Eastern Ma & New England Area Fishing Reports

[bass.slayer69]

On 11/5/2021 at 2:03 PM, NE.Angler said:

Where would I park if I wanted to fish Schnecks?

South side of Norumbega, there is a little pull-off to the side of the road. Then follow the west side of the trail going north, you will then see it down a fairly steep hill. Good luck.

[NE.Angler]

On 11/6/2021 at 3:59 PM, bass.slayer69 said:

South side of Norumbega, there is a little pull-off to the side of the road. Then follow the west side of the trail going north, you will then see it down a fairly steep hill. Good luck.

Thanks for the tip! I actually tried Schnecks this weekend and my buddy was able to pull a nice 2lb smallie out of there. The pond was way shallower and weedier than I imagined which made finding the fish difficult

[Styguy922]

Fished Pleasant Pond in Wenham on Saturday.  Last time I had fished this body if water, the shallows were choked with weeds but the mid depths were clear with some secondary points and flats.  Main basin of the lake gets to be about 40' deep and is stocked with trout.  With the cold night prior and bright sun during the day, I anticipated fish would be deeper as conventional wisdom suggests bass shy away from unstable/highly variable water temps in the shallows (temp at 11am was much warmer - around 57 degrees whereas in the AM only around 49).  This, combined with the blue bird skies had me using lipless cranks, small swimbaits, and jerkbaits in 10-15 feet.  I saw plenty of fish on sonar but assumed they were trout due to overall volume and 20'+ location around no real visible structure.

 

Made my way around the lake and noticed some signs of bluegill jumping up shallow.  Sure enough, I could see them all around my kayak as I paddled though the remaining lily pad rhizomes.  At this point, I had limited time left before I had to leave and head out for a meet up with some friends.  I instantly changed my lure choice to a Beast Coast Miyagi Swimbait in a bluegill pattern and started targeting patches of semi-dead vegetation and laydowns on a thin, shallow flat, adjacent to a drop off into deep water.  Instantly caught a small LMB and missed 2 others (only keel-weighted EWG hooks I had were 2 sizes too small so my best luck at sticking them was if they were able to really get their mouth around the bait. Bad prep on my part!).  After that, it was a pickerel fest and before I could hit that productive stretch again, it was time to head out.

 

While not a stellar day, it was fun to try and figure out what the fish were doing.  My company is taking an org-wide day off on Friday and we received Veterans day off as well so I will have plenty of time end of this week to head out again!  Hope everyone else had a chance to get out or is planning to this week!

[bass.slayer69]

6 hours ago, NE.Angler said:

The pond was way shallower and weedier than I imagined which made finding the fish difficult

That’s my issue with Schenks. There is a ton of vegetation around the perimeter which makes fishing difficult, and why I prefer Norumbega. I wonder if the two are connected.

[NE.Angler]

20 hours ago, bass.slayer69 said:

That’s my issue with Schenks. There is a ton of vegetation around the perimeter which makes fishing difficult, and why I prefer Norumbega. I wonder if the two are connected.

Isn't fishing not allowed at Norumbega?

[DogBone_384]

I fished 2 1/2 days last week, starting at Wequaquet, moving to Long Pond, and finishing at Monoponset, in Halifax.  

 

Monday afternoon was Wequaquet and a short stint at Long Pond.  I did well, numbers wise, with a mix of LMB, white and yellow perch, and a couple picks, all on a GG Trout Vision 110.  Long Pond told a similar tale, with a mix of white perch and SMB.  All fish were small, but action was consistent, and were caught on wind blown shores.  Water temps at Wequaquet were 54.x and 57.x at LPH.  Winds were 15+ from the north.  Air pressure was 30.1.

 

Tuesday was a grind at LPH.  I fished dawn to dusk and  @Saltysmalljaws met me before lunch and stayed until his kids got out of school.  We threw the kitchen and bathroom sinks all over the place and came up with perch, and only perch.  We didn't really mark much as far as bait balls either.  The weather was nice, almost 60 degrees and sunny, almost late Spring bluebird-ish.  Air pressure was 30, and winds were light from the southwest.

