Outdoor Reports
BackWoods Sportsman OutDoors mission as a fishing guide service as well as a New England fishing informational web site that fishes the great waters of New England. With a focus on freshwater fishing the open waters as well as the hard waters of New England's winter ice. We are in search of and the catching of Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass, Perch, Sunfish and Crappies as well as being a top leader for fishing information with updated local fishing reports, fishing articles, fishing pictures, fishing videos, fishing tournament schedules, lake maps, outdoor recipes, fishing tips, kids fishing events and outdoor activities and state outdoor news
Fishing Reports 2007
Fishing Guide Service
November 18, 2007 The days and nights are getting cooler by the day and if this trend continues the lakes and ponds may see ice in the fore seeable future. The lowlands and swamp areas are skimming over with ice and a dusting of snow has graced the
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November 16, 2007
The weather in New England is quite a bit different than other areas of the
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November 9, 2007
We can really tell that winter is coming to New England with the nights in the upper 20’s, days not getting out of the 40’s and the winds are blowing more regularly. Shallow puddles and standing water are skimming over with ice in the mornings and this is cooling the lakes very nicely as well. We had a couple of hours to get out on the lake and decided to take the kayak and try the crappie pond that we frequented so much last year. We can’t get the big boat in this pond and is a nice body of water for a paddle in the yak for some quiet fishing time. We have our best results in the deepest hole of the lake when we are looking for crappies and that is where we headed. With the Vexilar flashing and watching that as we paddle towards the hole, there wasn’t much activity showing up on the screen. When we reached our destination, we drifted around until we found the first school of fish and let the anchor out and rigged up. We are using the Austin Custom rods as our choice this year and I can only say one word about them, AWESOME. The tip is sensitive enough right now that we don’t need a spring bobber at this time, the backbone on these rods is unbelievable and the fish challenged the rods but the Austin rods won out every time. Started out with the Loby Baits Stoni in the red color and that bait was on fire until I lost it to a fish. We had caught around 30 crappies and used three plastic baits and two of them went back into the box, the third was lost to a fish when the line broke. As we worked our way around this hole, there were only a few schools of fish that we found and was kind of a disappointing day numbers wise as 30 fish on this spot is nothing compared to what we were catching last year. The waters may not be cool enough yet and the fish aren’t schooled together quite yet which means that the fishing there can only get better. We will be hitting that pond quite a bit this fall and winter when the ice forms and looking forward to trying out some other new equipment when the ice forms as well...
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November 4, 2007
After Hurricane Noel had passed through Saturday night, Sunday morning we awoke to a beautiful day with lots of sunshine and some wind as well. Temps for the air were around 40 and the water temps were at 48 degrees on this small lake in
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November 2, 2007
As the temperatures are dropping every day lately and the days are getting shorter, we ventured back to the pond from yesterday for another go round. The sun is shining bright but the temps are cool in the upper 40’s, as we are preparing for the coming remnants of hurricane Noel to embrace us late tomorrow morning. Today the fish were as active as yesterday and we were able to catch another 1.5 pound largemouth in the same general area as yesterday. We are still throwing a Spinnerbait as this is allowing us to cover vast amounts of water fairly quickly in the short time that we have. With the warming sun shining, you really need to watch where you walk as the snakes are getting the last few rays of sun on them before they disappear for the winter months. We were planning on going to
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November 1, 2007
Now that Halloween has come and gone and we have had a few nights of frost as well, the fall fishing can finally start. But, the last couple of days it has gotten back to the mid 60’s once again and feels quite summery out there and is very nice. Hopefully the frost that we have had lately has been enough to get the lake temperatures to start moving downward and in turn get the fish into their fall feeding craze. We ventured out for a short walk around a local pond today and it seems that the couple of cold nights may have done something to this body of water. Leaves are falling like crazy now and another week or so and the trees may be bare. We were fan casting the shoreline with a Spinnerbait and for the quick walk which was fairly productive, we were able to catch a very fat 2 pound largemouth as well as a 2 pound pickerel. The pickerel came flying out of the shallow water with a vengeance to slam the Spinnerbait and the bass was caught in 12 inches of water as well. These fish were very active and gave up a good fight between the two of them. Not to shabby for a quick walk around a part of the pond and at this time of year you really have the water to yourself especially during the week. With the nice weather as of late, hope that the anglers out there are getting their time to get on the water and enjoy some of this fall fishing. Winter will be here soon and this fall feeding binge will be but of a memory, so why not wet a line and catch some fish. We are planning on heading to
October 29, 2007
This past weekend the evening low’s were under the freezing mark and this is going to jump start the fall activity in the animals and fish of
October 23, 2007
With the way that the weather has been lately, I am not sure that we are ever going to see fall and get the fall fishing going here. Temps are still in the upper 70’s is not allowing the water to cool down much and night temps in the 50’s is not helping as well. The fall colors are getting into peak around the area now and that is allowing for some spectacular viewing when the weather and sun cooperate....With this warm summer like days, taking a walk through the woods is very enjoyable especially when the paths are going around some of the local lakes. We went out searching for fish on a different lake today and the action wasn’t fast or furious but did manage to catch one bass in very shallow water....We are fishing mainly now with a Spinnerbait and as we are walking around the lake we make sporadic casts in search of fish. Most of the lakes and ponds here are fairly low with the dry weather the last few months but since it is suppose to be fall, fish should be located in shallow water....The spot that we caught our lone fish from was active with baitfish as when reeling the Spinnerbait in, you would go through the bait pod and the water surface would erupt with minnows going in all directions. This is a good sign that at least in this lake, the baitfish are starting to congregate together and the bass won’t be far behind....Since our summer has extended itself, the outdoor enthusiast needs to get out there and enjoy this fall weather as winter won’t be far behind. Get out there and take a walk and carry a fishing rod with you and try some of these lakes and ponds and you may be quite surprised as to what you are catching....
