Open Water Fishing
Massachusetts
Since the ice is mostly toast, figured this may be a fun "off season" thread to start up. Admittedly, I wont have to much to add for a few weeks (The last few months work wise have been wild, but should settle come April) but it will be fun to see what you all are out fishing for and catching.
So - hitting the CT or a coastal river for holdover stripped bass, let us know your adventures. Catching stockers at the local pond or flinging flies for early season crappies, lets hear about it. Just re-spooling your reels or getting things organized and have a good idea, share it.
Should be fun to see how things go this spring and summer on the water for everyone!
Can't wait to see those big cow striper pics.
Soon enough xi! My buddy caught a nice brown last night. Shiner and a glow in the dark bobber!
Stud Brown Moons! NH or MA? I saw a news report last night that the dam on the Quinnipoxet really is going to get demo'd. That's going to open, I'd argue, the best October through December fresh water fishing in the state with what should be an amazing run of browns and salmon from Wachusset every fall. Fingers crossed, that happens!
Will that's MA. Dug pond Natick. Place is often overlooked. there are some huge trout and bass in there!
That would be awesome if they got rid of the dam!!
April may mix of quabbin and haddock fishing , then stripers, flounder flukes,sea bass & sharking after that
of course Moons had to be first to post up a fish ;)... kidding aside, that's a nice one and kudos to him for night fishing! seems they've been stocking some good sized browns lately. spent last weekend getting the boat ready for spring trolling so hopefully i'll have a nice picture to share soon. also anxiously awaiting the wachusett opener too
Moons, cow stripers, not trophy German Brown trout., big difference. I love the hook jaw. Congrats to your buddy !
Breaking out the fly fishing gear after about 20 years. My youngest wants to try it out, and has been tying like a madman. Now I have to deliver some fish. Thanks to many folks on here who pointed me toward some good spots. I have been tying too, and have found that bobbin is a lot harder to thread than 20 years ago.
Thanks Moons, showed my son the trophy brown. DAD we gotta go. When you finish your homework, Ok, I'm done.
Xi, that's awesome!! Hope you guys get a big one. Show him this one my buddy caught last spring on the cape
Haha, nope. Have family on the Cape, after Turkey season he'd want to spend the summer there.
Drslyr was that you with the laker videos? Mind posting them up again? Those were cool
The underwater ones or the salmon fishin surprise?
How about both! Just about that time of year
Or this. https://vimeo.com/177836285
Always looking for fisher people. If you never fished there and want to help me with expenses, Pm me and we will make a trip. I have fished there about 45 yrs. I got it down. Will even trade a day of fishing for a day of bow hunting in some of dem hot eastern deer or turkey zones. I got a double bull matrix blind and Dave Smith decoys I can bring. Hell I'll even film us.
Sorry for the hijack Will
Drslyr we might just have to make that happen! Those videos are awesome. Love the underwater shots. Is that an average day of fishin there?
When their on I'll get 10 to 15 hookups in a day. Say like 6am till 1pm.
My best ever was the day I took uncle Joe who wasn't really my uncle. He was a local farmer who had always wanted to go. He was in his 70's and dying of cancer. I decided to make the trip under threatening weather conditions anyway. We launched the boat and headed out. We got a mile or so out and a quick moving thunderstorm came over the top of the mountain. The sky turned black and the lightning started. I couldn't make it back to the ramp so I took down my lightning attractors (graphite rods) and pulled in close to shore with all my canvases up. I was scared, lightning strikes were hitting close by. One strike hit a tree about 200 yds. from us and blew the top off the tree off. 15 min later and there were patches of blue sky showing. I told uncle Joe, hey we're not dead yet, lets fish..
The powers that be wanted uncle Joe to have a good trip on his first and only outing there. I could not keep the fish off the hooks and we BOATED 39 lake trout that day. That was the greatest day I ever had there and one I will remember for the rest of my life. Uncle Joe died a couple weeks later.
Wow. Something you'll remember for sure!
Drslyr - where are you based? I fish quabbin a ton. Mostly shore fishing for smallies and large mouths, occasionally rent a boat. It was literally a couple mile bike ride from the house I grew up in, so I grew up in there. It's AWESOME to spend time there for any reason though!
No worries on the hijack - cool stuff man!
Im in west Springfield. Grew up fishin gate 43. Been on gate 8 about 25yrs now.I have fished The Lady about 45 yrs. now exept for one year when I lived in Arizona.
Drslyr - that's cool. If in a boat, I vacillate between 43 and 31 mostly. come to think of it, I've shore fished the Shutesbury side, but never actually took a boat out of 8. Shore I mostly fish between Hardwick and New Salem, a little still on the 202 side now and then.
Such a cool spot to spend time.
Anytime you wanna go Will let me know. However let it be known I don't care to fish for those nasty greenfish. Salmomoids all the way trolling.
It snowed this opening day 5 or 6 years back. Managed to catch 2 lakers this day.
It snowed this opening day 5 or 6 years back. Managed to catch 2 lakers this day.
This was last year opening day at Wachusetts ast year. Rained, sleeted, then snowed. 4 lakers caught no salmon.
