Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Fishing report for June 27 2010

Luckily I have a few ponds nearby that I can fish if I only have a few hours to get out and there is one small 100 pond close that works very well for this. Usually fish here a few times throughout the summer and seems lately that there are more anglers fishing here as well.

Arrived early and there were already a number of boats in the water. Sunny skies with no wind at all and air temps around 75 and water temps were reading between 74 and 77 degrees. This pond has very dark water and the weedline only goes out 4-5 feet. Most of the pond is developed and one end has a heavy lily pad field as the rest of the pond is a few docks and clean shorelines.

In the middle of the pond there is a gravel hump that comes to within 1 foot of the surface and the northern end of it has a finger that goes halfway across the bay that is 6 feet on top and drops off into the deepest part of the lake on the west side. I generally start working that ledge to see if I can find some of the large bass that live here and worked this area for quite some time but couldn't find a bite.

Went over to where a creek comes into the lake that has a big lily pad field in front of it and usually fish this area with a weightless frog. Fan casted all around and in the past this area has given up some big fish but today only a small pickerel was going to hit.

Left there and went to the other end of the lake and started fishing a dock that had a couple of boats as well as a pontoon tied to it. Casted a senko type bait around these objects and pulled 4 small bass of these. Generally this ends has a good sized area with milfoil and working a weightless worm around finds you some fish but I was unable to find any of the milfoil and have a feeling that they may have treated this area.

Following the shoreline around fishing with the senko looking bait, picked up another couple here and there but just couldn't find any size. Worked a few more docks and boats but wasn't getting the results that I was looking for. Moved back out to the gravel hump and was working this area with a carolina rig and felt like the sinker had wedged itself in between a couple of rocks. Lifted it again and and the line was moving and set the hook, the line screamed to the surface as a nice 3-4 pound largemouth went airborne, so did my bait.

Very frustrating when you lose a large fish but that is why it is called fishing and not catching. Worked all around the area to see if I could find any other fish and wasn't able to get any bites. It was getting more boat traffic out there so decided to head out and get a few other things done. Fish right now seem to be scattered around with the smaller fish shallow and bigger fish deep.

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Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Summer is Here, Fish Going Deep

Summer has come in fairly quickly lately and with that the fish have finished their spring ritual and getting setup for summer. Smaller fish can still be found swimming the shorelines but if you are looking for those bigger fish, head for deep water. Water temps are rising and the shallows are getting very warm, the fish head deep to get away from these warming waters and head for the cooler water in their deeper summer haunts. Weedlines, humps or anything that is different out in deep water will attract and hold these fish and using your electronics to find these areas is important at this time of year. Go explore the water away from the shore and you may be surprised at what you find.

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Friday, June 25, 2010

Fishing report for June 19 2010

Generally we fish the same lakes throughout the year and you get to a point that you want to see and try something different for a change. So that was on the agenda and after scouring over New Hampshire lake maps, we ended up on a small lake in the Raymond, NH area.

Never been to this lake before comes with it the excitement of seeing and trying to figure out where and what the fish are looking for to bite. Conditions today were sunny skies, no wind, air temp was around 80 with the water temp in the 69-71 degree range. Water is a tanic color as many lakes in the region are but the weed growth does get out there into the 8-10 foot range.

Since there were no winds decided to start working the emergent weed growth along the shorelines and was working a BearPaw load toad over the top. This bait is a weightless frog imitation and as you bring it back towards you the legs act as if they were kicking in the water. Worked this along a good stretch and caught a couple of small pickerel with no bass showing themselves.

Switched between that bait, carolina rig and a crankbait and the shallow water just wasn't producing for what we were looking for. Did see numerous small perch that would follow the bait back to the boat so that shows that there is a good forage base for the predator fish in this lake.

Since the shallow longer shorelines weren't producing moved to a part of the lake near the dam area that there was a deep water near and along the shoreline. Typically this type of area I like casting deep diving crankbaits to the shore and bringing it back. Wasn't long and a good fish hit the crank and after battling this fish swung a nice chunky largemouth bass into the boat. This is what we were looking for as well as there are suppose to be smallmouth here as well.

Worked this deep water shoreline for quite a while and couldn't find another bite there. Moved to a shallower cove and worked a variety of baits with no results as well. Moved back to the deep shoreline and worked this in the opposite direction and nothing happening. Went back to the frog and had a few small blowups that looked like pickerel but no bass. As we were approaching the noon hour the water skiers were starting to come out and fishing, what there was, dropped way off and decided to pull the plug.

There wasn't many fish caught this day but still had fun learning and seeing a new body of water. This may be something that we try more numerously this summer and get away some from fishing the same old lakes and see some new water. Summer is definitely here now and fish are or have transitioned to their summer haunts so get out there and enjoy a summer day catching some fish.



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Thursday, June 24, 2010

Fishing report for June 12 2010

Since the previous trip was a very wet one and my son wanted to try that body of water again, we went back to a small local pond and see if he could do a little better. Conditions were fairly close to the previous trip with little wind, air temps around 70 and a threat of rain.

We started where the previous trip, many fish were caught but they really didn't seem to be hanging around that location at all. Moved over to where he did well the week before and was getting a few bites but nothing to speak of in getting fish to the hook.

This is a town water reservoir and we fish mainly on the dam side of it and below where the water comes out of the reservoir, there is a creek with some backwaters. We went down there and started in a bigger pool and caught a few small sunfish. Of course by this time the rain was starting to lightly fall and was making it another cool and miserable trip.

We moved over to where there was more flowing water and there was definitely more fish in this location and you just had to deal with the trees that were around you. Just about anywhere that you would cast in this pool you would get bit and the fish were a little better sized.

We were fishing with a variety of different color patterns of T.H.E. Jig, (Totally Hot Everyday Jig), and seemed to come to the conclusion that anything with white in it was the best combination. We went back to the reservoir area and tried a few other locations in the rain but they weren't cooperating. Headed out and being this is only 5 minutes down the road makes it a great place to go for a short trip no matter what the weather is.

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Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Fishing report for June 6 2010

Being my son is involved in Cub Scouts, they have their annual fishing derby at a local pond and the scouts look forward to this every year. Weather wasn't going to cooperate very well for the scouts but they were troopers none the less. It was to be held Saturday morning but with lightning in the air, it was rescheduled to Sunday morning.

Sunday morning came and there were overcast skies, with rain following suit not to much later. It rained most of the morning while the fishing went on but these guys were not going to let that get into their ways. Their minds were set to catch fish and every single one of them worked as hard as they could at doing that.

Everyone had to fish using the same basic equipment with no lures being allowed and livebait in the form of worms were the bait of the day. So everyone was targeting sunfish and hoping that a bass or trout would swim by to give them that edge for a bigger fish. Didn't take long and the first fish was caught and all of the boys were fired up and hard at work trying to catch their fish.

My son started fishing at a spot and within minutes already had a few sunfish registered and was on his way. There were 4 categories with a trophy for each that they all were fishing for with smallest fish, biggest fish, first fish and most fish. My son was holding his ground and was in the lead for most of the morning with most fish caught.

Unfortunately his spot starting drying up as well and kids were accumulating there and catching the fish as well. He decided to pickup and start moving around but wasn't able to find any more fish by doing that. I mentioned to him to go back to where he started and he caught a couple more but there was another boy that was slowly catching up to him and passed him in the final moments.

The rains were getting heavier and the fish were biting less and less so there was a mutual agreement to call it a day and award the trophies to the winning kids. All in all they all had a great time and will be looking forward to next year’s event. Only thing caught were numbers of sunfish and no one had caught that one big fish.

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