Eastern Ma & New England Area Fishing Reports

[MikeOGNR]

8 hours ago, Janderson45 said:

Went out on the A1 on Thursday, about 4 1/2 hours in the yak, got skunked.  Threw a jig/craw trailer a shakey head with 6.5" plasma tail, and a big lizard. Nothing.  The water was really muddy, temp was 54.x degrees all afternoon.

Went to the Wachusett res yesterday in the gorgeous weather, bluebird day with 70+ degree air temps, water was still only 48 degrees.  Was slow for the majority of the 5 or so hours we put in out there, but within ten minutes me and my fishing partner both Hooked up on good fish, my friend with a 3lb 13oz lake trout and I hooked up with my new PB smallmouth.  4lb 15oz , 20" long. 

Smallmouth hit like a freight train, I couldn't believe the size of it when I got it in.  Friend kept the laker to eat, I considered for a moment that I had a state pin fish, but quickly decided I'd rather release her.  we also saw numerous eagles and loons, awesome spot.  

What was the smallie caught on? How slow of a presentation what kind of cover structure and water depth? Nice fish though. 

[Janderson45]

Smallie was taken on a 1/4oz chrome/blue kastmaster, moderate retrieve fished near the bottom.  No idea the depth the fish struck at but I was fishing a point where the water quickly came up from around 80' to 10' or so.  Laker was caught in the same location. 

[trupp30]

I was at Webster Lake on Sunday. The fishing was slow. My club had a tournament there, and most of the guys caught no keepers. 2 guys caught 1 keeper each, and 2 had 5 fish limits. I had 4 fish. All came from using a sexy shad jerkbait. They were all caught on the the drop from shallow to deep. Also, I caught a real nice rainbow trout. Definitely the biggest rainbow I have ever caught.

[DogBone_384]

Took today to fish Waller Mill Reservoir in Williamsburg while on vacation with the family. I launched my Kayak around 7:30-ish under nearly perfect conditions. Water temp was around 65-67 and barometric pressure sat in at 29.8. The reservoir reminded me of Arron Reservoir in Wampatuck State park.

I started with a black/blue flake Kreature and jointed smallmouth looking Rapala. I worked points, coves, submerged trees, and the channel for over two hours without a bite. 

I found a shallow flat on a point with stumps scattered between 4-10' deep. I tossed a 1/2 oz bluegill jig and a 5" bass flavored Hula-Swim Senko for a while, again without so much as a nibble. I moved down another finger and tossed my smallie Rapala in the channel from both shores, again without success. I tried a 4" watermelon/red flake Senko figuring that would get some attention... Nope.

I went back to my truck and switched one of my rods to a ML rig with a Ned on it. I went out again looking for some shallows, but by 2:30 I'd not had so much as a bite, I gave up and packed it in.

Two locals were loading their boat as I was finishing packing up. They told me they'd caught only two small bass and a half a dozen Crappie. 

To take the good out of a goose-egg, my new Conc**t E casts like a dream, I reduced the centrifugal brake to 1/6, and my accuracy was spot on.

I'll be back in MA this weekend, and plan on fishing Ponkapog. Hope to bag a few good ones.

[massrob]

I haven't been fishing much but got out this morning and caught this one on the Ned rig it was on my last cast right before leaving. I also caught a little one on a shine glide swimbait pretty funny I guess big baits don't always catch the big ones cuz that fish saw that swimbait and a chatterbait go by it and didn't bite them. She was full of eggs with a bloody tail so I think it was my first bed fish. And the coolest part is that I caught it the same place I caught my first bass of my life a couple years ago. 

[BR1AN]

I can confirm this past warm weather really got them moving around and possibly on beds! My buddy was out driving out around at 3am with his girlfriend (ya i know 3am). He decided to stop at this lake in North Andover we visit often. From 3am to 4:30 they were both crushing big bass and she don't even fish. They landed 4 bass over 4lbs and missed about 8 he said. He messaged me on my phone and i was already awake having my coffee i was like dude you gotta pick me up i cant miss this.. By the time he picked me up and we dropped her off and went back to the lake 45 mins has passed since he left the lake.. What happens?? They 100% shut off we through everything for 3 hours i was pretty bummed but i know its not over. Tons of bait fish moving around breaking the surface.. Looking real good.

