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View Michael K's Profile
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Long Pond Harwich
Avg. Rating: 5
# Reviews: 7
Views: 8581 | Long Pond, Harwich, MA
8/19/2011
My wife and I took the Friday off to go stay for a couple nights on the beach in Harwich Port before the Nashua T. I dragged the boat down with us, and went out on Long Pond Friday for half the day.
I hit the water around 6 am, noticing that it was town sticker parking only. A local guy told me I'd be able to pay for the day when I left, so I headed out anyways.
After running around the lake a bit to check things out, I pulled up on the shallower side of the northern stretch hoping for some topwater action. I fished a Sammy, a Buzzjet, and a spinnerbait. I got one swing on the Sammy over some weeds in 8 -10 feet, but it failed to connect. That was all she sang for the first couple hours as I fished my way around a point and into the western basin. I marked some fish on a steep dropoff around the point, but did not get bit dragging a jig down the drop.
Run to the far west looking for some different water, to no avail. Shallow cover was empty, docks were empty. I marked a bunch of bait in 20ish feet, which turned out to be White Perch that were eagerly hitting the dropshot.
Back to the northern basin, where I started bruising around looking for structure on the s***ty finder I have in the console. I spot something looking like a rock at 15 feet and drop a marker to come back and check it out. After some more scouting, I return and check out the marker on the finder: Looks like some kind of boulder perhaps, so I let out the dropshot, and almost immediately hook up with a solid fish. After hauling White Perch, this one feels like a tank, and it comes up and jumps once before diving down and peeling drag over and over again. It's a good sized smallie, but on the ML dropshot and the light test line it feels like a monster. Every time I get her close to the boat, off she goes again peeling drag. I take my time, and get her to the boat and in the net after a couple minutes and a quarter mile drift in the wind. Turns out to be a nice 3lb 2oz smallie at around 17 inches with a nice gut on it. Just a fantastic fight.
I get nothing else in that area, and head out looking for more deep structure. I find another rock-looking thing in 25 feet, and drop the marker again. Pull up, drop shot down, and another hookup! Almost immediately another big smallie comes up and jumps, and I have to duck as the hook and sinker comes flying back at me. This one looked like a better fish than the first one, and it's sadly the last smallie I hook up with that day.
I saw some of the biggest schools of White Perch there that I've ever seen. At times 8-10 feet thick, and stretching over 20-30 feet (although they could have been heading the same way as me). I could have spent all day catching them if I had been in the mood. If you're looking for some easy action, that's where it's at. | 
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Lake Champlain Vacation
Avg. Rating: 5
# Reviews: 10
Views: 4736 | 8/4/2011 - 8/7/2011
Every year around the end of July my wife and I take a vacation. This year we ended up taking our newborn son to Burlington VT, on the shores of Lake Champlain. We drove up with the Tracker in tow, and made it through the Green Mountains without drama.
Thursday I booked a trip with a local guide, to get a sense of the place and hopefully catch some decent fish. I met up with the guy up near the Canadian border and we drove down to launch out of St Albans Bay.
We started out fishing weed lines in 10ish feet of water, catching some cookie cutter smallies and a few small pike. While doing this, we drifted over pods of bait in 18-24 feet, so we did another drift down the shore dragging carolina rigs with a Zoom craw on it. The guide sets the hook on a heavy 2, and as he is fighting it I hook up with what feels like a truck. I end up with a personal best smallie right around 4 pounds, which ended up being lunker for the day as we repeat those two patterns in a few more spots. I ended up with the 4, a 3, a couple 2s and a mix of 1s and dinks. Nice day out! It's quite amazing what a good smallie feels like, even on heavier tackle.
Saturday I ended up taking out my boat on Mallets Bay. I've been having some issues starting the motor, so I was a bit nervous being on big water. I ended up spending a lot of time fishing dead shorelines and deep water before making a run to Mallets Creek where I found some weed beds. The day only yielded a couple of keepers on a brush hog, with a 2 1/2 LM as the biggest.
Sunday I started out the day in front of the creek, with the weather overcast. I got a heavy 1 on a buzzjet while trying out various topwater. I tie on a popper, and toss out a nice long cast. One pop, and the thing gets hammered! After a nice fight I net another 2 1/2 largemouth which ended up being the big bass of the day. I had close to a dozen fish from barely keeper size up to the 2.
While fishing along some shallow weeds, I spot a fish in about 2 feet of water. It's hard to tell what it is, but I pitch out a jig and it gets hit immediately. A solid hookset later I am getting a good fight out of whatever it is, rolling and making runs. After getting it in the net, it turns out to be a Bowfin, my first ever. Good times!
I wrap up the day fishing the docks around the launch, which fails to yield any bass at all over the two days. I did hook into a nice sized pike on the brush hog that took me several minutes to land. Every time I got it close to the boat, it would make another brutal run peeling off line. I can understand why people fish for them!
All in all a nice vacation. I would definitely go back, but I would spend time trying to fish the main lake. I regret not giving it a shot as I had decent weather without a lot of wind. The confidence has to be there in your equipment though, and it wasn't until after the trip. I had no problems whatsoever with the boat while there, so I'm feeling like those issues are behind me. |
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June Swimbait Adventures
Avg. Rating: 5
# Reviews: 6
Views: 4538 | Metro West
6/1/2011
I haven't had a chance to go out much in the last month or so, due to the arrival of Michael K The Younger, but I've managed a few trips out with Sam F and the occasional shore trip. For a lot of these trips I've been playing around with my newest toys, swimbaits and other large/obnoxious lures.
The most productive trip was a few weeks back, going out for a few hours in the morning rain and wind. The conditions were good for some noisy baits, and we obliged. I busted out some new lures for the first time, including a 7 inch Slammer and a Buzzjet. Maybe a handful of casts with the Slammer went by, and Sam and I are laughing a bit at how huge it looks when I get a solid bite waking it by some pads. The fish pulls us along in the inflatable boat, and after a nice fight I land my first Slammer fish, a 3 1/2 lb chunk. I add a 2 a bit later, working it through the pads to get a fish that had missed Sam's frog.
