Eastern Ma & New England Area Fishing Reports

[DogBone_384]

Spent a couple hours in Canton yesterday.  Hooked onto a good LMB on a Table Rock Berkley Stunna jerkbait but didn’t have my drag set properly.  The fish was also hooked on the outside of its mouth, so it got off.  My consolation prize was a couple scales on the middle treble hook.

 

Water temps were 43.x along the north shoreline.

[Frezzy]

Took the Kayak out on A1 Site yesterday for about 4hrs.  My first time fishing it.  Interesting place.  Only managed a few dinks on a black/blue JackHammer.  Water ranged from 44-49 degrees.  Excited to explore this place more this year.  Only ventured a little way past the island.

[MassYak85]

On 3/19/2023 at 10:00 AM, Frezzy said:

Took the Kayak out on A1 Site yesterday for about 4hrs.  My first time fishing it.  Interesting place.  Only managed a few dinks on a black/blue JackHammer.  Water ranged from 44-49 degrees.  Excited to explore this place more this year.  Only ventured a little way past the island.

There's tons of stumps past the island so just be careful. Easy to overturn in high winds especially if you bump one wrong. 

[DogBone_384]

The first half of my week on Cape Cod consisted of 8 ponds over 3 days on my Ranger.  I skunked at 4 of them and managed a tiny yellow perch, three picks (all around 2 pounds), and two rainbow trout.

 

I marked fish deep and nothing shallow and threw the normal assortment of blade baits, jerk baits, lipless, small/medium Keitechs, and small jigs.  Water temps were 44.x - 46.x at all but one shallow pond that tipped 50.x late in the day.  Air pressure started at 30.2 was 30.4 yesterday. 

 

I talked to a few other guys and got a mixed bag.  A couple said it was tough, one kayaker did well with LMB over 3 pounds, and a last guy with live-scope did very well.

 

I'm going back tomorrow through Sunday and am fishing with @Saltysmalljaws at one of his home ponds.  I'm hoping to grab a couple good SMB and NOT to have to bring shiners!  I also saw my first Osprey of the season.

 

Best of luck to those getting out... 

[Mr. Aquarium]

Bass bites been horrible. I caught 4 bass last week for a huge bag of 4lbs. But caught 2500 pickerel though. Tuesday was decent. Caught 7 bass nothing over 3lbs and a bunch of big pickerel. 

[MassBass]

5 hours ago, Mr. Aquarium said:

Bass bites been horrible. I caught 4 bass last week for a huge bag of 4lbs. But caught 2500 pickerel though. Tuesday was decent. Caught 7 bass nothing over 3lbs and a bunch of big pickerel. 

If your not getten em no one is! I will hopefully try this weekend for a big bite.

[Mr. Aquarium]

8 hours ago, MassBass said:

If your not getten em no one is! I will hopefully try this weekend for a big bite.

Got 7 bass today. None over 2lbs 

[MassYak85]

I'm going out tomorrow for the first time this year. Hitting the lake I grew up fishing so I'm optimistic I can put something together. I just gotta remember to not force anything. Hoping for a good jerkbait bite or if I'm lucky a chatterbait bite.

[Don51]

Throw a rattle bait into the mix also. ?

[Mr. Aquarium]

4 hours ago, Don51 said:

Throw a rattle bait into the mix also. ?

Is that a big fish bait? I have some but don’t use em often I fear I will only catch dinks and pickerel 

[MassBass]

5 hours ago, Mr. Aquarium said:

Is that a big fish bait? I have some but don’t use em often I fear I will only catch dinks and pickerel 

It's a legitimate concern. But if the rattle bait bite is on, you can pull a big bite. A big lake is the best water for a rattlebait. Most water I have fished in MA I wouldn't call ideal rattlebait water. I will say one time I went to Mascoppic lake, caught two high 4s on a rattlebait.

[MassYak85]

Made it out today. It was colder and windier than I hoped. The bite was on though and I found them right where I hoped. Most fell to a vision 110 in perch, but I was able to pull a few extra from those areas jigging a lipless. Had a split bag of largies and smallies which is unusual for the lake I was on. Got 7 in total, lost at least 3 more that I think got the jerkbait hooks on the outside of their face. Also got a couple pickerel and a crappie. Pretty good day to start it off,  but nothing over 3lbs.

[Don51]

19 hours ago, Mr. Aquarium said:

Is that a big fish bait? I have some but don’t use em often I fear I will only catch dinks and pickerel 

Anything can happen. It's a reaction bait as you know. It can get you bites when things are slow.