 

They got all their fish off those Powerbait Swimbaits (shad) u can get a pack at walmart for like $2.50 they were just dragging them on the bottom.

 

I might of made a similar post in 2014 because we had the same luck on the same bait same lake same time of the year.

[JG233]

I picked up a small batch of used Rapala jerkbaits from a friend of my Dad's for like $10. I just finished sharpening the hooks on them and I'm excited to fish them for the first time. Unfortunately, I won't be able to go out for another 2 weeks! 

[Cyacnba]

Just came back from the Charles River. I saw around 5 bass on their beds, there's a lot of activity going on

[BR1AN]

Heading out around 11 until sundown. Hopefully I can finally get on the board!

[MassYak85]

Hey guys, I just joined the forum and thought I'd say hello. I'm in college right now but will be fishing much more over the summer. You might see me out on some ponds/lakes in central mass in my kayak. 

[DogBone_384]

Welcome. I paddle a camo Ascend 128T and/or blue camo FeelFree Lure 11.5.

Best of luck out there.

[MassYak85]

8 hours ago, DogBone_384 said:

Welcome. I paddle a camo Ascend 128T and/or blue camo FeelFree Lure 11.5.

Best of luck out there.

Thanks!

 

I actually am also in a camo Ascend.....FS10 though. 

[BR1AN]

Little update on our outting we had on Friday. Nice pickerel were biting also perch. My buddy got a pair of bass maybe a half pound each.

[bass_masster]

11lb 2oz bass was caught in RI over the pas few days, anyone know any more details? Supposedly it was kept. Surprised a pond in RI has enough biomass to support such a large fish. Maybe a DD bass in NE isn't such a pipe dream after all? Posted on the RI DEM site.

 

Edited May 2, 2016 by bass_masster
I spel gud

[JAB50]

Going to be on Cape Cod from the May 14th-22nd. I live in Maryland now. I'll be fishing from either my kayak or a 12' aluminum. Just trying to get the current conditions or what they will be when I come up. Prespawn,Spawn or post spawn? Trying to be prepared on what setups to bring home and how I should fish. 

I wont be fishing Mashpee or Wehquacket. To much water to cover with a yak and aluminum. Any info will be greatly appreciated. You can PM me if you don't want the info to be public.

thanks again!

[Janderson45]

3 hours ago, JAB50 said:

Going to be on Cape Cod from the May 14th-22nd. I live in Maryland now. I'll be fishing from either my kayak or a 12' aluminum. Just trying to get the current conditions or what they will be when I come up. Prespawn,Spawn or post spawn? Trying to be prepared on what setups to bring home and how I should fish. 

I wont be fishing Mashpee or Wehquacket. To much water to cover with a yak and aluminum. Any info will be greatly appreciated. You can PM me if you don't want the info to be public.

thanks again!

I would think the spawn should be in full swing right around that time, probably a mix of bedding fish, staging fish, and some post spawn as well.  The cape has some decent smallmouth waters too, they spawn in a bit cooler water obviously.  

Apparently some fish were coming up to start the process a week or two ago, but now we've been hit with a fairly lengthy cold stretch (especially over night lows) and I think it's probably put a pretty big halt on any spawning behavior that was occurring.  I'm heading out somewhere this afternoon to make some casts, so I'll report back on water temp and if I notice any signs of spawning activity.  

[Janderson45]

5 hours ago, bass_masster said:

11lb 2oz bass was caught in RI over the pas few days, anyone know any more details? Supposedly it was kept. Surprised a pond in RI has enough biomass to support such a large fish. Maybe a DD bass in NE isn't such a pipe dream after all? Posted on the RI DEM site.

 

This would be a new state record fish... I can't find anything on google about it?  If it's a state record they'll at least tell you where it was caught. 

Rhode Island would be the state in New England that I would least expect this fish to call home, I'm going to guess that it came from a body of water that is seldom fished, but then again I suppose RI probably sees the least amount of freshwater bass fishing pressure in New England as well... 

[Chris186]

4 minutes ago, Janderson45 said:

This would be a new state record fish... I can't find anything on google about it?  If it's a state record they'll at least tell you where it was caught. 

