Eastern Ma & New England Area Fishing Reports

[MassYak85]

14 hours ago, JRW341513 said:

Hello everyone,

I am from Texas and temporarily moved to Plymouth for work for the next 12 to 18 months.  I am an avid bass fisherman and am sure glad I found this site.  I left my boat in Texas and plan to bring it up here next spring assuming that I can find a place to store it.  By reading through these threads, I cannot wait to get out on some of these bodies of water.  Hopefully, I will survive my first New England winter and maybe do some ice fishing.  I am looking forward to talking all things related to bass fishing.

Thanks,

Jay

Welcome! Unfortunately not too many "Texas Sized" bass around here but some great fishing none-the-less. Definitely try some ice fishing if the conditions are safe enough this year. I personally can't wait (see profile picture) but I also don't want to start wishing the open-water season away. 

[Janderson45]

I've got this friday off and weather is supposed to be beautiful... Looking to fish obviously if anyone would like to meet up let me know!  

Heres a LMB from yesterday for good measure... Went to the A1 in westborough, it's ridiculous out there with the low water levels... Literally thousands of stumps sticking out above the water line.  Far from what I would call a good day, but had a few decent ones bite on top for me. 

This one went 3lbs:

 

 

 

[Mr. Aquarium]

IM GOING TUNA FISHING TOMORROW!!!! IM SO EXCITED!! 

[DogBone_384]

1 hour ago, swamp hawgs said:

IM GOING TUNA FISHING TOMORROW!!!! IM SO EXCITED!! 

With the year you seem to be having, You have a good chance on getting one. Good luck.

[Mr. Aquarium]

thank you sir! never caught one before! i heard theres a good bite going! CANT WAIT!!! i wont be getting anysleep tonight 

[MassYak85]

Good luck with the tuna!

 

@Janderson45 Nice fish, I fished A1 a lot over the summer (and winter, my profile picture is just to the left of the island if you are looking out from the launch), last time I was there a couple months ago from the bank it was probably a foot or two low. How are the weeds there right now? It was absolutely choked at certain points over the summer. 

[Janderson45]

4 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

Good luck with the tuna!

 

@Janderson45 Nice fish, I fished A1 a lot over the summer (and winter, my profile picture is just to the left of the island if you are looking out from the launch), last time I was there a couple months ago from the bank it was probably a foot or two low. How are the weeds there right now? It was absolutely choked at certain points over the summer. 

Yup, plenty of huge weed beds still around lol... I hadn't been there in months, but I would imagine they are down at least some from the last time you were there... I fished a buzzbait, swim senko, and frog... Wasn't any water available I'd even consider throwing treble hooked baits at really, but I've found that to be the case there most of the year.  If you're throwing top waters with trebles its a different story, but still enough submergent vegetation that it would be a bit of a pain.  

Thought about hitting the Quabbin again tomorrow, but now I'm thinking I'll likely hit either Whitehall, Nippenicket, or Billington Sea instead.. Really want to get on some nice largemouth if possible... If that fails me like it seems to be of late, I'll likely hit the Quabbin before the long weekend is over.. Only got a few more opportunities to fish there and it's been kind to me this year :). 

["hamma"]

After 16 years, I finally got a day to fish the Quabbin res. My favorite place to fish, Thank you Je1946, you are a stand-up guy, with a really nice quabbin rig.

 We met at the ramp around 7:30, which seemed perfect at the time, but as we left the shore, the evident steam coming off the warmer water, meeting much cooler air temps, collected as ground level fog. So thick that the thankful gps unit John has, guided us through it, till it burned off around 9. When it did burn off we were met with clear bluebird skies, and evident suspended fish hanging around baitballs anywhere from 15 feet to 40 feet. The res. was lower than I had ever seen it, and John stated its down about 10 to 12 feet, therefore, with the usual rocky shallower cover and structures now above the shoreline. The fish have relocated, being forced to find new adventagious locations. We did our best with finesse techniques and bottom bouncing lures throughout the day, but were met with negative results. I did hook into one small smallie with a white spinnerbait tossed to a rocky shoreline (which spit it at the boat) next to a fish filled fishfinder, and John boated one small smallie in a similar situation, with a senko later on in the day.

