| This user has 26 trips in their collection. |
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| Name | Details | Map It |
Last cast fish
Avg. Rating: 5
# Reviews: 4
Views: 3047 | Larry's witness protection sanctuary
This past sunday I went out to Larry’s witness protection pond. The weather was overcast with drizzle later on. I got there late in the afternoon around 2pm and fished until about 5pm. This has been my best day fishing all summer. I mainly used Thomas buoyant spoons to catch most of the fish. I caught 6 yellow perch. 5 bluegills, 1 golden shiner .
I started out using a 7’ Shimano FXS spinning rod with a medium action, paired with a Shimano IX 2000 reel with 6lb Trout S.O.S Line. For terminal tackle I tied on a size 0 eagle claw ball bearing swivel using a Trilene knot.
This particular rod has a slow tip even though it is supposed to be medium action rod. This makes it a good trout dough rod but lacks the power to set the hook on heavy fish with hard mouths, i.e. LMBs.
It is because of this that I missed hooking into a Bass that attacked the spoon close to shore.
Ironically, this also makes this rod excellent at casting light weight lures such as the Blue Fox Vibrax minnow spin and Thomas double spin lures.
The first lure of the day was a Chartreuse Thomas buoyant spoon. On another trip to this same location this was the hot color but not today. So I changed that one out to a black spoon of the same type. Still no takers. So I changed that one out for the rainbow trout color Blue Fox Vibrax minnow spin. Bingo! I landed my first fish of the day which was a yellow perch. I unhooked it and returned it to the water. Right after that I hooked into a Medium sized golden shiner. They always put up good fight for their size and they are shiny and not so spiny, so I like catching them.
Then the bite died down.
Since dull colors where not so productive I put on copper buoyant and fished that for awhile. Moved down the shore a bit and put the Black buoyant on again. The back of this spoon has is yellow/Chartreuse color. I saw several fish attack it and miss. As it got close to shore I speed up the retrieve to cast it back out again which caused the spoon to jump out of the water and drop back in. That is when a Bass attacked it right from the shore line. However, because the rod tip is not stiff enough to set the hook on a strike like that the fish got away.
I kept fishing until I got a significant birds nest from casting light lures a long distance. Of course this happened while I had a lure with a treble hook out in the water. I pulled off about a 90 yards of 6lb line before I got to offending loop then I spent several minutes carefully untangling and reeling line back onto the reel. With the tangle was sorted out, I changed out the lure, which did not get hung up while I was dealing with the line, with a heavier Johnson’s silver minnow. The reason that I do this after a birds nest, is so that the line that was loose and loopy, gets cast out into the water and is reeled back onto the spool tight and even.
While I was doing this I hooked up with another perch the biggest one of the day.
Since I had two rods with me, I decided to work with my 6’.6†medium action eagle claw with a Shimano IX 4000 reel with 10# Trilene XL line (Fluorescent Blue/Clear). The backbone on this rod is truly medium, when I set the hook with this one it drives the hook home. The other interesting thing is that I don’t really lose all that much distance with this set up compared to the previous one. I also don’t have to worry about snapping the tip if I tie on heavier lures.
With this in mind, I put on a 3/4 oz Blue fox strobe spoon with a fire tiger finish. Fished that for awhile without success before replacing it with a 2/5 oz, Little Cleo with a Hammered Fire Gold finish. I spent a fair amount of time working out the best retrieves with these spoons to give them a fish tempting action. Once I tired of that I put on another Thomas buoyant, this time with a Black Dot Frog pattern. I caught three blue gills on this lure including a rather large one that was hooked on all three points of the treble. (This is my biggest gripe about treble hooks, catching a fish, especially a smaller fish on all three points complicates catch and release fishing.) I was able to successfully remove the hooks without injuring the fish too much. Patience and needle nose pliers are required for this sort of operation.
Since I did not want to continue catching blue gills I changed that lure for a Gold buoyant. I worked this lure up and down the shoreline for until I got tired of fishing. Then on the very last cast, I caught my sixth and final Yellow Perch of the day.
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First fish of 2015
Avg. Rating: 5
# Reviews: 6
Views: 2509 | Larry's witness protection sanctuary
After several unsuccessful outings targeting stocked trout. I decided to go to my local honey hole and fly fish to get back my fishing mojo.
After assembling the rod and stringing up the line, I tied on barbless #8 Eagle Claw crappie hook that was already baited with a white Berkeley Powerbait honey worm that was worse for wear having already several handfuls of Bluegills and Pumpkinseeds.
I made a short cast close to shore, and as I was untangling some loopy line a bass attacked the little grub. Because I always have my forefinger securing the line to the cork fore grip, I instinctively set the hook with a flick of my wrist.
Once the hook was set, the fight was on! I must say this fish was surprisingly strong. He immediately, dove to the bottom and headed for the weeds. I used the rod to repeatedly steer the fish away and out into the open water. I let the fish run for a bit to take up the slack. Once I put tension on him again he made several furious figure eights before jumping three times. But my Bluegill dulled hook held fast in his mouth.
Then when I reached down to get my net to land him, he went right into the weeds and tangled up the line. Undaunted by this complication I proceeded to use the net part weeds, untangle the line and capture the fish.