Later that trip I switched to try a Buzzjet, an unholy mix of a wakebait, crankbait, and buzzbait. The thing makes a serious ruccus, and I ended up getting a few vicious hits on it and landing a heavy 2 and a 1. Not bad for a first outing with the big lures.
I've since been out once with the Slammer and managed another awesome bite. The fish was an ambitious barely keeper that hit it near pads as well. The picture is amazing I think =)
June has only had one more nice fish: When testing out a new rod in a small local pond, I got a couple of big blowups on a Rage Eeliminator in pads but failed to hook up. After resting the area a bit, I finally managed to get bit and set the hook. Working a solid fish through pads on 17 lb fluoro is not as easy as I thought it would be! After getting stuck once and horsing it through as best I could, I managed to land another nice 3 1/2, a best for that pond.
So far June has been the month of trying out new baits. I am happy to report that I have not thrown a single cast with a Senko-style worm, which has significantly increased my level of entertainment =) |
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Club Tournament @ Quaboag - 5-21-2011
Avg. Rating: 5
# Reviews: 8
Views: 6041 | Quaboag, Brooksfield, MA
5/21/2011
Second club tournament of the year took place at Quaboag, and featured much better weather than the season opener on Mashpee-Wakeby. Weather started out cloudy with a slight wind shifting between north and east. Water temps were around 63-64 to start the day. About halfway through, the weather changed to mostly sunny and water temps rose to around 70 in the shallows.
I started the day around the southern "river" opening, fishing the point and cove behind it. I got a short bass and a couple of pickerel on a sammy-style bait right off the bat, but otherwise nothing of note.
After abandoning the cove area, I fished my way along the southern shore. It was mostly a 2-3 foot weed flat, with the occasional empty bed. Alternating between the sammy, a spinnerbait, and a buzzbait netted me some more spectacular pickerel hits but no bass.
About halfway to the western river opening, I chatted with another guy out there. He told me I was fishing in the right area, so I kept at it but switched to senko more or less full time. It was almost halfway through the day and I had no fish.
Soon after, the sun came out and before long I picked up my first fish, a nice 2-2, on the senko in reeds close to shore. My second fish followed maybe 30 minutes later when I spooked a decent size fish with the boat. I moved off about 5 feet, and it came right back. From maybe 10 feet away, I dropped the senko right on it and saw it turn and gulp it in. After a decent fight, I had a 2-12 in the boat.
For most of the remaining time, I stayed in the same general area. Coming by the area where I got the first fish, I was fishing out from shore when the line took off. This one put up a real nice fight on the spinning rod, peeling drag again and again before I netted it. This ended up being my big fish of the day, at 3-9. A 4th keeper clocked in at 1-2, also on the senko.
At this point I spotted a big fish on a bed right up under shore. It looked like an easy 4, so I decided to spend a large chunk of time on this fish due to our tournament format. We were paired up across boats, and each of us could bring 5 to the weigh-in. Each team would then cull to weigh their best 5. Knowing my partner already had 4 as well, I focused on the chance of a kicker fish instead of limiting out.
I spent probably close to an hour on this one fish. It was pretty lure and boat shy, but kept coming back 5 minutes later. Whatever I tossed in there, it just wouldn't bite. With maybe 40 minutes left to fish, I found out why: A second, equally big fish rolled up on the bed and they started spawning! No wonder there was no bite, they had other things on their minds =)
I ended up running to the north end of the lake and fishing out the last bit of time with another short to show for it. I felt pretty good about my contribution, and we ended up using my 3 biggest and my partners 2 best 1-and-change keepers for an 11.66lb limit, good for second. First place was a 15.XX bag including 2 fish near 5 pounds each.
It was nice to be out in decent weather for once. For a while it felt like I was going to get skunked, but the afternoon sun helped turn things around. Thanks, Quaboag! |
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MAFF @ Billington Sea, 5-8-2011 - Cabin Fever
Avg. Rating: 5
# Reviews: 8
Views: 4812 | Billington Sea, Plymouth, MA
5/8/2011
As all who were there can attest to, the day started off looking like it would be a nice, warm day. But as the day went on, clouds rolled in and the wind picked up quite a bit. It ended up being a cold, blustery day out when all was said and done.
Sam and I weren't quite as prepared for this tourney as I would have liked. It was my first time even taking the big boat out this year, and we had only just gotten on the water and were rigging up the last few things when the field took off. We saw two boats head to each of the areas we had in mind to start, so we ended up heading off to the island right in front of the launch.
We got most of our fish on brush hogs pitched to cover or shallow structure. The shore cover was not very productive for the most part, as it was very shallow. Another foot of water would have been awesome. We got one of our nicer keepers off a dock in 3 feet or so, which culled our 13 inch rat that we caught early in the morning.
We managed to find one fish on a bed all day. It seemed nicely locked on, and doesn't move far from the bed even when spooked. Pitching the brush hog on the bed was rewarded with a quick pickup and spit. Repeat this for about 5 missed hooksets. The dropshot didn't even get more than a cursory look from her. Back to the brush hog it was, for another 6-8 missed hooksets as the fish doesn't even keep it in its mouth for more than a split second.
A beaver-type bait gets the first real bite, but the fish is barely hooked and comes off. Amazingly, she went right back to the bed. As we are maneuvering the boat back and forth in the wind, it looks like we spooked her off the bed. A closer look reveals that she's chasing bluegills, not being spooked. Out comes the bluegill swim jig. First pitch only skirts the bed and barely gets a look. Second pitch drags the jig right into the bed. Stop the jig, couple little twitches, and she slams it. Moments later, we have our fourth and biggest fish in the boat.
We saw a ton of bait in the weedbeds in the west basin, and fished a spinnerbait for a while. It seemed like a perfect time for it, and the pickerel certainly agreed! We picked up 6-8 pickerel and one bass that didn't cull before going back to our soft plastics. In hindsight, we probably should have kept at the spinnerbait as we got no more bass for the day and still kept getting pickerel on the plastics.
Our final bag went 10-8, with a 3, a couple of 2s, and a couple of heavy 1s. We put a total of seven bass in the boat, five on the green pumpkin brush hog, one on a jig, and one on a white/charteuse spinnerbait. We probably stayed on the shallow cover too long, but it's hard to abandon something that's been working so well.
