Eastern Ma & New England Area Fishing Reports

[MassYak85]

8 hours ago, swamp hawgs said:

went out to RI got a late start cuz of st pattys day. first pond was a bust, access was locked. 2nd pond was a tiny pond water temps at a nice and warm 37. no fish!  so we went  shore banging at different pond. long walk in.  my buddy caught a pickerel.  his first fish of the year he was happy.  we called it a day. still had few hours before sunset. hit a pond i started fishin last year, lost a friggin GIANT. well  i didnt get any fish here either. 

im loosin my F'n mind!  I NEED WARM WEATHER AND A DECENT BITE!!! everytime i go out im lucky if i get a hit! 1 fish all day aint cuttin it! 

Lol at least you can say you lost one. I'll be home this weekend and I'm hoping to launch my kayak, weather is looking to be warm and hopefully the forecasted rain will speed it up and get them hungry.

[CTBassin860]

Went to a pond in Norfolk 75% locked.Not a bite.Pulled off to greens pond in Franklin 20% locked and got stuck in the snow on the side of the road! Left instead of fishing it.I just want to catch a fish already.However got to play with the new mojo bass spinning rod for a little bit!

[DogBone_384]

After my daughter and I got done at the RMV (she got her license), she dropped me off at home (?!?!?!) and drove to school.  I did the housework and figured I'd give Hedges another go with my waders.

 

Talk about KARMA: I brought spinning gear, knowing it was going to be breezy. On my second cast my Pflueger coughed up a ball of line, just like the other day.  Cut and retie and off I go.  A few casts later, another line ball.  Cut and retie, again. 

 

I kept working my way down the shore from the North, but the wind  was all but stopping forward progress.  I worked my way around the pond to cast into the wind and work the hump I found on my kayak.  By the time I got over there the wind change direction and again I was casting into a stiff wind.  I gave it a half-arsed effort for another half hour but lost motivation and split.  My Rapala Shadow Rap, Yozuri jerk bait, and Mepps caught a lot of weeds, so salad it is...

 

Fishing Rhino and I are fishing Great Herring tomorrow, launching @ 9:00 AM.

 

 

 

[Mr. Aquarium]

hit jacobs from the dock area yesterday, had to kill some time before picking my mom up at the bus station.  got nothing! jerkbaits and shallow cranks. 

[Cyacnba]

Tough day yesterday, but caught two bass, one being close to 3lb. I brought my UL combo just in case, and so glad I did so. I had fun catching bunch of bluegills and even a white perch using a trout magnet.

[DogBone_384]

How is catching 2 bass and a pile of panfish tough? I'm on a 0-3 streak like the Bruins right now.... 

 

Swamp Hawgs got skunked too, which is a rarity!

[Cyacnba]

1 hour ago, DogBone_384 said:

How is catching 2 bass and a pile of panfish tough? I'm on a 0-3 streak like the Bruins right now.... 

 

Swamp Hawgs got skunked too, which is a rarity!

I meant it was tough for bass fishing lol. I usually catch around 5 bass within an hour at that spot. Yesterday, I fished for 3 hours and only got 2.

[Mr. Aquarium]

14 hours ago, DogBone_384 said:

How is catching 2 bass and a pile of panfish tough? I'm on a 0-3 streak like the Bruins right now.... 

 

Swamp Hawgs got skunked too, which is a rarity!

dude ive been skunked the past few trips! im losing my friggin mind! i need a decent bite. these all day trips for a dink bass or a pickerel need to end. 

went out night fishing last night after class! tosses some swimbaits. not shocked but i got skunked AGAIN,

been stockin up for opening day at the chu. bought a ton of spoons 

[Janderson45]

On ‎3‎/‎17‎/‎2017 at 6:33 PM, MassYak85 said:

Water is still so cold that my "suspending" jerkbaits are more like slow sink. Didn't get bit on either so I switched to a football jig. No luck with that either. 

 

 

 

Pretty sure you have this backwards for what it's worth- Colder water is more dense, so a jerkbait would be more buoyant in the denser water and have a tendency to float up, not sink down... If you're throwing suspending jerks in this cold of water and they're sinking... you've either got a bad lure or need to downsize the hooks.  Just a thought  .  For what it's worth a lot of pro's actually prefer a very slow sinking jerkbait (like barely sinking) in ultra cold water... but I'm under the impression that this is more to imitate a shad dying which would be a fall to winter transition, not winter to spring transition.. but who knows, maybe the bass just prefer a slow sinking action in colder water for reasons unknown? 

