A Shoutout for NH Fishermen!!!

[llPa1nll]

Looking for some fellow NH bass fishermen. Give a shout out to what lakes to like to hit what part of the state your from and what are your favorite tactics to getting bit in our lakes and ponds.

[telecaster]

I,m in NH.the seacoast area.I fish Powwow river pond,and Kingston lake quite a bit. My bro. lives out by Nashua so we fish the Merrimac and Nashua rivers and a few ponds out his way. Tactics wise I use a lot of soft plastics probably have my best luck with them,(senkos,fat ikas,tubes).I still use all the other stuff,(spinnerbaits,cranks,topwater,etc) I think I catch the most fish on plastics. Where you at?

[llPa1nll]

Im fishing out of Windham NH. I mostly fish my home waters of Cobbets Pond. I also fish Canobie Lake I do these 2 bodies of water the most. Other places I fish:  Nashua River, Country Pond, Turkey Pond, Swains Pond, Balch Pond, among others. Do you fish the Mine Falls Dam portion of the Nashua River? As for tactics depends on the situation but I always have a JP tied on.

[telecaster]

I dont know if its called Millspond Dam,we fish the Hollis stretch off rt130. Country Pond is connected to Powwow if its the one in Newton,there's some good fishing there.I,m probably 30minutes down 111 from Windham.It would be fun to get some of the NewEngland folks together sometime in the Spring or whenever to have a mini tournement,call it that anyway..just meet and do some fishing.

[llPa1nll]

Wow you are pretty close then. Yea, a little gathering of fishermen is in order, sounds like fun. Had a fair amount of success at Country pond in Kingston and yes the same one that connects to Powwow R.. I tried to fish it early just as the floods were setting in no luck finding anything. No wake rules were in effect for the entire lake, peoples front yards were completely under water. Returned 3 weeks later and cleaned up with a few 3lbers and a handfull of kickers, got back to the truck and found out that Newton has now made it a ticketable offense to park near the boat ramp. It seems thast the norm around here closing off more and more public waters. So do you shop at NBS often? They know me in there.

[telecaster]

There is spose to be another public ramp on the other side of the pond from the WildersGrove ramp,off of Pond street,but I cant find it :-?.The residents are slick over there,they put up no parking and beach assoc signs so ya wont think thats the public ramp. I had good luck this year,during the spring high water.Fishing the culverts where the river crosses NewBoston Rd. And yea,I get allmost everything at NBS,I stopped by that place in Windham (Extreem Bass),They didnt have much,I think they're kinda new, maybe they'll be better stocked next year.

[llPa1nll]

HeHeHe gotta love NBS!!! Well I gotta look at Clarks guide and figure that one out then. Extreme Bass in Windham is well not really a store IMHO, its basically Nissitissit trolling motor repair from Pepperell Ma., with a small store front. so they have some stuff but mainly its just trolling motor repair and service. They do real good work I had mine in there for some repairs and it ended up being bad connections on my boat. Since I had it in there they did some repairs on it from a recall on some parts and fixed the potential problems for free.

Well for me on Country Pond if there wasnt any heavy Pads there wasnt active fish, is what I came away with. The first trip this year to Country Pond like I said before was right in the middle of the floods. After reading some articles and talking with some people I should have been fishing some main lake structure and break lines. What I was doing is I was up in back water slop, actually to the left of the campground all the way down the other end of the lake from the Wilders Grove ramp. I was probably a good 2-3ft maybe even 4ft above the actual regular lake level. I mean fishing partner was like wow there is allot of rock and weed down there, when he was fishing a SpinnerBait. Upon closer inspection he was fishing someones rock garden and was ripping through their landscape plants.

What successes have you had on the Hollis stretch of the Nashua River? I have noticed in the last few years that, that section of the river now gets allot of pressure more than it used too.

[telecaster]

My Brother and I have caught some decent fish in the Nashua.Ya do see other fisherman out there but it never really seemed heavy to me. My brother owns the bass boat,and the steering was screwed up on it this year,so between that and him getting a new motorcycle,well it never got fixed so I only fished the Nashua once,this season.For now I'm restricted to places I can drag the Crawdad too.I might take the boat before next season and see if I can replace the steering box.Its a pretty good boat,mid 80's Astroglass with a mid 90,s 150 Merc. I just gotta make the time to do-it..So most of my fishin this season was local,but thats ok the Powwow is loaded with decent fish I caught several 4plus in there.Also there's another small pond in Kingston that gets minimal traffic that holds some nice size fish.