He wasn't a very big fish (as you can see in the photo) but he had lots of moxie. If you look closely you can see the hook and lure sticking out of his mouth.
Anyway, after a quick photo, I returned him to the water from which he came.
I did not catch any more bass after that but I did catch my fill of bluegills and at least three golden shiners.
Golden shiners as some of the fiercest fish to catch on a fly rod. They attack the bait like a snapper blue and have all of the head shaking savagery of trout.
It felt good to get my fish catching mojo back. |
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May 4th
Avg. Rating: 5
# Reviews: 5
Views: 3424 | Brookline Res
5/4/2014
Sunday May 4th Brookline Reservoir
I went to the Brookline Reservoir hoping to catch my limit of stocked rainbow trout. As I drive up to the reservoir notice a lot of cars parked along the road. It turns out this Sunday was the Brookline community fishing fest. The tent was set up with about 50-70 loaner rods & reels and they where giving away free bait. This is definitely not my idea of an ideal fishing scenario. However, steadfast in my resolve to catch some stockies I unpacked my gear and headed out to my spot of choice.
I must have gotten on the water just before 9am. It was a partly cloudy day with occasional gusts of wind. I baited up my hooks and cast out my lines and waited for the fish to bite. About 10 feet away from my set up on my right was a young asian boy casting left handed side arm with his mother and sister watching. He was really having a hard time casting lefty as a right handed person. I watched this anxiously for awhile until the first fish attacked my bait. I set the hook and played the fish. I put the fish into bucket, rebait the hook and cast the line out again. More fishing families arrive and it is getting pretty crowded. Off to my left is a family with brand new zebco 202 rod & reel combo. The dad asks me if I have a scissors, I lend him my nail clippers so that he can string up the line on his new rod. About 10 minutes later my rod tip starts bouncing again and it is fish on with trout number two. He is a nice 12 incher. At this point I idle one of my rods since I already have a baited line in the water and I now have two fish. I am surprised that with all of the young anglers whipping the water with bobbers and bait that the trout are still attacking my bait just 10 feet away. While I wait, I finally, advise the young asian kid and his family to move off to his left so that he can cast using his right hand instead of his left. They take my advise and now the young man makes several successful casts that allow him to at least get into the bluegill zone. Off to my left the young father and this young son are struggling with a defective bobber. Every time the he tries to make a cast the damn red&white round bobber slides all the way down to the hook. As I am observing this my rod starts bouncing again with another fish on it. I set the hook on this fish and bring him in. He joins the other two fish and I begin to pack up my gear as I now have my limit of trout.
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Shiners and Gills on the flyrod
Avg. Rating: 5
# Reviews: 1
Views: 2797 | undisclosed
5/31/2014
Went out yesterday evening with my 6wt fly rod to spend a little quality time fly fishing from shore. I started off with a #10 yellow stimulator and and hooked with a couple of gills feeding on mosquitos on the waters surface. I like the way the stimulator pulses in the water, after it get water logged and ceases to be a "dry fly". I changed over to my old standby of a number 10 eagle claw bait holder hook and a Berkeley Power bait honey worm (Yellow).
I worked the worm like a weightless jig and hooked up with over a dozen gills heavy just off the spawn. These gills where loaded! Then I had the good fortune to catch two very large golden shiners. They where jumbos! I had forgotten just how much I enjoy catching golden shiners on the fly rod.
Golden shiners attack the bait and fight like a trout.
I fished until sunset then packed up and went home...happy. | - |
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Personal best LM in MA
Avg. Rating: 5
# Reviews: 14
Views: 3892 | Larry's witness protection sanctuary
7/28/2013
I have been saving this trip for many months knowing that when the weather cooled off the hard core bass fisherman would be desperate for a good fish story.
For most of the summer I was using my spinning rods, to better understand how to fish using braid and heavy spoons for big fish. I have to admit that muskiebigfish inspired me to explore the big fish big gear angle. Now I have a rod and reel all set up to target northerns, lakers, salmon and carp. (yeah I know carp do not go for spoons but if I want to bait fish…)
While this a IS a story about a big fish…I did not use a spinning rod to catch it. Instead I used my 8 weight fly rod.
I chose the 8 wt because I was tired of lugging around a lot of heavy fishing gear. On this day in particular I decided to go minimalist. Just the rod, reel, flybox and catch all bag with the fishing net in it. I did forget one thing…the nail clippers that I use to cut and trim the leader.
Not wanting to drive all the way back to my house just for that; I decided to make this trip a one fly trip and proceeded to tie on a black muddler on a number 6 hook.
It was late morning. The sky was blue and generally cloudless. There was a slight breeze blowing the leaves of the trees down by the water's edge. I put on my polarized sunglasses so that I could see into the water. The water was stained the color of a strong iced tea. A pale dragonfly sunned itself on a leafy weed growing along the shore. The surface of the water was smooth and dark.
I took a deep breath and began pulling line out off the reel to prepare for my first cast. I lifted the line in front of me and flung it back and then forward and back again. I slung the line overhead several times before laying it down in the water about 15 feet away.