As a bonus, I cranked the motor for the first time this year and it started right up. All in all, a pretty nice outing. It was great seeing everyone again! |
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Mashpee-Wakeby - First Club Tourney of 2011
Avg. Rating: 4.6666666666667
# Reviews: 3
Views: 6155 | Mashpee-Wakeby Pond, Mashpee, MA
4/23/2011
We had our first club tourney on Easter weekend. It was on Saturday, of course, with all the delightful weather that came with it. I ended up fishing as a co-angler as I haven't had a chance to get my own boat ready for the season.
Mashpee-Wakeby is a large, clear Cape pond. Very limited shore structure to be found. Weather was in the high 40s to low 50s, with 25 mph wind out of the SSE. Water temps were around 46-48 for the day.
We started out fishing around the far island, thinking the fish might stop and stage around there. No dice, not even a nibble. After spending 45 minutes to an hour there, we fished our way around a point and into some cover from the wind.
We ended up on a large 4-5 foot flat, and pounded the area with jerkbaits and jigs. An hour later, my boater picks up a nice largemouth on a black/blue jig while dragging it over the bottom. He then promptly hangs that jig in a tree and loses it. Shortly after, I feel some life and set the hook on my only fish of the day, a 2.5 lb smallie while draggin a brown/green pumpkin jig.
We then spent a good while trying out different parts of shoreline, but the bite seems to have shut off completely in the areas we can remain steady in.
My boater ends up picking up one more random fish off a lone dock on the jig. This fish was enough to put him in the money.
We end up pulling the boats a few minutes early. After the weigh-in, we fire up the portable grill and have some April shower hot dogs to round off the day. |
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Hardy Pond 4-20-2011
Avg. Rating: 5
# Reviews: 1
Views: 5518 | Hardy Pond, Walhtam, MA
4/20/2011
With a bit of a lull in the winds lately, I figured Wednesday night was a good chance to get out for a couple hours in the Jon boat. I bailed out of work a bit early and headed over to Hardy Pond for a couple hours of fishing since it's only 5-10 minutes away.
The temperature was in the low 50s with a slight wind, overcast and dark. Water temps were around 52.
I spent the first half hour fishing some shallow submerged boulders with a lipless crank and a jerkbait with no takers. I fished the dropoffs around there as well, also nothing. I was marking fish, but nothing was biting. The dark and somewhat murky water probably wasn't helping the jerkbait bite either.
I moved to a different spot and started fishing a stretch between two points, still with the jerkbait and lipless. After another 15 minutes to hauling water, I put both away and picked up the jig rod. I then went looking for laydowns, stumps, and brush. There was a lot of brush, but no fish biting in it. I found a small downed branch near some brush in a foot or two of water. As I pulled up to it, an older gentleman living there chatted me up about the fishing. Right as he walked away and wished me luck, I felt a thump and set the hook on a nice keeper. I almost asked him to hop in the boat and bring his good luck with him =)
I kept going on my quest to find nice laydowns, and found a perfect looking tree trunk. No fish. I fished some brush near it, and while dragging it back out over branches and junk, another keeper size fish swiped at it but didn't hook up.
I started working my way back in, but wanted to check out the part of the pond I've never fished much. It's shallow and weedy as hell in the summer. Apparently there are also some underwater rocks, because I slammed the trolling motor into one of them, but no damage done. Nothing going over there.
At this point, it's about to get dark and I start jetting back to the launch. I make one stop at a decent looking laydown and toss the jig to the outer limbs. The line is draped over the branches, and I don't feel a thump but something registers as an unexpected feeling or look, so I set the hook. I hook up with a nice fish and wrestle it out of the tree. I get it to the boat, and it's a solid 3lb 7oz chunk. I can't really explain how I knew I got bit, it was just a feeling that something wasn't "right". Nice to see that the instincts aren't completely rusty!
With a nice cap to the evening like that, I head back in. The weather is getting cold as hell as the sun goes down, and I only smacked one more boulder on the way in!
Not bad for a couple hours out. Hardy Pond is still not being super productive for me, but it's so nice and close that it's hard to beat. Maybe I'll keep at it a bit more this year and figure it out. The 3 1/2 was the biggest I've seen pulled out of there so far.
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First Trip of 2011
Avg. Rating: 5
# Reviews: 5
Views: 4884 | Plymouth, MA
4/10/2011
I finally had some time on Sunday to make it out, and some decently cooperative weather, so I grabbed the Jon boat and headed down to Plymouth.
By the time I got there, the wind was howling. I ended up picking a small pond where I knew I could get out of the worst of it, and dropped the boat and all the accessories in. The water was down around 3 feet from last year, and the ramp cove had maybe two feet of water. It was nicely out of the wind, and the temp was reading 58. I saw fish cruising around as soon as I got there.
I launched and fished the nearby area with a 1-minus crankbait, and almost immediately hooked up with a small dink for the first fish of the year. Next cast, a better fish. For two more casts I hooked up, for a total of four in a row. I managed a couple more before the area went dead. Nothing huge, just keeper size fish which is a bit below average for the pond. I did see a few real nice fish cruising, but none were willing to play.
After fishing the rest of the cove with no results, I braved the wind for a short while. I had to spend so much time wrestling with the boat that I hardly got to do any fishing at all. So I popped into another sheltered cove that is noticeably deeper than the first one. Water temp was around 52.
I fished a deep jerkbait for a bit with no takers before switching to a jig. The next fish came off a laydown in 4-5 feet of water. The line took off like a rocket, and by the time I set the hook it was 15-20 feet from the tree. Nothing fancy, but another decent keeper.
At this point it was almost time to head out, but I had one more stop to make at a pair of sunken boulders in 5-7 feet of water. I fished a Lucky Craft Pointer around the area, and felt it bump one of the rocks. Immediately after, I felt another thump and set the hook. After a decent fight, I managed to land a nice 2 1/2 lb smallie with a huge gut! It's the first smallie I've seen or caught in there, and the locals I've asked have denied their existence. Glad they were wrong =)
Back at the ramp I made a few more casts with a senko in that first cove, and managed to round out the day with another solid keeper chunk. All in all, it was a fantastic first day on the water! |
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MAFF Tournament Finale 2010 - Lake Boon(e)
Avg. Rating: 5
# Reviews: 5
Views: 5159 | Lake Boon(e)
9/3/2010
Our day started off pretty shaky, with both of us having the morning blues due to the cold weather. We managed to stick it out through the desire to just head home and get some more sleep, fortunately. After standing around at the store for a while, everyone finally got on the water and we got going.
