Eastern Ma & New England Area Fishing Reports

[grampa1114]

On 6/11/2017 at 3:08 PM, Fishing Rhino said:

 

The day brought back many memories of fishing in "Island Cove" the coontail covered shallow at the north end of Indian Ranch Cove, the rocky shoal in the middle of the center pool.  Too bad you weren't there to enjoy it.  I have been using a new bait that might have given me the edge in the Al Lindner trophy competition.  

 

It's the Binsky Blade.  I caught smallmouth, largemouth, pickerel, crappie, yellow perch, bluegill and sunfish on the outing.  No trout or catfish however.

 

21 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

I'm glad you guys are catching them because I've been out five times since being down here and have 4 fish to show for it...and I'm like 80% sure I caught the same fish on two separate occasions. I'm not sure if it's me or the places I'm fishing just getting a ton of pressure. Granted no one I've talked to while out there was having a good day either so I'm not really sure how to approach this. Muddy water, and textbook looking reservoirs, but I can't seem to find fish. So far my best luck has come imitating shad, either with a crank or a fluke. It didn't help I messed up every hook set with the fluke when I got bit either.

MassYak85 try taking a screwlock off one of your bellyweighted hooks and screwing it into the nose of a fluke bait. Then a 2/0 hook through the loop of the screw lock will give you more hooksets. JMHO

 

Rhino...Al would be so proud of you...

 

By the way, I've been fishing first and second drop offs in a summer pattern and 82 degree water for more than a month now. Fish are wailing on shaky heads down here.

[MassYak85]

5 minutes ago, grampa1114 said:

 

MassYak85 try taking a screwlock off one of your bellyweighted hooks and screwing it into the nose of a fluke bait. Then a 2/0 hook through the loop of the screw lock will give you more hooksets. JMHO

 

Rhino...Al would be so proud of you...

 

By the way, I've been fishing first and second drop offs in a summer pattern and 82 degree water for more than a month now. Fish are wailing on shaky heads down here.

I do that a lot with flukes up north but the cover I've been fishing around I had to go weedless. I got good hook penetration through the bait it just never stuck the fish for some reason. I'll be sure to give the shakeyhead a go next time I'm out. I tied a C-rig on too so I'll give that a shot as well. 

[Janderson45]

23 hours ago, grampa1114 said:

 

MassYak85 try taking a screwlock off one of your bellyweighted hooks and screwing it into the nose of a fluke bait. Then a 2/0 hook through the loop of the screw lock will give you more hooksets. JMHO

 

 

 

I'm having trouble visualizing what you're talking about here... got any pictures of this rigged up by any chance?  Are you talking about a circle hook or a round bend>?

[grampa1114]

44 minutes ago, Janderson45 said:

 

I'm having trouble visualizing what you're talking about here... got any pictures of this rigged up by any chance?  Are you talking about a circle hook or a round bend>?

Hope this helps.

[Jigfishn10]

@grampa1114 thanks for posting that video. That's good stuff right there.

[grampa1114]

1 minute ago, Jigfishn10 said:

@grampa1114 thanks for posting that video. That's good stuff right there.

My pleasure Jiggy....Hope all is well. Go catch some fish.

Grampa

[Jigfishn10]

1 minute ago, grampa1114 said:

My pleasure Jiggy....Hope all is well. Go catch some fish.

Grampa

Pretty gosh darn soon grampa. My son is in his last year of Little League and we're getting to the finish line.

 

We put together a tournament team and will be playing in those few final games soon. Fishing season starts up for me as soon as the last out is called.

 

Hope all is well with you and the missus...

[grampa1114]

10 minutes ago, Jigfishn10 said:

Pretty gosh darn soon grampa. My son is in his last year of Little League and we're getting to the finish line.

 

We put together a tournament team and will be playing in those few final games soon. Fishing season starts up for me as soon as the last out is called.

 

Hope all is well with you and the missus...

Nice job with your priorities, Buddy.

Once I learned to fish in a lake full of regular coffee and alligators, things got pretty sweet. Especially when that all happened in Dec, Jan, and Feb. Still fishing Tues. Wed. and Thurs 9am to 1pm when everybody is taking lunch and a snooze in the heat. Plenty of water and plenty of fish. Recommend it highly. Tight lines my friend.

[Janderson45]

36 minutes ago, grampa1114 said:

Hope this helps.