 

I had to get back to reality Wednesday, but I had the morning to fish.  I stopped at Stetson Pond on the way home but found a fallen tree across the launch.  I moved to Monoponset and found the water temps 52.x - 53.x.  I threw a variety of baits and came up empty.  Air pressure was 30 and winds were 5 - 10 mph from the NW.  

 

I walked Blue Hills Reservoir yesterday afternoon, tossing a KVD, Rapala, and Lucky Craft jerk bait.  Struck out there too.  

 

It's time to break out the hair jigs and blade baits. ?

[Styguy922]

Billington Sea 

• Water Temp: 50-54
• Partly cloudy
• Wind: 2mph (morning) 10mph (1pm)
• Presentation(s): Vision 110, Ned Rig
• 2 LMB (5-8'), 10+ pickerel, 1 crappie 

 

Woke up early yesterday and made the pilgrimage down to Plymouth (ha ha) to fish Billington Sea for the first time since last November/Early December.  Was an absolutely beautiful morning and water was like glass which would make for some great paddling. 

 

Water temps upon arrival were 50 and warmed up quickly to around 54 by 10 or so.  From what I remembered from my previous outing here, shallow cover was scarce and vegetation was really thin at this time of year on this particular lake, so I didn't bother fishing much up shallow.  Most of the bait I noticed was in 6-10' of water anyways.  My plan of attack was to focus on extended underwater points and inside turns close to deep water as I figured there may be some green vegetation left.  Could hardly find ANY which was surprising but proceeded anyways.  Threw a Vision 110 the whole time and got 2 LMB relatively quickly.  Both were in 5-8' of water and for a moment I had a pattern going!      

 

Then, it quickly turned into a pickerel fest and I started trying different areas (and re-tying my line).  Caught a break from the pickerel with one huge crappie.  Back at the launch I talked to some of the guys loading up their boats and they caught strictly pickerel all day (also using jerkbaits) so I'd say I got lucky with the bass.  While loading my kayak, started talking to a guy who ended up being the owner of Bico jigs!  He was a real nice guy and gave me a handful of his new trailers to try.  They look great - nice subtle action which will be perfect as the water continues to cool.  I've spent today reflecting on how I could have increased the bass to pickerel ratio and my only thoughts are to have utilized more of a pulling retrieve/less action with the jerkbait OR spent more time with the ned rig (or jig) trying for bottom contact action.  Caught all my bass in the AM so perhaps their mood changed to more neutral/inactive as the day progressed.....

 

Couldn't go out today with the miserable weather so tomorrow or Sunday, it is!  Have a great weekend, everyone.

[MassYak85]

I've got another long weekend underway here, with yesterday and today off work. Long read, but bear with me.

 

Thursday:

Yesterday was beautiful but didn't make for great fishing. Me and my dad hit a local pond that's shallow and gets choked with weeds. That made it tough slowing down with anything like jerkbaits. I did get my only bass on a jig, but it was more of a reaction bite as the jig was falling. That one was decent size and weighed 3-5. Skinny fish though, definitely needs a few cheeseburgers (or bluegill) before winter. My dad ended up outfishing me 5-1 and one-upped my 3-5 with a much smaller-framed but fatter and healthier fish that went 3-6. All his fish came on a spinnerbait, in a "textbook" color pattern for the conditions...Neon Yellow with blue accents. I was puzzled considering they wouldn't touch any spinnerbait I owned. Sometimes it doesn't have to make sense, it just has to work. 

 

Now...on to today.

 

Friday:

Today is a day I will never forget. Weather was forecasted to be bad, rain and 15mph winds, but we both have full raingear and have fished in worse, or so we thought. We set off at the ramp at 7:30am at another local spot. It started to drizzle almost immediately but there was no wind to start. We worked slowly, and I tried to force the swimbait bite with some trout imitations but that didn't work out. I managed to get one bass in a stump field on a chatterbait before we started covering more water. As the day went on the rain got worse, and the wind kicked up. My dad managed the biggest yet again, this time on a glidebait, and oddly enough as it was falling. The bass hit on the edge of a drop that goes from a few feet with weeds into almost 20ft. That fish went 3-11. He got another on an underspin too. Since the wind was coming mostly from the South we decided to start fishing some of the North coves and shorelines that had been getting pounded for a few hours now. We made that move between 12 and 1. At this point the weather was exactly what was forecasted, constant steady rain and 15mph winds. Now I had started catching fish consistently on the chatterbait at this point so it was too late to call it quits. We worked our way around the North "Bay" of the lake where I got my total to 5 bass.