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October 17, 2007
Being that the fall weather is here and the nice days are starting to fade away into winter type weather, today was a very nice day to hit the water. Weather was forecasted to be around 60 degrees and little to no wind with the sun shining bright....Decided to make a trip up to famous New Hampshire Lake Winnipesaukee and try for the smallmouth bass that thrive in this body of water. We arrived lakeside and the sun was shining and the lake was almost like glass and being during the week and fall season , there wasn’t much boat traffic out on the lake....This is one nice thing about fishing Winnipesaukee that the fair weather boaters are gone and the lake is left to the diehards that are looking to find the fish that swim in the lake. Winni is known for its salmon fishery and also the smallmouth bass are getting bigger as each year that passes....There are many bass tournaments that are held here and almost every Saturday and Sunday during the fishing season, there is usually a tournament going on. We don’t get up here that much so with the vast amount of water to fish, at around 44000 acres, we seem to fall back on locations that have been fruitful for us in the past. The water in this lake is super clear right now and seeing rocks in 10-15 feet of water is not a problem. We went around the lake searching for fish and tried numerous spots but, as the way that our fall fishing is going this year, we were unable to find any fish. There are loads of big largemouth bass here as well, but since we don’t fish a lot of smallmouth lakes, we decided to focus on them....It is always nice to catch fish but just being in the outdoors and enjoying everything that she has to offer, is more of a reward to us. The fall foliage is not quite at peak season right now but there are many trees that have brilliant colors especially with the sun shining on them....The loons are starting to gather and there were many young ones getting ready for their flight south as the weather and water starts to cool. The lake temps were around 55 degrees and that is still fairly warm yet for this lake. Even though we didn’t catch any fish, this was a great day to be on the water and as these days start getting less and less, take advantage of them while you can as the hard water season is getting nearer all the time and that is something that we are really looking forward to this season....
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October 8-11, 2007
With this in between season weather that we seem to be experiencing, not real warm and not much cold weather, seems that the fish are not getting into their fall feeding mode yet. This week’s weather was unstable to say the least with a couple of cold fronts passing through and dumping quite a bit of rain. We sampled a few lakes/ponds this week and have nothing to report other than a lot of wet and drowned baits that were used. Tried to cover as much water as possible and just can’t find the fish moving towards the shallows yet. The lakes are getting lower all of the time and I think that the state and towns are starting to lower them some more as well for the winter season. There is a lot of dry ground around all of these bodies of waters and now is a good time to go and take a look and also take a photo of areas that you fish regularly. You may see the structure and content that you were catching fish off of during this summer and a better understanding as to how the fish are relating to and using that structure. Get out there and see what your favorite body of water looks like and enjoy the outdoors as Mother Nature is going to start throwing that cold weather at us at any point now.
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October 1-5, 2007
This
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September 26-28, 2007
With summer lingering on and the water looking like it is getting clearer as every day passes, there is no need to put the fishing rod down yet. We were able to get out a few times during the week but the fishing from shore has been fairly tough on us yet and not sure if the waters are starting to turnover yet or not. Concentrating on deeper water yet as the temps are still around the low 60’s. Haven’t noticed any sort of baitfish movement towards the shallow water as of yet but that is coming and then you will need to watch your line as the bigger fish are going to be following. We were able to catch a couple of fish, both small and largemouth bass on tubes, but the action was not fast or furious by any means. For the few bites that we are getting, we are working very hard to get them, but the fish that are caught have fat bellies and are feeding some. With the weather still being very nice, it is very hard to give up the time casting for a bite so we are going to keep at it and the rewards will be coming. Keep watching as time goes by you should and will see the quality of the fish start going up dramatically….
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September 25, 2007
We are at the tail end of September but the air temps are making it feel like it is the beginning to the middle of august with 85 degrees, sunny and fairly windy. Decided to take advantage of the day and hit the water as the water temps are dropping and we were reading 65.5 degrees. The weeds are still plenty green in areas and that was the focus of us searching for fish. As we move into the fall patterns, the key to locating fish is always being able to find the greenest weeds in the lake as they are giving off that much needed oxygen that the fish are looking for....
We were finding patches of the green weeds but were not finding much for action in and around them. We worked the topwater with buzzbaits, worked the middle column with rattle traps and weightless plastic baits and worked the bottom with crankbaits, jigs and
Since we were not getting the bass or even pickerel to cooperate we decided to head off for some panfish action. Working a deep flat in 20 feet of water the Vexilar screen was lit up so we anchored and sent T.H.E. Jig down to see what was down there. Hoping to catch some crappies and sunnies, wasn’t long and the first fish was on and when it hit the surface we found out that we were on top of white perch. Catching these 12 inch white perch on an ultra light was a lot of fun and while we were there for the half hour or so, T.H.E. Jig did its damage and kept us entertained. They were barely hitting it but as you were working it you would feel weight and the fight was on....
We have been finding out this summer that when the targeted fish are not going to cooperate, by switching gears and species of fish, the day on the water can still be very productive and fun. Would like to catch bass more than anything else, but there are going to be those days that we just can’t figure them out and then there is always another fish in the lake that will be willing to bite. Until next time keep those lines in the water and enjoy what Mother Nature has to offer....
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September 17-21, 2007
With the coolness of fall starting to show herself in the evenings, one would think that this will start getting the fish into the fall feeding frenzy. This was another tough week of fishing for us as we were restricted solely to shore and the water levels are continuing to drop. Cooler nights and sunny warmer days are making the fishing somewhat tough and hasn’t really gotten the baitfish schooling together yet. The sunfish are sunning themselves in the shallower water and those are always fun to catch but we were looking for bass this week. We were able to catch a couple of bass on a couple of different occasions but the action was not fast and furious that was for sure. With the calm days this week we even went after topwater action but that only proved one small smallmouth. Nothing big was caught but it still is nice getting out on the water and enjoying these warmer fall days. We will be at it most every day and keep watching as you are going to see the day when the fall fishing is at its best and the numbers and size are going to go up dramatically. Here’s to everyone that is enjoying their fall fishing and keep those lines in the water….