 

Very much so, thank you!  So basically the screw lock just acts as a mechanism to help hold the circle hook in place when nose hooking a fluke... nice little trick! 

[MassYak85]

52 minutes ago, Janderson45 said:

 

Very much so, thank you!  So basically the screw lock just acts as a mechanism to help hold the circle hook in place when nose hooking a fluke... nice little trick! 

Yea it's pretty neat, really helps with hook ups too, and if you watch the video they show the fish headhsotting the fluke more often than not so they get all of the hook even if they don't get all of the bait. 

[Mr. Aquarium]

thats such a sick idea!! wow!! going to try that with stripers on the 7 inch magnum. maybe even other soft baits to! WOW!!! love it! 

[MassYak85]

22 minutes ago, swamp hawgs said:

thats such a sick idea!! wow!! going to try that with stripers on the 7 inch magnum. maybe even other soft baits to! WOW!!! love it! 

I even managed a pretty nice 3-4lb brown trout on that rig on Lake Webster with like 6lb leader, surprised it didn't cut through it. Another nice thing about the rig is it glides down at a shallow angle like a fish swimming to the bottom. Plus you can use a relatively small hook if you choose and lighter line since not much of a hookset is needed. Plus (there's a lot of pluses to this rig) the hook rotates back and forth as you twitch it which I think gives it a little better action, almost acting like a snap on a hard bait. 

[Janderson45]

2 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

Yea it's pretty neat, really helps with hook ups too, and if you watch the video they show the fish headhsotting the fluke more often than not so they get all of the hook even if they don't get all of the bait. 

I usually throw the "double fluke rig". Wonder how it would work with this... might be interesting to try.  The only time I nose hook a fluke typically is bed fishing, the double fluke rig that I love to throw around post spawn is usually two Tex-posed hooks which keeps it out of most snags but definitely miss fish on occasion. 

[MassYak85]

Just now, Janderson45 said:

I usually throw the "double fluke rig". Wonder how it would work with this... might be interesting to try.  The only time I nose hook a fluke typically is bed fishing, the double fluke rig that I love to throw around post spawn is usually two Tex-posed hooks which keeps it out of most snags but definitely miss fish on occasion. 

Oh man I love that rig too. I feel like the exposed front hook might snag up on the extra line but it's worth a shot. Maybe if you added a nail weight to one of them to get it to twitch beneath the other instead of in the same plane it wouldn't foul. I'll have to try that as well. 

[Mr. Aquarium]

never used the double fluke rig

[MassYak85]

7 hours ago, swamp hawgs said:

never used the double fluke rig

Try it! If nothing else it will keep you occupied admiring how cool it looks haha. Plus it gives you that chance of a double hookup! Still waiting for one of those. 

[RyanDR]

Went to the Chu yesterday morning. Landed 5 dinks, but I lost 2 big smallies. One of them was easily my personal best. I saw how big it was when it jumped, but unfortunately when it jumped it tossed the hook. I keep replaying that fight in my head...Oh well, it was a beautiful morning. 

[MassYak85]

Well, I managed to catch my PB...

 

...catfish. I'm not sure if the bass down here in VA are just wired different and I'm out of sync or if it's just tougher and more pressured. But I'm doing pretty bad. So back to the catfish. I'm off this little island and I see a fish breach the water that looks bigger than just the shad I've been seeing. So I cast a 5.8 keitech and let it sink right where I saw it. I reeled up the slack and I feel a tug and set the hook. Fish feels pretty solid and is fighting hard. I see a good size flash of a belly and it goes under my kayak. I grab the net and land it...and to my surprise I have a nice 3-4lb catfish in my net and not the 4lb bass I was expecting given the fight. Oh well, I'll take it but it doesn't really help me out as far as the bass go. 

[DogBone_384]

The estrogen level was extra high when I got home this afternoon - wife, daughter, sister-in-law and her granddaughter - so I launched as Sunset Lake around 5:30.  

 

The water was 73.x -74.x and the weeds took over almost everywhere from 9' down to 3'.

 

Weedless was the call.  I used a perch Whopper Plopper, T-rigged Zoom worm, and a 4" Senko (also T-rigged).  The Senko was the bait of the evening, netting 2 small LMB, 1 decent LMB, and a decent pickerel.  I hooked onto something else but it spit me before it came to the surface.  It felt like a pickerel.

