Eastern Ma & New England Area Fishing Reports

[ne_dan]

37 minutes ago, Frezzy said:

Hey Guys,

 

I'm picking up my Old Town Autopilot 136 on Wednesday.  Got it fully rigged by Black Hall in CT.  Excited to finally get off the bank in 2023.  

 

I had a question.  Does anyone on BR have experience at A-1 Site in Westborough?  I live in Hopkinton on the Westborough line and it looks very fishy.  Plan on spending some time there this spring.  I heard it "used" to be a fantastic bass fishery, but not so much anymore.  Anyone fish it in the past several years?

 

Also, If anyone wants to meet up in the kayaks this year and fish let me know (I'm always up for night fishing as well).

 

Later,

 

Jason     

I'm just going to say be careful with any drive hanging off the bottom of a kayak there.  I haven't been there in a couple of years, but I've always done well there.

[Mr. Aquarium]

Loaded with stumps 

[DogBone_384]

I checked off my February box today at my favorite little smallmouth kettle.  I started with a blade bait and 2.8" Keitech then swapped the Keitech for a drop shot after an hour of nothing.  I went another hour without a whiff so I stopped for lunch and rethought my game.

 

I tied on a perch Shad Rap deep and started to troll.  I came up with a 1-4 yellow perch in about 16' of water.  A short time later a nice smallie grabbed the bait with enough force to turn my kayak as I started reeling it in.  Unfortunately it got off when it came to the surface and shook.  

 

Water temps topped out at 40.4 and air pressure was 30.1.

 

It was 1/2 iced over when I arrived and fully open when I left around 2:00 pm.  

[MassYak85]

On 1/27/2023 at 8:30 AM, Frezzy said:

Hey Guys,

 

I'm picking up my Old Town Autopilot 136 on Wednesday.  Got it fully rigged by Black Hall in CT.  Excited to finally get off the bank in 2023.  

 

I had a question.  Does anyone on BR have experience at A-1 Site in Westborough?  I live in Hopkinton on the Westborough line and it looks very fishy.  Plan on spending some time there this spring.  I heard it "used" to be a fantastic bass fishery, but not so much anymore.  Anyone fish it in the past several years?

 

Also, If anyone wants to meet up in the kayaks this year and fish let me know (I'm always up for night fishing as well).

 

Later,

 

Jason     

I grew up in Hopkinton and have fished A1 a bunch of times. It is a fun fishery. I've had encounters with big fish, heard stories, but never actually landed anything over 5lbs there. But it has a good average size and is fun if you like frogging or heavy cover fishing. It's generally fairly shallow and weed choked. There's tons of stumps especially past the island. Very unforgiving for any kind of motor.

 

I've had some of my best days ever there about 10 years ago from a kayak but even personally (I'm only 25) I feel like it's fallen off in recent years. Not quite sure why. 

[DogBone_384]

I had the itch for my first smallie of '23, so off went I to my favorite SMB kettle pond.  The weather was nice.  Temps were in the low/mid 40s, winds were 10-12 from the S/SE, and it was mostly sunny.

 

I caught 2 big bodied, but skinny Sallies in short order, on consecutive casts early, and that was it.  Both fish took a perch colored BPS blade bait.  I threw a dropshot, jerkbaits, and a couple Rapala Shad Raps, but the blade bait was all they were interested in.

 

Water temps were low 40.x.  

 

We're looking at good weather next week.  Good luck to those getting out.

[Chris Cavanaugh]

New here so lack of pond/lake names is weird. We all catch and release I expect. Fine if you like to be quiet, just comes off weird based on the sites name. Being from the Boston area my fishing seems limited but it is not. Between rivers; Charles and Mystic you can catch everything.  My small pond that fishes well for me me is Winter Pond in Winchester, I never do less than a 3-4 and most are from that small stretch of bank. The Mystic River starts right below me, heavy pads but workable plus ther are huge carp as well. Good luck guys and let's all crush it this year.

[Don51]

Nothing weird about it! That's the way it is. Best way to ruin a fishing spot is to post the name and location online. Especially if you had a great outing. Many spots have been destroyed that way. If you are interested as to where someone has been fishing you can try to get info through a PM but that is unlikely.  

