Fishing Report September 26 2014 Massachusetts

 

Conditions: Sunny skies, air temperatures mid-50’s to mid-60’s degrees, water temperatures mid-60’s degrees, no wind to start to moderate winds later and best bait – jig/pig

Wanted to fish this lake at least once more this fall to finish mapping what I had left so that we are ready for the ice season ahead. Always is amazing that while idling around mapping with the Lowrance Insight Genesis, you see structures on the lakes bottom that you had never known were there before. Really amazing how the electronics has gotten to where we are today and it will really be something to see what the future will bring.

I started on a new underwater ridge that I had found and there wasn’t much for grass on it but there was definitely a lot of rock and gravel. Fished this area for quite a while with a few different baits, 4 inch plastic worm, crankbait and a sunfish style crankbait, and only had bites from the plastic worm and could tell that they were panfish.

Continue Report at BWS OutDoors

 

 

Fall Fishing

Fall fishing can be some of the best fishing as well as some very tough fishing with the ever changing water temps and fall turnover occurring. The name of the game for a successful fall fishing trip is to cover as much water as possible. Try and locate green vegetation as this is some of the only things that are still putting fresh oxygen into the waters. Green vegetation is a fish magnet and the fish in the lakes are searching out these areas of green vegetation. By covering vast amounts of water, this will allow you to present your bait to more fish in that particular lake. Once an area is found to hold fish, then you can slow down and work that area more meticulously and hopefully catch a number of fish. These areas may have schools of fish in them since fall time the fish are doing more schooling together now as opposed to other times of the year. Get out there and enjoy the fall weather and cover water as much as you can.

More Tips at BWS OutDoors

Another Promising Year for Vermont's Winooski River Salmon

Vermont anglers have something new to smile about. Strong spawning runs of landlocked Atlantic salmon from Lake Champlain have been returning to the Winooski River in the fall. The runs are monitored annually at the Winooski River fish lift, the main feature of a trap and truck fish passage project built into the Winooski One hydroelectric facility above the Salmon Hole in Winooski.

VT OutDoor News at BWS OutDoors

Fall Fish are Shallow

We are getting deep into the fall season here in New England and many anglers have put away their gear for the winter. The anglers that are still out there on the water, these anglers are the ones that are catching nice fish and numbers of fish as well. There is a surprising thing that the angler can take advantage of at this time of year and that is fishing shallow water. The waters are still somewhat warm and there are still green weeds in the shallower waters. Fish are still using these areas to feed heavily as they fatten themselves for the winter ahead. If you are fishing deep in the fall try fishing shallow as well and this may increase your chances of catching some nice fish. If they are not biting shallow, then move out deeper but don’t overlook the shallow bite.

Tips at BWS OutDoors

Connecticut DEEP Announces Opening Days of Upcoming Fall Firearms Hunting Seasons

Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) has announced the Opening Days of the upcoming fall firearms hunting seasons. Peak hunting occurs during early morning and late afternoon, primarily during the period from mid-October through mid-December.

CT OutDoor News at BWS OutDoors

Vermont Big Game Reporting Stations -- Updated

Hunters who take a bear, deer, turkey, or moose during the Vermont hunting seasons must bring the animal within 48 hours to the nearest game warden or to the nearest Vermont Fish & Wildlife reporting station

VT OutDoor News at BWS OutDoors

Bacon Topped Venison Meatloaf

Ingredients:
2 eggs
2 cups soft bread crumbs
1/2 cup chopped sweet onion
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tbls cider vinegar
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce
1 pound ground venison
1/2 pound bulk pork sausage
4 bacon strips

Directions:In a large bowl, combine the first eight ingredients
Crumble venison and sausage over mixture and mix well
Shape into a loaf in a greased 11-in. x 7-in. baking dish
Top with bacon strips
Bake, uncovered, at 400° for 40-45 minutes or until a thermometer reads 160°
Let stand for 5-10 minutes before slicing
Yield: 6 servings
Recipes at BWS OutDoors

Fishing Report September 23 2014 Massachusetts

 

Conditions: Sunny skies, air temperatures mid 50’s to mid-60 degrees, water temperatures in the upper 60’s, winds light and bait of the day – Rapala Scatter Rap shallow diver

 Have you ever had one of those trips to the lake that you detested going there as you arrived to the boat landing? The lake that I fished today is that lake. I like fishing here in the spring as you can always throw a jig and come up with some large bass but once that time of year has come and gone, this lake is that one that we just cannot figure out.

Continue Fishing Report at BWS OutDoors

Connecticut Tide Chart Addition

We have updated our Tide Chart page at BackWoods Sportsman OutDoors to include the November Tide Charts for Connecticut's waters.

Tide Charts at BWS OutDoors

Vermont Sends An Archery Season Reminder from F&W

The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department reminds hunters that no antlerless deer may be taken in three Wildlife Management Units (WMUs) in the Northeast Kingdom during the 2014 archery season. The boundaries of several of the WMUs also were changed this year.

VT  OutDoor News at BWS OutDoors

Maine's Hunting Report for September 30, 2014

In Region A, October 1 marks the beginning of pheasant season, and IFW biologists and clubs have been busy releasing birds throughout the region.

