Question for Quabbin guys
Massachusetts
Looking at a trip Wed in one of the rental boats at gate 8. 10-12mph NNW winds are predicted. Doesn't sound like much but it doesn't take much to work up some whitecaps there. What am I looking at for chop. Thanks,Tekoa
Looking at a trip Wed in one of the rental boats at gate 8. 10-12mph NNW winds are predicted. Doesn't sound like much but it doesn't take much to work up some whitecaps there. What am I looking at for chop. Thanks,Tekoa
Looking at a trip Wed in one of the rental boats at gate 8. 10-12mph NNW winds are predicted. Doesn't sound like much but it doesn't take much to work up some whitecaps there. What am I looking at for chop. Thanks,Tekoa
Looking at a trip Wed in one of the rental boats at gate 8. 10-12mph NNW winds are predicted. Doesn't sound like much but it doesn't take much to work up some whitecaps there. What am I looking at for chop. Thanks,Tekoa
Hey John we will take my boat
Lookit all dem gizmo's he got on that boat Elmer!!!!!!
Tekoa - You can hug the west shore on a NW and be in good shape especially if you bring an anchor or have a wind sock. From Gate 8, with a NW like that, unless you motor way north, the east shore can get some solid chop. That said, that side never seems as bad to me as the east/middle of the res, say from the gap south to the barrels.
The biggest challenge is boat control with the rental boats. Again though, if it's NW, hug the west side and you should be fine.
What will said....north and south winds are worst east and west you can always find flat water. PAT, you are incorrect! I'm hoping to get out 1 day this weekend as I haven't been much
I personally find those rental boats to be pretty stable. I go out of gate 8 most of the time and have been out in 7-10mph winds without issue. It can get choppy out there but the only place I've ever been tossed around so much I turned back to a cove was the big open spot east of Mt Zion when going out of area 2 or 3.
Hope the trip is good, that chop especially if it's overcast will probably help with the bite.
Mid morning winds were gusting out of the North at 12mph. It was fishable in the rental boat but I wouldn't want to be out in anything more. One salmon in the boat, one lost.
Tekoa, I should have noted this before. With a North wind, the area around gate 31 is sometimes the best option. You can both get into the coves that are north of the ramp, or brave the open section going south (err to the east side of the first island at the ramp), then cut west around the big point and up by rattlesnake hill (the new salem one, not the petersham one) which will put you in a cove that's solid on north winds protection wise - that area is better for bass though.
Also if you go down that channel east of the island at the boat ramp (31), with the res as full as it is now, there is a very shallow - but doable with current fullness of the res - which puts you into the cove at the north end of the bombing range which is good laker and salmon water - but also good bass as well. that would be protected on a north wind in spots too, until you get to far out into the open water...
X2 Will I like that gate. Caught some nice bass there.
I still haven't been to gate 31! Last couple years I've been stuck on gate 8. Maybe I'll give it a go this fall.
Matt, to me, each boat access gate feels different, yet all let you fish similar fish and water. You can catch a 5# smallie out of each, or a 20# laker or a 5# salmon... I'd err to 42 and 31 if LMB's were my target, or bass of either species. Just ton's of good water from those areas, even a short boat ride and you have all sorts of different conditions to fish.
8 feels like a more northern deeper more oligitrophic lake... While 42 and 31 are more trending mesotrophic or if you fished above 42 in Pottapaug it's more eutrophic classic warm water fishing with coontail beds and lily fields and generally shallow water compared to the varried depth, rocky and some woody shorelines on the main res and drop offs/humps etc in the main res. End point, if you have fished 42, follow the same game plan and you will catch fish at 31... @ gate 8, some different strategies may help.
Yeah that's what's so awesome about the Q. The first time I ever went there was out of gate 42 and I was in total awe of the place. They gave us a zoomed out paper map at the dock back then and I remember feeling pretty lost and disoriented, always not being where we thought we were on the map... after an hour or so we realized we hadn't noticed the scale on the map. We had barely gotten out of the cove the launch was in! On that side I've only been just barely north of Mt Zion so 31 would be all new to me. Nice to have a lay of the land!
When I'm at gate 8 it's always leadcore legends trolling action. Sometimes with planners if they're cooperating.
