Eastern Ma & New England Area Fishing Reports

[CTBassin860]

Got back from Tampa Tuesday to step back into this cold overcast weather.I havent fished in a couple weeks now.Im ready to go.

20 hours ago, KenP said:

Stopped by Stump Pond in Westborough on my lunch break for a quick few casts and my chik-fil-a. Got a nice 3.26 on a 5.8 keitech fat impact. Weedless no weight added just slow rolling through the weeds. Was very hard to go back to work...

 

Man i drove past Chik-fil-a on my way to Hooters the other week.Should have went to chick-fil-a instead.

[DogBone_384]

Had some time late this morning so I dropped into Sunset Lake around 11:30. It took me 45 minutes to make the 8 miles (multiple car MVA @ 128/93/Braintree Mall), which set the tone for the rest of the morning.

 

Water temperature was 60.x and a girl coming off the water as I launched told me she caught a couple small Rainbows, a few small LMB, and a couple of good LMB.  She told me where and that's where I started.

 

Two and a half hours later and working from 3' to 8' depths I'd got one dink LMB to the kayak on a yellow perch Rapala Shadow Rap. Otherwise I had a few 'peck-peck" hits on a green/red flake swim Senko.  A green/black jig made a good lawn mower.  I lost interest and packed it in.  

 

There were a few beds on the SE shoreline, but nothing notable.

 

I've got some time next week. Maybe I'll figure out where the fish are and get out of my slump.

[MassYak85]

Had a good day on Maspenock today. A lot of dinks but was able to get a 3lber and a 5lber! The 5lber was really fat, likely full of eggs, and hit on a small football jig right where the weeds and rocks meet on a drop near some shallow sandy areas. Looking back I almost didn't catch the fish. I initially felt a tap, set the hook and nothing. I aaaalllllmost reeled back in for another cast but decided to let it sit there and drag in back in. A few seconds later...tap, and this time the hookset found her mouth. Probably the most satisfying hookset I've ever felt, unlike the other 5's I've caught I knew immediately the fish was nice, it didn't budge a bit initially. The bass seemed mostly pre-spawn although I did see a couple on deeper beds. Water temps were 55 - 56. 

 

And that will conclude my season up here, good luck everyone! I'll let you guys know if I get any big ones down south. 

[Janderson45]

Had an opportunity to get out and chase some Stripers on Saturday and given the initial forecast I opted to do that instead of battling the wind for a third straight weekend in my kayak.   We launched from Truro and headed to race point with information in hand that the first wave of good striped bass had shown up... well if they were there one day they were gone the next.  Nothing but Mackerel, humpback whales and lots of birds kicking around out there... there weren't many boats fishing bass and the ones that were didn't hook up while we were out there.  Called an audible and headed back to Barnstable where we played with some schoolies and small keepers for the rest of the day.  I guess we were probably a couple of weeks early but it was nice to be out there, as it always is.    Hopefully I can swing an invite and get out there again soon once the water and bite heat up a little bit more!  Race point is absolutely fascinating if you've never been out there... water that's 50 yards from the shore drops from 20' in depth to 180' in some places, the sheer size of the ledge and prominence of the point drives all sorts of bait and nutrient rich water up towards the shore and the big fish follow (theoretically, anyways  ) .   I think I may try to get out there in my kayak this season, but boat traffic, current, and frequent humpback whales have me a bit apprehensive.  The thought of hooking into a 30+lb bass out there in a kayak also has me intrigued ...

 

Warming up drastically this week... finally.  Naturally Wednesday thru Friday it's going to get real hot and then Saturday it cools back down into the 60's... hopefully we're late enough in the season that a 20-30 degree drop in daytime temperatures wont screw up the bite too much... But I don't have a great feeling about it either.  I'd imagine by this weekend the spawn will be in full effect most places.. with some places even moving to an early post-spawn period... smallies still spawning on the cape as we speak?  Looking like I could be facing recently post-spawned smallmouth and a cold-front with bluebird skies for my first tournament on Saturday ...  .  Thoughts, advice??

[Mr. Aquarium]

On 5/13/2017 at 5:51 PM, DogBone_384 said:

Had some time late this morning so I dropped into Sunset Lake around 11:30. It took me 45 minutes to make the 8 miles (multiple car MVA @ 128/93/Braintree Mall), which set the tone for the rest of the morning.

 

Water temperature was 60.x and a girl coming off the water as I launched told me she caught a couple small Rainbows, a few small LMB, and a couple of good LMB.  She told me where and that's where I started.