 We gave it a good attempt, during a tough day on the Q, with good conversation containing, mutual area discussions, lures and situations, and some of our best days out there on massachusetts biggest (and in my opinion) best water body. Several other boats fishing thursday were met with the same results, or a dead on skunking.

 Thank you John,.. for a great time out on the Q. Hopefully our next outing we will be met with more agreeable fish, as I know, no matter what, it would still be a good day on the water nonetheless. Your generousity, and boats open seat, was not taken for granted. Rather, cherished and respected as it should be. Your welcome on my boat anytime sir, and I look forward to our next day on the water.

[je1946]

4 minutes ago, "hamma" said:

After 16 years, I finally got a day to fish the Quabbin res. My favorite place to fish, Thank you Je1946, you are a stand-up guy, with a really nice quabbin rig.

 We met at the ramp around 7:30, which seemed perfect at the time, but as we left the shore, the evident steam coming off the warmer water, meeting much cooler air temps, collected as ground level fog. So thick that the thankful gps unit John has, guided us through it, till it burned off around 9. When it did burn off we were met with clear bluebird skies, and evident suspended fish hanging around baitballs anywhere from 15 feet to 40 feet. The res. was lower than I had ever seen it, and John stated its down about 10 to 12 feet, therefore, with the usual rocky shallower cover and structures now above the shoreline. The fish have relocated, being forced to find new adventagious locations. We did our best with finesse techniques and bottom bouncing lures throughout the day, but were met with negative results. I did hook into one small smallie with a white spinnerbait tossed to a rocky shoreline (which spit it at the boat) next to a fish filled fishfinder, and John boated one small smallie in a similar situation, with a senko later on in the day.

 We gave it a good attempt, during a tough day on the Q, with good conversation containing, mutual area discussions, lures and situations, and some of our best days out there on massachusetts biggest (and in my opinion) best water body. Several other boats fishing thursday were met with the same results, or a dead on skunking.

 Thank you John,.. for a great time out on the Q. Hopefully our next outing we will be met with more agreeable fish, as I know, no matter what, it would still be a good day on the water nonetheless. Your generousity, and boats open seat, was not taken for granted. Rather, cherished and respected as it should be. Your welcome on my boat anytime sir, and I look forward to our next day on the water.

It was a pleasure to have you aboard, on a very tough day of fishing.  As anyone knows that fishes the Big Lady Q, she can fish awfully tough, but being on a very beautiful body of water with good company makes the day a lot more enjoyable,  Hopefully we can get back out a time or two before the shut down.

[Jigfishn10]

On ‎10‎/‎5‎/‎2016 at 1:45 PM, Janderson45 said:

I've got this friday off and weather is supposed to be beautiful... Looking to fish obviously if anyone would like to meet up let me know!  

Heres a LMB from yesterday for good measure... Went to the A1 in westborough, it's ridiculous out there with the low water levels... Literally thousands of stumps sticking out above the water line.  Far from what I would call a good day, but had a few decent ones bite on top for me. 

This one went 3lbs:

Nothing like a buzzbait bite, Bud! Man you are on fire this year! Awesome! Keep it up!

[DogBone_384]

Beat the banks of BHR three times in the last couple weeks, taking my wife's friend's son; his first time, the third.  BHR is cyclical, and seems to be on a down cycle.  My two solo trips netted just a couple tiny bass with some small 'pick' 'pick' action from assumed small bass.  I switched between wacky Senko, Fishing Rhino's secret weapon, my go-to Zoom, and a couple jointed Rapala's a generally catch something with.  Evan and I worked 3/4 the bank over three hours.  I landed two tiny bass and poor Evan didn't get anything, even though he threw a few different crank baits and his favorite white spinner bait.