[JG233]

There are 200 pages of info here and lots of water is named. When I first joined years ago I read through this entire thread. Welcome to the forums, have fun!

[Mr. Aquarium]

Caught my first topwater fish on Friday. Couldn’t get bit during the day. Tossed a big wakebait at night and got the only fish of the weekend. She hit it crawled on top

[TheSwearingAngler]

1 hour ago, Mr. Aquarium said:

Caught my first topwater fish on Friday. Couldn’t get bit during the day. Tossed a big wakebait at night and got the only fish of the weekend. She hit it crawled on top

That’s incredible… I can’t catch a bass to save my life right now, you may have found the most energetic fish in the state right now.

[Mr. Aquarium]

1 hour ago, TheSwearingAngler said:

That’s incredible… I can’t catch a bass to save my life right now, you may have found the most energetic fish in the state right now.

I had a night in January, I had 5 whacks on topwater, couldn’t hook em, lost one at my feet. Earlier that day was good to.

[MassBass]

12 hours ago, Chris Cavanaugh said:

New here so lack of pond/lake names is weird. We all catch and release I expect. Fine if you like to be quiet, just comes off weird based on the sites name. Being from the Boston area my fishing seems limited but it is not. Between rivers; Charles and Mystic you can catch everything.  My small pond that fishes well for me me is Winter Pond in Winchester, I never do less than a 3-4 and most are from that small stretch of bank. The Mystic River starts right below me, heavy pads but workable plus ther are huge carp as well. Good luck guys and let's all crush it this year.

hey, I fish the dirty water to. mostly Charles. Last year I explored the Malden creek, a tributary of the Mystic, I will try to go back there. If you put in the time and effort to find spots, sometimes its not a good idea to post it on a public board. Who knows what kind of poachers and salesman troll this thread looking for intel.  

[DogBone_384]

I drove to Cape Cod today and fished two ponds with @Saltysmalljaws. The first was my 'nemesis' smallie pond.  I didn't mark much but found a couple good ones in 30' of water with gold blade baits.  The first one got off right at the kayak and was probably 4 pounds.  The second one made it in the kayak and was 2 pounds even.  The bigger fish came back to the surface a few times trying to shake off the Damiki blade bait that was stuck in its face. Water temps were 40.x.

 

The second pond was a shallow, weedy LMB pond.  I came up with a 1_4 yellow perch and a 4_9 LMB, both on a GP Sexy Shad V110+1.  Water temps were 45.x.

 

Jake had 'Dad' duties and split, so I moved over to one more small LMB pond.  I got one LMB, a little over a pound, on a Table Rock Berkley Stunna 112.  

 

Air pressure was 29.9.  Winds were light.  

 

I took some time playing around with the Berkley Stunnas.  They sink pretty quickly with flurocarbon and very slowly when tied to mono.  The have a slight nose down action as they go down.

[MassYak85]

On 2/15/2023 at 12:10 AM, Chris Cavanaugh said:

New here so lack of pond/lake names is weird. We all catch and release I expect. Fine if you like to be quiet, just comes off weird based on the sites name. Being from the Boston area my fishing seems limited but it is not. Between rivers; Charles and Mystic you can catch everything.  My small pond that fishes well for me me is Winter Pond in Winchester, I never do less than a 3-4 and most are from that small stretch of bank. The Mystic River starts right below me, heavy pads but workable plus ther are huge carp as well. Good luck guys and let's all crush it this year.

Nothing weird about it it's just the way it is. We've got so many lakes and ponds but most are small with limited parking. Being a little secretive helps not having to wake up at 3am on a Saturday in the summer to get a parking spot at your favorite pond. Not telling you what to do but guys aren't just doing it just to be a-holes they've been burned before. 

 

Finished cleaning all my reels so I'm ready to go as soon as we get a bit of a warm stretch. This week is looking cold again but not cold enough to lock up more ice I don't think. That said I will probably meep my swimbait and jerkbait setups handy in case I want to shore bang for an hour or two.

[MassBass]

I looked at the weather pattern and I thought today looked like a golden opportunity before the weather sets back the spawn. I smoked em. 7 bass, all solid, biggest 19''. Glide bait is pictured but most were on a home made spinner bait.