The cold weather made for a slow start to the day, as we opened up right at the start point. A nibble or two, but nothing going on. We fished our way out towards the first larger basin without much action. We did see someone else pull two fish out in a hurry, and could only hope that they were on our team.
We rolled up on a big dock in one of the channels, and Mark is rolling up on the other side of it. He pulls a keeper out, I pull our first fish which ends up a whisker under 12. That would be my theme for the day. We leave the dock to Mark (sorry Mark, probably should have passed it by completely. My bad.) and move on into the main lake portion to fish some more docks as the sun starts peaking out now and then.
We're laughing hard about our troubles with properly skipping stuff when suddenly Sam gets the first fish of the day. Soft bite, didn't even know it was there. In the boat it goes, it's a solid pound and change keeper. Feeling good about being on the board, we keep moving along. I get another short soon after, and we decide to make a move since the area is pretty crowded.
We make a run down to the next channel and pick out some nice looking docks with lots of cover. In the next couple hours we fished the crap out of the docks on that side. I got another 3 or 4 shorts, Sam pulls out a short as well. As we make our way down the Lake, we spend extra time on some of the docks to give the fish a chance to wake up and smell the plastics. Sam hooks up with a fish that thumped his lure and starts wrestling with it. He seems pretty calm, but I notice his rod being doubled over and his effort to keep the fish under control so I grab the net and get ready. We get her in the boat, and it's a beauty of a fish, at 4lb 4oz. This ended up being the lunker for the day. Sam has been chasing the 4 pounder mark all season, and he finally gets it to close out the MAFF season. High fives are in order before we move on!
We're both stoked at this point, and keep pounding the docks to grab a limit. We both miss decent fish and get some more shorts, but the docks are drying up. At this point, most of the ones we hit got fished already and haven't reloaded it seems. But we make our way back to the dock where we got the first short, since it looked like it would be big enough for multiples. Sure enough, I skip a senko up under a pontoon boat and connect with my first and our third keeper of the day. We lose another fish at that dock, a borderline keeper that would have been nice at this point.
We now have 90 minutes left and are two short of a limit, so we head in to check out the shallows again in hopes that the warmer weather has triggered the bite. Sam pulls another keeper off some fallen brush while we head for a spot that I've caught fish on almost every time out. I have a fish swing and miss at my senko as I am bringing it in, just another miss in a long day of being the driver =) Fortunately, Sam manages to pull our 5th and last keeper off the spot with 30 minutes to spare.
We fish out the last minutes, feeling pretty good about our bag from what we've overheard. Our guess is a high 8, maybe low 9 bag. We watch the weigh-in, and a 9lb4oz bag looks good enough to top ours. Mark then pulls out a pig that looks about even with our biggest, and we don't hear the weight on it. When we finally weigh in, we come out with a 9lb10oz bag and the lunker, and we are both stoked and a little shocked. A fantastic way to end the season, and a nice feeling after having struggled in my first few tournaments as a new boater.
There aren't enough thanks to be said to Johnny and Smoke for arranging and running these tournaments, and to all the people that make up the MAFF circuit =) It's a great bunch of people to be fishing with, and we look forward to more of the same next year! |
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Pig on a Frog
Avg. Rating: 5
# Reviews: 14
Views: 4016 | Aldrich Lake, Granby, MA
6/19/2010
Saturday morning I made it out around 6am for a bit of fishing at a small western Mass pond, Aldrich Lake. It's never been that great a place, but it's convenient and relaxing and I know how to get around the place.
The sun was up and it was already heating up a bit as I fished my way along the pond from shore. It was totally dead, not even the bluegills were up for some fun. I was throwing a buzzbait for a bit, mixed with a super fluke and a senko. I had brought my frog rod with me in hopes of finding some decent weeds, but it all looked like crap.
I spent the first two hours fishing through a channel that goes to a back cove that I hadn't seen yet. I get one bite but the fish is gone when I set the hook. Not even a couple laydowns that are perfect spots yield anything. The sun is cranking and it seems like the fish are being post-frontally sedate.
I get to the back cove, and there are a few more weeds, maybe enough to hold fish in this weather. I throw the spro bronzeye around, but nothing happens. A local guy comes through in a canoe, throwing a stanley ribbit. He gets a nice blowup, but either misses the hookset or loses it in the weeds. At least there is life.
I move down the shore a bit and there's still nothing going on. The local finishes his round with no more action and heads out as I change spots yet again. It's now around 9am and the sun is out in force. Walking through the woods, I spot a narrow access spot and head down. I can only just cast without trouble, in a narrow arc. Nothing happens on the first pass, and I toss it out again. The frog is about 40-50 feet from shore when the water erupts and the frog goes under. Deep breath, don't set the hook too soon. I feel the line, and it's got it so I slam home the hookset and connect solidly. At last, fish on!
I put all the pressure on the fish that I can manage, to bring it out of the weeds and towards shore. With a heavy rod and 50# braid, it's usually not too bad, but this one is refusing to go quietly and is digging around the junk weeds.
I i wrestle it upwards a bit and get it to around 30 feet, but still haven't seen the fish when it makes a beeline right, through more weeds. I catch a flash as it turns and it looks like a real good fish. I'm riding my gear hard, but the fish is not relenting and my rod is arched over with the strain. For what feels like forever but was only about 10-15 seconds we duke it out and the fish finally gives in when it's covered in enough weeds to hamper it.
I bring the whole salad towards shore, and can barely make out the fish. I can see a bit of tail fin and a little flopping, but not much else. When I get it close to shore, I peel off some of the weeds by the head, and do a double take: Did I just catch a catfish or something else? The head looks big and grotesque, but it looks bassy enough and there are no extra teeth or spikes or anything, so I lip it and hoist it out of the water, weeds and all. Some of the grass comes off and I can see the side, and it's wide. This is definitely a monster bass!
