Eastern Ma & New England Area Fishing Reports

[guidoStow]

I checked in on a local river, it was super high and 73 degrees. I got my motor yesterday. Ready to rumble!

 

[Mr. Aquarium]

On 8/21/2023 at 2:46 PM, Kites R4 Skyfishing said:

Doin what?

Big wakebaits, jigs, chatterbaits, I’ve had good days this month! 

[1984isNOW]

On 8/24/2023 at 10:38 AM, Mr. Aquarium said:

I’ve had good days this month! 

"Days" you say? You're known for wetting lines at 2am, these fish were caught in daylight?

 

I've got way too much growth here for chatterbaits, they only chatter for a second then stop after finding a new hat made of milfoil or some other weed.

 

Wakebaits may have a place, but narrow coverage. I only have 1, I'll give it a go.

[Mr. Aquarium]

On 8/25/2023 at 7:40 PM, Kites R4 Skyfishing said:

"Days" you say? You're known for wetting lines at 2am, these fish were caught in daylight?

 

I've got way too much growth here for chatterbaits, they only chatter for a second then stop after finding a new hat made of milfoil or some other weed.

 

Wakebaits may have a place, but narrow coverage. I only have 1, I'll give it a go.

Yep days!!! I’ve caught a few fish over 5 this time of year during the day. 

Got out yesterday afternoon.  Did well. Got 9 bass. Struggling to find em at first picking off random fish. Then sunset back to my usual are I fish. Ended up getting 6 here.  They were loving the jigs I made and tubes. My jigs, tubes, chatter and a whopper plopper got em. 

[1984isNOW]

@Mr. Aquarium good stuff my man, I'm getting into making some tackle too. And my own rods.

 

I gotta try to find some better water back home, hopefully that big pickerel pond I posted about will produce some chunky bass too.

[Mr. Aquarium]

6 minutes ago, Kites R4 Skyfishing said:

@Mr. Aquarium good stuff my man, I'm getting into making some tackle too. And my own rods.

 

I gotta try to find some better water back home, hopefully that big pickerel pond I posted about will produce some chunky bass too.

That’s awesome. I’ve only made jigs so far. I need a better work shop to build rods and  other lures.

[guidoStow]

Got to a local river this afternoon to start to break in the new motor and to see if I could find any interested fish. Had one swirl that I think was a pickerel but that was it. Then the jet skis started to buzz through. Do with there was an open season on them...

 

Water is still 70-72 degrees and really high.

[MassYak85]

Fished Webster this morning. Got 5 decent ones on a spinnerbait, missed 2 more. Fished about 4 hours before a thunderstorm chased us off.

[DogBone_384]

I took my Ranger to Cape Cod last Tuesday - Thursday, fishing the bigger waters I generally struggle at.  Tuesday & Wednesday went well.  I marked baitfish clouds near bottom in ~ 25' and a few groups tight to shore at the island I stopped to eat lunch at.  My big smallies, a 3-11 and 4-11, came on a Stunna 112+1.  The 4-11 hit my bait as it landed and was one of those bites where I set the hook and the fish held its ground like I snagged a stump or something.  My next biggest SMB was 2-8 and it ate a 3.8" Keitech at the bottom of a steep drop.  The 3.8 also got me a 4-5 catfish on top of a hump, a first.

 

I fished two different ponds Thursday and had very different results.  I marked little or nothing and that's what I got.  The second pond looked like pea soup.  It was in the 90's and humid, so that was a short trip.

 

Water temps were in the mid-high 70's.  Air pressure started at 29.9 and dropped to 29.8.  It was bluebird and very humid.

 

Most fish I marked were still deep, but my biggest SMB were shallow.  The fall feed is upon us.

 

Good luck to everyone getting out.  I'll be back on the Cape this Sunday - Tuesday, though I've yet to decide whether to bring the Ranger or Kayak...

[MassYak85]

Nice smallies @DogBone_384!

 

Me and my dad got out for a half day this morning. Got 5 on a nice topwater bite with the Monka crawler to start, then got another 5 on spinnerbaits in deep milfoil beds. We both snagged a 4lber back to back just before the rain rolled in.

[1984isNOW]

1 hour ago, MassYak85 said:

Nice smallies @DogBone_384!

 

Me and my dad got out for a half day this morning. Got 5 on a nice topwater bite with the Monka crawler to start, then got another 5 on spinnerbaits in deep milfoil beds. We both snagged a 4lber back to back just before the rain rolled in.

You rollin over the milfoil or in pockets?