[Chris Cavanaugh]

On 2/18/2023 at 10:30 PM, MassYak85 said:

Nothing weird about it it's just the way it is. We've got so many lakes and ponds but most are small with limited parking. Being a little secretive helps not having to wake up at 3am on a Saturday in the summer to get a parking spot at your favorite pond. Not telling you what to do but guys aren't just doing it just to be a-holes they've been burned before. 

 

Finished cleaning all my reels so I'm ready to go as soon as we get a bit of a warm stretch. This week is looking cold again but not cold enough to lock up more ice I don't think. That said I will probably meep my swimbait and jerkbait setups handy in case I want to shore bang for an hour or two.

Fair enough.

[Mr. Aquarium]

Hit a spot after work,I haven’t been to in years. This being my 3rd time fishing it.   I couldn’t hit the whole pond. All my fish were random. Got 1 pickerel and a perch on the HH jerkbait, got 2 bass  on the glide. The chunky fish hit on a sunny windblown shore. 

[Mr. Aquarium]

Got onto a weird bite yesterday. I worked the wind line and only caught one 3lber on a glide. They wouldn’t hit, jigs, chatters, lipless cranks or real preys.  I got to the calm side tied on a Matt’s 6.5 inch floating strong shad. Ended up getting a 4.5 and bunch of dinks on the glide and shad worked slow on top. Had a few whacks and follows 

[Frezzy]

Pretty much everything in Metro West is open water now.  I'm heading out in the Kayak this weekend.  Planning on bringing Jerkbaits, Bladebaits, Lipless Cranks and a Jig.  Maybe toss a Hudd as well if I get a few bites on the other stuff.  What are you guys throwing right after ice out in MA?

[Mr. Aquarium]

I’ve been throwing glides, wake baits and jerkbaits. Only thing that had been working. Bites been tough. Water still ice cold. Got a chatterbait fish the last week of February 

[Mr. Aquarium]

Caught my 2nd biggest bass I’ve ever caught on a jerkbait today. She hit right at sunset on the last few cast. I gave up on the afternoon trip. This was the only bass I caught!  

7lbs 10 ounce 22 1/2 inches 

So the thing with jerkbaits, I had very little confidence in them. I never did well on them never caught anything over 3lbs. My good day on jerkbaits would be 5 2lbers if I’m lucky. But I knew they worked. So I kept fishing them trying to learn and build confidence

[Jar11591]

@Mr. Aquarium Hawg! 

[DogBone_384]

I checked off March with a white perch in 30' of water in Sharon on a chartreuse sexy shad LV150.  I think almost every fish in the lake was on bottom, DEEP, including the trout that were stocked there today.  Water temps were 39.x and air pressure was 30.1.

 

To answer @Frezzy ... I'm throwing blade bait and drop shot in deep waters, and shallow cranks, lipless, and jerkbaits when shallow.  Once in a while I'll drag a big worm S L O W on the bottom if I can't get a reaction bite.

 

And a big congratulations to @Mr. Aquarium .... an absolute BEAST of a catch today!

7 minutes ago, Mr. Aquarium said:

So the thing with jerkbaits, I had very little confidence in them.

 

Spend some time with @Saltysmalljaws .. I fished with him a few times and he got me pointed in the right direction.  I'll be on Cape Cod end of this month with the Ranger too .....  

[Frezzy]

10 hours ago, Mr. Aquarium said:

Caught my 2nd biggest bass I’ve ever caught on a jerkbait today. She hit right at sunset on the last few cast. I gave up on the afternoon trip. This was the only bass I caught!  

7lbs 10 ounce 22 1/2 inches 

So the thing with jerkbaits, I had very little confidence in them. I never did well on them never caught anything over 3lbs. My good day on jerkbaits would be 5 2lbers if I’m lucky. But I knew they worked. So I kept fishing them trying to learn and build confidence

That's a tank!  Well done!

[DogBone_384]

Took a short trip to a very shallow pond on the South Shore yesterday morning.  I threw the normal assortment of jerkbait, chatterbait, and shallow crank, but could't get even a pickerel to play.

 

Water temps were 43.x - 44.x. 

 

IT's coming!