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September 16, 2007
This weekend the fall like weather has really shown itself here in New England as the morning temps were 45 degrees and brisk. With the cooling nights this will start getting the fish into that fall feeding mode and numbers of fish and size of fish should start getting better with each passing day. Decided to hit a small local lake and see if the bass want to come out and play. Nobody at the landing, staying home keeping warm I guess as the steam is rising off of the water. This off colored lake has lily pads all around a majority of the lake and this is where we concentrated our efforts. After dissecting a good portion of the shoreline with a variety of baits, only one small bass fell victim and time to move to deep water. We concentrated on deep underwater structure that consisted of rock and gravel but to unveil there was nobody home either. Did notice that there was some surface activity in the shallow water of a sunken hump and remembering that I had a rod rigged with T.H.E. Jig, wasn’t long and fish were coming over the side of the boat. Thankfully I remembered that and T.H.E. Jig saved my day as we caught numbers of sunfish and a few bass were thrown into the mix. By being able to switch gears and species of fish, we were able to salvage a day that was looking very dismal....
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September 10-13, 2007
The heat of summer was still hanging around but the nights are getting cooler as each day passes. The beginning of the week started out cooler and damp but that didn’t seem to do anything to the fish. Usually when the weather is such, this will turn them on and fishing is usually fantastic but we were unable to get anything going. Have been fishing a few spots and they just are not producing at all. The lake that we are fishing frequently is 4-5 feet down in water and making finding any deep water from shore a real chore. One day we spent our time walking around a good portion of the lake and wasn’t able to find any depth of water on that stretch. We were able to catch one smallmouth but we must have just casted into the right spot at the right time as that was the only fish caught. Was a very tough week and glad to put this one behind us and hopefully with the cool temps rolling in, this will get the fall bite going strong….
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August 30-September 6, 2007
With the holiday weekend and we had a very nice long one, one would think that fishing was on our minds but this past Labor Day was for family and friends. For the 5 day long weekend we headed for Maine and met up with a bunch of old friends and their families for a great camping outing. The days were spent on the beach or at the playground with the kids and the evenings spent around the campfire with a couple of guitars strumming into the night. Weather couldn’t have been better and the company was great and we are all looking forward to turning this into a yearly event as this was our 2nd in the last two years....
Once we got back to work and get back into our lunch time fishing outings, the week started out slow and the weather couldn’t be better for the beginning of September. Lately the weather has a high sun with no clouds and very light winds blowing. The bite has been off as well as there were a few strikes lately and a couple of broken lines on hook sets but no fish caught to talk about....
Until today, figured that the weather was going to play into our hands as the clouds have moved in and there was a good breeze blowing into this shoreline. After making multiple casts and changing up the bait, there weren’t any bites to be had. Figured that I would move down the shoreline a little and try a few more casts before leaving and this had paid off with a good fish. One thing that I can’t stress enough about fishing is that you really need to watch your line after casting. The fish will hit your bait before it hits the bottom and if you don’t watch your line, you don’t realize how many fish you are missing. This nice 3.5 pound largemouth did just that and I doubt that he would have been there after it hit the bottom and I started moving the bait....
The lake that we fish during our lunch is dropping at least 2 inches a day as of late and is at least 4 feet down right now. They are talking rain next week but it is going to take a lot to get this lake back into any type of shape. This is hurting the shore fishing as the deeper spots that you were able to cast to are disappearing and the shallow water is extending further out. Seems lately the bait the fish are looking for is a tube in any sort of a green hue color. Finesse worms have been getting bites but not putting fish in our hands. The weekend is approaching and looks like it is time to get the boat out again and go searching for some line jerking and rod ripping fish and hopefully we will have some good reports to share at the end of the weekend. Enjoy the weekend and fall is approaching and if you are not a hunter, the lakes are going to be getting less pressure and more relaxation can be had as the lake dwellers are calling it a season and heading home....
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August 24-29, 2007
Was this last weekend hot or what, weather wise and not so much fish wise. We spent one day of the weekend on a New Hampshire lake and while dodging all of the tubers, skiers and boaters trying to stay cool in the 90 plus degree day, fish were hard to come by. We were able to catch a number of fish but mainly on the smaller side as we were not able to find any concentrations, but kept moving from spot to spot picking up 1 or 2 here and there. Carolina rig was the happening technique and match that with the BearPaws Hippie/Swim bait, fished thicker weeds in 8-12 feet of water. Was nice to get on the water as it has been a while without a boat down for repairs, but seems that now we should be able to get out more once again....
Spent a good part of the week at our favorite lunch time shore spot but this week was brutally tough on us as well. Weather wise there was high hot sun, which is not good for the bite on this lake and the wind was so light and variable that the bite was none existent for 3 of the 4 days....
Today was the only day that we were able to get a bite and turned out to be a nice 3 pound largemouth with a very full and fat belly. We were fishing the Catch-N Ring-N tube and the fish must have followed the bait almost all the way to shore before hitting it. Was an awesome fight and made the drag on the reel sing like a bird. Snapped a couple of photo’s and released her back into the water to fight another day. Was nice to finally feel that tug of a fish once again as with the bright sun and light winds, these conditions have not been favorable for us at all at this lake....
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August 23, 2007
After having a very good day yesterday, I better get out to the lake again and give it another whirl. The conditions couldn’t be better, cloudy skies, light breeze blowing into the shoreline and cool temps that make it feel like fall. As I came to the spot that I frequent a lot lately, the excitement that overcame me was unbelievable and my hands were shaking with excitement. I haven’t been this excited and nervous fishing a spot that I had to take a few breaths to settle myself down....
I made my first cast towards the sweet spot and let the Catch-N Ring-N tube sink to the bottom. As I started moving the bait back towards me ever so slowly, all the excitement had made me warm and I decided to take my sweatshirt off. As I turned to throw my sweatshirt behind me I noticed that my line was starting to move and with one hand releasing the sweatshirt and the other swinging the rod to set the hook, the fight was on. This was a very hard fighting fish that tried to come up but never made the surface and came unhooked, all on the first cast....