Had half a day yesterday and with the weather being so good, I drove to Great Herring in attempt to land some nice Smallies.  Launched just after 2:00 and started by 'the red house' where I've done well in the past.  After two hours without a bite I moved back towards the launch.  I managed two little Smallies on the Eastern inlet between the two points, one on a yellow perch Rapala DT10, the other on my Zoom U-Tail.  From there I moved to the West shore and landed a nice Larry next to a dock.  With only a half an hour of light left I fished the open area left of the launch and tossed a Blue Gill Whopper Plopper because not much else worked so far.  I landed four small Smallies in short order and had a handful of misses along the way.

The soft baits I'd had success with in the Summer didn't work, and with the water temps at 66.x, it's time to figure out what Fall baits might work, IF I can get out a couple more times this year.

[Janderson45]

Hit Whitehall today between noon and 6. Second time in a row for me that's basically been a bust there.

water temps were 66-67, with about 3-4' of visibility and still plenty of green weed beds.  You can tell a lot of the milfoil is starting to turn there, but plenty of it is still healthy, green, and thick.  I landed 7 pickerel but not a single bass.  6 of the pickerel came early on, fishing a pumpkinseed colored strike King 1.5 above the tops of milfoil beds.  Most of them small, but a few were decent.  After seeing and catching nothing but pickerel I decided to switch it up and go with some lures that were a bit more bass oriented.  Started pitching a 1/2oz bluegill colored mini flipping jig around to obvious holes in vegetation, timber, and shoreline bushes/brush.... Nada.  Not a technique I have much confidence in either, but everyone says it catches fish and how else will I ever learn it??  After that failed, I paddled out to the deeper part of the lake, and marked some good fish on my Lowrance.  Some of them suspended 10-15' over 20' of water, and then some of them bottom relating to the bottom in 20' of water as well.  Tied on a dropshot, not even in a bite in areas I was marking.  Got one nibble on it shallower, but missed the fish.  

Sun started to go down, I went topwater with a Rapala DT fat 1, nothing on that...

-Hollow bodied livetarget sunfish worked around weed beds and lily pads produced numerous follows and incredibly tentative strikes (all complete misses by the fish, just slapping at it really).  This is the second time I've seen this using this bait, and I've only really thrown it on a handful of occasions.  Fish seem to love tracking it while I'm walking it, then when they finally go to strike they either completely miss or stop short at the last second and swim away... Very frustrating to watch.  I've yet to have a violent blowup from a bass on this lure like I constantly produce with the livetarget frogs... Anyone else tossed this thing around at all yet?  Similar or different results?  

Ended the night with the sun already down, I paddled back to the boat launch and at the advice of someone on this thread I trolled a jointed black jitterbug behind me.  Second time trying this (both at Whitehall, go figure) first time with no results, but this time it produced a very nice pickerel... Huge topwater explosion behind me and I thought for sure it was a good sized bass.  Nope, just a big angry pickerel going fully airborn for the jitterbug.  Biggest pick of the outing, but with a mouth and gill full of trebles at 7pm and no headlamp I wasn't happy to learn it was a pickerel

I'm starting to think maybe my "reports" are a bit too long winded, but hey if anyone wants to take the time to read it that's cool, if not they don't have to obviously.  

Didnt have the GoPro with me so didn't take any vids or pictures.  I'll likely be back at it again tomorrow, destination TBD.

PS- David Price STINKS. 

[Chowderhead]

1 hour ago, Janderson45 said:

PS- David Price STINKS. 

Frustratingly, yes...

[Jigfishn10]

16 hours ago, DogBone_384 said:

Beat the banks of BHR three times in the last couple weeks, taking my wife's friend's son; his first time, the third.  BHR is cyclical, and seems to be on a down cycle.  My two solo trips netted just a couple tiny bass with some small 'pick' 'pick' action from assumed small bass.  I switched between wacky Senko, Fishing Rhino's secret weapon, my go-to Zoom, and a couple jointed Rapala's a generally catch something with.  Evan and I worked 3/4 the bank over three hours.  I landed two tiny bass and poor Evan didn't get anything, even though he threw a few different crank baits and his favorite white spinner bait.

