Eastern Ma & New England Area Fishing Reports

[MassYak85]

Fished from shore for about an hour this afternoon. First cast, got one on the whopper plopper, weighed in at 2.7. About half an hour later got another probably around 2, didn't weigh that one. The key seemed to be LONG pauses. The first fish I let it land and it probably sat a good 30 seconds, then the instant it started to move the bass came up and got it. Second one I let it land, about a 15 second pause, about 10 feet of retrieve, another long pause, then again, the bass hit it when it started up again. Somewhat subtle bites as far as topwater goes, no explosions. 

[Fishing Rhino]

I'm going out on Sawdy tomorrow morning.  I'll be launching around 5:30 a.m.  I have an empty seat for anyone's interested.  Be done around noon.

It's about 45 miles south of Boston.

 

[DogBone_384]

2 hours ago, Fishing Rhino said:

I'm going out on Sawdy tomorrow morning.  I'll be launching around 5:30 a.m.  I have an empty seat for anyone's interested.  Be done around noon.

It's about 45 miles south of Boston.

 

I get out of work around 7:30 and have to ride home to get my truck.  Maybe I'll take the drive down there.  I'll look for you if I do.

2 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

Fished from shore for about an hour this afternoon. First cast, got one on the whopper plopper, weighed in at 2.7. About half an hour later got another probably around 2, didn't weigh that one. The key seemed to be LONG pauses. The first fish I let it land and it probably sat a good 30 seconds, then the instant it started to move the bass came up and got it. Second one I let it land, about a 15 second pause, about 10 feet of retrieve, another long pause, then again, the bass hit it when it started up again. Somewhat subtle bites as far as topwater goes, no explosions. 

What color Plopper do you have?  I have bone and bluegill.  I've used each once at Ponkie (averages 5' deep this time of year with beaucop weeds) with different retrieves and have struck out so far.  I'll try longer pauses next time I'm out.

[Fishing Rhino]

I'll be working the east side of the pond, starting around the first island to the left as you head toward the far end of the pond.  I'll probably be about half way down the east shore when you get there.

[MassYak85]

I have been using the perch, but bone should work just fine too. Both are a shade of white viewed from the bottom. I have the black too but reserve that one for night time. Just try varying your retrieves, I've also struck out with it a few times, some days just aren't top water days. I was casting near shallow cover so I like to start off a little slower and leave it in the strike zone longer, other days they are in the mood to chase it and a steady retrieve is the best. My best day with it on Webster was just straight retrieve. When I got to the place I fish from shore today though I was seeing tons of ripples from baitfish on the surface so I knew I had a good chance with it.

I am going to be upgrading the hooks on the perch one soon though. The front treble hook is starting to look like hell, I have the drag backed off a little bit now to avoid making it any worse, but even that  2.7 who didn't fight that hard my drag was getting pulled off more than I would like. Hopefully upgrading means I can at least go 1/3 on big smallies this year. Last two big ones has gotten off in embarrassing and disappointing fashion. Both would have been my PB smallies by far. That is also another thing I have noticed. This lure has gotten me more smallmouth action this year than I probably have ever had on anything else in the past. 

[DogBone_384]

10 minutes ago, MassYak85 said:

I have been using the perch, but bone should work just fine too. Both are a shade of white viewed from the bottom. I have the black too but reserve that one for night time. Just try varying your retrieves, I've also struck out with it a few times, some days just aren't top water days. I was casting near shallow cover so I like to start off a little slower and leave it in the strike zone longer, other days they are in the mood to chase it and a steady retrieve is the best. My best day with it on Webster was just straight retrieve. When I got to the place I fish from shore today though I was seeing tons of ripples from baitfish on the surface so I knew I had a good chance with it.