The fly floated on the surface film like bug, a big ugly bug. The kind of bug that a large mouth bass might find irritating. A stupid bug that doesn't know how to keep itself from falling into the water, where it floats like a stoned drunk, futilely beating its wings trying to escape the clinging water upon which it floats, spinning in a circle.
I worked that fly like a puppeteer dancing it across the surface like a epileptic ballerina. I spoke to the fish in the water like a jaded streetwalker, "bite me you bastard, bite me!".
Then a couple of men walking by asked me if I had caught anything yet. I gave them the evil eye which they couldn't see because of my sunglasses and said: " not yet."
With the sun at my back I realized that I was casting too much of a shadow upon the water. So I moved under the shade of an over hanging tree. With my sunglasses still on I made a weak cast into the water just in front of me. I let the fly just sit there for 10 seconds. Then I saw him.
I saw the unmistakable wake of a fish as it approached the fly. At first I thought the fish was a carp because of the way the fish looked in shade with my sunglasses on and the way in which the fish just sipped the fly into its mouth.
As soon as I saw the fly disappear into its mouth I set the hook firmly.
The fish feeling the sting of my hook took off like a dog after a rabbit. He swam right toward some entangling weeds. Using my right forefinger to secure the line I lifted the rod high to steer the fish away from that hazard. Then he jumped high trying to shake the hook and after splash down he ran back toward the weeds again. Again I lifted the rod high and steered him away and again the jumped and tried to shake the hook. Then he swam away in a different direction so I gave him some line. When I stopped giving him line he jumped again. After that he dove deep and thrashed strongly against the ever present pull of my hook and line. After several tense minutes of fighting him I was able to bring him under control.
I grabbed my net and landed him. To my surprise he was the biggest Larry I have caught yet in this state a nice 5 pound bass.
I quickly removed the hook and took a quick photo of him in the net, ( I don't like holding fish by the lower jaw because it might fatally injure them.) and let him go to fight another day.
Catching that fish really made my day. I was especially happy because I caught him on fly rod.
Folks I can't emphasize enough just how exciting it is to catch fish but especially big fish on a fly rod.
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New fishing gear
Avg. Rating: 4
# Reviews: 1
Views: 4322 | undisclosed
7/24/2012
I finally got a pair of polarized sun glasses for fishing. Wearing these glasses are like having x-ray vision. I got see how the fish where interacting with my lures.
I saw a yellow perch chase down my thomas's buoyant spoon. I also got to see a large mouth investigate one of my honey worms that was getting attacked by bluegills.
While I did get several hits I was unable to hook up with anything on this trip. But that is Ok because I got to see how the fish where interacting with the lures I was casting. | - |
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4th of July bass
Avg. Rating: 5
# Reviews: 3
Views: 4973 | undisclosed
7/4/2012
I got a chance to go fishing this 4th of July. Since all of my spinning rods & reels are packed up I headed out to my local pond with my fly rod, flies and my trusty Berkley honey worms. I was on the water some time after noon and I tied on #10 eagle claw bait holder hook with a yellow honey worm. This is usually a very productive set up for catching bluegills but not on the 4th. I caught only one average sized gill with this set up. So I open up the fly box and select a size 6 green woolly bugger. I make several casts with this fly, when I notice swarms of minnows about the same size as my fly are schooled up in the shallows and they seem to be fleeing from larger fish feeding on them.
These minnows had black backs and my fly was greenish and slightly larger then the minnows. I keep casting the fly that I had on because I didn't want to waste time "matching the hatch". Turns out this was a good choice because my fly stuck out like sore thumb and since it looked like a wounded bait fish in the swarm of live ones the bass that attacked my fly was in for a surprise.
I was sight fishing so I actually saw the fish attack the fly suspending in the water. As soon as I saw him take the fly I set the hook firmly. Every time I hook up with a keeper LMB on my fly rod the fight is intense! I have my 9' six weight fly rod in my right hand and the fly line in my left hand. The fish dove down and started taking up all the slack line in my hand. I transferred the weight of the fish to the rod so as not to break him off. I kept a steady pressure on the fish trying to steer him away from snags. The fish jumped three times trying to shake the hook off, fortunately my knots and leader held up to this abuse. I did my best to keep the fight as short as possible because the day was hot and I didn't want to stress the fish too much. After about 3 minutes of struggle I was able to land the fish using my net.
Wow! This fish looked and felt pretty big on the line and as you can see from the photo the fish is about as big as the length of the landing net. Since I did not have my scale or a tape with me, guess is that he is about 18-20 inches and about 2.5 pounds. You can probably see this in the photo, this fish has a wounded jaw. My fly was firmly hooked into the top of his bony mouth but as you can see on the left side the jaw has skin abrasions. The wounds did not seem fresh and there appears to be signs of healing.
So immediately after taking the photos and removing the hook from its mouth I put him back in the water from which he came to live another day.
I kept on fishing after this catch but only got another average sized pumpkin seed on the woolly bugger. I went home around 4pm because the heat and humidity got the better of me.
