Eastern Ma & New England Area Fishing Reports

[JG233]

On 10/19/2024 at 12:42 PM, DogBone_384 said:

HOLY SHEEP DIP! @JG233.  I figured you fell off the earth. What country are you in now?

 

Hey man, I'm in Zurich now. I still dip into the forums now and then. 

 

I'll reach out when I'm in the US next Spring (probably May). Last time I came I went on an all out bass fishing binge for 48 hours. I'm hoping to do this same next year. 

 

I have a one year old son now, so this year has been all about him. 

 

Hope all is well!

[DogBone_384]

24 minutes ago, JG233 said:

I have a one year old son now

 

Congratulations!  The best part of life is now here, that's awesome!

[DogBone_384]

You know my comments about leaving my boat at home and taking my convertible out.... yeah, well I did.  It's a '68 Buick GS400, original motor, transmission, etc. It was really nice yesterday so I took it to a friend's shop.  We talked for a while about our cars and when I hopped in mine to leave I turned the key and NEVER heard such bad noises from a V8 starter! 

 

Guy and his mechanic gave me a push and got me bump started (only members that have standard transmissions know about this...).  I got it home and dropped the starter this morning.  The aluminum starter's nose cone was broken.  Luckily the flywheel is fine.  

 

It sure was a good thing I didn't take the car to NH/VT! Though I likely would have found someone to help bump start me to get me home.

 

I have another starter coming tomorrow.  And NO, I didn't catch any fish today.

[MassYak85]

Been hitting the shore at the pond by my work in NH at sunset. No dice on wakebaits this week. I think the available shore spots are just not great and too shallow for the current conditions. 

[Mr. Aquarium]

On 9/30/2024 at 4:28 PM, MassBass said:

There gonna start hittin; and runnin. I think every fairly deep pond, that is trout stocked year after year, could hold big holdovers. Those are cool but I am big into spoons for the ponds. Casting distance is critical for fishing a deep pond from shore. When I saw the cold water savagery of big browns at Walden early this year, it changed me. 

Yea I get ya! You need that extra casting distance for shore fishing!  I love these for stream, river, kayak and ice fishing!  I use these for steelhead and salmon up in NY!  They also crush fish back here too!  They work great on slip floats 

[Mr. Aquarium]

Caught a nice late season striper on ultra light gear. She hit the Dixie Jig. 2nd cast trying for shad. It was a 1/16 ounce chartreuse head white flash/white.  So much fun! My jigs crush stripers! I’ve caught a lot of stripers on my 1/16 ounce jig 

[MassYak85]

Got out with my dad yesterday. The wind was brutal but the 75 degree temps and sun made it bearable. The fish weren't as far along as I was expecting but the fall feed is definitely on. The fish we did catch were in windblown coves on the deep side of the weeds. The deeper vegetation was still pretty lively and the bluegills and perch were congregated in them. The lake we were at is known for it's landlocked alewives and I expected to get on a pattern chasing those but that didn't seem to be the case. I think it needs to get colder and for the vegetation to die off more before those bigger bait balls start to form. I managed 10 bass with most coming on a tailspin fished slow enough to just occasionally tick bottom. The fish were definitely not in a super active mood and a lot of my bites seemed to be reactive when I ripped it out of the weeds or paused it. 

[DogBone_384]

Checked off NOVEMBER today 'over the bridge' on the Cape.  The big ones were hiding, but I managed a bunch of perch and smallmouth.  A 2.8" on an underspin and V110+1 jr did the trick. Grabbed one pick and one white perch too.  Big SMB was just under 2# and big YP was just over 1.5#.

 

Winds were 10 mph, sustained, with gusts over 15.  Tough on a kayak, but everything calmed down by 4:30 ish.  Water temps were 58.x and air pressure was 30.2.

 

I'm still on track to catch fish in Mass in open water every month again.  I'm sure December will be blades, Neds, and deep cranks.

 

3 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

the fall feed is definitely on

 

Agreed, they were active today.  