 

At this point it was obvious the forecast had undersold what we were about to encounter. The early afternoon was the worst weather I have ever fished in. We've fished colder days sure, encountered a few summer downpours, and fished a few days with some truly nasty winds, but nothing in combination like this. As we started working back out of the bay headed back against the wind, 15mph had turned into 30mph gusting over 40, and the rain was coming down in absolute sheets. Opposite shorelines were no longer visible. My dad has an 18' Lund with a Terrova trolling motor on it and at one point it was maxed out at 10 and was just barely able to hold position. Around 3 the worst of it passed and holes started appearing in the clouds. The wind died almost completely and the rain turned to sprinkles right before the edge of the stormed showed itself...and made for one hell of a sunset and even a rainbow. 

 

All said and done I got 8 bass on the chatterbait. Very weird bite it was almost just like they were on, I didn't really "feel" many of the bites even when the wind wasn't howling. No real size the biggest went like 2.5lbs. Was it worth it? It was definitely an experience haha. There was something cool about still catching fish in those conditions. And to watch a storm like that come and go completely while on the water was neat. 

 

Sunset pic:

 

 

[Styguy922]

3 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

I've got another long weekend underway here, with yesterday and today off work. Long read, but bear with me.

 

Thursday:

Yesterday was beautiful but didn't make for great fishing. Me and my dad hit a local pond that's shallow and gets choked with weeds. That made it tough slowing down with anything like jerkbaits. I did get my only bass on a jig, but it was more of a reaction bite as the jig was falling. That one was decent size and weighed 3-5. Skinny fish though, definitely needs a few cheeseburgers (or bluegill) before winter. My dad ended up outfishing me 5-1 and one-upped my 3-5 with a much smaller-framed but fatter and healthier fish that went 3-6. All his fish came on a spinnerbait, in a "textbook" color pattern for the conditions...Neon Yellow with blue accents. I was puzzled considering they wouldn't touch any spinnerbait I owned. Sometimes it doesn't have to make sense, it just has to work. 

 

Now...on to today.

 

Friday:

Today is a day I will never forget. Weather was forecasted to be bad, rain and 15mph winds, but we both have full raingear and have fished in worse, or so we thought. We set off at the ramp at 7:30am at another local spot. It started to drizzle almost immediately but there was no wind to start. We worked slowly, and I tried to force the swimbait bite with some trout imitations but that didn't work out. I managed to get one bass in a stump field on a chatterbait before we started covering more water. As the day went on the rain got worse, and the wind kicked up. My dad managed the biggest yet again, this time on a glidebait, and oddly enough as it was falling. The bass hit on the edge of a drop that goes from a few feet with weeds into almost 20ft. That fish went 3-11. He got another on an underspin too. Since the wind was coming mostly from the South we decided to start fishing some of the North coves and shorelines that had been getting pounded for a few hours now. We made that move between 12 and 1. At this point the weather was exactly what was forecasted, constant steady rain and 15mph winds. Now I had started catching fish consistently on the chatterbait at this point so it was too late to call it quits. We worked our way around the North "Bay" of the lake where I got my total to 5 bass.

 

At this point it was obvious the forecast had undersold what we were about to encounter. The early afternoon was the worst weather I have ever fished in. We've fished colder days sure, encountered a few summer downpours, and fished a few days with some truly nasty winds, but nothing in combination like this. As we started working back out of the bay headed back against the wind, 15mph had turned into 30mph gusting over 40, and the rain was coming down in absolute sheets. Opposite shorelines were no longer visible. My dad has an 18' Lund with a Terrova trolling motor on it and at one point it was maxed out at 10 and was just barely able to hold position. Around 3 the worst of it passed and holes started appearing in the clouds. The wind died almost completely and the rain turned to sprinkles right before the edge of the stormed showed itself...and made for one hell of a sunset and even a rainbow. 

