Eastern Ma & New England Area Fishing Reports

[Mr. Aquarium]

i cant wait for this weekend! i think the big girls will be chewing

[DogBone_384]

Droppd Kat off at work and hit Ponkapog before dawn (getting old is a drag - can't see in the dark anymore ?) and started off with a Bluegill Whopper Plopper, green/red flake Kut Tail Senko, and my trusty gourd green Zoom U-Tail.

Did pretty good on only one cup of coffee: A 2-8 on the Whopper Plopper and a 2-5 on the U-Tail with a handful of little ones along the way, including a Bluegill who thought he could eat my Whopper Plopper!

 

[MassYak85]

Fished the Merrimack from shore today. Started out with a Whopper Plopper 90, no interest in that (other than some seagulls eyeing it debating whether it was food or not). Switched to a 1/8oz swimbait head with a 4.8 paddle tail. Not much interest initially but I moved down the bank a bit and hooked into a decent smallmouth. Fought pretty well, got him close to the bank and he did a 180 and the hook popped free. A few casts later I hooked another one in the same spot (might have actually been the same fish, both were about the same size). I landed this one though. Not really big enough to break out the scale, probably a little over a pound. But I'll take it!

[DogBone_384]

Launched at Ponkie at dawn this morning with water temps in the mid 70's and BP @ 29.8 with a slight breeze from the NW. Tossed a Bluegill Whopper Plopper, 4" Bluegill Senko, a 6.5" Pumpkin grn/blk flake Kut Tail, and my trusty Zoom U-Tail.

I landed two on the 4" Senko, one each with the Kut and U-Tail worm.  Mr Whopper Plopper struck out. Nobody was scale worthy, but good enough for a quick Friday morning paddle.

Heading to Aruba for a few days. Planning on Quabbin upon return.

ADD: I HAD to get out once more before heading out to Aruba.  I launched at Sunset Lake around 4:30 and started out on the Braintree High side where I caught my 3-0 the other day with Fishing Rhino's 'secret weapon'. I caught 3 small bass straight away.

I moved to the public beach area and worked a nice 3' - 10' drop off with no takers (?). The weeds at the drop off were dark and limp, unlike the HS side which were bright and green.  No harm, back to where I started.

Got three more little ones and capped off the evening with a 2-14 with a 4" Bluegill Senko, rigged weightless.. 

Gonna put my feet in the sand for a few days and strategize some Smallie tactics for the Quabbin upon my return.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Edited September 3, 2016 by DogBone_384

[Janderson45]

fished the Sudbary river from 2:30p-7:30p this evening.  Pretty weedy and shallow, lots of hydrilla and pads.  Managed my new official PB largemouth at 5.58 lbs on a topwater hollow bodied frog... What a blast that was.  Water temps were around 79 degrees and I caught 6 bass while I was there along with a few sunfish.  

 

 

[CavScoutA21]

Congrats on the new PB Janderson!

I just got back from fishing Jamaica Pond for about 45 minutes at lunchtime with my blue blood whopper plopper 90 and caught  3 things:

1)  I also caught my new PB at 5.02 lbs!  It looks like the big girls are biting with the cooler temps.  This was also my first fish I have ever caught at JP.

2)  my smallest largemouth bass (smaller than the 90).  

3)  and a seagull!  I watched it dive down to grab my WP and was fortunate to keep it out of the trees.  It was only hooked in the beak so i was able to get the hook out easily and it flew away.

I'm still shaking from the adrenaline rush of catching that big one!

[Janderson45]

5lber at JP is definitely impressive!  Awesome it came on a whopper plopper too, congrats.  

 

[CavScoutA21]

16 minutes ago, Janderson45 said:

5lber at JP is definitely impressive!  Awesome it came on a whopper plopper too, congrats.  

 

I didn't think they got that big there either.  I had a crowd of people amazed at the size of it too.  It was definitely eating well as it was a fat one.  

[MassYak85]

Congrats on the new PB's guys!

 

LOL Janderson, everytime I fish that spot on the Sudburry I don't catch squat. Good job. 