ME OutDoor News at BWS OutDoors

Connecticut Announces Temporary Closure of Silver Lake State Boat Launch, Berlin

Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) today announced that it will temporarily close the Silver Lake State Boat Launch, Berlin on Wednesday, October 1st for removal of heavy equipment from a completed dredging project

CT OutDoors News at BWS OutDoors

Connecticut Begins Fall Atlantic Salmon Stockings

Connecticut’s Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP) today announced that its 2014 autumn stockings of broodstock Atlantic salmon have begun. DEEP’s Inland Fisheries Division last week released 500 salmon into the Naugatuck River (150 fish), Mount Tom Pond (100 fish), Crystal Lake (Ellington –125 fish) and Beach Pond (125 fish).

CT OutDoors News at BWS OutDoors

New Ice Fishing Bait Spotlight

We have added a spotlight for a NEW Ice Fishing Lure out for this coming ice season from CLAM PRO TACKLE.

 

Built using a similar design concept as last year’s Bomb Spoon, the new Time Bomb adds an elusive sound that fish know well. The clicking, ticking sound of prey moving along bottom. The underwater world is full of chirps and ticking sounds, but nobody has been able to replicate the ‘bottom click’ better than this. Time Bomb is a fast-dropping bait with an amazing array of attractions. Tiger-bar pattern in six color schemes. Swarovski gem eye. Glowing epoxy treble. The deal-sealer is the brass element and how it clicks against the other components. It took a lot of tinkering, but was worth it. Tick, tick, tick. When will your Time Bomb go off?

 

New Fishing Product Spotlight at BWS OutDoors

Fishing Report September 19 2014 Massachusetts

 

Conditions: Sunny skies, 45 degree start to 65 degree air temperatures, 66-70 degree water temperatures, moderate winds and best bait – dropshot a 4 inch BearPaws Shad

 This is to be my 5^th day in a row on the water and decided to head back to the same lake that I was on day one as I needed to redeem my trip from yesterday. I started the morning fishing shallow shorelines by casting weightless plastic shad bait right onto shore and twitching it back to the boat through the emergent grasses. The waters had definitely cooled in these backwaters of this lake and after a while of fishing here, definitely could tell that the fish that were here before, have vacated the area for deeper and warmer waters.

The half of the lake that I started in is basically only 3-4 feet deep and the whole basin is cooling off fast so figured to spend the rest of the day fishing the other half of the lake that is deep with a lot of bottom contour irregularities.

The main lake had been dredged many years ago and the plan was to do the whole lake but issues arose and only half was completed. This has changed this lake from being a swampy sewer infested city lake to a lake that only some anglers know that it holds some very nice fish in it. I know a lot of people that have grown up around this lake and now when I show them pictures of the fish that are being caught; there are a lot of shocked faces that goes along with it.

 

Continue reading this report: Fishing Reports at BWS OutDoors

 

 

Massachusett’s November Tide Charts added

We have added the November Tide Charts for Massachusetts to our Tide Chart’s page on our website BackWoods Sportsman OutDoors.

MA November Tide Charts at BWS OutDoors

New Hampshire’s Atlantic Herring Days Out Meeting October 3, 2014

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Herring Section will hold a meeting on October 3, 2014, at 9:00 a.m., to review landing effort and discuss ‘days out’ measures for 2014 commercial herring harvesters. The meeting will be held via conference call.
The 2014 Area 1A allowable catch for Trimester 3, October 1 to December 31, was set at 8,142 metric tons.

NH OutDoor News at BWS OutDoors

Connecticut’s Annual Migratory Bird Conservation Stamp Artistic Competition Begins

Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) is once again encouraging artists to enter their waterfowl artwork in the annual Migratory Bird Conservation (Duck) Stamp Art Contest. The winning entry will be featured on the 2016 Connecticut Migratory Bird Conservation Stamp. The inaugural contest in 2012 was won by wildlife artist Richard Clifton, whose depiction of three wood ducks appeared on the 2013 Connecticut Duck Stamp. The 2013 contest was won by John Brennan, whose depiction of hooded mergansers graced the 2014 Connecticut Migratory Bird Conservation Stamp. Last year’s contest was won by Guy Crittenden with his depiction of northern shovelers.

CT OutDoor News at BWS OutDoors

Fishing Report September 18 2014 New Hampshire

Conditions: Sunny skies, air temperatures 50-65 degrees, water temperatures 65-70 degrees, little wind to start with a stiff wind by days end and best bait: 4 inch French fry style plastic worm

I wanted to make a trip to a Southern New Hampshire lake but the one I wanted to fish has a long idle ride down a river to get to the main lake and my time wouldn’t allow for fishing there. So I ended up at a smaller lake that has always been good in past years but as of lately been a tough lake to figure out for catching better sized fish.

The morning started out fairly cold but at least the sun was shining and giving you a warm feeling as the time went along. Another objective of fishing this lake today was to finish mapping the lake on my Lowrance electronics for finding lake features that I was unaware of as well as getting setup for the upcoming ice season. It didn’t take long to find a location that had an underwater island towards the middle of the lake that came up to 5 feet deep on the top.