 

All said and done I got 8 bass on the chatterbait. Very weird bite it was almost just like they were on, I didn't really "feel" many of the bites even when the wind wasn't howling. No real size the biggest went like 2.5lbs. Was it worth it? It was definitely an experience haha. There was something cool about still catching fish in those conditions. And to watch a storm like that come and go completely while on the water was neat. 

 

Sunset pic:

 

 

awesome!  Had just finished saying in my post how I chickened out fishing today but in my defense I’m in a kayak and not a Lund ?.  It really is awesome when the weather is brutal and you catch fish.  Awesome job getting it done. What were the water temps like?

[MassYak85]

7 hours ago, Styguy922 said:

awesome!  Had just finished saying in my post how I chickened out fishing today but in my defense I’m in a kayak and not a Lund ?.  It really is awesome when the weather is brutal and you catch fish.  Awesome job getting it done. What were the water temps like?

Yea if I was by myself in my kayak no way haha.

 

Water temps were still hovering around 48-50. Still kinda warm for this time of year. 

[Styguy922]

17 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

Yea if I was by myself in my kayak no way haha.

 

Water temps were still hovering around 48-50. Still kinda warm for this time of year. 

Definitely warmer than this same time last year.  Really looking forward to the real cold water and seeing how everyone does

[Mr. Aquarium]

NY was hard. We worked hard for fish but we got them.  Lot of walking and driving.   Total miles driven 1458. Total miles walked 13
Wednesday was ok.  I got 3 salmon. We fished a few rivers looking. Didn’t see much. I lost 2 big steelies.   
Thursday was brutal. I hooked one king. We did net a few micro species which was cool. Some new species for me.
Friday we hit the Niagara. Our first time there.   I got 2 walleye. Lost a monster king salmon at the net. Would have been a new PB.  I got a nice laker. 
Saturday , I hooked and lost another big king. Got 2 lakers. Had many hits tho. Lost some real big lakers! 
Sunday before we headed home. Stopped at a few spots looking. I got one more big king! 

This year was the worst year I’ve seen for NY. Usually more steelhead, browns and king salmon in the rivers. But we barely saw any fish. 
I’m really happy to fish the Niagara. That saved the trip. 

Total tally. 
4 king salmon. 
3 lake trout. New PB. 15.8lbs, 36 inches. 8lb and 9lbs 
2 walleye. New Pb no idea length or weight 
Round goby, 
Tadpole madtom
Creek shiner 
Northern sunfish 
Banded killifish
Emerald Shiner 

[MassBass]

5 hours ago, Mr. Aquarium said:

NY was hard. We worked hard for fish but we got them.  Lot of walking and driving.   Total miles driven 1458. Total miles walked 13
Wednesday was ok.  I got 3 salmon. We fished a few rivers looking. Didn’t see much. I lost 2 big steelies.   
Thursday was brutal. I hooked one king. We did net a few micro species which was cool. Some new species for me.
Friday we hit the Niagara. Our first time there.   I got 2 walleye. Lost a monster king salmon at the net. Would have been a new PB.  I got a nice laker. 
Saturday , I hooked and lost another big king. Got 2 lakers. Had many hits tho. Lost some real big lakers! 
Sunday before we headed home. Stopped at a few spots looking. I got one more big king! 

This year was the worst year I’ve seen for NY. Usually more steelhead, browns and king salmon in the rivers. But we barely saw any fish. 
I’m really happy to fish the Niagara. That saved the trip. 

Total tally. 
4 king salmon. 
3 lake trout. New PB. 15.8lbs, 36 inches. 8lb and 9lbs 
2 walleye. New Pb no idea length or weight 
Round goby, 
Tadpole madtom
Creek shiner 
Northern sunfish 
Banded killifish
Emerald Shiner 

Great catches, any details on lure/presentations?

[Mr. Aquarium]

32 minutes ago, MassBass said:

Great catches, any details on lure/presentations?

Sooooo the salmon I caught. The first one hit a small 1/32 ounce jig I tied up, under a float. The other 2 in the river, one on another jig and one on a bead bottom bounce. The last one I caught today in a different was on a bead.  The walleye, one was caught on an epoxy jig, the other on a blade bait.  They were in an eddy near rocks. The lake trout were on a zoom fluke bottom bounced.