This was last year opening day at Wachusetts ast year. Rained, sleeted, then snowed. 4 lakers caught no salmon.
Those are some awsome recordings! I fish Quabbin from shore for lakers , salmon, and bass alot. Im hopeing to make some recordings of my own this year. Ill be on the shores of the CHU come april 7th until Quabbin opens.
Offer stands to any bowhunting brothers or sisters on this site. Wanna fish with a laker expert. PM me. We'll talk.
Passthrough... I'm pretty sure I'fish that spot in the last pic too :)
Cool to see so many quabbin folks. Drsylr, I haven't trolled for em in years. In the boat jigging/drifting or from sure tossing plugs/hardware for years... But the last 5-8, odd as this will sound (because it's not the most successful option) I've fly fished from shore with streamers for em just to see if it was doable. It is... But you are not catching a ton :) ha ha ha!
What's super fun though, has been taking my kids for walks. Near Soapstone or "the Pie Lady" for those who know... and bringing rods. Amazing to see them catch sunnies, rock bass, "green trout" (ha ha ha) SMB's etc...
We were fishing up where the boy is... I just hopped down to land the fish.
We were fishing up where the boy is... I just hopped down to land the fish.
Red efts... by the handfuls!
Red efts... by the handfuls!
Got about 10' fishing with the boy child walking quabbin today. He hooked one but lost it, and I landed this nice smallmouth. Most of the day was spent catching salamanders... all fun though!
When I walk with the kids, I've been breaking out the traditional gear v fly gear. Just easier with the kids... and I have to admit, I'd forgotten how fun chucking a jig or spinnerbait could be...
Beautiful smallmouth! They might be one of my favorite fresh water fish to catch.
Will, what a perfect fish, and a great day with the kids.
Beautiful smallie, Will! My buddies got into some schoolies in buzzards bay this weekend. Couple more weeks and all hell will break loose.
One year I fished gate 8 and spent the whole day with not one smallie bite then got back to the dock around noon and took one last cast and caught a nice smallie figures. I like 43 for smalls but figure Id try 8. I remember one day looking down about 8 to 10 feet and seeing a whole school of 3 to 5 pound smallies swim by. Then another seeing a pig largie sitting on a bed but the little male dink kept hitting my lure. Love Quabbin but anyone ever fish Webster Lake?
Spike -
Oh man... Webster Lake... My buddies grandparents lived on the lake and we spent about every school vacation there from maybe sixth grade through our senior year in HS there, plus a few weeks in college.
We caught soooo many bass up to 10# LMB's, I have a gorgeous 6# smallie on the wall from there (caught in february fishing a crankbait in open water off a drop off where the south pond hit's the narrow's into the middle pond.). We would catch all kinds of stuff while fishing for bass. Big bluegills, a few monster crappie - those 15-18" crappie that are freakish! Pike up to about 36". I caught what had to be a holdover brown trout fishing a drop off in the middle pond for bass. We were fishing a 15 down to 30 foot drop in mid summer, I was using a 5" plastic grub, got a tap and set. Felt like a weird fight for a bass, when up (eventually) comes a 4# brownie!
I haven't been on the lake there in years... Have to admit though, if I owned a fishing boat, I'd make the trip there a few times a year. FANTASTIC water!
Spent the day getting the boat ready ! The fishing in Buzzards Bay has lit up, time for some underwater grocery shopping, shatfs are sharp, dive bag packed, gonna be a great summer! Can't wait so slip beneath the surface & let Mother Ocean embrace me again. Will post up some pics when I can. Cheers
Will, I had aome unreal days on Webster including winning a tourney with a 5 bag 17.5 # weight. Caught a huge 16" crappie that the state never sent me my pin. Went for bass another day there but no bass would hit which was unusual for there but I saw ajump in a cove and shot over and threw at it. Bam a big Tiger trout, thre again and caught a rainbow then another big Tiger all in 10 minutes. I kept seeing fish going after it so I kept throwing then bam huge fish on. Fought it all the way in and couldnt tell if it was a brown or salmon but snapped my line. I estimate at least 8# fish there. I always lose the monsters. Best bass there was around 7ish pounds. Also one day while going through that channel from the pond to the lake I look down and no lie in a couple feet of water I see this huge pure white catfish swim by. Unreal lake easy favorite!
Maine Brooktrout
Maine Brooktrout
Couple nice brookies at my camp in ME.
Brooktrout - they irony is fun there :). Hope they tasted great, nice looking brookies for sure.
Tonight for supper with steak tips. My kind of surf and turf!
Been getting a number of nice brownies and brookies on the fly. Last week I even managed a few on mouse flies, which was awesome! Last night it was all about caddis emergers swung and dangled in the current. Saw a deer and bear last night as well. Fun!
Rainbow,.. at the Pepper Mill Pond in the Quabin.
and 6 in the freezer for a home style game dinner.
Last Thursday picked up a couple of salmon trolling on Winni. Saturday caught about 40 2-3# smallies and Sunday morning about 20 more smallies casting to beds on Squam despite the windy conditions. Not a bad few days of fishing.