Put myself back together and checked the line for nicks and made a few more casts out there again. Wasn’t long and you could feel weight on the line again and set the hook but only was able to get a few cranks of the reel and off that fish came. Now frustration was starting to set in and decided to change the bait to see if that would make a difference. After a few more casts and deciding if it was time to go, the line got heavy once again and as I set the hook the line snapped....
At that point I decided that this was not going to be my day and might as well head back to work and try and put this outing out of my mind. There were a couple of factors that played into making this a tough day. One of them is that since we are fishing areas with rocks and sand, you need to check your line all the time for wear and nicks because if you miss one of those, that may cause a break in your line. The other, I am using G-Lock worm hooks and these are going to be thrown out very quickly. I generally use EWG worm hooks that have a wider gap to them compared to the G-Lock hooks that the gap I feel is not open enough and if you do use the G-Lock worm hooks, you may want to go up a couple sizes for better hook-ups....
Looking forward to tomorrow as we are going to try in the morning first off and then again at lunch time and see what happens. Suppose to be sunny and warm tomorrow so it will be another day that we will have to see what the bite will be like. If you have 15-30 minutes of time and want to wet a line but don’t think that isn’t long enough, get out there and give it a try as you may be very surprised in what you catch....
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August 22, 2007
Didn’t think we were going to be able to get out to our lake to fish today during lunch, but was able to sneak out for a little time there. Last week we thought that we had the weather conditions figured out as to what the bite would be like. Well today threw all of that out of the window and at this point, whenever we get a chance to wet a line, no matter the weather conditions, we are going to get out there....
Arrived at the lake and we had partly cloudy skies and a light breeze coming down the shoreline. Figured that the bite would be tough but on the third cast a scrappy 1.5 pound smallmouth attacked our bait on the fall. We have been fishing finesse worms a lot lately and figured it was time to change our bait selection. We decided to go with the Catch-N Tackle’s Ring-N Tube and this was the hot ticket for this outing. We had 4 bites and were able to get three of them in for pictures and observance of what a great fishery this lake really is....
Seems to be one spot there that the fish are hanging around and from what we can tell, there is a little vegetation there and that is what is holding them there. The next fish to fall victim to the tube was a 2.5 pound hard fighting smallmouth. Wasn’t more than a few more casts and the line tightened up and the third fish was on. As we were fighting this fish in, it jumped like a smallmouth but was a 3 pound largemouth and really gave the equipment a workout....
From fishing as of late, our technique is coming down to one thing, slow and short. We are working the bait very slowly along the bottom and are only moving the bait 2-4 inches at a time. The faster we move the bait, the fewer bites that are detected, so each cast may take 2-3 minutes to get in. If this is what it is going to take to get these fish, then the few casts that we are allowed in our short time span that we are there fishing, this is what we are going to do. So the next time that you are out fishing and aren’t getting the bites that you think you should be getting, try this ever slow pain staking approach and this may help put more fish on your line....
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August 21, 2007
Was able to get out again for a little while during lunch and sadly I had forgotten my camera on my desk at work as it would happen. Was uncertain as to what or if anything was going to be biting as the sky was overcast but this shoreline had little wind in the area. After trying to figure out the best conditions last week didn’t think it would pan out today....
Made a couple of casts out towards the area that I normally get bites in and then the third cast that heavy feeling on the line was there. Set the hook and we had a good fish on, as the line was raising towards the surface my biggest smallmouth from this lake jumped into the air. It was near three pounds and had the most brilliant colors that I have seen on a smallmouth especially from this lake. Marveled its beauty and released her to fight another day. Made a few more casts and if they are there you will know fairly quickly and figured since there wasn’t any bites coming I would move. Wanted to fish off of a point but a couple of KIDS got there just before I did and I settled down the shoreline. Wasn’t long and a tap and another smaller smallmouth was caught and after that was time to head back to work....
After work I went back to my original location but there was another angler there and we went to another lake for a few casts. The next lake has darker muddy colored water so instead of a texas rigged worm decided to put on a Ring-N Tube for the extra vibration in the water. Wasn’t long and the first largemouth was on and wasn’t anything big, but for casting from the boat landing, take whatever was biting. Made a cast to the edge of the lily pads and a hard hit I had broken my line. Made a cast on the other side of the landing towards the lily pads and a couple of taps were rewarded with a nicer largemouth. This was the most productive this lake has shown me in quite sometime and really made for a great ending of the day....
All in all was a good day to be casting as the cloud cover was there and a slight breeze to break the water surface. Depending on the color of the water, you will need to adapt the baits that are going to be the most productive as the clearer the water, the lesser commotion works. As the water gets darker, a bait that puts out more vibration works better so that the fish are able to locate the bait a little easier....
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August 13-16, 2007
This week I had gone to the same body of water during lunch as previous outings and wanted to see what the different conditions would warrant for fish caught or not caught. There is becoming a pattern, sort of speak as to what conditions the fish want to bite at this location. Here is the breakdown:
Monday: The sun was shining bright and there was a light breeze with not much waves or ripples on the water’s surface at this spot. I am finding that this condition makes for tough fishing and seems that the fish are void of this area when it is like this. There was only one bite detected and was missed as well....
Tuesday: The sun and breeze is almost a carbon copy of what Monday had brought and was another tough day for fishing this spot. At the end of this trip there wasn’t any bites what so ever detected and made for a long lunch time....
Wednesday: The weather and conditions have changed dramatically this time out and made for better fishing but still not great. It was cloudy and some good wind blowing into this shoreline which is always a plus that I am finding. There were a number of bites detected and one nice 2 pound largemouth bass caught....
Thursday: The weather does another change and the sun is back but the winds are blowing stronger today and still blowing into this shoreline. This day was by far the best of the week and we had numerous bites, broke off baits and a nice 3 pound largemouth was caught. On Thursday we had tried in the morning and had no luck, tried at lunch time which was the best and then after work which the wind was stronger and was almost impossible to fish there....