I am going to be upgrading the hooks on the perch one soon though. The front treble hook is starting to look like hell, I have the drag backed off a little bit now to avoid making it any worse, but even that  2.7 who didn't fight that hard my drag was getting pulled off more than I would like. Hopefully upgrading means I can at least go 1/3 on big smallies this year. Last two big ones has gotten off in embarrassing and disappointing fashion. Both would have been my PB smallies by far. That is also another thing I have noticed. This lure has gotten me more smallmouth action this year than I probably have ever had on anything else in the past. 

I'm just south of Boston.  I don't get out to Smallie country too much, Great Herring, in Plymouth, mostly.  I consider Ponkapog my 'home' pond because it's pretty close to home and is never really crowded.  Good luck with it.

[MassYak85]

I'm in central mass, not exactly smallie country either. Heck I haven't caught a smallmouth at my "home lake" in a few years, and then out of no where this big girl comes up and smokes my whopper plopper, I was pretty shocked when I saw it jump and saw that it wasn't a largemouth. Same thing at webster, I knew it had a decent smallie population but never caught many there really. 

[Fishing Rhino]

3 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

I'm in central mass, not exactly smallie country either. Heck I haven't caught a smallmouth at my "home lake" in a few years, and then out of no where this big girl comes up and smokes my whopper plopper, I was pretty shocked when I saw it jump and saw that it wasn't a largemouth. Same thing at webster, I knew it had a decent smallie population but never caught many there really. 

Has the vegetation come  back at Webster.  It was three or four years ago they killed most of it off, and the fishing went downhill.  It was easy to catch thirty or forty fish a day prior to the "de-weeding" of the pond.  The last time I fished there with Grampa, before he moved south we managed about a half dozen.

Haven't been back since.

It might have been in this thread, someone said they went to the small state ramp at the south end of the pond, getting there around seven or seven-thirty in the morning.

Three years ago you couldn't have found a place to park your vehicle at seven-thirty.

I'd launch a half hour before sunrise, probably around four thirty a.m.  Most of the time, I was the first one there, but only by ten or fifteen minutes.  The parking area was jammed by six o'clock in the morning on weekdays.  Weekends?  Forget about it.

[MassYak85]

8 hours ago, Fishing Rhino said:

Has the vegetation come  back at Webster.  It was three or four years ago they killed most of it off, and the fishing went downhill.  It was easy to catch thirty or forty fish a day prior to the "de-weeding" of the pond.  The last time I fished there with Grampa, before he moved south we managed about a half dozen.

Haven't been back since.

It might have been in this thread, someone said they went to the small state ramp at the south end of the pond, getting there around seven or seven-thirty in the morning.

Three years ago you couldn't have found a place to park your vehicle at seven-thirty.

I'd launch a half hour before sunrise, probably around four thirty a.m.  Most of the time, I was the first one there, but only by ten or fifteen minutes.  The parking area was jammed by six o'clock in the morning on weekdays.  Weekends?  Forget about it.

There are certain coves that have weeds, but there aren't many deeper weedlines like there used to be. Fishing has seemed harder in the past couple seasons up until my great day with the whopper plopper. We actually did get a spot at the south launch that day around 6am. Was about half full at the time. In the past though it was either show up at sunrise or pay the 40 bucks to launch at the memorial beach ramp, which aint happening, so if we can't get a spot there we usually just go to another lake. 

[Jigfishn10]

I finally went fishing this year and went old school - weightless slug-gos. I was able to go out for 2 hours this afternoon after work before the humidity got to me. I managed 1 dink on an Arkansas shiner 'go and a 1.5 lber on a rainbow 'go. 

Wished I could have stay longer, but my body had had enough of this heat for 1 week. Tomorrow I'm up in Kennebunkport ME chasing stripers.