Once I found the top of this island, I put out a marker for a reference so that I could have a bearing as I used the graph’s fishing around it. There were areas that had some sparse grass on and there were also areas that you could tell that there were gravel and rock. Fished for quite some time here in varying depths and you could tell that there were some panfish in a few locations, and did get one solid hard hit that when the battle started, it ended just as quickly when the line broke. These areas that have gravel and rock you have to constantly check your line for any frays that may lead to the line breaking.

Wasn’t able to get a fish to the boat here and my search was on once again looking for new areas. Tried another couple of sunken islands with no returns and moved to an underwater point that has yielded fish many times in the past. As I worked to outer edges of the point, the water was 5-8 feet deep with a lot of grass, and didn’t take long and got that tap on my plastic worm. Wasn’t a big largemouth bass but at least it was a fish as it was getting to that point of frustration of not catching anything.

Worked around this location for a while and that was the only fish that was caught. Moved to a large flat area that was thick with grass that the previous trip here, was the only location that fish were caught in. this day they were not biting here and you could feel the aggravation starting to set in that not being able to figure the lake out, was getting quite annoying.

At this point it was time to start fishing the shorelines with a shallow diving crankbait and try and find some active shallow fish. Starting on a deep shoreline, was casting to some reeds and a fish grabbed on with a bit of size but as soon as I felt the bite, the rod went limp and the fish was gone. This was getting to be the theme of the day that there was getting to the point that the wind was taking over the lake no matter which area you were in.

So decided that I had other things that needed to get done and pulled the plug and headed out to getting the boat ready for the next trip tomorrow. Tomorrow will find us back on a city lake that we were on Monday and look for some deep water bass…so until next time may your lines be TIGHT and you have a FISH ON….
 

Fishing Reports at BWS OutDoors

Updated Kids OutDoors events for the week of 9/30-10/6

We have updated our KIDS OutDoors page for the week of September 29 thru October 6. This weeks outdoor education event dates and times are listed now and take advantage of these if your kids are wanting to learn and then get into the OutDoor hunting and fishing activities.

Kids Outdoors BWS OutDoors

Connecticut’s DEEP Begins Fall Trout Stocking

Connecticut’s Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP) today announced that its 2014 autumn trout stockings have begun. From now through mid October, DEEP is releasing 30,000 trophy and adult sized trout into selected waters throughout the state. Among the areas scheduled to be stocked this fall are twenty-three lakes and ponds, fifteen rivers and streams that include twelve of the Trout Management Areas (TMA), and eight Trout Parks.

BackWoods Sportsman OutDoors

New Hampshire offers Free Outdoor Adventure Talk – Hunting Dominant Bucks

Get an edge on that big buck in the woods this fall by coming to a free deer hunting talk by local hunting expert Dave Priebe on Wednesday, October 1, 2014, at 7 p.m. at the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, 11 Hazen Drive, Concord, N.H. No pre-registration is required.

Whitetail deer hunting in New Hampshire can be challenging. Priebe’s presentation, “Hunting Dominant Bucks,” takes some of the mystery out of it.

BWS OutDoors NH News

Fishing Report September 17 2014 Massachusetts

 

Conditions: Sunny skies, air temperatures started around 50 getting to 70 degrees, water temperatures in the upper 60 degree, light winds and best bait – 4 inch French fry style plastic worm

As I map more lakes that I have been fishing lately, I find areas that I like to fish off shore that has structure that I didn’t even know was there. So today started fishing an area that has an underwater point that comes out and there is an indent into it that has had fish in the past. With the late winter we had last season, so many of these lakes the weeds have not even grown typical and when there is weeds it is sparse at most. Also, there is a lot of thin clogging grass that grows in a number of these lakes that I am finding this year.

I fished all around the point tip and went into the indent as well and couldn’t get anything to bite. The next location was an underwater hump that came up to 8 feet deep and this hump had a lot of weeds on it but fishing all around it couldn’t find anything that was going to bite. Next was to move to one of the few points on the lake and the one side drops quickly into deep water and wasn’t able to find the fish here as well.

Now it was time to do more mapping of the lake that I haven’t done yet and after a while of doing this, I had found another underwater hump that I didn’t even know was there. Once I marked out this location, mid lake hump, it didn’t take long and I was into some largemouth bass. I was fishing the 4 inch French fry style plastic worm and they liked it here. Wasn’t able to catch any large bass here but the 1.5 pound fish were giving up some very nice battles coming back to the boat. After working the area over and the fish had dried up I had moved to another couple of locations on the lake.

The first location was another underwater hump and this wasn’t yielding any fish here as well. There is a huge flat that comes in front of a creek inlet and typically in the early season this area holds numbers of fish, but as the water is cooling, haven’t been able to get them going here. The last location was a deep water shoreline that I ran with a crankbait but same results came from here.

For the day there wasn’t a lot of fish caught, but being able to find new locations is what I am trying to do with this open water season. I still need to come back here once more before ice up and finish mapping a portion of this lake. So until next time may your lines be TIGHT and you have a FISH ON…

 

 

Fishing Report September 16 2014 Massachusetts

Conditions: Overcast skies with rain falling later morning, air temperatures low 50’s, water temperatures near 70 degrees, light winds and best bait – 4 inch French fry style plastic worm

Had an appointment first thing in the morning but was able to get to the water by 9:30AM and also before the rain started to fall. There was no wind to start the fishing and very overcast skies and as the morning went on the rain started to fall and luckily it never really got to heavy of a rain but just enough to make things somewhat miserable.