In an adrenaline frenzy I peel off the rest of the weeds and fumble for the phone to get a picture. My arm is straining to hold it, and I am shaking enough that I need 3 or 4 tries to get a decent shot. I finally get the scale out and realize I don't have my weigh bag with me once again, so I gingerly slip the scale under the gill plate without harming the fish. It calmly obliges me by staying still, and the scale settles on 7lb 4oz! A second weighing comfirms it, and I get another good look at the fish before getting her off the frog. She even looks a bit skinny, this could be 8+ easy if she had a bit more belly.
I get her unhooked and am amused that my hand easily fits inside the mouth completely when I remove the frog. What a bucketmouth indeed. With one last goodbye I get her back in the water, and she angrily takes off back into the weeds. After settling down I take a few more casts, but it feels kinda pointless since it's unlikely to get any better than that. So I pack it up and head home, thanking the month of June for my second 7-pounder.
PS: If anyone has a suggestion on how to get better pictures when you are out by yourself pounding the shoreline, please feel free to share. I would have loved better photos of both lunkers. |
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Memorial Day Monster
Avg. Rating: 5
# Reviews: 9
Views: 4288 | "The Little Pond", Eldred, NY
5/31/2010
Just like last year, I had the chance to spend Memorial Day weekend with the in-laws on their hunting-club preserve in the Eldred, NY area. We always have a great time there, getting away from the city for some R&R and fishing on a couple small ponds in the middle of nowhere. Last year, I ended up having an awesome afternoon on the bigger of the two ponds, landing three very nice bass in the 19-21 inch range. Not having seen anything like that since, I had modest hopes for size but there's always healthy fish there.
On Saturday we took their boat out on Toronto Reservoir. While the fishing was sort of rough, I did manage my first Walleye, a nice smallmouth, and my first rock bass as well. Nothing spectacular, but it was great to zoom around the reservoir for a bit.
Sunday I set the alarm for 5.30am with the intention of fishing the small pond before the sun made things tough. Alas, when the alarm went off I failed badly at getting up, and didn't make it out on the pond until around 9.30. The sun was beating down and there was a rough wind running the length of the pond. I fished my way around the pond, hitting lily pad edges with a spinnerbait and stumps and holes in the pads with a brush hog. Other than a bunch of pickerel, it was pretty unproductive. I eventually started throwing a black buzzbait, and soon after got my first bass, a dink right around 12 inches. I threw the buzzbait the rest of the day and got one more bass, a healthy 3 pounds even. A pretty slow day, but a nice fish to cap it.
I was intent on making up for my early morning failure by setting the alarm again for Memorial Day. The alarm goes off, and I try hard to talk myself out of getting up. I finally manage todrag myself out of bed and hit the pond around 7am. The pond is dead calm, with fog rising off the water as the sun is coming up. I've got the topwater trifecta tied on: A popper, a spook, and the black buzzbait.
I start fishing my way from the ramp and head towards the side of the pond that's still in the shade. I get a couple pickerel and sunfish blowing up on the popper, and the spook goes untouched. After about 45 minutes I start mixing in the buzzbait, without too much going on. As I work my way down the pond, I throw the buzzbait up into the lanes between pads. I have one hit that doesn't connect, but at least something liked it! I buzz the area one more time with no results, and throw it back along the outside edge of the same pads. This time there's a splash and some weight on the other end. I set the hook firmly, having lost too many fish recently on half-hearted hooksets. As I start to work the fish, I am looking to see where the boat is positioned by the pads. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the line come up and turn to catch a glimpse of a bass leaping clear out of the water as I lower the rod a bit. I don't get a good look, but it looks like a solid fish and it lands with a nice splash.
The battle continues on as I work the fish towards the boat while keeping it away from the pads. I'm spooled with 14 pound fluoro, and while the pads are pretty skimpy, I don't need to add a lump of them to the fight. I'm now pretty sure it's a solid fish as it's staying well down and shaking its head, all while working my gear over. My fingers are mentally crossed for it to stay hooked, as this could be the best of the year.
After a minute and change, I've finally worked it close to the boat. I still haven't seen it again since that first glimpse, but it's almost time to bring it up. Well, at least it would be if I was the only one making decisions. The bass gets close to the boat and goes nuts. As I try to ease it up, it takes off like a demon, peeling a good 20 yards of line off like the drag was butter. I get it turned away from the pads and work it back to the boat, only to have a repeat performance with another drag-peeling run.
As I get it back near the boat one more time, it feels like it's finally worn down and I ease it towards the surface. As a last ditch effort, she tries to go under the boat but I get her stopped and she comes up right next to the boat and out of sight. I notice the line wrapping around the fishfinder and half-panic. Before disaster strikes, I yank the fishfinder out of the water and lean over to grab the fish. She's on her side by the boat, exhausted, and she is huge! I grab her and bring her in, with only a small protest head shake. My mauled buzzbait is lodged firmly in her cavernous mouth, and I decide to get her weighed and photographed before working on getting it lose. With shaky hands, I get her weighed and the scale finally settles down at 7 lbs, 5 oz! Around 24 inches, and with a fat belly that looks like she hasn't spawned yet. A personal best by 3 lbs!!!
I get the picture taken, wishing someone else was in the boat with me. After struggling with getting the buzzbait out, I end up holding her with her gills in the water while I get it loose. As she livens up and swims off with an angry tail-wave, the adrenaline comes rushing in and I just sit there for a few minutes, shaking. What took around 3 minutes from strike to release now feels like an eternity as I relive the fight. I send a shaky-handed text message to my wife with the picture and something along the lines of "holy f#^$ing s***! 7lbs 5 oz!" and then just sit there some more.
After gathering myself, I fished for another hour before heading home for breakfast. I didn't get another fish but I have a feeling it would have felt meaningless anyways. It was amazing through and through, definitely a fish of a lifetime.
I can't wait for Memorial Day to come around again! |
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New Hampshire Smallmouth
Avg. Rating: 5
# Reviews: 5
Views: 3514 | New Hampshire
5/22/2010
This weekend I had the chance to head up to a lake in New Hampshire and do some bed fishing for smallmouth with a couple of the guys from my club. The guy hosting the trip had really talked up the place, talking about the fish averaging 2lbs and being everywhere, so we were all hyped to go.