If you are looking for a different style of fishing, I highly recommend fly fishing as it is an exciting way to catch fish of all varieties. Catching an 8 inch golden shiner on the fly rod is about as exciting as catching a trout of the same size. |
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1st time @ Crystal Lake
Avg. Rating: 4
# Reviews: 2
Views: 6914 | Crystal Lake, Newton
5/5/2012
Finally wet a line in the famed crystal lake in newton. Crystal lake is aptly named because the water really is "Gin clear". I parked in the parking lot near the beach and walked around the western side of the lake to check out the fishing spots. The homes that abut the lake really make this public waterway very difficult to fish. In spite of all the rain that we have been having recently the water level in the lake is very low. I could see that the water level at least 10 feet from shore was only perhaps 10-12 inches deep. Which makes fishing from shore very challenging as there is very little structure to fish.
On this trip I brought two rods with me: a 6'.6" eagle claw medium action spinning rod that I got at Dick's last year for $9.99 and a new 9' Medium light eagle claw feather light rod that I got from Cabelas during their 42rods sale online. The 6 and a half rod was rigged and reading to go. The nine footer was broken down for transport.
Because of the water depth issue I needed to tie on a lure that could give me distance in my cast. So I tied on my trusty golden 1/8 oz Johnson's silver spoon which has the barb mashed down. Last year the first fish I caught with this lure was a pickerel from Chestnut hill res. In order to release that fish I had to mash down the barb on the lure, which was brand new out of the box. I put a 3 in orange Field & Stream twister tail grub as a trailer. The action of this lure is just incredible, its highly visible, the grub flutters on the fall and lure swims like a wounded baitfish. In fact I would recommend this lure for striper fishing as it is a predator magnet.
But I digress. So I get to this place where park benches are down below the roadway and there are some trees to by the water's edge. On the first bench is another fisherman, an old european guy who I have seen fishing around town before, he typically bait fishes with ultra light spinning gear using worms and bobbers. He mostly catches bluegills and pumpkinseeds which he keeps. I asked him: "Any Luck"? he nods yes, "Trout?", he nods no and opens up his plastic grocery bag to reveal about 6 or 8 bluegill on the small side.
So I walk over to the spot off to the left of him about 10-15 feet away and start casting my johnson's silver spoon. I am just fan casting to get the line wound up tighter on the reel so that I can change rods using the same reel (a Shimano IX 2000R). While I am doing this I hook up with a 14 inch pickerel. This fish was really feisty as he put up a reel good fight. So I land the fish which promptly help itself off my barbless hook, which is great BTW because I don't have to get bite by the toothy beast while trying to unhook it. So while the fish is flopping around and I am struggling to get a picture of it, this being my first fish out of Crystal Lake, Mr. Catch and keeps everything comes over and asks me: "You give me?" to which I reply, "let take a picture first".
After much fumbling around I take a picture of the fish. However, it looked small to me so I got out my measure tape and measure the fish to make sure it was legal to keep. Well it turned out to be an inch to short. I show him the tape measure and say: "This fish is 14 inches long in order to keep this fish it has to be 15 inches long. I have to put him back". He give me a dirty look shakes his head and walks away. After I put the fish back in the water it sulked for about half an hour recovering before it finally swam away.
So now I decide to rig up my new 9 foot noodle rod and give it a spin. I am used to the length of the rod because I have a 9' fly rod which I fish on occasion. The reel seat on this rod leaves something to be desired. The reel seat is all cork which is nice but the hardware that secures the reel to the rod is awkward to use. It has 2 threaded lock rings with a rubber washer between them that is to secure the reel foot to the rod. The lock rings don't turn easily on the threads and the reel does not lock down as tightly as I think it should.
Anyway, once I get the reel on, I start to thread the line through the guides threading 10 # mono is a lot different then threading 6 weight fly line especially on a 9' rod with about 13 guides along its length. my first attempt failed as the line fell out of ever single guide when I lost my grip on it. (On a windy day I think this will prove to be a ball busting challenge.) I persist and I get the rig lined up.
This rod is designed to cast baits and lures in the 1/16 to the 1/2 oz range, so I put on a kastmaster clone that I have and proceed to make my first cast. The cast was a disappointing 25 yards. WTF? I know the 10 #mono I have on the reel is 2 pounds heavier then it's max line weight but 25 yards seriously. Hoping for a better result I change the kastmaster out for a thomas' buoyant spoon. Similar result. So I put on the the Johnson's silver minnow which improves to the distance of the cast somewhat but by as much as I think it should. Proper line weight matching really must make a difference I guess.
Before I broke down the rig I tied on my Blue fox minnow spin, which is a lure that I love but have trouble getting it to swim the way I thing it should. Lo and behold the length of the rod actually makes that lure swim 100% better then it does on a 6.6 rod.
So on this trip I only caught one fish but I learned a lot.
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The end of the rainbows
Avg. Rating: 3.6666666666667
# Reviews: 3
Views: 5321 | Brookline Res
4/22/2012
Tried to hook up with the stocked rainbows in Brookline res. I got some powerbait and rigged up a light weight c-rig on a single hook but I just ended up feeding the bait stealing fish.
I brought 2 rods one rigged up for the bait and wait and another for castings lures. This past Sunday was very warm sunny and windy. The water was very clear and the fishing pressure was remarkable. There where a lot of people fishing for trout with powerbait. The whole time I was there I did not see any one land a trout. However, on prior visits I did see other anglers catch their limit of fish in less them an hour using powerbait.