We are finding that after fishing there the last four days; we are getting a feeling as to what conditions the fish want. For smallmouth they are looking for cloudy, dreary day with the wind blowing into this area. For the largemouth they are looking for sunny, partly cloudy day with wind blowing into this area. As long as there is wind blowing in here and somewhat partly cloudy, there should be fish caught. If it is high sun and no winds, might as well try somewhere else for catching fish. We are fishing plastic worms texas rigged and fishing them extremely slow. The bigger fish are starting to come on the smaller worms....
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August 11, 2007
Decided to try fishing my favorite lake in New Hampshire once again and after arriving at the campground and having lunch we hit the water. This lake has been very finicky for us the last two years and was very tough over the week of July 4th this year. Since we haven’t been back till now decided first off to try the Crankbait bite and see if that was still going. We were finding out very quickly that the Crankbait bite was virtually non-existent and decided to switch over to the Carolina rig. I can fish only a Carolina rig in this lake and do very well but since the rains of 2 years ago, the lake has been going through a change and the 20 plus fish a day are in the past now. Our previous outing in July the plastic bait bite was non-existent and only a Crankbait would work. Now it has switched and after putting on a BearPaw Hippie/Swim bait, it wasn’t long and the bites were starting. We concentrated on the outer edges of the weeds in the 8-12 feet of water and with the Carolina rig we are able to cover water fairly quickly. We did notice that if the bait was in an area that didn’t have weeds around there, the fish wouldn’t be hanging around those areas. You had to work the edges or through the weeds and that seemed to be the pattern that was working for us. We hit 4 spots in the 2-3 hours that we were out there and put 7 fish in the boat and broke a couple off as well. We are finally catching fish where they should be that we haven’t caught this year yet. Loads of traffic on this lake and that always makes it interesting fishing dodging the tubers and water skiers, but if the fish are willing to bite we will put up with that and keep on catching them. Nothing was really note worthy of taking a photo of, as they are still cookie cutter 2 pounders. This lake has numerous large fish of 5 plus pounds but the lake is fishing very tough this year and we haven’t seen any of those yet. Talked with another angler that I see out there quite frequently and he had the same story as the fish are long with big heads and tails, but they are fairly skinny bodied and we are uncertain as to why that is. Looking forward to getting back out there again but probably won’t be for a while again....
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August 10, 2007
Decided to try a few different things on this day to see what the fish’s mood and feeding was like. It was overcast, breeze blowing into this shoreline and trying to rain as well. With these conditions I had figured that the bite should be very good from what I have been seeing in similar conditions. After trying for a while there was nobody around or willing to bite so we headed off to work and get ready for the lunch time go around. Lunch time came and the rain turned to light sprinkles every now and then. The wind was still blowing well and the skies were overcast. I figured that since I was planning on taking an extended lunch I would walk some shoreline that I have not fished to see if we could find some new areas that held some better concentrations of fish. After working our way through some brush and downed trees and stopping at several spots to fish, we were only able to get a few bites in a couple of areas and so after that we went back to where we usually fish there. Upon arriving it didn’t take many casts and the first fish was on and as I was fighting it back to shore, not ever seeing it, it came off of the hook. Re-rigging and getting back out there, made a few more casts and thought that I was hooked on a rock. Then the line moved a little and there was a big fish on the line as it never came to the surface and went where ever it wanted to until it snapped our line. Retied and cast a few more times and decided to move a little down the shore to get a different angle at where I was casting to. A couple of casts and had another huge fish on the line that was fighting as hard as the last one, not sure if it was the same one or one of similar size that broke the line a few moments ago. This fish surfaced so that we got a good look at it and it was a largemouth bass that went at least 5 pounds and just as it went to jump, the line snapped again. After a huge disappointment and being frustrated, we decided to end this excursion and get back to work and relax a little. After work we went one more time to try and see if we could catch one of those big fish that had us fired up like you wouldn’t believe. We spent an half hour fishing there and had one small smallmouth hooked and when it went to jump, it threw the bait as well so that was number 4 fish that we lost that day and decided to quit and go home. It wasn’t our day to catch those fish but is always nice to have that line being tugged on....
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August 9, 2007
Went out at lunch time once again to see what the action was like at the lake near work. Nice having a body of water that is within 10 minutes of work and be able to fish for a little while during lunch break to get away from the grind of the job. This afternoon was sunny and little to no wind and I am finding that certain conditions prevail what type of bite is going to happen. Fished for most of the lunch time and one of the final few casts I get a bite and hook the fish. It was a pickerel and the weird thing about it that there was a 3 pound plus largemouth bass following it into shore. As I frantically tried to get the pickerel off of the hook so that I could give a try at the largemouth, the bass was gone and disappointment set in as that was one of the nicer fish that I have seen come out of the lake. At that point it was time to head back to work and at least there was one fish caught and gave up a good fight....
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August 8, 2007
We went fishing for round 2 of looking for lunch time shoreline smallmouth bass and the weather of course was different. Morning rain showers and a gusty wind started the day but by lunch time things were looking different. Arrived at the lake and the showers were over, sun was trying to peak out with high humidity and of course the wind was blowing into this shoreline as usual. Started in the weed beds from previous trips and with the wind made it tough fishing there but no one was home. Moved down the shoreline and made a few casts here and there and wasn’t getting any bites. At the last spot before leaving we had hit an area that had numbers of fish hanging there. A couple of casts and the first 2 pound smallmouth came in, and wasn’t long before the next fish was hooked. Unfortunately that fish came unhooked and never got a look at it, but it definitely felt like a much nicer fish than the first. Kept casting around this area and hooked a smaller smallmouth to round out the lunch time outing and 3 fish were caught. All of these fish were caught on an 8” needle worm and the size of this worm is not having an effect on these smallmouths as they are loving this bait....until our next outing, tight lines and enjoy the outdoors....