Had half a day yesterday and with the weather being so good, I drove to Great Herring in attempt to land some nice Smallies.  Launched just after 2:00 and started by 'the red house' where I've done well in the past.  After two hours without a bite I moved back towards the launch.  I managed two little Smallies on the Eastern inlet between the two points, one on a yellow perch Rapala DT10, the other on my Zoom U-Tail.  From there I moved to the West shore and landed a nice Larry next to a dock.  With only a half an hour of light left I fished the open area left of the launch and tossed a Blue Gill Whopper Plopper because not much else worked so far.  I landed four small Smallies in short order and had a handful of misses along the way.

The soft baits I'd had success with in the Summer didn't work, and with the water temps at 66.x, it's time to figure out what Fall baits might work, IF I can get out a couple more times this year.

I have to commend you for taking the time to bring the kids along and preserving the sport. Keep up the good work. I try at every opportunity to do that as well. 

This is the time of year where I would start breaking out the little cleos, jerkbaits and lipless cranks or maybe even a panther martin and go trick or treating. 

Before I went to St Pete, I was fishing a small jerk bait and was getting crappie, perch, bass and pics to hit. Not exactly all bass but fun none the less. 

[DogBone_384]

It's easy as pie to take a kid fishing.  Evan loves fishing and his Dad works a ton of hours.  My work schedule is a combination of days & nights so I have the time.  Evan's also finishing chemotherapy so the more he's outside the stronger he gets.

Now that it's getting colder, I'm going to take him to Houghton's Pond to try for trout.

[MassYak85]

Me and my dad hit quinsig today, started around 6. The carp were having all sorts of fun in flint pond but no bass were interested in topwaters so we moved on. Overall a painfully slow day, and the only consistent bass catching was a small 15 minute window right when the clouds came in and the wind picked up. It was dink city on rooster tails in the north section and then when the wind died down again....nothing. We did see something pretty interesting at the north end though, there was a school of what I can only assume were about 30 rainbow trout that kept chasing our lures back to the boat, nudging up against my spinnerbait but not eating it. It's like they were annoyed that the lures were in their area. The only other time I have seen that kind of behavior from fish is when the herring run in the spring, they will do the same thing. They were pretty decent size ones too, all around 16 inches I'd say. Wish we could have caught some but they didn't seem like they wanted to eat. We left around 2, no one else seemed to be doing very well either. 

[JRW341513]

Hello everyone!

I am finally getting settled in and reading through the threads.  Should I be considering purchasing a kayak or am I good with bringing my boat up from Texas in the spring?  It seems that most bodies of water are small and a kayak is the way to go.  On a side note, I cut my teeth on Lake Fork back in the early 90's fishing out of a float tube when in college.  I caught more big fish out of that tube than any boat that I have owned since.  I was considering joining a bass club in this area as a boater. However, I live in an apartment in the Plymouth area so storing a boat and charging batteries is something that I have yet to figure out.

I also noticed that the Whopper Plopper is doing well up here.   I actually used it for the first time in a tournament back in Texas about a month ago.  A buddy of mine had one and was catching some nice fish.  I had five good blow ups but no hook ups.  When  the fish hit, it looked liked a toilet flushed underneath it!  They were good fish (3-5lbers) but I could not get one of those big hooks to stick.  It was the 5 inch model in Terminator color.  We did not do well in the tournament to say the least but it was a fun day!

Thanks,

Jay from Texas

["hamma"]

9 hours ago, JRW341513 said:

Hello everyone!

I am finally getting settled in and reading through the threads.  Should I be considering purchasing a kayak or am I good with bringing my boat up from Texas in the spring?  It seems that most bodies of water are small and a kayak is the way to go.  On a side note, I cut my teeth on Lake Fork back in the early 90's fishing out of a float tube when in college.  I caught more big fish out of that tube than any boat that I have owned since.  I was considering joining a bass club in this area as a boater. However, I live in an apartment in the Plymouth area so storing a boat and charging batteries is something that I have yet to figure out.