[DogBone_384]

2 hours ago, Kites R4 Skyfishing said:

Got 5 on a nice topwater bite

Awesome!  I've not been able to buy a topwater bite this year.  I've not thrown a popper or frog ... I'll bet that's the ticket.

 

I'm heading back to the Cape tomorrow through Tuesday.  I'm leaning towards the kayak so I can hit smaller ponds.  There's one in Harwich I'm confident I can get a couple good smallies on topwater.

 

Congrats on the 4's!

[MassYak85]

9 hours ago, Kites R4 Skyfishing said:

You rollin over the milfoil or in pockets?

Mostly ticking the top. The last couple days we did well on two deperate lakes finding the deeper beds in 8 to 10 feet and fishing them. Couldn't put much of a shallow bite together.

 

7 hours ago, DogBone_384 said:

Awesome!  I've not been able to buy a topwater bite this year.  I've not thrown a popper or frog ... I'll bet that's the ticket.

 

I'm heading back to the Cape tomorrow through Tuesday.  I'm leaning towards the kayak so I can hit smaller ponds.  There's one in Harwich I'm confident I can get a couple good smallies on topwater.

 

Congrats on the 4's!

The Monka has a tendency to slay 2lbers for me lol. They were all about the same size and it was hardly sporting dragging them in on a 7'9" swimbait rod lol. Such a fun bite with that bait though. And yea I bet you would do well with a popper. It was just one of those "fishy" feeling days and the fish agreed haha.

[DogBone_384]

I finished up another trip to Cape Cod, this time with the kayak.  I started at Blueberry Pond because I never fished it and took directions to the ramp from the state website (https://www.mass.gov/info-details/massachusetts-pond-maps) and when I got to what I thought was the ramp, found a locked gate with signage saying membership only.  Off to another pond I never fished before.  Luckily it still has public access.  I did well there, finding a bunch of Larries between 1.5 & 2 pounds in ~ 20' at the bottom of steep drops, with a bluegill 6XD. 

 

After a while I decided to go to one of my favorite Cape Cod waters.  I found a lock and chain when I pulled up to the dirt road I usually launch from.  Quite a surprise!  I called Harwich town hall to ask why the chain, and they directed me to Harwich Land Trust.  I called them and spoke to one of the Trustees.  As is turns out, this dirt road was private property  where the owner didn't mind people launching 'car tops', but the property was sold.  The Harwich Land Trust bought the property to prevent developers from buying it and building houses, which would eliminate public canoe/kayak launching.  Erosion, litter, and vandalism to the property are the reasons the trust locked the road access - a few bad apples ....  You can still launch a canoe/kayak, but for now you have to park at the Cape Cod Rail Trail and wheel down the bike path and then to the beach/water.  

 

I lucked out and got permission to launch through a resident's property.  I figured it was my last trip there and wanted to make it count ... I caught white/yellow perch and a 2 1/2 pound catfish (my second in a week!) on jerkbaits and crankbaits.  On the LAST cast of the evening I bagged a 2_3 SMB on a jerkbait.  Nice finish!

 

My last pond on the Cape produced too.  Jerkbait, crankbait, drop shot, and 3.8" Keitech brought up an assortment of pickerel, white/yellow perch, and one each SMB, and LMB.  Larry weighed 3-3 and Sally came in at 2-9.

 

All fish the last two days were deep.  I saw a few groups of minnows tight to shore, but not many and didn't mark much shallow.

 

It was cloudy/drizzly Monday and turned bluebird this afternoon.  Water temps were back to the low 80's and air pressure was 30.

[guidoStow]

I fished two "long" ponds this week. Both were around 79 degrees and I marked nothing within fly rod range even with a type 6 fast sink line, 90+ foot casts and long count downs. Not fall pattern yet! The 10 day forecast keeps suggesting some moderation but it just doesn't seem to show up 8-(

[padlin]

You eastern folks getting any wind yet? I'm guessing not as you're out with a fly rod.

[guidoStow]

1 hour ago, padlin said:

You eastern folks getting any wind yet? I'm guessing not as you're out with a fly rod.

It was starting to pick up a touch yesterday but this morning was nearly dead still. But starting at sunrise Friday and peaking at sunrise Saturday it is going to be building to over 30 sustained before tapering off...

[DogBone_384]

@padlin - I’m on the coast, south of Boston.  Winds are light.

 

I fished in Hingham the last two days.  Did OK Thursday but couldn’t buy a bite with Apple-Pay yesterday.  All my panfish were on jerkbaits in ~ 10’ and the bass were tight to shore on steep shorelines.  All the bass wanted was a Senko.

 

I’ve fished here on/off since the early ‘80’s and never caught bass over 2 pounds here.  The water is black tea/coffee colored.  The panfish are good sized and the bass are short and fat.