 The big steelhead I hooked, was a new Pb, that was on a jig I tied. 
I hooked a monster salmon on my jig in the same spot of the walleyes.  Hooked another monster salmon floating a shiner in the same area as the walleye and other salmon. 

[DogBone_384]

6 hours ago, Mr. Aquarium said:

Some new species for me.

MR. AQUARIUM STRIKES AGAIN!  

 

Congratulations Mike!

 

[Mr. Aquarium]

8 minutes ago, DogBone_384 said:

MR. AQUARIUM STRIKES AGAIN!  

 

Congratulations Mike!

 

Thanks bud! I smashed my walleye and laker PB! 

[DogBone_384]

Tossed the waders in the car and went to Hedges late this afternoon, armed with a 1/2 oz. Damiki blade bait.  I pulled wilted salad from the get go, and 15 (or so) casts into my trip blew a wind knot that snapped my lead - braid connection and sent poor Mr. Damiki to the bottom.

 

It was dusk and I didn't feel like trying to pick at 15 pound braid apart, so home went I.  I'm getting out once or twice more this week, whether it's on foot, by kayak, or boat.

[Styguy922]

This isn't much of a report but got some nice return for little invested time or effort.  Went for a 30 minute shore mission yesterday.  Went to a small pond down the road.  I think it used to be some sort of quarry or is man made as it's mainly rock and the sides appear to have been finished off to look uniform.  I prefer bodies of water with more natural structure but this is all I had time for and hey.....there's bass in it!  Got a nice chunky little bass slowly dragging and twitching a jig, super subtle bite!

 

Looking to get out this weekend in the kayak for a more exciting trip.....

 

[DogBone_384]

I dropped into Ponkapoag for a bit this afternoon.  The wind was stiff from the S/SE so I worked the northern shore, starting with a chart/white spinner bait, Rapala Rip-Stop, T-rigged Big TRD and Palmetto-Bug.  I pulled up wilted salad for the first hour and a half so switched the Big-TRD to a 3.8" bluegill flash Z-Swimmer.  Almost immediately, I pulled in a 19 3/4" pick and 1.96 pound LMB off the same point with the Z-Swimmer.  Both fish were skinny.

 

I didn't have any electronics.  The water felt cold enough that I didn't want to fall in.  Air pressure was 29.9 and there was nary a cloud in the sky.

[bass.slayer69]

First time out in a couple months and took the skunk. Started off at Norumbega throwing a paddle tail and a ned rig, nothing. Water was really dirty and cold. As the sun started to set, I hit my local largie hole, tossing the spinnerbait and senko. Nothing there either. Wind was brutal. That is probably a wrap on my year - was pretty good. New LMB and SMB PB, striper fishing was just awful this year tho. Good luck to everyone braving it out in the winter. Looking forward to March/April. See you all then

[Mr. Aquarium]

@bass.slayer69 congratulations on the PBs.  How big were they

[JG233]

Indeed, and post pics of the new PB's if you've got them!

[DogBone_384]

14 hours ago, bass.slayer69 said:

That is probably a wrap on my year

Plymouth and Cape Cod rarely freeze over.  It might be worth a trip or two.  There's also ice fishing.

[bass.slayer69]

3 hours ago, Mr. Aquarium said:

congratulations on the PBs.  How big were they

Largie was 20 inches 3.5 lbs on the cape, caught in august on a senko. Super skinny, could have maybe pushed 5 if it was fat. Smallie was also on the cape, 17 inch 2.75 pounds. On topwater on a cloudy rainy July day - one of my favorite catches ever

3 hours ago, JG233 said:

Indeed, and post pics of the new PB's if you've got them!

It keeps saying the pics from my camera roll are over the 1.46 mb limit

[Frezzy]

Big Smallies are still chomping.  Got my 3rd over 6lbs this season in the warm temps yesterday.  She went 6.2lbs and was just fat as all hell.  Wish I took a pic of her belly.  Still looking for that 7+ and will be throwing nothing but big baits for the rest of the season...