The weather was great all day, mid 70s with some light clouds and a little bit of wind. Water temps were in the high 50s, and the smallies were in the beginning of the spawn.
We ended up spending most of the day bed fishing smallies, with a short and unproductive try at some largemouth in the middle of the day. When we first got to the spot, we ran into a buddy of the host and the original source of the honey hole. He said the spawn was just picking up but that we were perhaps a week early for the really good stuff.
If what went down isn't the good stuff, then I'm not sure I could really handle it. We ended up catching fish after fish off beds in 2-12 feet of water. I fished a few different setups: A texas-rigged pearl Damiki Hydra (nice bait, but way too fragile. I broke several on missed hooksets.), a white ice zoom tube (all out of plain white), and a dropshot rigged white super fluke jr. The dropshot rig really worked out, put a large-ish weight 3-6 inches below a EWG work hook and tex-pose the fluke on there. It becomes a lot easier to keep the fluke in the bed while still being able to give it some action.
The fishing was, for lack of a better word, freaking amazing. All of us pulled in fish after fish, and the advertised size was not an empty promise. I ended up landing over 30 smallies ranging from a 14 inch "dink" to a 3lb 6oz personal best, with the average fish being around 2 lbs. All the fish were plumb and healthy-looking. I probably ended up with 4-5 fish at 3lbs or better, and lost one that looked to be a little better than the largest one. But you know you've had an amazing day when you can lose a fish like that and still laugh about it!
If you get the chance, I highly recommend heading up north for some smallie bed fishing. The spots can be tricky to find, but if you hit it just right you're in for an incredible day of fishing |
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Myles Standish Spot
Avg. Rating: 4.3333333333333
# Reviews: 3
Views: 6351 | Myles Standish State Forest, Plymouth, MA
5/1/2010
While staying in the area the weekend before my Great Herring Pond tournament, I discovered a small pond in the state forest that I really enjoyed fishing. I went back a couple weeks later for a second helping.
The weather was nice but got a bit windy and overcast as the day went on due to an incoming front. Water temps were in the low 60s. The spawn was just picking up it seemed, and I found a number of fish on beds. Maybe half the fish I caught were on beds.
I've been playing around with the Zoom Brush Hog and having good results, so I fished that and a wacky rigged stick bait most of the day. I mixed it up between fishing beds I came across, and casting to the abundant flooded brush as the water level seems up a bit. I did try fishing a bit deeper with a dropshot, but only got a single bite. Everything else was up shallow.
I had an awesome day, starting off with two nice fish, around 2 1/2 and 3 lbs (only weighed the latter.) I basically fished one lap around the pond, and ended up with somewhere around 15 keepers on the day, with the average fish being around 1 1/2 lbs. All of the fish were healthy and put up nice fights. One of the better fish came while skipping a senko 6 feet under a lowhanging pine tree, classic textbook moment =)
I'm really enjoying my little jon boat this year. Being able to get off the shore, even if it's just on smaller bodies of water like this, makes such a difference in the enjoyment and the results. If you're tired of being stuck on shore, I would recommend getting your hands on a kayak or a jon boat, depending on your transport capabilities and finances. It's well worth it! |
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Great Herring Pond Tournament
Avg. Rating: 4
# Reviews: 4
Views: 4774 | Great Herring Pond, Plymouth, MA
4/24/2010
This was the 2010 season opener for the Cabin Fever Bass Club. The weather was sunny and windy, and with Great Herring being very open and wind-swept, it made for a choppy and rough day. Water temps were in the high 50s.
The fishing was rough for most of the day. My boater picked up 3 smallies early in the day fishing a tube in 10-15 feet of water off the first break. I had a couple nibbles but didn't stick any of them. I threw jerkbaits, rattletraps, and a jig, all with no takers.
Later in the day, the water was heating up a bit, and we looked in a little more shallow. I managed to pick up a small keeper smallmouth on an Ima Flit jerkbait in shallow water, and one slightly larger keeper drop-shotting the dropoff of one of the mid-lake humps.
The top places all noticed the fish moving up on beds in the afternoon, and ended up filling out limits that way. The winning bag was around 9.3 lbs, with the lunker smallie just under 3lbs and the lunker LM at 2.5lbs. I placed in the middle of the pack, with 2 fish for 1.98lbs. |
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Stormy bass - Hathaway Pond
Avg. Rating: 4.6363636363636
# Reviews: 11
Views: 6070 | Hathaway Pond, Barnstable, MA
8/29/2009
I went down to the Cape with the wife for a nice weekend on the beach. I brought a few "essentials" with me, just in case the opportunity arose for a bit of fishing. With the hurricane remnants rolling through, the beach part of the trip was ruined. Mid Saturday afternoon, there was a small lull in the rain, and I grabbed my gear and braved the storm. Of course, the short lull was just a trick to get me out and utterly soaked, but I was expecting as much.
I started at a small pond across from the hotel, Mill Pond in West Yarmouth. So-so looking, not a lot of access. Got a dink on the first cast, and another 10 minutes later. Switched spots, got two more dinks. Biggest one came in at 10ish inches, so I decided that it was time for a change in scenery.
One of the Mass Wildlife Pond maps proclaimed that Hathaway Pond was a decent smallie spot, so I drove the 3 miles there hoping for some decent shore access. The pond is reachable by a town beach, and there are some paths around at least part of the pond. The water is exceedingly clear, with some limited vegetation that I saw. The water around the beach was shallow and yielded no results, so I set off around the pond. After some ankle deep puddle wading, I found another open spot heading left from the beach. The water got deeper a little quicker, and I was probably fishing in 5-6 feet of water on the longer casts. I got a couple of nibbles on a GY Fat baby Craw before landing another short fish, a largemouth. Interestingly, the pond map did not mention there being any in this pond.
After fan-casting the area with the T-rigged craw, I switched to a watermelon senko and landed another short largie. The tally was now a half dozen fish, altogether hardly breaking a pound and a half. The rain was still hammering away, and it was an oddly serene experience to be fishing in the storm. No lightning, no thunder, just wind and rain.