3 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

tailspin fished slow enough

GGGRRRRHHHHHHH ... 😡. ..... I forgot I had these in the truck ..... 

[MassYak85]

18 hours ago, DogBone_384 said:

 

GGGRRRRHHHHHHH ... 😡. ..... I forgot I had these in the truck ..... 

They've become my go-to bait in the fall into winter. Super versatile I can fish them fast more like a spinnerbait or slow down and still cover water in that 10-20 foot range. They aren't really an option in a lot of shallower places but any of the deeper lakes that have a solid shiner or alewife population I like them. Can jig them like a blade bait to when the water really gets cold. Plus they will slice through the nastiest wind.

[DogBone_384]

59 minutes ago, MassYak85 said:

any of the deeper lakes

The place I fished yesterday is 30' in it's deepest spots.

[DogBone_384]

I took another trip to VT/NH. I fished VT Tuesday and Wednesday and New Hampshire Thursday morning.  It was a pretty lackluster trip.  The weather was great, but too great for the fish.  I managed a fat rainbow trout and a handful of dink picks/LMB in VT and one good pick in NH.  Baitfish were abundant in the shallow vegetation in VT and NH was void of activity.

 

I marked plenty of targets 20' and shallower, but couldn't get anything decent to commit.  

 

Water temps were 55.x, air pressure was 30.4 when I showed up and 29.9 when I left the Granite State.

 

I'm not quite done for the season.  I have to get at least one fish in open water in December.

 

Overall, it was a decent/fair 2024.  I picked up a few good fish in the late Winter, early Spring.  Summer was dink city and this fall was almost void of bass.  

 

Good luck to the rest of the membership still getting out there.

[MassYak85]

Went out yesterday on Webster. Only got one bass each between my dad and I. Some other pickerel and perch mixed in but felt like fishing in a pool. Very few signs of life and could not mark any bait out deep.

[Frezzy]

5 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

Went out yesterday on Webster. Only got one bass each between my dad and I. Some other pickerel and perch mixed in but felt like fishing in a pool. Very few signs of life and could not mark any bait out deep.

What were you seeing for water temps?  Heading out in my yak tomorrow. Thx!

[MassYak85]

On 11/16/2024 at 4:50 PM, Frezzy said:

What were you seeing for water temps?  Heading out in my yak tomorrow. Thx!

Sitting around 48°F when we went

[DogBone_384]

On 11/16/2024 at 11:35 AM, MassYak85 said:

Very few signs of life and could not mark any bait out deep.

 

That was my trip in Plymouth this afternoon.  I followed my  Lowrance's waypoints to start and came up with 3 decent pickerel on a chartreuse jointed Rapala but nothing else until the 9th inning when I tossed a 3/8 green/red flake @Siebert Outdoors jig into a laydown.  I let it sit on the bottom and shortly after felt a 'tick' and watched my line start to move.  Up came a 4_8 LMB that had some pretty good fight left in it.

 

In addition to the Rapala and jig, I threw a 2.8" Keitech, blade bait, jerkbait, and Senko.

 

Water temps were 53.x when I launched and 50.x when I left.

 

There was one more guy there, Ken, I think, who caught 3 bass & 3 picks.  He said he's on BR but didn't mention how much time he spends browsing.  

 

I think we should get a group together for a full day/weekend of fishing and BBQ sometime during Spring '25.

[KENNYFISH]

 

20 hours ago, DogBone_384 said:

 

That was my trip in Plymouth this afternoon.  I followed my  Lowrance's waypoints to start and came up with 3 decent pickerel on a chartreuse jointed Rapala but nothing else until the 9th inning when I tossed a 3/8 green/red flake @Siebert Outdoors jig into a laydown.  I let it sit on the bottom and shortly after felt a 'tick' and watched my line start to move.  Up came a 4_8 LMB that had some pretty good fight left in it.

 

In addition to the Rapala and jig, I threw a 2.8" Keitech, blade bait, jerkbait, and Senko.

 

Water temps were 53.x when I launched and 50.x when I left.