Between the fisherman, the predatory birds, bass and the pickerel I have a sinking feeling the the stocked fish are much depleted now.
I did get to fish with a young man who was fishing live worms for larry's. He had a 5' ultralight spinning combo with 4lb mono which feel is somewhat under powered for bass fishing. But he claimed he had caught some quality fish on his setup over at a privately stocked pond that he usually fishes at.
He ended up catching few blue gill and a 6 inch golden shiner.
The blue gills are now spawning so I think they where a factor in thwarting my efforts to catch a trout.
I caught 3 gills: One on a Thomas's buoyant, one on a green woolly bugger and one on a Berkeley honey worm. The gills where so aggressive that I almost caught one on a bomber A crankbait.
After I left Brookline a stopped by Bolloughs to try my luck before calling it a day...I almost got bit by the biggest snapping turtle I have ever seen. This thing was huge with a shell the size of a large frying pan and a head the size of a house cat. I am glad I did not hook up with him. I left there around sunset and went home. |
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A pickerel and 3 Perches
Avg. Rating: 4.6666666666667
# Reviews: 3
Views: 5343 | Chestnut Hill Reservoir & Brookline reservoir
12/28/2011
Started the day off around 9:30am at Chestnut hill reservoir. I wanted to try some of the cold water tactics that I had been reading about so rigged up a casting bubble and tied on a big old fuzzy fly with a tin split shot to weigh it down. However, the wind made it difficult to cast this set up or get any real distance on the cast. So I changed out the fly for a honey worm on #10 hook. Then I started to work various different lures that might work in these conditions...still no action.
Then I walked over to pickerel cove and worked a purple bitsy bug jig with a orange curl tail grub trailer. On the third cast I felt a tap but missed the hook set. On the fifth cast I connected with a nice 18" 2lber pickerel. I swear that I have caught and released this fish before so after a couple of quick pics I returned him to the water.
After that I decided to head over to the Brookline reservoir to see if I could catch anything over there.
When I got there I headed over to the shallow end and started casting a copper thomas' buoyant spoon. That lure got the attention of trio of yellow perch who would follow it back to shore. I keep casting it until I caught one, a little 6 incher who got hooked on all three points of the treble. I hate when that happens, but I managed to unhook him without ripping his mouth off. I switched out the spoon for a pink & white beaver tail grub doused with some fish attractant. This got a lot more attention and I hooked up with a nice 10" perch with real attitude. I caught one more little one after that but then the cold and wind started to get to me.
So I went home. |
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A pickerel & a Perch
Avg. Rating: 4.3333333333333
# Reviews: 3
Views: 4977 | Chestnut Hill Reservoir
11/13/2011
Went out today around Noon-3pm. The weather was partly cloudy with gusts of wind. I primarily worked a 3 inch. Orange & Yellow curl tail grub on a VMC Neon Moon eye Vertical jig. I also fished a Zoom Super salt plus Magnum finesse worm watermelon red rigged wacky. I was on this lure that got my first bite of the day. However, because it was a circle hook tied to mono I could get a secure hook set so the fish struggled off. I changed things up a bit and moved around some but then I went back to the same spot where I lost the fish and threw the Curl tail grub on moon eye jig. After about 7 casts, it was fish on with a solid hook set. It was a Pickerel and strong one at that. I have been catching pickerel all season long but this is the best fight I have had from one of them yet. This fish set me drag screaming at least five times! I just kept the pressure on him and let him go. After about 5 minutes I was able to get him heads up toward me so that I could net him and release him. When he saw me down by the waters edge he dashed off into the weeds, so I had to pull him out of the water weeds and all. He weighed around 2 lbs and was 18 inches in length. Took a quick picture and then proceeded to remove the hook. Then while I am working on the fish as fast as I can to unhook him, this women comes up to me: "Hello, Hello?", "What?", What kind of fish is that?", "A pickerel.", "Oh". So remove the hook from his bony jaw and using the net I return him to the water to fight another day.
I move to another spot to avoid catching the same fish twice and continue to work the orange curl tail grub. I use a swimming retrieve and let it fall to the bottom occasionally. That is when the yellow perch attacked. The perch swallowed the grub tail first. Fortunately the fish was hooked at the top of the mouth so I was able to remove the hook without too much trouble.
After I put him back the bite seemed to shut off. The sky got dark and the wind picked up. I finished off by throwing the silver spoon but had no takers. |
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North Lake Cochituate
Avg. Rating: 3
# Reviews: 2
Views: 3309 | North Lake cochituate
10/22/2011
Drove to the north lake of Cochituate on a whim. The last time I fished this location was summer of 2010 with my daughter. The weather on this day was chill and partly cloudy which become overcast during the trip.
The access road to the parking lost is severely pot holed, use caution.
I chose my eagle claw medium 6' spinning rod & my shimano IX 2000 spinning rod with spooled with 10 # clear trilene mono.