Good luck and stay safe

[Janderson45]

I hit Sampsons Pond in Carver, MA from 4:30p-9:30p this evening  in my kayak.  Managed 4 largemouth bass.. None of any noteworthy size.  Biggest of the bunch probably went 1.5lbs.  All 4 bass came on different techniques, I couldn't seem to figure out what they wanted to hit.  First dink came on a dropshot in about 12' of water.  Deepest water I could find... Second cast on the dropshot, so I fished it for a while in that location without even a nibble.  Switched to a 1/2 football jig and green pumpkin/orange craw. Again caught a dink on the 2nd cast.. Fished that for a bit, but due to its weight and relatively shallow water I had to switch to a 3/16ths finesse grass jig.  Caught the biggest one of the night a while later with that black finesse jig.  Finished off with a whopper plopper dink around 9:00.  Water temp was 82, and the water level was clearly very low for this pond.

 

I was pretty unimpressed with what I saw here to be honest, aside from all the bass I caught being small, I didn't notice very much life at all.  Didn't see a single other fish, vegetation was scant at best, water levels appeared to be down as much as 4' in places, and transparency was poor, maybe 2.5' and the water was pretty stained, tea colored.  I also had one guy flood my kayak twice while I was at anchor. He whizzed around me bringing 4 young kids for a tube ride, fairly frustrating. 

Anyone fish here with any success?  This is the pond that the supposed state record came from (at over 15lbs) ... I HIGHLY doubt a fish that large could live here, maybe it was a lot different 40 years ago..but I'm not sure I have faith in anything about that record.. 

[DogBone_384]

I fished Sampsons twice.  I caught more panfish than bass, a few really nice pancakes, but nothing worth putting on the scale.  I had the best luck along the shoreline past the large point going up to, and in, the small inlet. My neighbor fly fishes there and does well with panfish.

[MassYak85]

Me and my dad hit Webster at 5:30pm today, boat traffic was crazy. We were lucky we even got a spot at the south ramp. There was a good amount of wind, and we hit one of the spots we had success last time there. 2nd cast I had a blowup on the 130 whopper plopper but the fish completely missed it. About 20 minutes go by and there is a lone patch of lily pads that is on a shallow flat with nearby access to 20+ feet of water, seems like a good spot to me. I cast parallel to it and right as the whopper plopper gets next to the pads, SLAM!  Got her to the boat, and she weighed in at 4.5#. Can you guys tell I like this lure yet?  It still amazes me that literally every fish is hooked on the front treble hook. She managed to bend it up a little more than it already was so I decided to borrow the beefier hooks on my other whopper plopper and put them on that one. A few casts later I got another fish probably just over a pound. We move around for a while and finally my dad gets a nice one just outside one of the marinas on a chartreuse spinnerbait, got a rough weight on that one at a little over 3 and a half pounds (it did NOT want to stay still). We move around a bit more without too much luck. We ended up staying until after dark and I wasn't getting any more action on the whopper plopper so I switched to a big 1oz spinnerbait that has a rattle and a single big colorado blade. A few casts with that and I hooked up with another good one, fought harder than the 4.5 from earlier so I was thinking I had a 5 lber on but I could tell it wasn't even close when it got near the boat, it was still a nice fish at 3.5 though. We ended up leaving around 9:30. All in all the numbers were not there but the quality fish seemed to be biting. 

[DogBone_384]

Anyone fish/launch at the Charles' River car top ramp in Needham?  It looks interesting....   

ADD: launched at the Fisher street ramp around 1230 - 1300.  It was overcast, with water temps just above 80.x degrees.  The surroundings looked great.  Little or no current, S curves, weeds, fallen trees, a small bay/waterfall, a bridge, drop offs, etc., etc.     I started under the bridge towards the waterfall with a T-rigged 5" bass hula-swim Senko, a perch Whopper Plopper, and wacky rigged 4" smoke colored Senko.   I nabbed a  dink bass straight away with the hula Senko.

After a bit I moved back towards a nice looking weed line that dropped right off to 8' with the Whopper Plopper.  A small pickerel grabbed it but bit through the line when it jumped out of the water, thinking it was a bass....  Luckily it spit the Plopper too, finding it floating a short distance away.

With the exception of some little fish nibbling at the Senkos, that was it for the next four hours, even though I worked every tree, bump, weed line, overhanging tree with everything I could think of, including a Mepps inline spinner.  