I lobbed out the senko again, and reeled up the slack from the cast. I felt an ever so slight tick, and set the hook expecting another dink. However, this one felt anything but dinky. It stayed deep, and peeled off 20-30 feet of line in a quick run. There wasn't much to get stuck on, so I could play the fish without too much worry. About halfway to shore the line took off to the left and headed towards a laydown by the shore, but I managed to get it turned, and finally saw a glimpse of the fish. Looked like a good-sized fish, but alas another largemouth. A bit more tussling, and I had her lipped. A nice broadsided lady clocking in at 3lb 10oz, an ample reward for braving the weather.
I ended up getting another keeper at just over a pound, and a few more dinks. However, the smallies eluded me. I'm guessing they're holding deeper than what I could reach from shore. It was a nice little pond, though. Maybe next time! |
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Morning at the Mystic
Avg. Rating: 5
# Reviews: 8
Views: 2701 | Mystic River, Medford, MA
8/22/2009
After catching a crappie last weekend, there's only one species left on my list for this year: Catching a keeper smallmouth. Having seen some nice trips to Mystic River, and seeing some smallmouth being caught, I decided to make a quick trip over there this morning in the hopes of completing the list.
I got there a little after 6, only to find a couple of old-timers fishing for carp in the first spot I wanted to check out. But there was room to stand a bit down the bank, with access to an edge of lilypads. Good enough to start. The weather was already hot, but still plenty of shade and the occasional breeze.
After 30 minutes of being harassed by sunfish, I get a bite and set the hook. It feels like a nice fish, but nothing spectacular. That is, until she gets close enough to see me. I get a glimpse just as she takes off, and for a moment it looks like a carp! I manage to keep her out of the pads, but she refuses to surrender and make another 3-4 good runs, squeeling drag and all. I finally manage to get her up and to the bank, and it's a nice-looking largemouth bass. Good length, and broad shoulders. I lip her and get her on land, then call over the old guys carp fishing so one of them can take a picture. We get the camera sorted out, and I go to wet my other hand to hold under her belly. As I do, my grip slips just a little, and she realizes it and bucks wildly. My grip slips, and she goes back in the water! For a second, she sits shallow, dazed, and I go to grab her but she manages to swim off... No picture. No weight. F&#$... She was easily as big as the 4-pounder I got a few weeks back, but I'll never know for sure if she was indeed a personal best.
After a few minutes of fuming, and another few minutes of letting the adrenaline wear off, I go back to fishing. Just as I do, one of the old guys hook into a decent carp. It's quite the sight to see even a run of the mill carp making a run for it.
I abandon my spot to go check out some more spots, and end up fishing my way down the other side of the river. There's a nice stretch of weedbeds, which looks like just the ticket as the sun has come up at this point. I see a few nice fish cruising here and there, but they're not interested. I briefly hook into a decent fish, but the slack in the line from the current keeps me from getting a good hookset. Before I can reel down and set again, the fish comes up and shakes its head and my worm goes flying.
I carry on for a while, and it gets to be around 9am. The sun is now out full force, and I am hot as hell. I'm still fishing a senko along the weedbeds, when I see a nice largemouth come out and eyeing my senko as it drops. She turns away towards the weeds, but refocuses when I jerk the wacky rigged worm a couple times. A couple more jerks, and she comes over in a hurry and slurps it. This time, there's no slack and it's a good hookset.
What looked like a decent keeper from afar turns out to have a lot of fight in it. She makes several good, drag-peeling runs, and I struggle to keep her out of the weeds. 10 pound test and a medium rod means weeds equals a lost fish. I get control, and let her tire out in the shallower water between me and the weeds, and bring her in. It's a very nice fish, although not the same size as the previous one. I get her ashore and, lesson learned, take a couple of pictures. As I'm trying to get the scale sorted out, she flops madly and once again I lose my grip. WTF! She goes into the water, but it's too shallow and she's too knackered to take off and I manage to re-lip her and bring her in. The scale settles at 3lb 9oz, a very very nice consolation prize for not getting the big one on the scale. Comparing the two fish, the first one easily tops 4 lbs, probably in the 4 1/2 lb range (I want to say 5, but fish always seem bigger when you think back, and it makes no real difference. It was probably somewhere in between =).
I end up packing up around 10.20, without catching anything else. It was an awesome outing, but I need to go home and work on my Vulcan Lip Grip a little, apparently. It sucks to lose the fish when you want to wet your hands to protect it, but I'd rather see a fish back in the water safely for someone else to catch than getting the picture.
Sadly, the smallmouth were nowhere to be seen and I'll have to wait for that. The river didn't really look too suitable for them, so maybe they moved to somewhere a little cooler. At least there's still some time left! |
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Maiden Voyage
Avg. Rating: 3.5
# Reviews: 10
Views: 2894 | Hardy Pond, Waltham, MA
8/9/2009
My wife and I finally managed to take our 8 foot Jon boat out for its maiden voyage. It's been a long time coming, so we dug out a couple hours on Sunday to head out to a local pond. The weather was overcase, upper 70s, with a slight breeze. The water there is incredibly murky and seems very shallow.
We spent around 90 minutes fishing our way down the bank, me throwing a black and blue Yum Dinger, and my wife fishing for sunnies with a worm and bopper. She was hauling in a lot of little dinks, while I managed to lose a smallish bass before landing a 12" keeper. The first bass out of our own boat!
Shortly after, my wife hooks into a fish off some pads that is putting her light rod and reel to the test. After a nice tussle, she boats her first bass ever!
Before heading back in, I manage a couple more keepers on the Dinger, not bad for the first outing at a new place. Whether it's worth visiting on a regular basis remains to be seen, the shallow and highly murky water doesn't look ideal and holds a lot of useless pond weed. |
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Pipe Dreams
Avg. Rating: 5
# Reviews: 7
Views: 3094 | Charles River, Waltham, MA
7/21/2009
With a nice evening drizzle going on after work, I decided to pay a visit to Purgatory Cove again. My last outing there yielded a nice bit of action, so I thought I'd see if maybe my slump there was broken.
Weather was overcast, with a slight drizzle. Water temp in the low 70s, and no wind. A nice evening for fishing indeed!
Things started a little slow, trying out some new lures with no result. While fishing, I saw a nice splash and dropped a senko over by it. Line takes off, and I set the hook. After a nice tug of war and some luck pulling the fish to shore through weeds, I land a nice chunky pig. She weighed in at 4 lbs even. Sadly, the picture doesn't do it justice given the angle.