 

Two and a half hours later and working from 3' to 8' depths I'd got one dink LMB to the kayak on a yellow perch Rapala Shadow Rap. Otherwise I had a few 'peck-peck" hits on a green/red flake swim Senko.  A green/black jig made a good lawn mower.  I lost interest and packed it in.  

 

There were a few beds on the SE shoreline, but nothing notable.

 

I've got some time next week. Maybe I'll figure out where the fish are and get out of my slump.

ive been to aaron a handfull of times, mostly shore fishing tho. handfull of small bass, it looks killer tho.l heard some good things from there! i neeed to give it another shot

[DogBone_384]

I have two fishing kayaks....

[DogBone_384]

Dropped into Ponkapog last night around 5:00 and stayed until 7:30-ish.  Got two LMB, 2-9 & 1-13, along with a decent pickerel.   The LMB came on a T-rigged U-Tail and a greed/gold & purple flake Rage Tail.  The pickerel side swiped a ghost  Rapala Shadow Rap shallow.

 

Water temps were 60.x - 62.x.  It was very windy until 7:00.  

[JG233]

Kind of a slow day yesterday - caught maybe 10 or 12.

 

All the LMB were small.

 

The pickerel (on the other hand) were big and aggressive.

[DogBone_384]

Dropped in Great Herring around 11:45.  It was cloudy and 60-ish.  Ended up with a handful of little SMB and a fat yellow perch that turned out to be the biggest of the day.

 

A green/red flake rage tail and similarly colored 3 & 4" wacky Senkos were the winning baits.  

 

By 5:30 I was shivering and packed it in.  I had rain gear but was still a layer short.  The temperature tanked around 2:30 and rain started around 4:00.

 

Water temps were 63.x... warmer than the air temp.

[Mr. Aquarium]

Saturday, went out saltwater fishing down south on my buddies boat.  alarm didnt go off at 330 am like it was supposed to got up at 6 instead, down there at 730. we went out in search of stripers. my buddy caught 2 schoolies, with a few hits.  we marked alot fish, i had a few hits as well, could see them come up to the boat chasing my jig.  next we set off in search of tog, our first spot we found them. got a ton of hits, all short tog. we also caught some scup and sea bass,  we tried a different rock pile but water temps dropped by 4 degrees. no fish so we moved back. caught more sea bass scup and a keeper fluke but it was out of season. also caught a skate.  wind started cracking out of the N NE, waves were 2 feet. so decided to try in the river for some schoolies but got nothing so we called it a day

sunday had a derby for my uncles mens club.   billington sea and little pond. i would of picked billington sea over littles pond for bass, but they decided to fish littles instead. we saw a few decent fish. i had zilch on lures. handfull of dinks on shiners.  biggest was a 5 out of littles, my biggest was 1.8. my uncle caught a 1.7 rainbow and a 1.5 brown, biggest trout was a 3lbser. some guys had a stringer full of nice trout but they lost em all. budlights were only a 1.75 at the cook out after and the 100 proof cinnamon whiskey shots were only 3 bucks! so it was a good cookout

[Fishing Rhino]

JG233 omitted the highlight of the day.  When we got back to the ramp, there were two large girls and an equally large young man, launching a canoe which barely floated with all of them in it.  It was lucky to have four inches of freeboard.

 

They took a hard left and started along the eastern shore which was almost covered in lily pads.  We heard one of the girls say, "There's one."  

 

One what?  We didn't have long and the fellow seated on the floor of the canoe plunged both arms into the water, nearly capsizing the canoe.  After some thrashing around, he hauled out a good sized snapping turtle which appeared to be about 18 inches across.

 

They passed the turtle back and forth like some type of religious ritual, then placed it on the bow like a hood ornament.  It clamped onto the gunnel with all four feet.  The girl in the bow tried in a futile effort to push it off the bow of the canoe.  After a while, she managed to tug it free from the bow, handed it to the guy who then placed it back in the water.

 

Either they knew what they were doing or were very lucky they did not get bit.  I'm guessing they were lucky.  

[Cyacnba]

Went fishing to the Charles River (Waltham area) on Friday, Saturday, and today's afternoon. Caught a few smallies and largies on a Rage Menace, jig, Whopper Plopper, and shakey head. I was surprised to see a bass on a bed today, which was the only fish I managed to catch today.