Thats some fun fishing Rick - glad you enjoyed it.
BB - that the little pond on the ware side of the east entrance to goodnough dike/windsor dam/little quabbin mtn? Nice fish, and a good looking feast to be had there!
Moons - any word on that little fawn?
Yes it is Will,.. I am thinking of trying fly fishing next,.. never tried that before.
BB, if you give it a try, I'd be happy to give you some casting lessons.
They have been money on some little wild brookies in some tiny little waters as well...
They have been money on some little wild brookies in some tiny little waters as well...
Been doing well in C/R sections of the millers. Simple little soft hackles in olive or black being the most consistent performers...
Beautiful fish, how are water conditions Will
Getting low Xi.
Small streams are going, but slightly low for this time of year. The ones with solid spring feed are certainly doing the best... But overall, it feels solidly into summer for flows.
The millers and other big free stones, for the most part, are getting low. I think the millers is 200-400cfs right now, pending the end of the river you are on. I'm doubting the 400, that feels high...
A good marker though is the swift. It's pretty consistently 50~ cfs right now, when the CT gets sort of low they up the swift to 120 to help maintain levels on the CT for navigation, and I dont think they have put the swift up to 120 yet this year. That would suggest on average that flow's are ok. I'd say seasonal to low seasonal.
Anybody know anything about “Stop River” in Medfield? On the satellite it looks kind of fishy—in a good way—but I wonder what’s actually in it. Can’t find much on the computer. I would just go out there and fish it, but you know, there’s all kind of bugs and stuff...
Okay, clearly you guys are all out fishing the Stop River. I better get out there pretty quick...
Job, Stop by the river and check it out... he he he. I've never actually heard of it..
Yea, I laughed. The Westfield and Farmington rivers are extremely low. Gonna be tough this coming week with temps in the 90s.
First night on the beach this year looking for fish. Not freshwater but it doesn’t get much more open water than this
Awesome - have fun DFA!!!
Dth and myself had some fun tonight!
Terrible time as you can tell....
heres a interesting one for you guys..... last weekend on my boat my bud rob who is a little on the green side of salt water fishing hooked this sturgen while drifting live macs in the mouth of the merrimack.... iy dumped the spool several times before getting it boat side. we estimated it at 80-100lbs and 5-6' long
Awesome to see you guys got it done! Is that a sand shark?
Great pics guys, enjoy it !
Wow jd that's a dinosaur!!! Congrats on a rare catch!
Moons, seems like they're actually becoming fairly common in the Merrimack the last few years. Maybe common isn't the right word but from what I hear there's been a number of them seen/hooked this year. Definitely pretty cool.
bruce is right.....the weekend before we saw five or 6 of them....no mistaking them they jump straight out of the water like a torpedo
Hooked one shad fishing the Merrimack this year. Straightened my hook before I could land it. Saw it several times though. They were launching out of the water everywhere around us. Too bad the shad weren't there. Stripers are everywhere right now too. Gotta get the boat out there ASAP.
Well I almost have the new rod wrapped and ready to go!! Will be done by Thursday so I can use it Friday. The new reel came in today and I am having the line put on Wednesday. 425 yds of 150 lb hollowcore line should do it. A little overkill but I had a fish last year that I just couldn’t stop. So much for the new saddle. I just spent that money and more on this setup
150lb hollow? jezz i fish 130 hollow mainline on my shark/ tuna setuos and have never broken one off....
Sturgeon J! That's to cool!!
Jr. yeah I wanted to use 130 but they don’t have it in stock. I am splicing 150 mono into it for an abrasion leader. That’s why the overkill on the hollowcore. I went with a couple different options last year and 100lb mono didn’t hold up to the rubbing and chaffing. If I could splice 130lb mono into 80 lb JB I would rather use that. We ran into a couple different times last year that the fish were probably close to 200lbs and 7ft. Having to use 10’ rods from the beach and losing leverage to the fish because of the longer rods I want something to put the hammer down on them when needed. 44 lbs of max drag and a rainshadow su1209 can do it as long as I don’t get pulled in with it. Lol
The pics from moons and I are just the warmup little dogs that are coming in before our target fish arrive. More of a pain in the neck than anything, but it just means the water is getting warmer every week
where are you guys fishing? the islands?. ive landed 400+ lb sharks on my setup with out a hiccup....
Yes and a few Southside facing beaches also. Like I said overkill on the setup, I have 2 other setups that I have for backup/jigging for the Canal. They are more reasonable. One is a gosa 10k with 65 lb braid that I use for the Canal. The other is a dedicated backup reel a BG 6500 with 80lb braid. Those are more realistic setups for what I do
Dth is gonna be live lining seals for great whites...
Gotta club then first to slow them down !!! Just finished wrapping the rod this morning and it’s going to get 2 coats of epoxy and ready for this weekend. I think I found a new hobby. Moons want to be a test subject for a new rod ???
That would be a great hobby, rod-building. Particularly because you can do it in the winter.
If moons is the test subject for the new rod does that mean you have to club him to slow him down...
Gonna need a big club !!!!