 

Water temps were 80.x and it was about as bluebird as you could get.

[padlin]

We have a pond out here that sound fairly similar. Has a lot of smaller bass, sub 2 lb, very stained. I’ve noticed that of the 3 ponds I regularly fish, this is the only badly stained one, and the only one with no pickerel. The other 2 are fairly clear, are about 50% pickerel, and have much bigger but less bass, largemouth that is.

[Don51]

Dogbone, that sounds like Wampatuck. Tough place. I caught one around 6 lb many years ago out of one of the smaller ponds in the park.

[DogBone_384]

I got @Fishing Rhino on the water for the first time in two years yesterday.  We fished his home pond.  We caught 30 - 40 fish between us.  We each got 3 or 4 LMB over 3 pounds and a mix of pickerel, yellow perch, white perch, crappie, and one bluegill (for good luck).  Tom stuck with soft plastics and I threw a perch Rapala Shadow Rap Shad, 3.8" Keitech/underspin, and a Keitech creature. 

 

The jerkbait was the top producer, by far.  In fact, I got TWO '2-fers' (two fish simultaneously) on it.  The first was a LMB and pickerel and the second was two white perch.  A first for me. 

 

All in all a great trip.  I'm going to try to get Tom out once or twice more before it gets cold.

On 9/16/2023 at 2:32 AM, Don51 said:

Dogbone, that sounds like Wampatuck.

Yep, that's the place....

[MassYak85]

I'm heading out tomorrow. Got one of those Spro KGB glides I'm excited to try, and some more spinnerbaits. Going to see if we can find them in the outside grass lines chasing gills and perch around but if not I might have to get the jerkbait for the first time in a while.

[Swamp Girl]

On 5/20/2023 at 1:19 PM, Mr. Aquarium said:

Haven’t gone out bass fishing since mid April. I need to get out. Did a shore trip. Brought my surf rod to bomb baits out there 
Spot one was good a big fish spot. Had a few whacks on the crawler. Put on the PG. They loved it. Few whacks. Stuck twin 5-11s from 2 different areas and a 3.  Hit spot 2. Water was really high couldn’t fish the spot well. It fishes well with lower water.  When the waters high it’s really shallow can’t reach the drop offs. But I tried. Had one big blow up on the PG. Got one smaller fish and missed a decent one on a T rig rage bug.  Tried the DS crawler. Immediately got smoked. Thought I had my 3rd 5er. But couldn’t get that extra ounce to get her over. She was            4-14. Then got a nice 3lb smallie on the crawler. First smallie for me on a DS bait.  The 3rd pond was dead. Couldn’t get a sniff 

 

WOW!

On 6/18/2023 at 1:34 PM, MassYak85 said:

Well the bass didn't cooperate this morning for my dad but I was able to snag a nice one. Absolute blimp of a fish that had a bluegill in it's throat went after a 3pc PB rat. It's not often I feel outgunned with a swimbait rod but this fish hit hard and managed to get a few good headshakes in. The first headshake I thought it was a giant as I caught a glimpse of it's side. It only ended up being 20 inches but had the girth to still come in at 5lbs 10oz. Fattest fish I've ever caught at that length. That thing has some genetics for sure. 

 

This bass makes me laugh! I think she's my favorite bass at BR. Tom Brady would hate her. Sure, she's a football, but she's way overinflated! 

[Swamp Girl]

I live in Eastern MAine. I do hope I'm in the right thread. J/K

[MassYak85]

17 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

 

This bass makes me laugh! I think she's my favorite bass at BR. Tom Brady would hate her. Sure, she's a football, but she's way overinflated! 

Fattest bass I've ever caught (not my PB but just the girth). I thought I finally had a 7lber on when I saw her come to the surface.

 

 

 

I got out again today to kick off the fall. Had a pretty decent day, got most fish on spinnerbaits but there was soooo much bait in the water. As soon as we launched there were just clouds of what looked like tiny little shiners roaming above the shallow weedbeds. Managed to get a few but I think we could have capatilized more had we got there a bit earlier. Out in the main lake we got some off a weedy point that seemed to be chasing perch. My biggesy was just over 3lbs on a spinnerbait and had a huge perch in it's stomach. My dad got a slightly bigger one later on as well.

 

It was a weird day, we saw dozens of dead perch floating around all over the lake, seemingly with no injuries, and they seemed to be the only affected species (yellow perch). Anyone ever seen something like that before?

 

Oh and we gave back a bit to mother nature. There was a struggling pigeon in the water that seemed exhausted and couldn't fly so we returned it to shore. That's a first haha.