[Janderson45]

Thanks!  It was actually a fairly frustrating evening.. Big fish busting on top all over the weed edges/shallows... When I pulled into the bay I was in shock, a heavenly seen with no other people, a slight fog coming off the water and fish busting everywhere... A couple of the top water explosions were so large that I figure they must've been pike, sounded like a boulder being thrown into the water..but I didn't catch one so I can't confirm... 

Fishing was slow on the frog despite fish busting everywhere, they were clearly feeding on something else and the only strikes I got on the frog were purely reactionary... I was spooking far more fish in the shallows with it than I was catching.  I also tried a weightless senko and chatterbait with almost no luck.  Need to figure out a better way to target fish in these situations. 

[MassYak85]

Actually my mistake, I was thinking the concord river. Nice pike in there though. I also share your frustration with the frog sometimes. There are times where frogging or a punch rig are really the only viable ways to fish shallow thick stuff, but there are times when they just spook the fish and I am left stumped. 

[KenP]

Fished the gate 7 and 6 area of the Wachusett Res from 545am to 10am with perch and rainbow trout 68 special Hudds RF12. Slow across the bottom and fast for to cover all depths. No bites at all. My back and shoulder were sore as hell. It's been a slow week after catching 3lb smb last Sunday. Turn over is in full effect.

tonight went back at 6 for about 2hrs and went easy off a railroad bridge with a 3/4oz little Cleo and got 4 smallies and a large all around 2lbs. They hit on the fall. Also had a large pickerel on a taxes rigged rage craw. His teeth broke my 12lb flouro as he was deep and fought like hell.

Funny story: While at the bridge I was standing on the lowest part very close to water. It's about 12ft at that wall. All of a sudden I see something swimming 2ft under the water which was about 30" and fat as hell. Almost died thinking a record laker or bass was next to me. 5 seconds later a beaver popped his head out of the water near me.... 

[MassYak85]

2 hours ago, Ken Pendergast said:

Fished the gate 7 and 6 area of the Wachusett Res from 545am to 10am with perch and rainbow trout 68 special Hudds RF12. Slow across the bottom and fast for to cover all depths. No bites at all. My back and shoulder were sore as hell. It's been a slow week after catching 3lb smb last Sunday. Turn over is in full effect.

tonight went back at 6 for about 2hrs and went easy off a railroad bridge with a 3/4oz little Cleo and got 4 smallies and a large all around 2lbs. They hit on the fall. Also had a large pickerel on a taxes rigged rage craw. His teeth broke my 12lb flouro as he was deep and fought like hell.

Funny story: While at the bridge I was standing on the lowest part very close to water. It's about 12ft at that wall. All of a sudden I see something swimming 2ft under the water which was about 30" and fat as hell. Almost died thinking a record laker or bass was next to me. 5 seconds later a beaver popped his head out of the water near me.... 

Beavers suck sometimes. I was fishing topwaters in my kayak and hear what sounds like a cannonball hitting the water, turn and see an explosion and I'm thinking an 8lber just killed something on the surface. Heart was going real good. 10 minutes of casting to that spot and I see the suspect pop up and swim away, only to duplicate what I heard, this time in plain sight. You can imagine my disappointment. 

[Janderson45]

4 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

Actually my mistake, I was thinking the concord river. Nice pike in there though. I also share your frustration with the frog sometimes. There are times where frogging or a punch rig are really the only viable ways to fish shallow thick stuff, but there are times when they just spook the fish and I am left stumped. 

The concord/Sudbary river are one in the same :).  I was fishing fairhaven bay 

[deaknh03]

On Friday, August 26, 2016 at 10:18 PM, swamp hawgs said:

its a WSB 175 makes a ton  of noise! just got it,  few hours later got fish on it! im going to like this bait A LOT 

Nice..how much you pay for the mag?