I managed to hook into one more nice fish on the senko. Instead of letting it run itself tired in open water, I screwed up and let it bury in the weeds 3 feet off shore. There was a brief moment where I thought about wading out to get it, but stepping into weedy water without knowing the depth seemed like a bad idea. I snapped the line twice trying to pull it out of the weeds, to no avail. In the end, all I got was a nice deep line cut on one finger, and the satisfaction of landing a nice 4lber earlier! |
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Memorial Day Weekend - Eldred NY
Avg. Rating: 4
# Reviews: 7
Views: 3132 | Private Lakes, Eldred, NY
5/25/2009
I ended up spending the long weekend with the in-laws in the southwestern part of NY state. Their community has a couple of private lakes that has decent fishing, and we spent parts of each day there fishing from small boats.
It was a tough weekend of fishing, with only a few bass caught. Most of the fishing happened in the middle of the day, with sun and skittish fish.
The exception was Saturday afternoon, where I had the chance to go out by myself in the afternoon. As I take off, a rain shower hits and I almost turn around. I stick it out, and after 5 minutes it settles into a nice, cloudy, warm day.
I spent a couple hours fishing my way down one side of the lake, hitting stumps and weeds as I go. It looks like nice bass spots, but nothing happens. I make a run to another side of the lake, with less stumps but more shore vegetation. Fishing my way down, I see a fish break the surface by a small inlet. I cast out, and as the worm lands a wake heads towards it. I feel a tick, and set the hook. I have no idea what I've hooked, but it's putting up a good fight making several runs and peeling line off. I manage to get it clear of snags and fight it out near the boat. I don't see it until I bring her up to the surface, and it's a very healthy looking bass, definitely a new personal best!
I scramble around my gear, only to realize I don't have a scale and I don't have a measuring tape >.< I have to resort to measuring it against my rod and measure with a tape later. It comes in around 21 inches, and I damn sure I'll never leave the scales at home again... A conservative guess would be 4 pounds.
I let her go, and cast back out to the same area. A couple casts later, I hook up again and land another nice fish around 19 inches with a very distinctive gimpy tail. Another cast, and another hookup, but this one gets away.
I swap out the chewed up worm for a sweet beaver, and get another solid bite. When I land the fish, it's the same gimpy tailed 19 incher I landed 10 minutes earlier!
It was by far the best 15 minutes of fishing I've ever experienced. My two biggest bass ever, one of them even caught twice. Even with just one more fish the rest of the weekend, it was a fantastic trip =) |
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05/16/09 - Bare Hill Pond Tournament
Avg. Rating: 4.833333333333299
# Reviews: 6
Views: 4440 | Bare Hill Pond, Harvard, MA
5/16/2009
This was just my second tournament out with the Cabin Fever Bass Club. With a permit for just 12 boats, almost everyone was paired up. We had a total of 22 or so participants.
The weather played nice all day, with a mix of overcast and sunny, and a slight wind. Temps were in the high 60s, water temp around 65-66. Water clarity was pretty good, maybe 3 feet visibility or so. Launch was at 6am, with no-wake until 10am.
We ended up fishing a half mile stretch of shoreline all day. The bite was on early, and I ended up losing one and missing the bite on another, before landing my first tournament bass on a fluke. Nothing huge, but a nice keeper nonetheless. All in the span of maybe 20 minutes of fishing. The bite stayed hot through our first pass down the shoreline, and when we turned the boat around at 8.30, we both had 4 fish in the well. Most were coming on jigs or texas-rigged beaver baits
After that, the bite turned off for a bit. It eventually picked up for my boater, and he got his 5th and started culling. He got a total of maybe 12 fish for the day. I struggled to get my 5th, and with a couple hours left, I was cursing the one that got off first thing in the morning.
On the next pass around, I noticed a fish hovering around a bed. While lining up to cast, another nicer fish cruised by. After a couple tries I get bit and briefly hook up, but the jig comes out almost right away. I cast back out, and hook up again! This time, the hook sticks and I manage to get her in the boat. A nice fish, coming in at 2lb 6oz for my best fish to date =)
We fish out the rest of the day with nothing much happening, and head back to weigh-in. A few nice fish had been caught, with the biggest capping out at 4lbs 12oz. My first tournament limit came in at a decent 8lbs 14oz, with my boater bagging a pound more and a lunker at 3lbs 13 oz. The winning bag clocks in at 12 pounds and change. The final result has me in 8th place of 22 anglers
It was a beautiful day out, and my boater did a great job of putting us on fish. I got one on a pearl white super fluke, the rest on a Strike King swim jig in Bluegill with a rage tail chunk or berkley chigger chunk trailer. Bare Hill will certainly be a special place for me from here on out =) |
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Lizards Ahoy
Avg. Rating: 3.2857142857143
# Reviews: 7
Views: 3274 | College Pond, Weston, MA
5/11/2009
Well, this weekend's chance to go out of state and fish ended up falling through. So, when I got back into town, I found a couple hours to sneak down to College Pond and work on trying to catch bass on soft plastics.
I got there around 6.30 at night, with a bit of sun still shining and a comfy 65 degrees. The pond is starting to grow in pretty good, with lots of lily pads. Nice for cover, but kind of annoying fishing through it at times.
I started out fishing a lizard for a bit, trying to fish the spot near the water before stepping onto the bank. I kept getting little ticks from the local bluegill population, but nothing else. After a bit, I switched to a dropshot setup, and stepped down to the water. Turns out that dropshot, even when rigged weedless, has a tendency to pick up a lot of weeds on the sinker, so that got old fast.
I eventually went back to the lizard, since bass are supposed to not like them. Tried fishing it further in the weeds. Got another tick, and the line starts moving off, so I set the hook. First soft plastics bass!
After the obligatory first-bass-on-this-bait picture, I gave another set of weeds a work-over. Same tap, same line running off. I might have gone a little overboard on the hookset that time, because the drag gave way on what turned out to be a pretty standard keeper-but-only-barely bass.
I ended up missing one more fish near the end, and left when the dark set in. Not bad for a quick evening out. |
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