I tied on a blue fox #2 gold in-line spinner and I started casting toward the route 30 over pass. about 3 casts in I noticed a fish following my lure so I felt that the location was fishy. As I had a fish follow my lure. About 5 casts later the local yokel walks over to chat me up. I honor him with my attention and he proceeds to tell me that cochituate has recently been stocked with rainbow trouts (Monday 10/17/2011). He also informs me that several other anglers where skunked just before my arrival, Approx. 2pm EST. He also tells me about the behavior of the e-police in the area. Apparently, they have the habit of seizing beer from anglers in this area. (I personally do not drink when I fish so this is not an issue for me.) If you wish to fish Cochituate leave the booze at home.
He leave me to my task with well wishes for my fishing fortune.
Now that I know that Cochituate is stocked with trout I change my strategy I start fishing jigs with Berkley honey worms. I remove the snap swivel and tie the lures directly to the line. Spend about 45 minutes technically fishing for trout with spinning gear before I change back to casting an in-line spinner. I change out the gold blue fox spinner for a Mepps #3 yellow black fury spinner. I am fan casting left to right moving toward the parking lot. When I finally hook up with a fish. It was a 9" yellow perch. This fish totally was hooked on two of the three treble hooks on my lure. I landed the fish measured it and took a photo before releasing it with as much care as I could offer it. I was able to remove the hooks without having to harm the fish. I returned this fish back to the water from which I took it.
I continued to fan cast but did not hook up with another fish.
I used the count down method to slow roll the spinners at a depth about 7'. |
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Brookline & Chestnut hill Reservoirs
Avg. Rating: 4.5
# Reviews: 4
Views: 3247 | Brookline Res
7/23/2011
I snuck out of house early in the morning to fish before I could get veto'd out of the trip. Headed over to Brookline to see if I could hook up with some of the LM bass I had seen spawning earlier this year. I brought my fly rod and my spinning rod so I could have options. I assembled the fly rod and tied on floating hopper pattern. I started casting "southern" side of the pond between the two "bowls" that form the shallow on the west and the depths to the east. on my 3rd cast I hooked up with a small LMB. He hit the fly close to shore so he was real fiesty as I tried to release him. He helped himself off the hook and swam away.
He must have clued in the rest of the fish in that area because the bite shut off after that. So I moved on to the shallow end. I rigged up a 5" zoom green worm on no. 2 circle hook wacky style on my spinning gear. After about 10 casts I hooked up with another small LMB. This is the first time that I have ever caught anything on a plastic worm so it turned out to be a fun fight. He jumped several times but the circle hook held fast. in fact he was so well hooked I had to use needle nose pliers to flatten the barb on the hook so as not to injure the fish too much trying to release it.
Then I switched back to the fly rod casting a black wooly bugger. I got my third bass of the day close to shore again. Watching the fish hit fly was just cool because he inspected it first and the he just slammed it.
Then the call came on my phone...and that part of my trip was over.
After I got home it rained pretty hard for about an hour so the recall saved me from getting wet. By this time my daughter was up so I asked her if she wanted to go fishing. She said yes so we headed out to Chestnut res. The water was clear but there where lots of weeds growing close to shore. Celery colored Eleodea I think.
We didn't see any fish at first because it was sunny and they where hiding in the weeds. I had her start out with a rubber worm rigged wacky but she didn't have patience for that style of fishing. She switched up to our goto bait which is the Berkeley powerbait honey worms. She tied on a 1/16 chartreuse jig (All by herself but had me check the knot.) with honey grub bait dressing the hook. It got windy so she also put on a bobber to assist with casting.
Then she started to catch fish...Every other cast she hooked up with a bluegill or pumpkinseed. She got so many that she tired of catching and releasing fish.
While she was catching fish I was working the fly rod which proved to be a challenge because I had to mind that I wasn't going to hook a jogger, bike rider or dog walker on my backcast. Since I was fishing wet flies roll casting in the weedy soup was...challenging. I started out with the wooly bugger but switched to a honey worm on a hook and nymphed for bluegill myself as they where the only active fish in the spot we choose. We caught and released about 30 fish between us.
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Small pond fly fishing
Avg. Rating: 5
# Reviews: 1
Views: 3979 | Bulloughs pond & Charles river
5/24/2011 - 5/28/2011
I have been using my new 9' 6wt fly rod since I got it about 10 days ago.
It is a fish catching machine! I bought the "panfish" combo and boy does it catch panfish. I shortened the supplied 9' trout tapered trout leader and put loop on it. Then I took some 10# mono and made a looped leader out of it with a size 10 eagle claw bait holder hook barbless . On the hook I put Berkley honey worms either natural or red.
I make short casts close to the bank and let the bait drift naturally in the water. I would go out either in the morning or early evening when the temperatures are cooler.
I must have landed 50-60 small fish...40 bluegill & pumpkinseeds, a handful of yellow perch and about 24 golden shiners. I even got 2 fingerling LMBs. Because, I was fishing barbless I missed a lot of hookups but it did make releasing the fish easier to do.
The fish where not line shy or spooked by the splash of line, in fact, I think it might have attracted them.