[llPa1nll]

Heh, yea I hear the boat repair woes. They certainly dont fix themselves. I am the one with the rig. Nothing huge or new but it gets me out on the water and ITS PAID OFF.

I have a 1994 Nitro 160 Rick Clunn edition. It has a Johnson 60hp that runs good. I switched out the crap 12V 25lb thrust POS trolling motor with a new 24V 72lb thrust Minn Kota. Replaced the single HummingBird graph by the console with 2 Lowrance X65 graphs one up front the other by the console.

That other pond in Kingston are you refering to Great East Lake? or Greenwood Pond? Well as far as the Nashua R. I have been fishing that for close to 8yrs now. I remember driving back there on a dirt road and or cutting through the Highway Depts parking lot to the ramp.

[Yakfish]

A couple of links I found for spots here in NH. I've only touched the tip of the iceberg as I just got back into fishing this past summer but there are a lot of promising spots.

I've spent most of my time at the Wilton reservoir and a little time on Massabesic, heard there's some real pigs in there as well as good sized pike. Had a real disapointing time on Potanipo with the wind ravaging us on our kayaks but it also looks like a great lake on a calmer day and I have some buddies who've had a lot of luck on it. My brother has good things to say about Powder Mill pond and I've also heard that Baboosic and Silver Lakes have some good fishing. So many spots so few days off.

Plastics have gotten me the best results by far. Certain cranks have worked well too but my go to bait around here is green pumpkin w/ red flake Yamasenkos.

http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/Fishing/bathy_maps.htm

http://www.nhoutdoors.com/fishing_spots.htm

[llPa1nll]

Thanks for the links! I was aware of the states web site containing the depth/contour maps, not the other site. I have to take this time to tell you about Gary Clark's Bass Fishing NH Guide lists allot of lakes, towns they are in, species of fish present, contours of lakes, lists vegetation present, access to water, and directions to access. Its a very handy book.

When it comes to crankbaits I have no confidence in them what so ever, so even though I have them on board I rarely throw them. Thats one aspect of my fishing that does need to improve.

I have fished Potanipo before, it was years ago so I cant quite remember how I did. I know thats where the sate record came from so there are Hawgs in there.

I am wondering what are your tactics going to be for the rest of the season untill ice in? I think I may put down the reaction type lures and stay with the plastics and maybe a blade bait.

[telecaster]

Where is Potanipo?Sounds familar to me. I,ve fished Massabesic quite a bit, good fishing hole...Hey,Great East Lake is up country (Wakefield,Sanbornville area) Good Smallie fishing,a friend has a camp up there. Great pond or Kingston lake is in Kingston (same place, two names)..Pretty good fishing but can get crowded on  summer weekends. SShhh, it is Greenwood pond now all the zillions of people that read this post are gonna be there..To get to the ramp ya have to drive through a Daycare Center parking lot,so during the week the Daycare chains off the entrance to the ramp :-? I didnt think that they could do that ,but I guess the town lets them. Anyways I'm a member of the Masonic lodge thats right on the pond so I park in our lot and lug the Crawdad down all you need is a small boat with an electric motor in there..

[llPa1nll]

Yeah, Greenwood is a good small fishing pond. The daycare shut if off completely a few years back which angered me a little because that was a good "Afterwork" lake for me. Id bring my boat to work then head on up to Greenwood. There are some decent size fish in there. Last time I was there 2 yrs ago I think I caught on off a tree in the 3-4lb range.

I believe Potanipo is in Brookline NH. I havent been in years so I couldnt tell you what its like either way.

I usually stay on Cobbets Pond allot since I live 2 houses from the ramp. I had Charlie Moore and Adam V. out on it after they won their first SB. That was a good time.

[Yakfish]

Got out for a couple of hours on two occasions this week and skunked on both "outings". We weren't out for very long and didn't move around as much as we usually do (shore fishing) but we've never both left without having caught at least a dink or two. First time plastics have failed to produce although I did have a couple of half hearted nibbles. I think any crank is moving too fast, even my JSR's which have been working well lately with a slow retrieve and I'll keep trying a jig but it looks like things have slowed to the point where if it isn't sitting right in their face they're not going for it. Have you guys had any luck over the past week? If so what's been working?