[Mr. Aquarium]

Fished hard last night in the kayak. 7pm-1 am.  Lot of dead water. Missed a couple of fish on the PG. Kept working my way, popped a 5-10 on the Ds customs Ninja Wake at an isolated weed patch. Found a weedy  point. Got another 5-7, a 3 and missed a giant again all on the DS ninja wake.  They wouldn’t hit, the slammer, crawler, glide, a rat, or PG.

[MassBass]

I had a good outing, with the strong west wind and a spinnerbait. Got a big at 4lbs. Then I set up for carp and got a couple. I'll post those on the other species thread to stay relevant over there ?

[Deeare]

On 2/15/2023 at 12:28 PM, MassBass said:

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.  

Don’t go back to the Malden creek (river) unless you’re fishing for carp.   I grew up close to there.   You will catch more fish in any pond in that area.   If you got a kayak try the upper mystic, horn or spy.    

[MassBass]

19 hours ago, Deeare said:

Don’t go back to the Malden creek 

The reason I want to go back is because I caught four or five bass and a big crappie. I saw the carp, but I was exploring with bass gear and they were smashing a plopper lure, on a warm summer evening, where the lilly pads met the main channel. There was some big areas of pads/salad, I'm sure there is some hawgs back up there.

 

[DogBone_384]

I finished my week on Cape Cod which included a trip to Sharon today.  All I can say is ALL species were shut off.  I threw the kitchen sink in shallow and deep water and came up with little or nothing to show.  The highlight was Saturday when @Saltysmalljaws joined me for a cold day mixed with rain and sleet.  

 

Of the 13 places I fished water temps were 44.x - 47.x and Sharon was 49.x - 50.x.  

 

I'm headed back to Cape Cod in three weeks.  I expect better results.

[DogBone_384]

Dropped into my favorite little smallie pond yesterday ... literally.  I was working the western bank in about 10' of water and my favorite setup hit another rod and slipped out of my hand as I turned to switch rigs.  Being an expensive setup there was no choice ... in after it I went (YES A-Jay I was wearing my PFD!).   I got the rig and dragged my kayak in shallow and walked it to shore.  It was a short swim.  

 

I was lazy and didn't pack a change of clothes so that was it for this trip.  Luckily I'd caught one nice smallie, a big yellow perch, and lost another smallie.  The SMB were shallow and Mr. Perch was on bottom in about 10'.  The SMB hit a 3.3" Keitech and the perch a perch colored Shad Rap Deep. 

 

Water temps were 52.x, air pressure was 30.1, and winds were light.  Not a bad trip, even though it was cut short.  I'm still on track to catch fish in open water every month this year.

 

Gonna get out somewhere tomorrow.  Good luck to everyone else that can too.  We've reached the magic number!

[MassYak85]

Went out with maly dad for his first time out this year (my 2nd). Water temps were 47 degrees and air temps well below that when we launched. I expected to find them deeper but we caught all our fish in less than 5 feet of water. Chatterbaits did all the damage and I stuck two 4lbers to cap off a 13 fish day. The bite died pretty abruptly around noon. Most of the fish we got in a small stretch within an hour. I was hoping we were just gonna wail on them all day the way it was going but it was a lesson to never take for granted those bite windows. 

[Ratherbefishing75]

Got the skunk off  with a little bass fishing at lunch time 

[MassYak85]

Friday might be the first time I've ever swam in April....yikes.

[Frezzy]

23 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

Friday might be the first time I've ever swam in April....yikes.

Yeah, I will be out in the Kayak somewhere.  Thinking either A1 or maybe Whitehall (better for taking a dip).  Got on several quality fish from 2-4lbs today from the bank.  Jach Hammer did most of the work.

[MassYak85]

Went out today and it was a bit slow. I managed 4 and my dad got 1 bass. Most fish on jigs on what felt like a shallow water summer pattern. No bigs. Pickerel were really loving the spinnerbaits. 

 

Not satisfied I went out for a shore outing with the Monka crawler. Got 2 lost 1, still smallwr fish though. It's so fun getting hit on that thing at night haha, the noise of all the metal clanking when they hit it and your line goes slack and then you swing into them. I'm going out again tomorrow and will probably hit the shore again at night.

[MassYak85]

We hit the Nip today. It was super slow. The surface temperature was 70 when we left....unreal. I managed two on a black jig, one was decent at 17.5 inches. But that was it except a couple pickerel. In hindsight....fishing one of the most shallow lakes in the state during a record temperature swing, maybe not the best idea haha.