It was a lot of fun catching so many fish. Furthermore, If I ever want to bait fish for lunkers I can catch my own live bait for free. |
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Father & daughter trip to Chestnut hill Res
Avg. Rating: 5
# Reviews: 4
Views: 3004 | Chestnut Hill Reservoir
5/14/2011
Last Saturday I took my daughter fishing at Chestnut hill reservoir. It was a cold overcast morning but the fish where out. She is getting more interested and mature about fishing...she asked me to check the reel and put some WD-40 on it to keep it casting smoothly. I had her start out throwing the Vibrax minnow spin but she felt that it wasn't fishing deep enough so she tied (herself) a size 8 crappie hook with Berkeley honey on it. She had me set the depth on the bobber and started casting at the bluegills.
She got frustrated because she kept missing strikes, I took her rig and demonstrated how to set the hook again and reeled in my first Bluegill of the season. I gave the rig back to her so that she could try again. Two casts later she hooked up with her first Bluegill of the 2011.
Then the bite shut off. So we move to the spot with the tree over hanging the shore, where she caught her first carp. Then she caught another 'gill but he took the bait and hook.
I tied on a Bomber A that a pickerel struck but did not hook up. So I downed sized to a 3' silver rebel value minnow and hooked up with 7" inch pickerel.
We got cold so we left before lunch time. |
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Pickerels @ Chestnut
Avg. Rating: 4
# Reviews: 2
Views: 2615 | Chestnut Hill Reservoir
5/10/2011
Went back to Chestnut hill res to see if I could hook up with some more slabs but instead ended up catching a pair of Pickerels on Spinnerbaits.
The first fish was a nice 17 incher that attacked a 1/8 oz rainbow trout colored blue fox vibrax minnow on a pause in the retrieve while I was checking my reel for a backlash. On the opposite side of the bay that I was fishing was another guy who was fishing with bobbers and curl tail grubs. As soon as he sees me hook up with the fish he packs up and runs right over to fish my area with his two rods while I am unhooking the fish and measuring it. Then he gives me the hairy eyeball when he see me release the fish back into the water. I am sure that guy reads my posts and prospects that area where I fish. So this message is for you: When you see some one catching a fish it is bad etiquette to run over and claim their spot!
Seeing as the damage was done in that he was scaring off the fish that where in that area I moved on.
I fished the rapala husky jerk but got no takers this time, Fished a bomber A with the same result, Tried the a gold Johnson silver spoon, nothing.
Seeing as the weather was overcast and rainy I switched to high vis lures like my Mepps black fury. I walked over to the spot where I caught to the two pickerels last summer and on my second cast I hooked up with another 17 inch pickerel. He attacked a yellow size three black fury.
My last three fish have all been taken on in-line spinners. |
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First Rainbow Trout
Avg. Rating: 5
# Reviews: 2
Views: 3503 | Brookline Res
4/30/2011
I headed out to Brookline Reservoir alone today to see if I could catch a stocked trout. I got there about 8am and fished the shallow western end of the pond the whole time. The sky was partly cloudy and the wind was gusting from the east, enough to disturb the water.
Noticed a pair of dead fish floating in the water (A pickerel and a bluegill) as I was scanning the shallows for any suspending fish. I saw three fingerling bass suspending in the shallows just before the pump house.
I started out with a Bluefox vibrax minnow in a rainbow trout pattern and hooked up with a fingerling bass just slowing reeling it in just off the bottom. I let him go and started working some of my other lures.
Bluefox vibrax Gold size 2 in-line spinner, Rapala husky jerk yellow perch pattern, Yellow Mepps black fury size 3, White Curl tail grub on a 1/8 black jib with a gold spinner attached, and Bomber A crankbait.
While I was fishing all these lures I was actually struggling with the bail of the spinning reel which was failing to close on at least half the casts. Not even a dab of WD40 on the hinges worked. I soldiered on in spite of this.
Just past the pump house as I was fishing the Bomber A, I got a really savage strike but I missed it because there was too much slack in the line. (The fish hit on the pause in my retrieve.)
After that I worked my way back toward the car. I put the gold vibrax spinner back on and just kept fan casting.
I got another vicious hit while working the spinner but failed to hook up with it.
Then on my last cast I hooked up with an 11in rainbow trout! Wow, I now understand why people are so passionate about fishing for this species. For its size it fought really hard.
Now I look forward to fishing again for rainbows perhaps with a fly rod. |
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Charles river
No Reviews
Views: 2227 | Galen St. Bridge Charles river
4/17/2011
Went out around 1pm. The sky was overcast and it even rained on me a bit. But that cleared up around 2pm.
The water just below the damn was fast and dirty (foamy). I fished white curl tail grub on a 1/8th oz jighead, a Johnson silver spoon with a curl tail teaser and a red colored bomber a crank bait in a crawdad pattern.
I moved up to above the dam crossed the river and did not see any signs of fish except a pair of cormorants swimming up river and even they where not getting any.
Then I moved on to the Purgatory cove area and fished the pipe...no luck there either but I did get in a decent amount of time to work on my lure presentation skills so I am pleased about that.
It looks like the water level has improved over last year around this time, so I hope that this spot will once again become a productive area to fish again. |
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Chestnut Hill Crappie
Avg. Rating: 4.3333333333333
# Reviews: 3
Views: 2524 | Chestnut Hill Reservoir
4/10/2011
Went to Chestnut hill today to break in the new spinning combo that I got yesterday. Got there about 11:20am, there was a fair amount of wind and the water was slightly choppy. It was sunny and the water was clear.
