy had a good sized fish on (~4 lbs) but broke off at the boat. Gonna be tough to go back home after this great fishing on the cape this summer

[MassYak85]

Got out in southern MA. They were very keyed in on smaller baitfish (I think landlocked alewives, saw multiple fish cough them up). Anyways, got into some good numbers using a weightless fluke fished fast but mostly dinks, a couple decent 2lbers but no bigs. 

[MassYak85]

Anotha one!

 

Got my 5th 5lber of the year, this time on my home lake. Got her in about 12 FOW around some deeper rocks on a finesse football jig. You ever set the hook and the rod just stops dead? Yea that's my favorite feeling in the world, happened twice today but I'll get to that. Anyways, she went 5-1oz, don't think she was a pin but she shook loose from my grip before I could get her on the board to measure. Later on fishing a weedy point I had a solid thump on a real prey crappie in bluegill pattern. I was fishing it on a dobyns 807 with braid, there's no give in that setup and I fish the drag locked. I swung and same deal, rod just stops....for about a second, before it spit it. Heartbreaking but I never got a look at the fish so I'll never know how big she was. From the hookset it felt BIG and the lack of any pickerel teeth marks I'm confident it was a bass. Oh well. A few casts later on a big bluegill wake a 2-3lber came up and swiped at it, never got hooks. Ended the day with just the one fish. They seemed to be deeper and coming up on structure to feed. Could have been a highlight-type day if my hooksets went the other way, but that's fishing. I'll take the one 5lber. 

[Don51]

Yep, somedays the hooksets just aren't there. Gets very frustrating!  

[Mr. Aquarium]

Caught some fish over the last few days. Nothing to right home about. 

[DogBone_384]

20 minutes ago, Mr. Aquarium said:

Nothing to right home about. 

Fall transition is only a few weeks away…

 

Booked trips for Cape in Sept, Oct, and Nov… I expect yo see you at at least one of them.

[Mr. Aquarium]

39 minutes ago, DogBone_384 said:

Fall transition is only a few weeks away…

 

Booked trips for Cape in Sept, Oct, and Nov… I expect yo see you at at least one of them.

Absolutely buddy! 

[Mikey99gofish]

On 8/20/2021 at 10:59 PM, DogBone_384 said:

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!

Don't you need a Plymouth resident beach sticker to park at Hedges?

[DogBone_384]

7 hours ago, Mikey99gofish said:

Don't you need a Plymouth resident beach sticker to park at Hedges?

Yes.

 

I dropped into Ponkapoag late this afternoon.  Four LMB and one yellow perch made it to the kayak, with the biggest LMB weighing 2.33 pounds.  Three bass came on a green/red flake Zoom curly tail worm and the rest on a 4.5" bluegill flash Easy Shiner on an underspin.  It was funny to see the perch holding onto the Easy Shiner's tail and not hook.

 

Water temps were 77.x - 79.x, air pressure was 29.7, and winds were 5 - 10 mph from the W.

[Mr. Aquarium]

I never needed a sticker to fish hedges. But I go during off hours and off season. 

[DogBone_384]

It's nice and crisp out there this morning .... good luck to everyone getting out there this weekend!

[MassYak85]

3 hours ago, DogBone_384 said:

It's nice and crisp out there this morning .... good luck to everyone getting out there this weekend!

Fall is in the air. I struggled hard this time of year last year, September was brutal. Hoping to learn a few things this year. 

[MassYak85]

Got into about half a dozen fish today. Pickerel seemed more active. Most fish came on a spinnerbait. I lost my biggest fish of the day after backing off my drag to avoid bending out the hook. Well it bent anyways and it gave the fish enough time to drag me into a rock. Never saw it might have been a pickerel. I love the jackal Doon spinnerbaits but man the hooks suck. I have to keep bending them back. Anything over 2lbs is too much. Sucks cause everything else about that spinnerbait is perfect. 

 

I'm liked obsessed with spinnerbaits and always looking for The One™️. I have a few favorites but the search is still on for the perfect bait. I'm convinced it doesn't exist yet. Gotta have quality components for the blades, good skirt patterns, hand tied, stout long hook like a worm hook with a wire keeper for trailers (ideally a double wire keeper like jackhammers). Idk, everyone I've ever tried doesn't have everything. Most don't have a good trailer keeper and the ones that do had other issues, usually with the hook choice. 

 

I know I'm being picky but zman nailed the jackhammer despite the price point. Maybe spinnerbaits aren't as popular but I'd think if someone came out with a "perfect" one for 15 bucks people would pay it. I know I would. 

[MassYak85]

Grinded it out with the big baits today. Started shallow with wakes but no interest. Then moved deep mostly fishing a real prey and cl8 possum trying to hit deep weed lines and structure. Got my one fish of the day on the real prey over some weeds on a point that drops off into the deepest part of the lake. Felt a tick then knocked slack into my line so I swung for the fences. Hook got her right in the roof of the mouth she wasn't coming off. Went 4-5 on the scale and 20.5 inches. 