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August 6, 2007
With the heat of August setting in we haven’t been to any of our lunch time lakes as of late and needed to start checking them out again. Spent this lunch time at a reservoir that we had done very well at this spring and seems to be hit and miss here. The weather was drizzly and overcast with a light breeze blowing down the shoreline. We are starting to figure out where the weed beds are and concentrating on them and around them as well. Trying to fish the outside edge in our search for fish and this day proved to be a good one. Was fishing one of these weed bed edges with an 8” needle worm Texas rigged and wasn’t long and the first smallmouth was coming in. A little surprising as we figured that the largemouth would be there but will take a smallmouth anytime. This first fish was caught on the edge of the weed bed and the fish picked it up on the initial cast on the fall. It is very important to watch your line at all times as a number of times they will hit it on the fall. Worked this area for a little while and with no more bites moved down the shoreline, after a couple of spots hooked into another smallmouth on the same bait and was a little bigger than the first around 2 pounds. Worked here for a while and after no takers there moved into the corner of the reservoir that gave up another chunky smallmouth. In the 45 minutes that we had fished this reservoir from shore we had landed 3 smallmouth and they were all healthy and had fatter bellies as well. We weren’t to confident about catching to much from these warm shoreline waters but now with new ambition and fish willing to be caught, we will be back on the lunch time hunt once again. Haven’t used this type of a worm before but has made a very good impression on us and will be using it again soon….get out there and enjoy the outdoors….
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July 19, 2007
We were on vacation for some time and spent a little time in Northern Minnesota during the week visiting family and friends and never seem to have enough time to spend in this great state. The fishing was top notch as usual on this small lake that my parents live on and lived up to my previous years of fishing there....
When we didn’t take the boat out I would fish with my son on the dock and he was enjoying fish after fish while fishing with T.H.E. Jig. He used one jig the time that we were there and caught numerous numbers of sunnies, crappies, perch and bass. He was really enjoying being able to walk out of the house and onto the dock and start catching fish right away. He is hooked on the sport of fishing and really couldn’t get enough of it while we were there....
When the wife and I would take the boat out we only fished one spot that consisted of an underwater hump that came out of 25 feet of water and topped out at 8 feet with weeds on top. She was using the weightless fluke baits and that seemed to be working mainly in the evening and caught numerous bass up to 2.5 pounds. She was casting it out and working it slowly above the weeds and the fish were nailing it at times cast after cast. Tried this technique in the morning but was not as effective at all and we figured that the bass were cruising the tops of the weeds looking for food in the evening....
Since she was concentrating on the top part of the water column I decided to look at the bottom of the water column. I would anchor the boat either on the face side or the back side of this particular hump. Then I would cast the tube bait into deeper water and slowly bring it up the hump towards the weeds and that is where I was catching all of my fish....
The fish that I was catching in this area were of a better quality but you had to work harder at catching them. The slower I worked it the better size of fish was being caught and when you would get to the edge of the weeds, the sparse quantity of weeds on the edge of the top of this hump seem to have concentrations of fish on them. The first time out wasn’t productive doing this but the next two times out were very productive and I had caught my biggest yet from this lake. Of the three outings we had to this hump, there was 40-50 bass caught there from 1 to over 4 pounds....
We haven’t found too many areas like this one but by reading the electronics and looking around and seeing what the “lay of the land” was like made for a few great outings. To bad that our time in MN was short but at the same time was sweet with the numbers and size of fish caught. Looking forward to getting back again but it will be a while before this is happening....
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June 30-July 7
July 4th holiday is a time that many take off and go camping for the week and incorporate fishing into their vacation as well. Camping lakeside is very enjoyable and relaxing as well and when the fish are cooperating this makes for a very enjoyable time. Seems that the fish are in the same mode as last year and the lake is setting up in a similar way as well.
The springs in New Hampshire the last two years have been very wet and cool and looking at this lake, there seems to be something happening to this body of water. The normal spots that we catch better quality fish from have changed their weed content from coontail to more of a stringy weed and these are not holding many numbers or size of fish....
I usually fish this lake a lot with a Carolina rig and do very well as every few hours out there usually gives up 10-15 fish regularly. Lately, 4-5 fish out there is good and many fishers that are there every weekend are only catching a few all weekend. Plastics are a big producer here usually but this was another weird year that had some twists. Of the 25 or so bass caught this week, only two of them came on plastics and all the rest came on the Carolina Chip’s Crankbait. This lake has never been a Crankbait lake for me the past 4-5 years but that is all that we could catch them on this year....
We were concentrating our efforts in the 6-8 foot depths and had to have some sort of green weed in the area to hold any fish. There were no big fish caught all week and only heard of one 4 pounder caught from this lake all week. The Crankbait was producing 2-2.5 pound fish consistently but nothing bigger and only a couple that were smaller. The regular’s that fish here say that something is happening to the lake but haven’t figured out yet what that is. I always look forward to fishing here and enjoy the quality fish that it will produce, and will be back again next year and will have to look for a few new tactics to try to turn the catching around....
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June 17-23, 2007
Fishing has definitely slowed for shore fishing opportunities as the fish are moving off shore towards deeper water. Only action to report for us this week was in the morning the fish are cruising the shallow weed filled flats adjacent to shore. Most of the bodies of water have the weeds establishing very well now as the water temps are getting to their summer temperatures....
The object on up coming trips will be to start targeting off shore structure and deeper weedbeds. To fish these areas we will be using drop shot rigs, crankbaits, Carolina rigs and any type of lures that probe the deeper waters. Early morning and late evening will provide great topwater action as well and shouldn’t be forgotten as the explosions that happen when a fish attacks a topwater bait is heart stopping....
As there are more surface weeds forming and creating what people call junk on top of the water, fishing a floating frog bait over these areas is becoming very productive and is another very exciting way to catch bass. One thing to remember with this type of bait is to wait and feel the weight of the fish on your line before setting the hook as if you don’t the chances of missing that fish greatly increase. The main thing now that summer is here is to get out there and keep your line in the water and enjoy what the outdoors has to offer you....
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June 10 – 16, 2007
This week for us was a fairly slow week and the fishing was the same as well. The weather was somewhat of a roller coaster and there were warm temps as well as cool temps. It had rained as well and the whole week we had fairly tough fishing and no to much to report. The fish are moving from post spawn resting areas out towards their deeper water summer haunts and that is going to be our concentration going forward….