 

I'm hoping to get out either from shore or in my kayak on Saturday, forecast looks decent compared to what it has been lately.. the overnight lows for the rest of the week have me bummed out though. 

 

Quabbin opens on April 15th, looking forward to doing a bit of trout fishin' as I imagine a good bass bite will still be weeks away by that point.. low 40's water temp is perfect for catching trophy bronzebacks if you can find em though.. 

 

 

[MassYak85]

16 minutes ago, Janderson45 said:

 

Pretty sure you have this backwards for what it's worth- Colder water is more dense, so a jerkbait would be more buoyant in the denser water and have a tendency to float up, not sink down... If you're throwing suspending jerks in this cold of water and they're sinking... you've either got a bad lure or need to downsize the hooks.  Just a thought  .  For what it's worth a lot of pro's actually prefer a very slow sinking jerkbait (like barely sinking) in ultra cold water... but I'm under the impression that this is more to imitate a shad dying which would be a fall to winter transition, not winter to spring transition.. but who knows, maybe the bass just prefer a slow sinking action in colder water for reasons unknown? 

 

I'm hoping to get out either from shore or in my kayak on Saturday, forecast looks decent compared to what it has been lately.. the overnight lows for the rest of the week have me bummed out though. 

 

Quabbin opens on April 15th, looking forward to doing a bit of trout fishin' as I imagine a good bass bite will still be weeks away by that point.. low 40's water temp is perfect for catching trophy bronzebacks if you can find em though.. 

 

 

Yea I guess you're right I switched it around in my head. It's a brand new jackal squad minnow so I don't know why it would sink when it's that cold. The hooks are already pretty small to begin with so I don't know about changing them. 

 

As far as the pros liking slow sink I know around here we can get winter kills so maybe that comes into play a little, but a lot of the pros are fishing lakes that don't freeze. 

[Fishing Rhino]

51 minutes ago, Janderson45 said:

 

Pretty sure you have this backwards for what it's worth- Colder water is more dense, so a jerkbait would be more buoyant in the denser water and have a tendency to float up, not sink down... If you're throwing suspending jerks in this cold of water and they're sinking... you've either got a bad lure or need to downsize the hooks.  Just a thought  .  For what it's worth a lot of pro's actually prefer a very slow sinking jerkbait (like barely sinking) in ultra cold water... but I'm under the impression that this is more to imitate a shad dying which would be a fall to winter transition, not winter to spring transition.. but who knows, maybe the bass just prefer a slow sinking action in colder water for reasons unknown? 

 

I'm hoping to get out either from shore or in my kayak on Saturday, forecast looks decent compared to what it has been lately.. the overnight lows for the rest of the week have me bummed out though. 

 

Quabbin opens on April 15th, looking forward to doing a bit of trout fishin' as I imagine a good bass bite will still be weeks away by that point.. low 40's water temp is perfect for catching trophy bronzebacks if you can find em though.. 

 

 

 

Water is interesting.  Like most other materials, it expands when heated and contracts when chilled.  But, and this is what makes it interesting.  

 

At some point in the chilling process it begins to expand  before it freezes, or the cold water would constantly be settling to the bottom.

 

According to the following, cooling water begins to expand at about four degrees centigrade which is when water reaches its maximum density.   Four degrees centigrade is roughly equal to 39 degrees Fahrenheit.  Below that point the density of water decreases.

 

" The fact that water expands upon freezing causes icebergs to float. The fact that water reaches a maximum density at about 4°C causes bodies of water to freeze on the top first. Then the further expansion as a part of the phase change keeps the ice floating with some 8% of its mass above the surface. The expansion during the phase change may be shown on a PvT surface, and contrasts with the contraction upon freezing of most substances. "

 

 http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Chemical/waterdens.html

[Janderson45]

Good post Tom-- Appreciate the more in depth info and understanding.  All of that said though, I wouldn't imagine that in those handful of degrees between freezing and waters maximum point of density that the waters density would decrease enough for a "suspending" jerkbait to start sinking?  Surely there is a point where water density could decrease enough that most suspending jerkbaits would start to sink, but I would hazard a guess that this point is somewhere around 75-80 degrees Fahrenheit which is surely less dense than say, 36 degrees Fahrenheit water? 

 

MassYak-- Maybe fishing the squad minnow on mono would help getting it back to a "true suspending" lure?  Other than that or downsizing hooks or possibly removing a hook.. not really sure what your options are.  Lots of ways to get a floating lure to sink or suspend, doesn't seem like there's as many to get a sinking lure to float more.   Other than the fact it may not be suspending correctly, how else do you like the Squad Minnow?  Most Jackall bait's I've used or seen I've been pretty impressed with, but admittedly I haven't fished many of them..