There are two locations that I target on this pond and started first on the ridge in the middle of the lake. The ridge is only a few feet wide at the top of it and drops off into deep water on both sides. Typically the fish are sitting on the right side edge and there is one sweet spot that has a few rocks that attracts the fish. Fished all around this area and was not able to get anything going to bite and followed the ridge all the way to the end with nothing biting. Off to the left of the end of the ridge, there is a small underwater hump and worked all around this area as well and still haven’t been able to pull a fish out of this location as well.

Time to make a move and towards the other end of the pond there are two underwater humps that have gravel and sand on top. Fished all around the first one and was not able to locate any active fish. Moved over to the underwater point that has gravel and rocks on top and was not able to get any bites except for sunfish were pecking at the bait. There is a saddle in between these two locations and is around 12 feet deep. As I was fishing through this, there was a bite and the fight was on to a beautiful largemouth bass that gave up a great battle. The rains were still falling and with the cold temperatures was making it difficult keeping your hands warm so that you are able to feel the fish biting.

After not getting any more bites here, motored back towards the ridgeline but started at the beginning and worked my way back to where I had started the day. the fish just were not going to really cooperate today and you can really tell that fall is setting in and this lake the fish haven’t put that fall feed bag on quite yet.

That will conclude my day 2 of 5 days of fishing and tomorrow is going to find me a bit further north in MA and hopefully do some grass fishing and dig some big girls out. So until next time may your lines be TIGHT and you have a FISH ON…

 

 

Fishing Report September 15 2014 Massachusetts

Conditions: Sunny skies, 50 degrees air temperature warming to 68 degrees, 66-70 degrees water temperature, light winds and most productive baits - Rapala Scatter Rap shallow diver and a 4 inch plastic french fry worm

Starting this week of a 5 day fishing week at the new pond that we have been fishing and hoping to see if we can locate some of the nicer bass in the lake. Will start in the same areas as last week and that is shallow shorelines with a weightless shad plastic bait. Did notice that as soon as I turned on the electronics that the water temperatures had dropped 10 degrees in a weeks time. Worked the shallow bay right off the shoreline and just couldn't get any fish to bite as I think that the colder water temperatures may have driven the fish out or locked them down. After working this area for a while with nothing to show for it, headed to the other end of the lake and started fishing the shorelines here casting the Rapala Scatter Wrap to the shorelines and was picking up smaller bass here and there. Just couldn't get anything of size going and only had an hour or so left, decided to go deep and fish the 4 inch french fry worm looking for the bigger fish on the main lake structure. Was getting a few bites and just couldn't get them to connect until I thought that I had hooked the bottom as the rod bent over. It didn't take long and you could tell that it wasn't the bottom as the fish started to move. This lake has a huge carp population and the whole time it was on my mind that I had hooked into one of these. The fish was digging and refusing to come to the surface and the rod was totally bent over. I have not had a fish fight like this in quite some time and at this point all I wanted to do is see what was on the other end of the line. When it finally surfaced it was a solid 3.5 pound largemouth and it sure give up a great battle. I didn't have a lot of time left so never really able to totally work the area to see if there were any others hanging around. Not quite the day like I had the week before but fish were still being caught and that is all that matters.

Tomorrow is a rain day but if it doesn't rain much, you will find us on the lake once again...so until next time may your lines be TIGHT and you have a FISH ON...

Fishing Report September 8 2014 Massachusetts

Conditions: Sunny skies, low 70's air temperatures, 80 degrees water temperatures, moderate winds and most productive baits - shallow Rapala Scatter Rap and weightless plastic shad

There is a pond that I know of that many of my freinds grew up around and from years past, no one would consider that there are fish in this waters. Over the years there was some extensive work to the pond to bring it back so that fish and people can enjoy it for years to come. Half of it was worked and the other half they were not able to finish the dredging and everything else that went along with it. So the half that didn't get done, it is still muddy and around 4 feet deep as the better end gets to depths of 18 feet deep and had hard bottom in many locations.

So arriving at the landing, I decided to fish it during the week sk that I would mainly have the pond to myself. There were a couple of older gentlemen launching before me and after talking with them, I was now pumped to get onto the water. Started fishing just up from the landing and being it is shallow and no structure, worked the shoreline with jigs, spinnerbaits and weightless plastic shad darters. It didn't take long and I was into some fish and quality ones at that. The pattern that I was finding was key this morning was shorelines that had shade and some weeds and casting the plastic shad to the shoreline and working it back was producing the best. If there was sun on a particular shoreline there was no fish caught or bites detected. But once back into the shade again the fish would start biting. So this was the pattern and used it as long as I could.

As the morning went on, the shade was fading away and had to find another new pattern for finding the fish. Tried a number of lily pad fields and had a few small blowups but no hookups were hapenning. So I moved down to the other end that is deeper and tried a different tactic. Since most of the shorelines are fairly deep, I worked most of them with a Rapala Scatter Rap and was starting to catch fish once again. Along with good numbers of bass, there were some nice perch caught as well.

After fishing here now, this pond is definitely on my list of city lakes to fish and will be back there fairly soon once again...so until next time may your lines be TIGHT and you have a FISH ON....