[Jigfishn10]

On ‎9‎/‎2‎/‎2016 at 11:04 AM, Janderson45 said:

fished the Sudbary river from 2:30p-7:30p this evening.  Pretty weedy and shallow, lots of hydrilla and pads.  Managed my new official PB largemouth at 5.58 lbs on a topwater hollow bodied frog... What a blast that was.  Water temps were around 79 degrees and I caught 6 bass while I was there along with a few sunfish.  

 

 

 

22 hours ago, CavScoutA21 said:

Congrats on the new PB Janderson!

I just got back from fishing Jamaica Pond for about 45 minutes at lunchtime with my blue blood whopper plopper 90 and caught  3 things:

1)  I also caught my new PB at 5.02 lbs!  It looks like the big girls are biting with the cooler temps.  This was also my first fish I have ever caught at JP.

2)  my smallest largemouth bass (smaller than the 90).  

3)  and a seagull!  I watched it dive down to grab my WP and was fortunate to keep it out of the trees.  It was only hooked in the beak so i was able to get the hook out easily and it flew away.

I'm still shaking from the adrenaline rush of catching that big one!

Janderson45, that a beauty for sure, congrats my friend!

CavScoutA21, I had a feeling you were gonna beat your previous PB this year...Nicely done!

[MassYak85]

16 hours ago, Janderson45 said:

The concord/Sudbary river are one in the same :).  I was fishing fairhaven bay 

Oh that's right I forgot they connected. I've heard great things about fairhaven bay, haven't gotten around to going yet though. 

Anybody plan to fish in the morning before the storm picks up? 

Me and my dad were on Quinsig today....SLOOOOOWWWW. We managed 5 dinks between us, all caught on finesse carolina rigs. Guys we talked to weren't fairing much better. 

 

[Janderson45]

I'm hoping the storm will bring lots of rain and change up the current mood/pattern the fish are in.. No plans to fish until after it settles down mid next week or whatever. 

Fished the East Brimfield Reservoir in Sturbridge this afternoon.  230-830.  Managed very little, a LMB that was probably 1lb, another LMB smaller than that, and a good sized pickerel.  There's pike here and I initially thought I had a pike on, but nope it was just a 3lb pickerel.

i had never fished here before, cool spot.. I went hoping that maybe I'd hook into/catch my first Massachusetts Northern Pike.  I brought 1/2 dozen good sized shiners to try and target the pike... No luck though.  The pickerel came on a shiner, and the 2 LMB came on a texas rigged/pegged missle baits DBomb with chartreuse dipped claws. 

Water temp was 75-76 degrees.  

Anyone have any fool proof advice on how to catch a good northern pike in mass at the end of summer/into fall?  I gravitate towards the few areas they exist in the state with the hopes of catching one, but still haven't managed to do so. 

[MassYak85]

I didn't know there were pike in Brimfield. I did catch two pickerel last time there that were 2-3 pounds that somehow managed to choke an 8" savage gear line through trout. 

[Janderson45]

12 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

I didn't know there were pike in Brimfield. I did catch two pickerel last time there that were 2-3 pounds that somehow managed to choke an 8" savage gear line through trout. 

They stocked it a lot over the past 20 years and I think a reproducing population now lives in that system, it's also got a few miles of river that run down into holland pond which has also been periodically stocked with northerns.  According to the DCR east brimfield held the state record pike for a short while before the current 35lb behemoth was caught in the late 80s.  

["hamma"]

Big pike in attitash lake in merrimac. Take big shiners and head straight across from the ramp and off to the left some,,, Congrats on the pb's guys thats always a awesome day.

[Mr. Aquarium]

lost a giant saturday! still crying!!!! hit a chatterbait in a small dried up bog pond. my buddy and i decided to check it out! water was super super low! i had to bring a rod and cast a few! brought down my swimbait rod! i took a cast my buddy is deaf so he starts talkin to me and thats when a good fish hit!  my buddy caught a 5.8 on a swimbait. i missed a friggin giant on a chatterbait!  so friggin ticked! it was a 6 or 7 it was a football and bigger then my buddies 5.8

we fished all day i caught a bunch of dinks on jigs my buddy caught 2 5ers on swimbaits but i didnt have the same luck as him! 