I put on a gold Johnson's silver spoon to put some distance on the cast as I was concerned about my job of spooling the new reel. I actually got a hit on that set up as I was casting out and retrieving line to condition it.
My daughter was casting out a 1/8th oz jig with a twister tail grub on it. She caught a lot of brush hang ups.
She has started to tie her own clinch knots so she changed up to a 1/16 jig with a honey worm on a spring lock bobber. As the wind was against us she had a hard time being productive with that set up.
I changed out the silver spoon for a Rapala Husky Jerk size 8 in a yellow perch pattern.
While working this lure I hooked up with my first fish of 2011. At first I thought the fish was a bass. However, when I brought it in to the net I discovered that it was a 15in Crappie. This was a personal first as I have never landed a crappie that big before.
after that we moved to the opposite side of the cove to so that the wind could work with us and not against us.
I continued to fish the Husky jerk and hooked up with another slab crappie. My daughter was a great help in both instances as she helped me land the fish using the net and took the pictures in which I appear with the fish.
After the 2nd the crappie I convinced her to tie on a Rapala Husky jerk identical to mine. She got one solid hit but failed to hook up with a fish.
She got hungry so we packed up and got some lunch.
It felt good to catch a fish again especially fish as big as I caught. I released both fish back into the water from which they came. |
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The Cormorant is back...
No Reviews
Views: 1648 | Brookline Res
4/9/2011
Went out to the Brookline reservoir from 8-10:45am today, hoping to catch some of the trout they stocked in the pond about 3 weeks ago.
When we arrived we saw that the black cormorant was busy eating its breakfast. Every time I see that damn bird, I know that I will probably not catch a thing.
We tested out the replacement Zebco gold 33 reel which seems to be better then its predecessor. I also put the brand new spinning combo that I got at Dick's to work seeking out the fish in the res.
It didn't really warm up until about 9am when I saw a few fingerling bass suspending in the shallows.
Unfortunately, we didn't catch anything but I did teach my daughter how to cast using a spinning reel.
I was so impressed with the performance of the spinning combo that I went back to Dick's and purchased another one (Still on Sale!) after lunch. | - |
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Jitterbugging the Charles
Avg. Rating: 4
# Reviews: 1
Views: 2123 | Galen St. Bridge Charles river
7/29/2010
Spent about an hour tonight fishing the Charles down by the Galen St. bridge. My intuition told me tonight would be a good night to throw top water hard baits. I started out with a heddon tiny torpedo in the frog pattern. I got three short strikes on that one but no hook ups. The I switched to a black fury but that got no action. Switched to a jig and white twister tail grub to no effect. Then I moved around and put on the jitterbug. I went back to the place where I started got the bites with the tiny torpedo and just keep throwing the jitter bug in a fan pattern. Then guess who shows up...a nice 18 inch bass. It followed the lure all the way back to the where I was standing. Then it turned away, so I quickly cast the lure back out towards where I last saw it and it struck the lure just 5 feet away from me. I set the hook and the fight was on. It thrashed and rolled and shook the lure with fury. But my hook set was solid. I fought for him for about two minutes before he gave up and let me pull him to shore. I forgot my net at home so I had to haul him up by hand. In all the fuss the lure hooked a sunken rag so I had to first unhook the rag before unhooking the fish. I freed both the rag and the fish when a dog walker came up to admire the catch. With the fish in on hand and the camera in the other I asked to guy to take a picture but as I handed him the camera the fish twisted out of my grasp and landed in the water and swam away.
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Chestnut Hill July 24 & 25
Avg. Rating: 4
# Reviews: 3
Views: 4138 | Chestnut Hill Reservoir
7/24/2010 - 7/25/2010
I went back to the Chestnut hill reservoir to confirm the fish population.
Lots of Sunfish, some rather small Yellow Perch and Pickerel. |
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Recon Chestnuthill Reservoir
Avg. Rating: 3.5
# Reviews: 2
Views: 7587 | Chestnut Hill Reservoir
7/18/2010
I went out to the Chestnuthill reservoir to test the waters and see what sort of fishing action I could get there. There is some parking on the northern side of the lake. The pedestrians do not bother you like they do at the Brookline Res. There are not obstructing trees to foul your line when casting and there is a level track around the whole perimeter of the lake. It is handicap accessible for fisher folk in wheelchairs. Wind is some what of a challenge here for casting. Shore fishing only. |
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July 5th 2010
Avg. Rating: 5
# Reviews: 5
Views: 2493 | Brookline Res
7/5/2010
First Large Mouth bass of the year
I caught this fish on a #3 Mepps
black fury with a white color pattern. The water was clear enough for me to see this bass come off the bottom to attack the lure. When I set the hook I it felt like I had hooked a snag on the bottom but I knew I had a fish on the line. This fish dove to the bottom but I put a steady pressure on the rod to bring it to the surface where it gave at least three spectacular jumps from the water trying to throw the hook. I finally landed it using my brand new catch and release net. After a couple of quick pictures I returned it to water so that it could live on to fight another day. |
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