 

Fishing Report August 17 2014 Massachusetts

Conditions: Sunny skies, mid 60's air temperatures, 74 degrees water temperature, moderate winds

Since I had found some very decent fish at a local pond, I wanted to go back today and see if we can duplicate the last couple of trips out there. Upon arriving at the lake, there was already an angler fishing our best big fish spot. So we headed for the backup location that typically has numbers of fish, but size is the question. The winds were whipping around quite a bit and made it a bit more difficult staying on the key locations. We fished all around this location and there were a handful of short strikes but just couldn't connect on any of them to getting anything to the boat. The other angler had finally left so we headed over to that location and fished around there as well only able to catch a couple of small fish. Since these two spots were not producing wanted to see if these fish may have moved over to the shorelines. We fished down the better shoreline and did catch a number of small fish along the way, but couldn't connect with anything of size. Along the shoreline I typically fish a small crankbait so that we are able to cover water looking for actively feeding fish. After doing most of the shoreline, we moved back to the other two locations to see if there were any fish that moved back up. Did catch some smaller fish but never could find those big fish that have been caught in the past. My plan was to fish with a couple of other baits, jig/pig and a drop shot, but with limited time I stuck with the 4 inch french fry style dark worm on a 1/8 oz weight. Since we weren't finding a better quality fish, this pond is close to home, we can pick up at any time and head out and don't feel like we have to spend a lot of time since the drive is so short.

Hopefully the next fishing will be sooner than later but as schedules and other obligations are coming up, it may be a couple of weeks before we get back out there again...so until next time may your lines be TIGHT and you have a FISH ON...

Fishing Report August 10 2014 Massachusetts

 
Conditions: Sunny skies, 70 air temperatures, 78-80 degree water temperatures, no wind

Decided that since yesterday was not a good day on the water, I needed to redeem myself and went early in the morning to a small local pond to try some things that I had found there the last time fishing. The last time here, I had found a couple of very nice sweet spots that had some very nice fish on one, and the other had a good number of fish on it. After leaving the boat landing I went to the first spot that yielded the biggest fish that I have caught here in a while. This location has a shallow rocky sandy hump that has a ridge that runs out past the boat landing. The top of the ridge is in the 3-4 foot depths and is not very wide as the sides drop off fairly quickly and if you don't watch the electronics, you are off the location very quickly. With having the boat positioned where the ridge comes off of the hump, casting out towards the end of the ridge is the sweet spot that the fish had been hanging. After about 20 minutes of fishing, I found that sweet spot once again and the bigger fish were definitely there as well as some good numbers of smaller fish as well. These fish weren't as big as the previous trip here, but a fish is a fish in my book and as long as I can catch them, that is all that matters to me. I fished here for an hour or so and decided to give it a rest and head off to my other sweet spot. This location is an underwater hump that comes up to 4 feet of water and is a bit bigger than a good sized bass boat. It is positioned in the corner of a cove and it feels like there is gravel and rocks on top of this as well. I had only made a couple of casts and broke off a very big fish. After re-rigging and casting around the hump again, I hooked into a nice and fat largemouth bass. This one was a solid 2.5-3 pound fish and is now the biggest fish that I have caught off of this place. I fished around this hump and caught some more small fish and decided to head back to the first location. I rotated between these two places and caught fish off of them each time there, but as the morning went on and the little wind there was died, the bites were getting harder and harder to get so it was time to head home and do some yard work. I was fishing the small 4 inch french fry worm in a dark color once again and thinking the next time out there I am going to switch to fishing a jig and also a dropshot rig.

Hoping that we are able to get back to this lake fairly quickly once again as now that we have something figured out it is a lot of fun catching some nicer fish once again...so until next time may your lines be TIGHT and you have a FISH ON....

Fishing Report August 9 2014 New Hampshire

Conditions:Partly cloudy skies, mid 80's air temperatures, 80-81 degree water temperature, no wind

Was time to go visit some family again and luckily for us they are at a campground on a lake that we fish a lot and spend countless hours on as well. This body of water when it is slick out with no wind, for me is always a very tough bite added the heat factor as well. Today was not going to be any different as the bite was off once again. My main objective though was to finish mapping out one section of the lake so that I have a current lake map that when the ice season comes, there are a number of different places now that we will be targeting. It is amazing that after fishing a particular body of water for so many years, that once you have an actual map of it in front of you, there are so many areas that you didn't even know about. I tried a few new areas this day that didn't produce anything, but for that matter, even the usual places were fishing very tough. The couple of bass that were caught were caught in deeper water on a 4 inch french fry style worm in a blackish color weighted with an 1/8 oz slip sinker. There were a number of locations that I wanted to fish but every time I made a move to those, there was always a boat on them. Talking with fellow anglers that fish here regularly as well have said that their best fishing is the time frame from after dinner till dark. Unfortunately I don't have that luxury so we fish when the time comes that we get to go. It can only get better going forward as the weather will start to cool off and the fish need to start feeding heavily for the winter months coming.

Tomorrow is going to find us home on a local lake and going to go back and check out some locations that we have found some very nice fish on...so until next time may your lines be TIGHT and you have a...FISH ON.....