[DogBone_384]

I friend gave me a trolling motor for my Ascend kayak so I figured I'd do the right thing and register it.  Coincidentally there's a registry in Hyannis, which is on the way to Harwich .... Hinkley's, Seymour, and Sheep's ponds are there....  

 

My EMT class was rescheduled yesterday, so south I went.  Gave the state their $44 and launched at Sheep's around 11:30 and went straight for the split, where it drops off steeply on both sides of the pond.  I worked depths from 3' to 30' with a variety of baits: Rage Tail, brown/black hair jig, suspending jerk bait, Whopper Plopper, and wacky Senko.  After three and a half hours I managed a Yellow Perch (on the brown/black jig) and a dink SMB on the Whopper Plopper.  I had enough and moved on to Hinkley's, where I had good luck last month.

 

Spent about an hour and a half at Hinkleys and managed another big Yellow Perch and good Pickerel on a Rage Tail. 

 

Water temps at both ponds were 63.x - 64.x

 

Had a little time this morning so I figured I'd visit Blue Hills Reservoir to see what's what there.  Fished a Rage Tail and 1/4 oz bluegill jig for an hour and a half with not so much of a whiff.  I also spent some time walking around the shallows, looking for beds.  I saw 4 for sure, and a couple maybe's.  There were no other signs of life other than bugs and birds.  Hopefully it's not a dead pond.

[MassYak85]

On 5/23/2017 at 5:22 PM, Fishing Rhino said:

JG233 omitted the highlight of the day.  When we got back to the ramp, there were two large girls and an equally large young man, launching a canoe which barely floated with all of them in it.  It was lucky to have four inches of freeboard.

 

They took a hard left and started along the eastern shore which was almost covered in lily pads.  We heard one of the girls say, "There's one."  

 

One what?  We didn't have long and the fellow seated on the floor of the canoe plunged both arms into the water, nearly capsizing the canoe.  After some thrashing around, he hauled out a good sized snapping turtle which appeared to be about 18 inches across.

 

They passed the turtle back and forth like some type of religious ritual, then placed it on the bow like a hood ornament.  It clamped onto the gunnel with all four feet.  The girl in the bow tried in a futile effort to push it off the bow of the canoe.  After a while, she managed to tug it free from the bow, handed it to the guy who then placed it back in the water.

 

Either they knew what they were doing or were very lucky they did not get bit.  I'm guessing they were lucky.  

Haha, that's hilarious. Sometimes I'll sneak up on snappers in my kayak and give them a gentle poke with my paddle. Me and my dad when I was younger used to go out in kayaks and catch turtles (mostly painted, we put them back) just for fun. Caught a few snappers over the years and let me tell you....I don't want one of those things in a canoe with me lol. They'll also destroy any net you catch them in if they're in a bad mood (basically always). 

[CTBassin860]

So the pond by my house is infested with muskrat along the bank.I fear it's been affecting the fish up shallow.Time to hit a new spot.Depending on the weather I may hit A1 saturday

[Mr. Aquarium]

headed out after work tonight, midnight to sun up trip. im dying to get out. no car i gota use my moms,  

[Mr. Aquarium]

Got out of work at 11 pm Friday! Fished from 1am to 7am few fish!  Slow night but got a few! First night mission of the year felt good getting out 

[CTBassin860]

Went out for an hour before it starts to rain.Found a new spot on Highland lake in Walpole.Got one on the wacky worm.I was getting hit on 50%of my casts,I think most were bluegill chewing on the worm but I went through half a bag of green pumpkin dingers in the process.

[DogBone_384]

Nice looking Bass Mike!

 

I hope you put gas in mom's car - speaking as a parent, of course....

[Mr. Aquarium]

i do of course she gives me gas money, lmao JK JK.  felt so good to be out and do a night mission. it really did feel amazing!!  heard so many animals.  going to maine this weekend  but ill be back doing night trips after.   havent been out in so long!! ahh gona try to get out today, but i need to pack for maine

[Fishing Rhino]

Went to Sawdy yesterday.  The fish have finally awakened from their winter slumber.  Largemouth, smallmouth, crappie and pickerel were all hungry.  Fat Albert on a one eighth ounce jig head and the wacky rig were the most consistant producers.

[bitsandbass]

On 5/12/2017 at 8:50 PM, MassYak85 said:

We launched from the public launch on Nonantum. That section of river can be kind of a pain if there is a lot of rowing activity (which there usually is). 

 

Im trying to find a place where my 5 year old and I can go fishing for some decent sized bass.  Is this a good spot (I can organize a kayak)?  I'm new to bass fishing (always fished stripers and trout), and want to get him into some action pretty quickly so that he doesnt get bored (and I can get him hooked for life!). 