The weeds on most lakes are forming very well and the weed lines are getting established. These are the areas that we search out and fishing in and through them are going to be rewarding with some good fish. Another area that needs to be looked at as well would be to start drop shotting some of the deeper humps and flats. It may be a little early for that, but every lake out there is at a different level of what the fish are doing. The main point is to get out there and enjoy what the outdoors has to offer and explore the various water depths and you will find out where they are….
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Sunny, 74 degree air temp, light winds
Finally Friday and decided since the weather was so nice and the fish are still feeding fairly regular was going to make a few runs throughout the day. Started first thing in the morning and spent 15 minutes in an area that is a flat with some weeds starting to get thick. Was using a tube bait Texas rigged with a light sinker and casting into the weeds. I find it very productive to cast my baits into very thick weeds and slowly work the bait through the weeds in search of fish. By using this technique I was able to catch a large and smallmouth bass and then headed off to work....
During lunch I made my hike into the place I have been catching smallmouth bass and it was fairly calm this day. Since yesterday I had missed a good fish in one area I figured that I would make my first cast there. The tube bait hit the water and made it to the bottom, as I was tightening the line I could feel that there was weight there and set the hook. After fighting it for 10 feet or so, the fish came off. I made a few more casts to that area and set the hook into another good fish and as I was fighting this one, the line broke and that one was gone. I did this again not much later and lost that one as well. This was one of those days that I was not going to get these fish in and none of them I didn’t see as well as they stayed down. Still confused as to why I am not getting these fish in but since I am standing on shore, I am wondering if the angle that I am at is not allowing me to get a good hook set....
Stopped at this same lake after work and started in the same area as this morning but nothing was happening there. Moved further down the shore to another area that I know has weeds in it and applied my same technique and wasn’t long and caught a nice healthy chunky largemouth bass. Missed one other fish in this area and called it a day. Well the weekend is here again and we will be taking the big boat out in search of some more of those giant largemouth. So look forward to another report soon as we get ready to hit the water once again...
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June 7, 2007
70 degree air temp, sunny skies, moderate breeze
We have been busy this week taking care of a few things, so our fishing has been on the back burner. The last couple of days we have been trying a couple of panfish places for a few minutes here and there but they have seemed too moved off shore and unable to catch easily. So today was time to switch gears back to bass once again....
Haven’t done much lunch time fishing this week so being it was a nice day might as well head to the smallmouth spot. The sun was shining high and bright and the wind was blowing some into the shoreline and that made it a little tough casting down the shoreline. After taking my hike through the woods and over the fields, my spot appears and can’t wait to get the line in the water....
Today we are going to veer away from topwater and concentrate on fishing the bait on the bottom. Today’s choice of baits was the Catch-N Tackle “Ring-N Tube”. This tube bait has outer rings like a ring worm on the outside of the body. These rings will give the fish a feel of the bait and allows the tube to be softer to the touch when a bass picks it up. The tube is rigged Texas style and using a 3/16 oz weight allows for further casting off shore....
Wasn’t long and only four casts to know if the smallmouth were still using this area and the line started moving. As I reared back and set the hook the fight was on and the acrobatic fish started its dance. As this fish came to shore and I was unhooking it, another fish jumped down the shoreline a little ways exposing itself to me. Released this smallmouth after some video and photo’s and decided to try for the one that had just jumped....
First cast to that spot the fish grabbed the tube on the fall but I had missed it when trying to set the hook. Made more casts to that area and the fish had picked my tube bait up three more times but before I could set the hook, it would drop my bait and I would miss the fish. I never was able to catch that fish even after changing tube colors. We were only able to catch that one smallmouth but that one smallmouth was better than sitting at my desk eating my lunch. We will be going back again tomorrow and give it another whirl as I am unsure as to how long these fish are going to use this area...
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June 2, 2007
75 air temps, 71 water temp, no wind, dead calm water, very humid, sun in and out
Arrived at the ramp in the earlier morning and planned to fish until noon and get home to do yard work. Upon arrival there wasn’t a sole in the lot or on the lake which was unusual since it was warm and humid. But that makes it easier fishing for my self if there isn’t anyone else out there and have a choice of spots.
Since the water was like glass I decided to go looking for crappies and see if they were cruising under the surface like they were the week before. Motored over to that area and there they were, pods of fish sucking things off of the surface as they are moving and eating. I had shutdown the motor before getting to them, and tied on T.H.E. Jig under my float and proceeded to fish. Wasn’t long and the fish were coming into the boat one after another. I had T.H.E. jig 10 inches under the float and that was actually to deep for them as well and you would have to twitch it after casting to let them see T.H.E. Jig. After moving the bait a couple of times you always had a fish slam it. They were all cookie cutter 10 inch long crappies and were only able to get a couple of sunfish as well. There were no bass that were mixed in this time around but catching many numbers of crappies this way sure made up for it.
After fishing for crappies for 45 minutes or so, I didn’t want to miss out on fishing for bass as well. So in that time frame I had caught between 40-60 fish and made for another grand morning of fishing. Put the panfish gear away and went looking for their bigger cousin the largemouth bass.
Since the water was 5 degrees warmer than last week, I wanted to stick to the flats outside of the spawning areas and see if I could coax some post spawn fish into the boat. I had an array of baits out to sample what the fish wanted, floating minnow, weightless fluke bait, jerkbait, jig/plastic, Carolina rig, buzzbait and Spinnerbait. The jerkbait was the first to find fish and seems all that I can catch on it are pickerel so that one was put down quickly. There was no action on the buzzbait or Spinnerbait, the jig/plastic combo wasn’t working as well so I had to go to old reliable.