Fishing Report July 27 2014 Massachusetts

Conditions: Sunny skies, 60’s into 70’s air temperatures, 78-80 degree water temperatures, light breeze for the wind

Couldn’t make up my mind as to where I was going to fish on this day so opted to stay very close to home and hit a small pond up. Typically I will run the shorelines and just try and catch the bank runners and typically these fish are on the small side. I wanted to catch fish in deep water on the structure that the lake offers. So watching the electronics as I idled around a half of the lake that I haven’t mapped yet, I came across a long underwater point that had some rock on top of it. There were definitely fish on this structure but you could feel that they were mainly panfish as they would nip and tug on the plastic worm I was fishing. After not catching any bass here, off to the side there was another underwater hump that came up to 4 feet of water from 12 feet on the deeper sides. Didn’t take long and I was catching bass after bass but they all were in the 10-12 inch length range. After catching a number of fish here I figured that there were no big fish mixed in and moved onto another location. The next location is another shallow hump that is covered in sand, rock, reed and lily pads on the outer edges. Caught a couple of small bass on one side and the other side there is a narrow ridge that runs out from it and drops off on either side into deep water. Hit one area of this ridge and was catching fish after fish but the same size as all of the other locations. As I moved further out on this ridge, I came to a spot that was still catching the smaller fish but then there was a solid fish on and the battle commenced. After running all around the front and to the back of the boat, finally was able to land a nice 2.5 pound largemouth bass. I was catching all of these fish on a 4 inch French fry style worm in a dark watermelon purple color pattern. Took a couple of pictures and released it back into the water. A few casts later once again I set the hook into another solid fish and this one was a bit bigger but was very thin with a big head and had many war scars on it as well as you could see it has been around for quite some time. This fish fought just as hard as the previous one and now I was getting very excited as it has been a while since I have been able to locate quality fish on this lake. Another few casts went by and bam, another huge fish was on my line and this one was definitely a lot bigger than the previous ones. This one would come to the surface but was so big that it couldn’t get itself out of the water to try and shake the hook. Once I finally was able to handle the fish, it was this biggest one of my season so far. Not sure it would have gone 5 pounds but it was a short and fat toad. After catching these three fish in the last 15 minutes, it was getting a bit exhausting. I fished the area for a while longer but there were getting to be a lot of boat traffic and the bite, even the small fish, seemed to shutdown at this point. It was getting late morning and I only wanted to fish for a few hours so with three good fish out of the 30 or so caught, my day was quite fulfilled. The one thing that I did notice was that none of these fish were aggressively attacking the plastic worm. Instead, they were just there when you went to move it and you would sweep the rod and set the hook. It was a great trip out and I am really working my electronics this year and I am learning a lot more about the bodies of waters that I am fishing. Everything is getting marked on the electronics and this winter this information will be transferred to a hand held gps unit and will put us into the right areas for the coming ice fishing season.


Our next trip we don’t know yet where you will find us but where ever it may be I hope that the fish are in the biting mood...so until next time may your lines are TIGHT and you have a…FISH ON....

Fishing Report June 28 2014 Massachusetts

Conditions: Sunny skies, upper 70’s air temperatures, water temperatures ranged from 74-77 degrees and little wind to speak of

This particular lake we generally fish only in the spring and fall as it gets very busy from the pleasure boaters and water skiers. By fishing in the spring we are able to find the fish getting ready to do their spawning activity and allowing you to catch a better quality fish. Fishing here in the fall it is the opposite situation and these fish are feeding heavily for the upcoming winter and you are still able to catch a better quality type of fish as well. Plus with the Lowrance electronics that we are running now it is allowing us to search and locate fish much differently and this is giving us better opportunities at catching fish in locations that we didn’t even know existed. Wasn’t on the water very long and the water skiers were already running all over the lake. As we would idle around and watch the locator we would mark locations that fish were stacked on and come back to the a bit later to fish. Was having a similar problem that would go back and fish those marked locations but wasn’t able to get the fish to bite. They were there but there was no aggressive feeding going on at all. So ended up going back to the old reliable shallow running crankbait and cast to the shoreline weeds in search of fish. Fishing the shoreline weeds produced fish in a variety of locations and was catching largemouth bass, perch, sunfish and pickerel as well. Never was able to find any large fish but all in all the day didn’t turn out to bad. By noon though there were getting so many boaters and skiers on the lake that we just needed to get off.

The last two days didn’t really turn out the way that I had hoped they would but was still able to put fish into the boat…have a number of days on the water coming soon and may find us way up into New Hampshire again on a lake that we haven’t been to since giving up tournament fishing…so until next time may your lines be TIGHT and may you have a FISH ON….