[DogBone_384]

I'm back from Aruba and don't go back to work until Saturday, so off to play I go...  I had to go to the Apple store in Braintree to swap out my phone (Lifeproof case didn't 'Lifeproof' while snorkling ) so to BHR go I before the mall opened.  Got 5 little ones on a wacky rigged Senko.  It's good to see the population coming back here.

The sun worked its way out after the Apple Store and housework so I explored the Charles River in Dedham off of Common Street.  Found an open weed bed with a dip to 6' that looked good.  It looked good enough that a two or three pound bass came fully out of the water at the northern edge.  GAME ON! I tossed a bluegill Whopper Plopper, wacky Senko, my trusty Zoom U-tail, a mouse, and 5" swim Senko but couldn't coax it out of hiding.  I paddled around some more with not so much as a nibble so packed it up I did and drove to Ponkie for some more fun.

Ponkie was as smooth as glass when I showed and I started in my usual spot with the Whopper Plopper, U-Tail, and 4" weedless wacky Senko.  Ponkie was 7' in April and read between 3 1/2 - 4' today.  I moved southward little by little and struck out until the very last cast of the day where a 4-3 liked my Zoom U-Tail.  A nice play on a ML spinning rig in the weeds....  

I'm planning on taking my wife's friend's son fishing after school tomorrow.  Don't know where yet....

[Janderson45]

Fished a smaller pond near me this afternoon for a few hours.. Managed 2 pickerel and that was it.  When I got there there were bluegill feeding EVERYWHERE .. the water surface was teeming with life.. thought for sure I'd have some action on this "LiveTargert Bluegill" surface bait that I bought a while back but still haven't caught a fish on... threw it around for a little bit, had a blowup or two but couldn't connect.  Started throwing a zoom super fluke with a chart dipped tail on a 1/8oz swimbait hook.  Caught both of the pickerel on this.. the 2nd pickerel caught my 10lb test power pro just right as I was trying to unhook him, and off he went with the bait and hook.  I tied a FC leader on, but had to switch hooks as I didn't have any replacements of the same variety.. the new swimbait hook was heavier and didn't give the bait quite the same action.. I did get 1 good hit on it, felt like a good bass, but i'll never know as he wrapped around a stump and broke me off.  

Frustrated by the fluke, switched back to throwing the topwater sunfish the rest of the evening.. had probably 10 or 12 fish swipe at it, a few fish came at it really aggressively, but I didn't manage to land ANY of them... almost every strike I had the fish would completely miss the bait.  Due to frustration there was probably 1 that I pulled away too quickly, but after missing one possibly by my own doing I really started to concentrate on setting the hook properly.. blowup after blowup I would wait half a second, see if I could feel any weight of the fish, and everytime there was nothing.. fish just completely whiffing on my bait left and right.  FINALLY had one actually eat it in some flooded timber/ surface slop... had the fish on for about 5 seconds. I guess in all the excitement of having a fish actually strike and eat my bait.. I forgot to drive the hook home properly... bye bye fishy.

Boy what a frustrating afternoon!  Never had such poor luck with a hollow bodied surface bait.. typically if i can get the fish to strike I'll land them... even if they miss the bait the first attempt, usually if you just let it sit still in the blowups wake and twitch it once or twice they'll slam it again.. not the case on this day.  Even if THAT doesn't work, if i haven't put the hooks to a fish and they haven't felt the rod, typically I can fancast around that area a few times and over the next few casts that same fish will come and hit it again... But nope, that wasn't working either!

The sunfish doesn't come through the thick slop as easily as the frog does, and the fish don't seem to hone it on it as well either for some reason??  That said, I love how you can just twitch this bait on a slack line and it'll literally just dance in place like a dying sunfish...  Overall I still like the frog much better, but figured I'd give this lure a shot since the bass in this pond were clearly gouging themselves on bluegill.. 

[DogBone_384]

The Bluegill and Sunnies were doing the same for me at Ponkie this afternoon, roughly 5:00 - 6:00 pm tonight.  Not a bite until dusk when I got my 4-3...