[guidoStow]

First time out on a new pond yesterday morning. Got out a bit later than I wanted and found it was blowing pretty solidly. This was made worse by forgetting my anchor. I worked for a while with a 4" swim bait fly as the kayak was moving too quickly for slower presentations. Got one enthusiastic 12" Black Crappie. But that was it. But lots of interesting looking water and structure so I'll be back.

[MassYak85]

Got out early to avoid the labor day traffic. Nice sunrise as the front moved out. Unfortunately the bite left with it. My dad managed a TOAD that went 6.2 on a topwater popper right off the bat but that was the highlight of the day. We managed some smaller ones out deep but it was very slow. 

[The one that got away]

I should post here more often, but anyway...

 

Got out to one of my local spots for almost four hours Sunday.  Haven't been there in a while.  WEEDY almost everywhere.  The bite was brutal, which was surprising because the weather conditions seemed favorable.  Only one decent pickerel made it to the canoe.  Broke off on a couple of larger pickerel.  Threw a chatterbait, buzzbait, wacky rig, jig, and Sluggo.

 

Got out again Monday to my usual local spot, this time with my partner in front of the canoe.  He lost a couple big ones on a frog and got a few on a popper late in the day.  One of his swings and misses was directly in front of the boat - the frog went flying by him over his left shoulder and nailed me in the chest.  He turned around and said I looked like the photo of Lee Harvey Oswald when he got shot by Jack Ruby.  The water spot of the frog on my t-shirt looked like the chalk outline from a crime scene and we got a good laugh out it.  Floating jointed Rapala and Sluggo got my fish.  I got three or four bass and a couple of pickerel.  Tried punching for the first time and quickly learned I will need a heavier weight, although I did get one of the pickerel on the punch rig in a less sparse area.

 

Planning a first time trip to the CT river later this week for whatever bites, so we'll see how that goes.  

 

Hope everyone is getting out there and getting some fish.  Can't catch 'em if you stay home.  Also, friendly reminder that PFD's are required to be worn in canoes/kayaks after Sept 15

[Mr. Aquarium]

Hope you guys got on some fish this weekend!  It wasn’t a good weekend for me. First plan was to go tuna fishing but that got cancelled.  That’s fine. Then we decided to go albie fishing in RI with a few buddies to shore fish.  Woke up at 1 am to have the same buddy cancel on me again. He was picking me up cuz I have no car cuz I totaled my car while chasing bones in Ri a few weeks ago. He said he had a bad feeling.   I have a bad feeling everyday it’s called anxiety.  
 
I was not happy. Very pisser off 

[DogBone_384]

Had an hour after work so I dropped into Sunset Lake.  Caught two LMB and lost one at the kayak, with the biggest just under two pounds.  I needed only a T1000 Whopper Plopper 110.

 

Water temps hovered around 75 degrees.  It was nearly calm and clear as a bell.  Air pressure was 29.9.

[The one that got away]

I have the week of from work, so I put the canoe in Webster Lake today.  I normally avoid the place from Memorial Day to Labor Day due to too many boats.  I guess a lot of people took today off, because there were a lot of powered boats out there.  Sunny skies and a consistent light breeze, which makes things tough in a canoe on a big body of water.  

Threw a couple different mid-sized cranks and a couple of spinnerbaits (one white, one bluegill pattern) for the majority of the time, with a wacky rig here and there until the last hour or so when I switched to topwater.  

Couldn't find much today.  Got a short fat LMB on the spinnerbait, lost another very small one at the boat, and missed on a couple good spinnerbait hits.  Not sure what was up with that, because I was using a trailer hook.  I'm embarrassed to say that I got a bluegill on a crankbait - not what I'm looking for.  It was a tough four hours or so. 

Me and my usual fishing partner are taking a road trip to the CT river tomorrow.  First time out there.  I saw a recent post on another forum that someone had a good smallie day recently using the WP and 4" soft jerkbaits, so I guess I'll start with those and try to figure them out.  

[MassYak85]

13 hours ago, The one that got away said:

I have the week of from work, so I put the canoe in Webster Lake today.  I normally avoid the place from Memorial Day to Labor Day due to too many boats.  I guess a lot of people took today off, because there were a lot of powered boats out there.  Sunny skies and a consistent light breeze, which makes things tough in a canoe on a big body of water.  

Threw a couple different mid-sized cranks and a couple of spinnerbaits (one white, one bluegill pattern) for the majority of the time, with a wacky rig here and there until the last hour or so when I switched to topwater.  

Couldn't find much today.  Got a short fat LMB on the spinnerbait, lost another very small one at the boat, and missed on a couple good spinnerbait hits.  Not sure what was up with that, because I was using a trailer hook.  I'm embarrassed to say that I got a bluegill on a crankbait - not what I'm looking for.  It was a tough four hours or so. 

Me and my usual fishing partner are taking a road trip to the CT river tomorrow.  First time out there.  I saw a recent post on another forum that someone had a good smallie day recently using the WP and 4" soft jerkbaits, so I guess I'll start with those and try to figure them out.  

Webster can be tough when the conditions aren't great and there's a lot of traffic. I've had great days there but never got anything over 5lbs. But they're in there. I've had great numbers days when they decide to blitz the baitballs of landlocked alewives.