[MassYak85]

I like it, I got the ghost minnow color when TW had them on sale a while back. Hooks are nice and sharp, and it has a nice action when jerking it. I haven't done a lot of jerkbait fishing honestly, still learning but figured I'd pick this one up as a "confidence bait" and just stick with it. I might try taking the back hook off and see if that does the trick. I'm not sure what size it comes with, maybe a 6 at most, might even be smaller. I don't think I have any small enough to downsize it though. 

Here's a graph of water density though. Pretty much covers both extremes of water temps we see up here (32 - 85°F). But even then we're only talking about a 0.5% change in density. But it's enough where even a small material impurity when making the jerkbait could probably throw off it's ability to suspend.

[DogBone_384]

On 3/22/2017 at 1:18 PM, swamp hawgs said:

dude ive been skunked the past few trips! im losing my friggin mind! i need a decent bite. these all day trips for a dink bass or a pickerel need to end. 

went out night fishing last night after class! tosses some swimbaits. not shocked but i got skunked AGAIN,

been stockin up for opening day at the chu. bought a ton of spoons 

 

I hear you.  This cold snap has the bass hunkered down.  Another week or two and we'll be good.

[DogBone_384]

Oh yeah, I drove by Sunset lake in Braintree this afternoon. It was wide open.

[MassYak85]

4 hours ago, DogBone_384 said:

Oh yeah, I drove by Sunset lake in Braintree this afternoon. It was wide open.

Nice! This week of rain were about to have should free up most of the state. 

[Fishing Rhino]

20 hours ago, Janderson45 said:

Good post Tom-- Appreciate the more in depth info and understanding.  All of that said though, I wouldn't imagine that in those handful of degrees between freezing and waters maximum point of density that the waters density would decrease enough for a "suspending" jerkbait to start sinking?  Surely there is a point where water density could decrease enough that most suspending jerkbaits would start to sink, but I would hazard a guess that this point is somewhere around 75-80 degrees Fahrenheit which is surely less dense than say, 36 degrees Fahrenheit water? 

 

MassYak-- Maybe fishing the squad minnow on mono would help getting it back to a "true suspending" lure?  Other than that or downsizing hooks or possibly removing a hook.. not really sure what your options are.  Lots of ways to get a floating lure to sink or suspend, doesn't seem like there's as many to get a sinking lure to float more.   Other than the fact it may not be suspending correctly, how else do you like the Squad Minnow?  Most Jackall bait's I've used or seen I've been pretty impressed with, but admittedly I haven't fished many of them..

 

Try this for an answer.  We've been talking about the water, but there is another factor in play, the bait.  What happens to the bait when it cools?  It contracts, making its volume smaller.  The mass stays the same.  The weight stays the same, but the volume decreases which means that it is no longer neutrally buoyant.  It displaces less water, so it slowly sinks to the bottom.  

[Mr. Aquarium]

20 hours ago, DogBone_384 said:

 

I hear you.  This cold snap has the bass hunkered down.  Another week or two and we'll be good.

im kinda of shocked! crappy month but the chu will open! usually march is one of my favorite months

[CTBassin860]

After tuesday nothing but mid 50's.Its right around the corner! I too have been skunked all 4 times ive gone out.

[kroberts9]

im really looking forward to next week and i hope to get down to a few places soon 

[Mr. Aquarium]

lost a large fish on satruday! NOT HAPPY!!!  first  bass ive had hit in a while! only caught 2 bass all month! 

sunday all day! got a big gator pickerel! 3.3lbser. lost another good fish and missed another nice pickerel!  

[DogBone_384]

The kayak's in the back of my truck.  I'm hoping the weather cooperates. I'm headng south in search of some Smallies.

[RyanDR]

Going to hit the Wachusett Res this weekend to try and land a lake trout. Any tips on where to start my day? I was thinking of starting at one of the gates from 29-35 and hiking the paths a bit to try and avoid the crowd. Is this side productive? 

[MassYak85]

On 3/27/2017 at 8:45 AM, swamp hawgs said:

lost a large fish on satruday! NOT HAPPY!!!  first  bass ive had hit in a while! only caught 2 bass all month! 

sunday all day! got a big gator pickerel! 3.3lbser. lost another good fish and missed another nice pickerel!  

I like catching big pickerel because they fight good but it's always a slight let down because that first hook set and pull of drag they do I always think I just hooked a 5-6 lb bass. 

[CTBassin860]

Starting to warm up.Ill be looking for some fishing buddies this year.PM me for my info if you ever want to go out