I also noticed that the Whopper Plopper is doing well up here.   I actually used it for the first time in a tournament back in Texas about a month ago.  A buddy of mine had one and was catching some nice fish.  I had five good blow ups but no hook ups.  When  the fish hit, it looked liked a toilet flushed underneath it!  They were good fish (3-5lbers) but I could not get one of those big hooks to stick.  It was the 5 inch model in Terminator color.  We did not do well in the tournament to say the least but it was a fun day!

Thanks,

Jay from Texas

There are alot of small ponds that produce well, But then yet I've yet to meet a kayaker, at said ponds, that didnt want a bass boat for the larger lakes. Many of the larger lakes close to you offer some excellent bass fishing for both largemouth and smallmouth. And on decent days you might get out on them with yak til the wind kicks up, around 9ish, but you are limited to the ramp area. which really does kinda suck...

I have a 16' deep v tracker, and a 8' bass hunter with the 2 trolling motors.,(back issues deter a kayak for me)... And they both serve me well, I can fish both cartopper and large waters. In summary, your choice of bass rig or kayak? Both have their place up here..but, thats a decision that only you can make the call on.

 As for the whopper plopper? I dont even own one, I have enough topwater lures to last me my lifetime as it is. Some anglers swear by them, as they do work. but i see it as another heavy saltwater lure, that I'd be relegated to yet another rod on the decks that I dont really need.

As far as tournies? Ive fished them here, there are some good organizations around. Depends on what type of club, and how far you want go within it, to pinpoint which one to join. You can pm me for more info.

Keep ya line wet!

[Janderson45]

I'd echo most of the sentiments above.  I fish out of a kayak, initially it was more of a financial decision for me, but now that I've been at it for a couple of years I've realized all of the advantages of it over a power boat.  As you've noticed, plenty of small, shallow water bodies around, and most of them have an unimproved launching ramp or no launch ramp at all.  A kayak gets the job done most of the time for me, however as Keith mentioned it can be a pain when the winds pick up,I've tried many different methods to help with this, some work fairly well but there isn't any substitute for a full sized bass rig with trolling motor and power poles.  I do find myself wishing I could fish out of a motorized bass rig, as there's only been a handful of times I've ever even gotten to do that in my life, and obviously it gives you a big advantage in a lot of ways, but if I could only have one or the other I'd still pick a kayak.  Being able to effectively fish all of the small and shallow ponds and lakes at any time of year and at any moments notice (takes me 5 minutes to launch my kayak in total and it's almost always on the roof of my car) is more valuable to me than having a full sized bass rig is.  Also a huge bummer- the Quabbin Reservoir, the largest, most diverse, unique and arguably best fishery in the state- doesn't allow regular bass boats.  25HP max on outboards, and all boats must be sprayed and decontaminated before EVERY time out on the reservoir.  If I could fish that reservoir in a full sized bass rig it might be worth buying one just for that body of water...  But sadly you can't, it's drinking water supply for city of Boston and surrounding areas.  Oh well, I guess part of the reason why it's such a good fishery is because they are so strict with it...

[DogBone_384]

Maybe I can help you with the wind.  My Ascend 128T isn't too bad in wind, but my Lure 11.5 is flat bottomed and drifts easily.  My solution came from West Marine.  I was cruising through West Marine one day looking for a Lowrance transducer when I found a 7 pound claw anchor.  I replaced my 5 pound anchor and have had great luck staying put with the 7.  

My 128T has one anchor trolley, but my Lure has two, so I can switch sides depending on which direction the wind is coming from.

I too would love to have a boat, but I live in a city and my driveway just isn't big enough for such a nice toy as a bass boat.  Heck, my 4-door Tundra fills half of it....  My daughter also starts college in two years, so buying myself a boat just isn't right....  in due time, however.

[MassYak85]

Kayak fishing is really awesome around here because you don't have any of the big reservoirs, mostly just small lakes or ponds that can be paddled across in 5-30 minutes depending on the location. I think the biggest disadvantage to kayak fishing is definitely the wind. Anything past 15mph and I don't even bother putting mine in the water. Although my best day ever on A1 was probably in 20+mph winds a couple springs ago....none of the weeds had really grown in yet so I anchored about 100 feet off the shore the wind was blowing into and casted to isolated stumps, got some pretty nice ones. 