 

I've looked around on Google Maps in the Boston area.  Cochichuate looks like the biggest lake in the area, and of course we have the Charles.  Are there any must visit lakes or spots you can recommend for big bass?  I understand we're all protective of our fishing spots so feel free to PM me.  I just hope I can put my boy on some big bass soon vs getting skunked over the next couple of weekends (we got skunked the last two!).  Thanks.

[MassYak85]

4 hours ago, bitsandbass said:

 

Im trying to find a place where my 5 year old and I can go fishing for some decent sized bass.  Is this a good spot (I can organize a kayak)?  I'm new to bass fishing (always fished stripers and trout), and want to get him into some action pretty quickly so that he doesnt get bored (and I can get him hooked for life!). 

 

I've looked around on Google Maps in the Boston area.  Cochichuate looks like the biggest lake in the area, and of course we have the Charles.  Are there any must visit lakes or spots you can recommend for big bass?  I understand we're all protective of our fishing spots so feel free to PM me.  I just hope I can put my boy on some big bass soon vs getting skunked over the next couple of weekends (we got skunked the last two!).  Thanks.

I'm not sure what the bite is like right now in the area, I'm in Virginia for the summer. But that launch is decent. To the right of the launch (literally touching the side of the ramp) is a flat rock that you could probably lift your son into his kayak without him getting wet. Obviously it's the Charles so the launch area isn't super clean at the water's edge. Above the ramp there is plenty of parking but it's right next to a rowing facility which is pretty much always busy unless you planned on going at 3am. There's usually plenty of space even during peak hours but if they host a special event it could fill up. Either way they have their own docks and don't use the launch so you don't have to worry about that. You can pull up your car and unload really close to the water there. 

 

As far as fishing goes I usually do pretty well there, especially earlier in the season. Targeting the shore structure and the first drop/weed edge from the shore usually produces for me. I've done well on spinnerbaits a lot of times but anything with a little vibration should get some bites. If you go to that launch I generally go right (towards the harbor) to fish. 

 

Cotichuate is a very deep lake and offers little for shore targets if bank beating is your thing. I've never done great there but have got some on points and weedlines. I've heard some guys nickname it "The Dead Sea" so interpret that how you want lol. I have to imagine there are some giants lurking down there but I've never encountered any. It's not very high on my list but I still go there maybe once or twice a summer hoping it will redeem itself. 

 

I'm sure some of the other guys can give you some info on some of the smaller ponds and lakes in that area. Other than those two I generally do most of my fishing west of 495

[bitsandbass]

44 minutes ago, MassYak85 said:

I'm not sure what the bite is like right now in the area, I'm in Virginia for the summer. But that launch is decent. To the right of the launch (literally touching the side of the ramp) is a flat rock that you could probably lift your son into his kayak without him getting wet. Obviously it's the Charles so the launch area isn't super clean at the water's edge. Above the ramp there is plenty of parking but it's right next to a rowing facility which is pretty much always busy unless you planned on going at 3am. There's usually plenty of space even during peak hours but if they host a special event it could fill up. Either way they have their own docks and don't use the launch so you don't have to worry about that. You can pull up your car and unload really close to the water there. 

 

As far as fishing goes I usually do pretty well there, especially earlier in the season. Targeting the shore structure and the first drop/weed edge from the shore usually produces for me. I've done well on spinnerbaits a lot of times but anything with a little vibration should get some bites. If you go to that launch I generally go right (towards the harbor) to fish. 

 

Cotichuate is a very deep lake and offers little for shore targets if bank beating is your thing. I've never done great there but have got some on points and weedlines. I've heard some guys nickname it "The Dead Sea" so interpret that how you want lol. I have to imagine there are some giants lurking down there but I've never encountered any. It's not very high on my list but I still go there maybe once or twice a summer hoping it will redeem itself. 

 

I'm sure some of the other guys can give you some info on some of the smaller ponds and lakes in that area. Other than those two I generally do most of my fishing west of 495

 

Hey thanks for the help.  Sounds like Nonantum would be a good place to start!  I was actually thinking about launching at Millennium park and heading north, exiting at Nonantum (the wife can pick us up there).  Looking forward to catching some big bass!

[CTBassin860]

So I'm going to be in Plymouth saturday for a wedding.Looking to hit a good bank spot before I can check into the hotel.Any suggestions??