Fishing Report June 27 2014 New Hampshire

Conditions: Sunny skies, mid 80’s air temperatures, water temperatures ranged from 69-75 degrees and winds got breezier as the day went along

Decided to head for New Hampshire and fish a lake that we have never seen or fished before. Located one on the map that is supposed to have a good population of largemouth and smallmouth bass and the trip was planned. Looking over this body of water it is a damned reservoir that has some good flow going through it. Near the dam the water is deep and can get to 50 feet deep but on the opposite end where the river comes in, there is a lot of shallow water with and without weed cover. So headed to that end and use the electronics to try and find some active biting fish. Was different type of fishing as either it is deep or very shallow and haven’t fished in this kind of water before. On the Lowrance Elite 7 HDI I was marking fish and coming back to those locations to try and get them going but for all of the places that we were marking them, I was not able to get anything to bite. Plastic worms didn’t seem to be the ticket as well as they were fished deep and shallow and didn’t get a bite on them as well. So stuck to the shallow running crankbait and covered as much water as I could and that did produce crappie and largemouth bass. Not the numbers that we were looking for but at least we were catching some fish. I was able to take the boat up into the incoming river and look for some smallmouth bass as the water temperatures were 5-8 degrees color and there was a good flow rate of water happening. Worked both sides shorelines and also in the eddies from where the river met the reservoir but was only able to catch perch and pickerel. After being disappointed not finding the fish where I thought they would be, went back down the reservoir on the opposite side and tried the same thing for marking fish on the electronics but it just wasn’t happening. The pleasure boaters were starting to come out more in force and since there were not a lot of shallower waters to fish, decided to call it a trip.

Was really hoping to find some good fish at this lake but that happens when searching new lakes and that is always the fun part about trying to figure out new water…tomorrow will find us back in Massachusetts at a local lake and typically only fish here in the spring and fall so will see what can be caught…until next time may your lines be TIGHT and may you have a FISH ON….

 

Open water New Hampshire 6/15/14

Conditions: Sunny skies, air temperatures upper 60's, water temperatures 70 degrees and gusty winds

With this being Fathers Day, my plan is to head to New Hampshire and spend a good portion of my day fishing a favorite lake. Arriving at the lake at sun up and having the whole lake to myself, where does one start with so many locations that can be fished. Not sure how the lake was going to fish because every where we have fished so far this spring, it has been fairly tough with the late winter affecting the lakes conditions. I am not one that likes to fish shorelines looking for bank runners and would rather fish deeper structure looking for a better quality fish. So starting on a fairly large flat where typically catch numbers of fish, fished all around and started noticing that this lake as well as others, is void of the weeds and I attibute that to the thick ice and lots of snow this past winter. Throughout the day I moved from deep water to shallow warm water to calm areas to wind blown shorelines. Fished a number of baits from small worms, jigs, crankbaits, carolina rigs and weightless plastics as well. Was picking up a small pickerel here and there and the lake was really going to make me work today. I finally connected on a good fish on the edge of a drop and didn't even feel the bite as there was just weight on the line. Caught this fish on a small plastic worm fished Texas style and was the only fish that was caught that I was fishing for. I spent a lot of time idling around the lake watching the electronics and was finding areas that there were schools of fish hanging, but with the high winds was fairly hard staying on the area and try to get them fired up into biting. I like catching fish just like the next guy, but my real enjoyment is just being on the water and trying to figure out what the fish are looking for and wanting.

It is going to be a fun few weeks coming up as I am being forced to take vacation and my son won't be at camp yet so we are going to be on a number of different lakes around Massachusetts and New Hampshire...until our next report...may your lines be TIGHT and FISH ON...

 

Open water Massachusetts 6/8/14

Conditions: Sunny skies, air temperature 80 degrees, water temperature 74 degrees and zero wind

Arrived at the lake early as I wanted to do some sonar mapping with the Lowrance Elite 7 HDI. This unti allows you to record sonar as you move around the lake and Lowrance has a online program that allows you to upload that data and they send you back a detailed contour lake map. The maps that are available on the East Coast are very generic and be doing this process, this allows us to see a lot mot things on a body of water that a good majority of anglers have no idea what is down there.

After doing this for a while, and still thinking that the fish may be spawning, I started the morning on a flat in a creek mouth that generally holds a number of fish this time of year. Fairly shallow water, from 2 - 8 feet of water and generally there are good clumps of weeds that the fish can hide in. After fishing around the area I am seeing that with the late winter that we had, The vegetation isn't close to where it should be at this time of year. In general, I am finding that consistently wherever we have fished this spring. Fishing this area produced nothing for bites so went back to mapping a different part of the lake. This area is a cove that has some very irregular contours with a few underwater humps as well. Started fishing on one of these humps and it is around 6 feet deep and has a good amount of vegetation on top of it. Didn't take long and connected on the first fish of the day, didn't even feel it bite as it was just there. Was fishing a lizard plastic bait Texas rigged with an 1/8oz weight. The fish gave a great fight and was a solid 2 pound largemouth but was long and thin. Basically continued doing the same thing all around the lake and just looking for different little things that maybe the fish were concentrated in. Made for a tough day of fishing as the heat and no wind really started taking a toll and we left the lake before noon.

We will probably be heading back to New Hampshire soon again and head for a lake that we fish very frequently...until our next report...may your line be TIGHT and FISH ON...