[llPa1nll]

Well I have a christening to go to today so that pretty much sinks plans for fishing this weekend but there is always next weekend. As for what was working last weekend it was soft plastics deadsticked, and do nothing soft plastics at that. I hope you guys have better luck this weekend, or atleast can get out. I have no idea if that warm rain helped or hurt our cause. I wouldnt find that out unless I got out there and poked around for a bit to see. Well good luck and tight lines for you guys this weekend/week.

[llPa1nll]

Well I dont know what kind of luck you guys had this weekend but for me it was not much. I am honestly thinking I am probably going to head out 1 or 2 more times this season and then winterize my boat.

[telecaster]

Hey; I was up Conway for the weekend (no fishing) My Wife and I,and another couple just went up to hang-out ,it was a tad nippy up in the mountains. I'm pretty much done for the year as far as draggin the boat out,my rods are still in the truck though. 8-)

[llPa1nll]

Yea I hear you there. Sad to say but it is winding down, this warm front might bring the temps up a little though. I am not going to be able to get out this weekend but Im gonna try and make it out for next depending on the weather. I was eyeing my rods to start taking them in and delining them and cleaning and oiling them up. Now thats a fun and exciting task....

[llPa1nll]

Hey guys managed to get out on Canobie Lake yesterday. I got 4 fish, 1 3lbs and another around 2.5 lbs. It was real slow but hey we got out on the water and caught some fish. Water temp was 45.2°F and it didnt move from there all day as it was pretty cloudy.

[Yakfish]

That's great lPa, glad they're still biting for you up there. What did you catch them on? Crankbaits and plastics have done nothing for me the last few times out but I managed to get my first catch on a jig last Monday and it was the first fish I'd caught in two weeks. I haven't spent more than a combined total of 6 hours fishing over the past few weeks and it's been an hour here, 45 minutes there. Fortunately I have a couple of spots that are close by and I can stop for a few casts on my way home from work. Hopefully I'll get a few more short trips in but it looks like I'll be trading the rod for my skis for the next few months.

[llPa1nll]

Heh, Well the name of the game was downsize and SLOW. I caught all of my fish on 1/4oz football jig head with some GY soft plastics. The action I ended up having success with was just shaking the line enough to make the soft plastic tail wiggle ever so softly. Fishing shallow was out of the question, I think I caugh my shallowest fish in 12ft of water. The depth and contours I was looking for was 10-18ft of water with some steep rock drop offs. If I found that, I usually caught some fish. I hope you get some fish. The Jig is easily my go too bait. I have huge amounts of confidence with it. If all else fails that is what I am throwing.

[llPa1nll]

Hey NH guys. I tried the Nashua R. yesterday. What the water temp was I have no idea, as I wasnt in my boat. The river was running a lil high because of the recent rains. approx. 1ft above what I am used to seeing it. As for fish sorry to say we had a tough tough outing. I caught 1 perch and the friend I was with caught 1 perch and 1 bass, like I said TOUGH. Well I hope you guys had more success than I did. I think I am planning on going out this sunday to either Canobie Lake or Cobbets Pond. Hopefully the bite will be allot better.

[nboucher]

Where on the Nashua River? I'm about an hour south of there, and caught a 3.5 pounder on a local pond Saturday. The bite is indeed tough now, as it should be this time of year. Jigs are about the only thing working now. I grew up in Nashua and get up there pretty often to visit family.

[llPa1nll]

I was on the stretch of river by Mill Falls Dam. Fished it pretty good but just didnt seem to get bit. I had much better luck last weekend at Canobie Lake than at the Nashua River.

[llPa1nll]

Well I got out again this weekend. The ICE has not arrived and my boat is still getting wet. We went out on my home waters of Cobbets Pond yesterday. We started out at 8am, air temp was a brisk 39°F. The water temp at the launch was a frigid 33°F and the main lake registered a mere 39°F which later warmed upto 41°F. Bite was tough early but I stuck it out long enough to land 5 fish and pull off the water to catch the 2nd half of the Patriots game. With an outlook on the weather it looks like this coming week might be my last to get out before ICE is clogging up the launch. Did anyone else get out?  Howd you do?