Something (pickerel?) bit the tail off my hula senko so I put a watermelon candy Zoom Mag in it's place and immediately got a hit from a tiny bass, not much bigger than the worm.  More pick .. pick .. pick .. so I went back to the Mepps in line spinner and managed a little sunfish, a yellow perch, and a nice crappie.  If you added their weights you might get a pound and half.  

Not at all what I expected for 5 hours, but it beats a goose egg...

 

[Jigfishn10]

I'll be starting a project in Westboro, anyone have any watering holes they like in the area?

[MassYak85]

1 hour ago, Jigfishn10 said:

I'll be starting a project in Westboro, anyone have any watering holes they like in the area?

Stump Pond, aka A1, aka George H. Nichols Reservoir if you need to look it up on Google Maps. 

[Jigfishn10]

Thx

[grampa1114]

Jiggy..don't overlook Lake Chauncey off Lyman St. at RT 9 just past the Burger King. I know...I'm not there but I'm watching. 

[DogBone_384]

great to see you back Grampa....   are you in SC permanently now?

[MassYak85]

4 hours ago, Jigfishn10 said:

Thx

If you do go to the place I suggested, beware, it is very weedy. You can all but forget about anything that has a treble hook attached, even in the center of the pond. There are some good spots for frogging though, I haven't done much but I would imagine punching could be productive, worms, jigs, any heavy cover stuff should do well. 

Oh and you can probably guess by the name, there are stumps everywhere, be cautious if you go in a kayak or canoe not to run up on one and tip. A bass boat is pretty much a complete no-go at this point in the summer, plus with it being low with the lack of rain. 

[Torn Thumb]

So, I take it the rain is running up and out of the area out east also. I'm 5 minutes from NY and almost all of our forecasted rain just disappears as soon as it's supposed to hit us.The local lakes and ponds are getting low pretty fast. Lakes are harder to notice but my favorite ponds are getting into scary low territory.

[grampa1114]

10 hours ago, DogBone_384 said:

great to see you back Grampa....   are you in SC permanently now?

I hope so...this warm is sure nice on the old bones...Next step is to figure out how to fish in mud. Have a great summer.

Grampa

 

[Jigfishn10]

22 hours ago, grampa1114 said:

Jiggy..don't overlook Lake Chauncey off Lyman St. at RT 9 just past the Burger King. I know...I'm not there but I'm watching. 

I wish you were here fishing and not down there and watching...LOL...thanks a million grampa.

I have a preconstruction meeting tomorrow and I'll take up the advice and go exploring after the meeting. Thanks a million for the suggestions folks!

[Jigfishn10]

I managed to hit Houghton's Pond for 2 1/2 hours today on my way home and had a decent outing. 6 bass and 1 snot rocket from the esox family. The bite started off aggressive with 2 out of the gate on a Rippin Rap and 2 more on a Slug-Go. The Slug-Go bites were twitched fairly quickly and the Rippin Rap bites were both on a yo-yo retrieve. The bite shut down and I moved to another spot.

I lost 2 rigs in a row on aggressive Slug-Go bites on hooksets. On both hooksets, my Power Pro Braid came back cleanly sheared off, so I'm guessing 2 snot rockets from the esox family were liking the menu. No more bites, so I  moved on.

The bite at this point was very slow, I wound up deadsticking 2 more Slug-Go fish and the esox snot rocket on my way out to the truck when I called it a day.

All fish were in and around the first weedline. Usually this time of year I have better luck on a secondary weedline, but with overcast skies, I'm guessing they were cruising more.

Good luck and be safe.

[MassYak85]

Went from shore for a couple hours at the Sudbury Reservoir. Got two bass, one weighed in at 2.7, the other was probably around 1.5, I didn't weigh it. Both were on the whopper plopper. I could see a ton of surface activity way out beyond where I could cast at the edge of the weed beds. Had a couple other fish take a half-hearted swat at it, no idea on size of those.