Open water New Hampshire 6/1/14

Conditions: Sunny skies, upper 60's air temperatures, mid 60's water temperatures and no wind

Since all of the local lakes were busy having tournaments going on we decided to hit the road and drive up to New Hampshire and fish a lake that we fished this past winter a couple of times. Apparently this lake is busy is the warmer months as we arrived at the landing fairly early and it was busy with anglers already. The landing is shallow so needed to take a bit of a walk into cool spring waters and it wasn't long and we had finally gotten the boat into the open water for the first time. I wanted to spend some time working with the Lowrance electronics and get a feel for the lake as we have a new lake mapping software, Insight Genesis, that allows you to create very detailed lake maps. We motored across the lake to where we wanted to try this winter and started fishing a rock flat searching for smallmouth bass. We fished the top and outside edges and just couldn't find any active fish. We moved to an close shoreline and watched to see if there were any spawning fish in the shallow sandy shore. We seen a few small bass cruising but never seen anything that looked to be spawning. We arrived at an underwater point and followed that out into the lake where we caught perch on crankbaits off the end of the point. Spent sometime doing the mapping and after getting home and uploading that and taking a look at it, I will definitely be doing a lot more of this mapping this summer. We moved over to the area that we fished a lot this past winter and still was unable to find any actively biting fish. We watched a few of the other anglers out there and you could tell that the bite was very tough and we didn't see anyone catching anything. Other than the few perch we caught the sun was getting very strong and without any suntan lotion, we needed to get off the lake and head out.

The local lakes should quiet down now with tournaments and we will be on one of them this coming weekend...until our next report...may your lines be TIGHT and...FISH ON...

Open Water Massachusetts 5/27/14

Conditions: Cloudy skies, 60's air temperatures and little wind

The fish in this lake have got to be getting ready for the spawn this spring or maybe the late winter and cold waters, they may not even spawn this year. That is never a good thing if the fish absorb the eggs back into their bodies and the lakes will lose a year class of fish. Going to keep searching for some shallow, cruising active fish and eventually they will be found. Today's location is a shallow shelf that is covered with gravel and rock and should be prime smallmouth spawning area. Was fan casting from one side all around to the other side and on the last cast before moving, connected on a fiesty smallmouth. The fish gave a great fight and jumped out of the water a few times as well when it was coming in. The bait today was a Zoom finesse straight tail worm in watermelon color and fished with a 1/8 oz weight Texas rigged. After leaving this area moved down a bit to a trough location that has some good green weeds growing. Fan casted all around the area for a bit and wasn't able to find any biters in this location. I am fishing fairly fast as time is limited and only going for the aggressive fish instead of taking my time and working any fish that are there that may be a bit more non-aggressive.

Hopefully this weekend we will finally get the boat wet and still haven't decided if we are making a trip to NH yet but definitely need to get out on the open water at least...So until our next report, may your lines be tight and...FISH ON...

Open Water Massachusetts 5/19/14

Conditions: upper 60's air temperatures and light winds

This spring has been one crazy time with the late winter and spring just not wanting to come around at all. Luckily I am fortunate enough in my work location, to be back near a great body of water with nice variety of species of fish to catch. This time of year the smallmouth and largemouth bass are spawning and once you can locate the spawning areas, you are able to catch some nice fish. So I will be fishing a few times during the week at different locations around this lake and will be interesting to see what kind of fish will be caught. The fish that I caught today was caught fairly shallow and came as quite a surprise as it hit the bait on the fall from the cast. Using an 1/8 oz sinker and straight tailed pumpkin Zoom worm, was able to trick the fish into biting and gave up a great battle. This was the only fish for this lunch break, and hopefully we haven't missed the smallmouth migration as there are some very nice smallmouth bass in the lake and nothing like catching them in the spring.

Until next time, tight lines....

Ice Fishing New Hampshire 3/29/14

Conditions: Cloudy skies, upper 40's air temperatures and little to light winds

We are really getting to the end of the ice fishing season here in New England. The ice in Massachusetts is inaccessible as the shorelines have opened up and no access is attainable. So to keep the ice season going you have to drive to New Hampshire to find ice that is fishable. We made a drive to a southern New Hampshire reservoir and were surprised to only see two trucks at the landing. You could go anywhere you wanted on the ice and upon the thickness inspection, there was a good 16-18 inches of ice. As the morning wore on, pools of water were forming on top of the ice and made it a bit sloppy if you weren't paying attention. This reservoir was the first place that we started this year's ice season and we wanted to give it another try as it is a high producer of crappies. Once we were able to get all of our set lines done, and catching pickerel as we went along, it was time to start searching for crappies. There is a ditch that goes through the area we were fishing and staying inside of this ditch is where the crappies were located. If you ended up on either shallow side of this ditch, there weren't any fish that could be found. All of the fish that we were catching were inside of this ditch and the deepest part was 26 feet deep. It didn't take long and we were catching crappie after crappie but these fish were so small. We drilled holes all over the area staying in the ditch and no matter where you drilled, you were catching crappies but there just was no size. We were fishing the Northland Tackle Mooska Tungsten jigs tipped with a couple of EuroLarva for scent attractant. We would catch crappies and a few sunfish but then we would get into pods of golden shiners and some of them were quite large. You could tell on the Vexilar's when these shiner pods would come through as they would light up the whole screen. After drilling holes everywhere in the area that we were in, I started moving a bit further downstream and later in the day did hit a few much nicer crappies. Could only get a few of the nicer ones and by the time we left the other anglers had left long ago. This reservoir definitely has a population of crappie in it but there needs to be a bit of management to getting the size back to being respectable.

There is a lot of rain forecasted for the next couple of days across New England as not really sure as to what that is going to do for the remaining ice.

We are hoping to get out one more time this coming weekend and hopefully find a good crappie lake to cap off this awesome ice season. So until next time may your lines be tight and smiles on your face...FISH ON...