 

There was one more guy there, Ken, I think, who caught 3 bass & 3 picks.  He said he's on BR but didn't mention how much time he spends browsing.  

 

I think we should get a group together for a full day/weekend of fishing and BBQ sometime during Spring '25.

🙋‍♂️  I was the other guy.  It was nice meeting and talking with ya Mike.  Ive been here since 2019 but mostly to check out articles.  Definitely will check in on the reports more since it appears there are a bunch of diehard year round open water fishers like myself.  Im sure i will run into you again since we fish the same areas. 

 

My best bass (~3lbs) came early on a ned and and the other 2 bass and the picks came on a vision 110.  Grateful for what i did catch but it was a real grind.  I think that pond is in the fall turnover.   I do recall how the water appeared dirty with a surface debris and a weird film on it.   Not as clear as usual either.  Water temps in the low 50s too.  Those are the indicators from what i can find.  Thats what im going with anyway lol.

 

 

 

[DogBone_384]

Welcome to the forum...  good to have another active member on this thread.  If you go back and read from the beginning, there's a wealth of information for our local waters.

 

I'm taking @Fishing Rhino out tomorrow.  He taught me a lot when I got back into fishing.  He's in his 80's now so I take him.  Payback.

1 hour ago, KENNYFISH said:

Not as clear as usual either.

 

Agreed.

[KENNYFISH]

16 hours ago, DogBone_384 said:

Welcome to the forum...  good to have another active member on this thread.  If you go back and read from the beginning, there's a wealth of information for our local waters.

 

I'm taking @Fishing Rhino out tomorrow.  He taught me a lot when I got back into fishing.  He's in his 80's now so I take him.  Payback.

 

Agreed.

Thanks Mike.   Ill try to be more active here than i have been.  From browsing on some older posts theres a lot of good info here.

 

Good stuff paying it backwards.  The trend these days is paying it forward but you cant forget the people that helped you on the way either.  Hope you guys do well today!

 

 

[Swamp Girl]

I should post in this forum in 2025. It's the closest thing to a Maine forum. It's good to see some fellow paddlers.  

[DogBone_384]

I got @Fishing Rhino and his Nitro out to Cape Cod today for 1/2 a day.  He caught one SMB and one rainbow trout on his favorite orange/brown Senko.  

 

I spoke to one guy coming off the water when we arrived.  He got a dozen in 40' on a blade bait.

 

Water temps were 51.x.  

[MassYak85]

1 hour ago, DogBone_384 said:

I got @Fishing Rhino and his Nitro out to Cape Cod today for 1/2 a day.  He caught one SMB and one rainbow trout on his favorite orange/brown Senko.  

 

I spoke to one guy coming off the water when we arrived.  He got a dozen in 40' on a blade bait.

 

Water temps were 51.x.  

That was the one thing I didn't reach for last time I was out and probably should have. I spent a good amount of time with a lipless LV500 jigging it off the bottom and figured that was close enough to a blade if I wasn't getting bit on that there wasn't much point switching to the blade. But you know what they say about assuming. 

[DogBone_384]

10 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

good amount of time with a lipless LV500

 

Ha ... one of my LV500's is at the bottom of the lake.  

[Frezzy]

Blades crush Smallies at the Chu for me but do you guys use them in lakes dominated by Largemouth?  Any luck with blades on the Larry’s?
 

if you haven’t tried a Damiki Vault yet give it a shot.  One of the best in my experience.

[DogBone_384]

I live by the Damiki's, and yes, I target LMB with blade baits.  Once the water gets into the 40's, that's my staple.  

[MassYak85]

Yup, I have some old-school style blade baits but the Damiki Vault is my staple. I swap the hooks usually. They're nice as long as the bottom is fairly hard and not muck. Those and tailspins are my favorite techniques this time of year. Plus they give me an excuse to use my all time favorite rod (Dobyns Champion 764 CB). It's a cranking rod but I don't use cranks much so it gets repurposed this time of year. But the way that rod loads up on a fish is so satisfying, bend very deep into the blank and keeps them pinned on the smaller trebles.