Supposedly caught in Johnsons Pond

[JAB50]

Thanks Janderson45

 

[trupp30]

That fish was caught in Johnson's Pond. And it is the new state record. The old record was 10.5 from 1991.

Johnson's Pond had a major draw down this fall, and winter to fix a d**n. The pond was little more than a river at that time. The water is back up now, however.

I grew up on that lake and it has always produced good fish. I was in a tournament there a few years back and, an 8 and 7 lb fish were caught. My father caught one that was almost 8 back when we lived there, too. As far as, fishing pressure goes, it use to have tournaments almost every weekend, and a Thursday night tournament every week. Also, there are a ton of houses on the lake, and receives a great deal of boat traffic on the weekends.

 

[DogBone_384]

Drove down to Great Herring Pond this morning, launching around 9:00.  I didn't know what to expect, with surface temps in the mid 50's, air temp in the high 40's, barometric pressure was 29.6 inHg, and the wind was coming from the NE at a pretty good clip.

I started with a smallie flavored, jointed Rapala and black/blue Kreature way down at the NE corner where I'd caught some smallies last fall.  No smallies, but Yellow Perch hit the Rapala frequently.  I worked the East shore back up towards the boat launch.  Except for a couple Perch, it was very slow.  I found some humps in 28' of water with 'fish' stacked on it.  I tossed a bluegill jig at it the best I could for a little bit without success.  Around lunch I bumped into a couple locals fishing in a really cool looking canoe.  They said they'd killed it, catching 15 Smallies between the two of them on a black/blue T-rigged 5" Senko.  

15 - 0.... OK, let's see what happens.  I switched to what they were using, and sure enough, I bagged a 1 pound Smallie on the third cast.  I continued working the drop-off.  No luck, but I dropped my cast on the corner of a dock and got a hit.  I repeated my cast to the same spot and got hit again.  That was it for the dock...

It got colder and windier, and with my battery getting down, I made way to the channel/points located left of the launch, where I'd had some success before.  My Lowrance showed a lot of traffic.  I changed to a lipless Perch colored Rapala but managed only a few more Perch.  

Although I didn't GOOSE-EGG today, I would have liked to land more than one Smallie.  Perhaps it was the weather, or my unfamiliarity with Great Herring, I have a LOT more to learn in locating (hence CATCHING) bass.  I'll just HAVE to get back there when I can.

[DogBone_384]

Had the morning off so I dropped into Ponkapog Pond just before 9:00.  Surface temps were 52-53.x degrees, barometric pressure was 29.3, and the wind was coming in from the NE.  Just about the same conditions as the other day in Plymouth.  

I started in the NE corner where the soft bottom (weeds) turned hard (rock) and worked a chartreuse spinner bait, perch flavored Rapala Scatter Rap, and the same Senko I caught my smallie with.  I worked back East along the shore, targeting weed patches.  Mr. Senko didn't produce, so I switched to a white 4.5" tube, then a orange/red-flake Hula Grub, and finally a black/blue Senko. I got a hit on the Hula Grub, but missed - .

After three and a half hours I managed only a dink Pickerel via the spinner bait.  Oh well, beat's getting a ZERO.

[MassYak85]

Me and my dad went to Quaboag on Saturday. It was kind of miserable conditions, raining, cloudy and windy in the 50's with the water temps a pretty consistent 52/53 around the whole lake. It started off really slow with only one pickerel. We went into one of the outflow rivers and started catching a few. I finished with 6 bass, 3 were dinks, a couple keepers and the biggest was a decent 2 1/2 pounder. All caught on a green pumpkin chatterbait. My dad ended up catching 2 more pickerel. There was a club tourney going on while we were there and we saw one guy catch a 4-5 pounder. 

 

[DogBone_384]

Sounds like the bass are hiding with this weather.  I was in Williamsburg two weeks ago and the locals said they were on the beds.  Things should pick up this week with temps getting back to 'normal'.  If I don't pick up and extra shift tomorrow, I'll be giving it he** @ Ponkapog by 8:00.

[MassYak85]

I'm hoping to go out on Thursday in my kayak. Nice warm weather this week should get them active again and come Friday another front with rain is coming in so hopefully they will be biting good Thursday.