[Mr. Aquarium]

went out saltwater fishing saturday. caught a ton of black sea bass. used a little 4foot light baitcaster. the sea bass fought so hard on it. i was so outmatched. filled up 2 limits. caught some scup and sea robbins to. 

[Fishing Rhino]

On 6/11/2017 at 2:44 PM, grampa1114 said:

Just in time to remove any protective cover from the emergent fry.... Soon...without weeds and without fishermen... it will be the perfect spot to waterski and jetski... leaving many lakes open and available to be fished in peace. Even fishing with gators is better than battling "stupid".  

 

Webster was a zoo with all the cages open yesterday afternoon at the state ramp.  Went there yesterday morning with Derek, and we had a pretty good day.  A half dozen smallies over two pounds, several largemouths, in the two pound bracket, plus a few pickerel, and a rainbow trout.

 

Only three or four other fishermen using the state ramp at the south end of the pond.  Memorial State Park showed no human activity when we fished in the northern pool.  Only saw one water skier, and one jet ski all morning.  Activity picked up a little, but not much for such a nice day.

 

Then, we found out why when we got back to the ramp.  The parking lot was jammed.  There were rigs on both sides of the road at the ramp lined up, waiting to launch, none of them fishermen.

 

It seems that Memorial Park and the ramps were closed.  They were preparing for some sort of celebration.

 

I had to back up two jet ski rigs for people who did not know how to back up a trailer as this was their first foray.  It was almost an hour before I could back my rig down the ramp and leave.  

 

I suppose I should be thankful that I was able to get out of the parking lot. 

[grampa1114]

1 hour ago, Fishing Rhino said:

 

Webster was a zoo with all the cages open yesterday afternoon at the state ramp.  Went there yesterday morning with Derek, and we had a pretty good day.  A half dozen smallies over two pounds, several largemouths, in the two pound bracket, plus a few pickerel, and a rainbow trout.

 

Only three or four other fishermen using the state ramp at the south end of the pond.  Memorial State Park showed no human activity when we fished in the northern pool.  Only saw one water skier, and one jet ski all morning.  Activity picked up a little, but not much for such a nice day.

 

Then, we found out why when we got back to the ramp.  The parking lot was jammed.  There were rigs on both sides of the road at the ramp lined up, waiting to launch, none of them fishermen.

 

It seems that Memorial Park and the ramps were closed.  They were preparing for some sort of celebration.

 

I had to back up two jet ski rigs for people who did not know how to back up a trailer as this was their first foray.  It was almost an hour before I could back my rig down the ramp and leave.  

 

I suppose I should be thankful that I was able to get out of the parking lot. 

Remember that you can turn right off the ramp and follow that road all the way out...in case you can't get through the stacked up boat trailers. Manchaug, Singletary and Buffumville are handy when the big lakes are crazy. Perhaps the best kept secret of all is Dark Brook Reservoir.....or Brimfield Reservoir...or Quaboag...or.....You are very lucky Fishermen.

[CTBassin860]

On 6/17/2017 at 5:10 PM, MassYak85 said:

Well, I managed to catch my PB...

 

...catfish. I'm not sure if the bass down here in VA are just wired different and I'm out of sync or if it's just tougher and more pressured. But I'm doing pretty bad. So back to the catfish. I'm off this little island and I see a fish breach the water that looks bigger than just the shad I've been seeing. So I cast a 5.8 keitech and let it sink right where I saw it. I reeled up the slack and I feel a tug and set the hook. Fish feels pretty solid and is fighting hard. I see a good size flash of a belly and it goes under my kayak. I grab the net and land it...and to my surprise I have a nice 3-4lb catfish in my net and not the 4lb bass I was expecting given the fight. Oh well, I'll take it but it doesn't really help me out as far as the bass go. 

You'll get it.Just a matter of time

[JG233]

The ramp at Webster was definitely a clusther****. 

The fishing started out pretty good, but completely turned off after 11 AM. 

[Fishing Rhino]

In the sake of full disclosure, I started the day with the biggest cluster of the day.  I'm up every two to three hours during the night, so I never set the alarm.  Wednesday night, for whatever reason, I only got up once, around midnight.

 

Soooooo, instead of getting to the ramp at four o'clock, I got there at 5:30.  To make matters worse, I told Derek the address for the ramp was 103 Lakeside Drive when it was Lakeside Avenue.  My bungle cost us an hour and a half of prime fishing time.  From now on, the alarm gets set when I'm supposed to meet someone.