Speaking of wind...anybody going out tommorow? Supposed to be 20, gusting to 30. 

It's funny, I used to hate fishing the wind, now it gives me an added boost of confidence for some reason. I guess it probably has something to do with how often I fished soft plastics until recently, I wasn't comfortable unless I could see my line on top of the water in order to see bites. 

["hamma"]

Dont get me wrong guys, I dont have a kayak, so it may seem unfair for me to "voice". But, Im talking about lakes like Long Pond Lakeville, Mashpee Wakeby, Whequaquet, and so on,,Lakes that you can certainly fish from a kayak.  

BUT!  the advantages of a bass rig on said waters greatly outweights the options of a kayak. The physically higher platform alone provides not only more of a advantage in pinpointing cover, hazards, and other fish attracting entities. But It also offers a "new to the area" angler the advantage of having ten or more rods at the ready laying on the deck ready to go at a moments notice. Plus, the speed/mobility, safety, stability.  The list goes on. Im not bashing kayaks, I talk with many yak owners as I see them all the time on smaller ponds I fish with my basshunter. I have also seen them on ponds my basshunter cant get into due to a thin path to the water. And I wish I could fish from a kayak at said ponds.

 But to have access to a bass rig, and not have it when you go fishing on these listed larger waters, is like a kick in the jimmies. There was a time my tracker was down for a while, and it tore me up that I owned it, but couldn't use it during pleasant conditions. I'd be at ramps with my basshunter, cursing the world that the tracker wasnt a option

 Yaks have a definative advantage in many waters, but they are at a disadvantage as well on larger waters,... If you owned a Ranger and planned on fishing any lake with a real ramp. Which would you want? the yak, or Ranger?,....   think about it. The yak may be easier to facilitate, but the Ranger will most definately get the nod.

 How do I know? any lake I fish? if I can? the tracker gets the nod.

 Just an observation/opinion,..Please ,...dont shoot!,.. I respect you guys, have no issues with you at all, and dont want any. Its just that owning a 16' boat, and a puddlejumping rig, I see the differences and advantages of both.

 Actually, now that were talking differences. Any of you yak guys wanna go fishing, out on any of these bigger lakes, off a decent deep v, with the carpeted casting decks, comfy cushioned seats, lcr's etc. Send me a pm,.,..... Id like to fish/meet any of you guys from the area.

[Mr. Aquarium]

no tuna for me. saw a baby friggin wheel jay, it was soooo cool!!  saw few whales and dolphins. saw a humpback whale jump clean out of the water, unbelievable. 

we saw tons of tuna! we had tuna jumping around the boat. but couldnt hook up, no one caught fish! 

this weekend im going to upstate NY for salmon and trout! 

[MassYak85]

I would tend to agree @"hamma". I love my kayak but I really only fish it on lakes and ponds where it actually has some sort of advantage. Take A1 for example, with a full size bass boat you really only have access to 1/2 the pond. With a small aluminum john boat you might stretch that to 75 - 80%. A kayak let's you get to the very back of those thick lily pad beds that grow in the summer, or go up the feed stream on the west side. 

That being said if I want to fish Quinsig in my kayak....it might take me 45 minutes to an hour to get from flint pond to the north end in a kayak, vs maybe 5 minutes if you have a bass boat. If I had to choose one I'd definitely take a bass boat. You might lose some of that shallow water access but you gain it back on the larger lakes. You can't really effectively fish from a kayak in the middle of a large lake in 20mph winds the same you would in a boat. you are at the mercy of either drifting with the wind or being stationary using an anchor. A peddle drive would change that a little but you still lose out on time efficiency on the larger lakes. 

 

[DogBone_384]

MassYak85, will your kayak accept a trolling motor?  My 128T does, so when I fish bigger water like Great Herring.