My go to setup is the Carolina rig when I want to cover water that is shallow or deep. I started fishing this with a plastic BearPaw’s lizard and I had a couple of solid bites that when I set the hook, I was fighting the fish and then they would just come unbuttoned for no reason. I had this happen to me and was wondering if this was going to be one of those days that I couldn’t keep anything hooked. Changed the lizard to a new bait that BearPaw’s is coming out with and one thing is that the pickerel sure love that new bait. Took that bait off and then put the BearPaw’s Freedom Fry on and everything changed for the good. After a few casts with this bait I had a solid hookup in a heavy fish and before I was able to see it, the leader line broke and that was the end of that fish. Rigged back up and a handful of casts again and loaded up on a big fish again and this one was not going to get away if I had anything to do with it. After the fight, I lipped my latest giant fish and hoisted a 5 pound largemouth into the boat. You could hear me scream across the lake as my excitement over took me and I was shaking after that fish. Shot some video and took a couple of photos and eased her back into the water for another day to fight.
My adrenaline was running high and I really wanted to catch another monster like that one but was getting close to leaving and getting back home. I was unable to catch any more fish but when you catch a fish like that, you want to come back quickly and give it another go around. These are the things that us fishers truly enjoy and makes the next trip even better with the anticipation of catching another giant.
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May 31 - June 1, 2007
Went out again yesterday at lunch but in 24 hours the conditions have changed so much. I had shorts on for fishing and got into the water and was able to walk the shoreline and fish areas that haven't probably been touched by anybody because from the shore it would be impossible. The conditions were 15 degrees cooler, cloudy, and the wind was blowing some into this shoreline. Fish activity was little and really had to work to see what I had seen. I had caught a little smallmouth, had a decent one blow up on my bait twice with total misses both times and then it wouldn't show itself again. The last blowup was a huge fish that grab the minnow and I fought it for a few feet and then it came undone. Wasn't to happy about that but that is why we fish to try again. Was a little disappointing from the previous day, but fishing is still better than working anytime. Not sure if I am going to have time to get out there today during lunch or not but we will see....
Wasn't planning on going Friday but the weather changed again to little wind, full sun and warm temps once again....tried fishing the same shoreline and wasn't able to hook anything but the blowups that I had were very big fish as they came out of the water and would miss the floating minnow...
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May 30, 2007
77 degree air temp, little wind, sunny
There is a lake near work that I fish during lunch on occasion and has some nice large and smallmouth bass in it. Funny thing about this body of water though, is that it fishes fairly hard for me. So my plan for fishing this day was to work top water since there was little wind to none. Started before work and fished an area that I normally fish and was fishing with a Rapala floating minnow. The water is still high and with no wind blowing figured that the fish would be cruising through the shallow water. Tried a number of different shorelines on this side of the lake and had a few blow ups but was not able to hook them. They were hitting short and I don’t think they were too big from what I could see....
Since that wasn’t producing like I would like it to be, during my lunch time I figured that I would take a hike to a different part of the lake. I stopped short of where I wanted to fish to make a few casts and had a blowup right away but missed that fish. A few more casts and I had my first 2 pound smallmouth in my hands. They were nailing the floating minnow with great force and in shallow water as well. Took a picture and released this fish and cast back to that area a couple of more time. Wasn’t long and another fish slammed the minnow but this time I had caught a pickerel. Made a few more casts and decided to head for the area that I was destined to fish....
This part of the lake is a large shallow gravel flat that gradually goes out to deeper water. There was a slight breeze blowing in and broke up the surface of the water a little. Wasn’t to many casts and a smallmouth blew up on the minnow and the fight was on. Landed this fish and shot some video and photo’s and released her back into the water. The object was to cast out as far as I could and slowly jerk the minnow back towards me. This retrieve seemed to be to much for these smallmouth as it wasn’t long and another was on the line. While fishing I noticed to my right down the shoreline there was activity on the surface and casted to that area. Two twitches and smallmouth number 4 was on. As I was fighting this fish in I could see that there was another smallmouth following it but I wasn’t able to get the trebles out of the one that I caught fast enough to try for that one as well. The wind was picking up a little and made it tough casting to that area without getting the slack line into the shoreline trees. I figured that next time I would be prepared to go into the water as this shoreline is wooded and there is no possible way to fish it from shore. At this time it was getting late for my lunch break already and I needed to get back to work so I headed back to the truck....
After work I stopped at a different location on the lake again and tried and had a boil on the minnow right away but they had missed it. Moved down the shore a little and caught another small pickerel and that was all I had time for. Problem I think on this shoreline was that the wind was blowing to hard into it and not sure if the smallmouth were even using it at all. Tomorrow I am planning on going back and prepared to go into the water and hopefully the rain will hold off and allow me to fish. Probably won’t be to many more days that these fish are in these locations and will be a little tougher to find and catch. All in all I had a great day and haven’t had a good smallmouth day in a while and made for an exciting lunch break, who needs to eat lunch when there are fish to be caught...
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May 28, 2007
53 air temp, cloudy, 65 water temp, no wind, light rain on and off
Went out on Memorial Day morning and was very quiet and the lake was dead calm which in most cases makes for a tough day on this body of water. There were a few boats out already and they were all moving around trying to locate fish. From some research I had been doing the word was that the bass are in the post spawn mode now and I decided to start on a flat outside of a spawning area....
The first thing that I noticed when I started fishing was that there was fish activity on the surface of the water. In fact, there were many pods of fish around this area and I decided to investigate what was going on. Wasn’t long and I had my answers that I was looking for, crappies. As long as you didn’t spook them, they were very catchable and were constantly moving around eating bugs off of the top of the water. I had caught numerous crappies following these pods around and was catching them on T.H.E. Jig and Loby Baits Stoni plastics in the red color on a jighead. The action was none stop and I haven’t seen this kind of activity in a long time. There were a few different species of fish mixed into the feeding frenzy and crappies, sunfish, bass and white perch were caught....
As the wind started to pick up and the sun started to poke through the clouds, this action seized to exist and I moved on in search of largemouth bass. I stayed in this area since the fish were supposed to be in the post spawn phase. I was targeting water depths of 6 to 9 feet of water and fishing through the new emerging grass that was starting to grow. Using a number of baits, Bearpaws Swim bait, jerk bait, floating Rapala, jig/pig, BearPaw Grizzly jerk, Carolina Rig, Bearpaw Paw-a-Craw/jig and the Paw-a-Craw/jig was the combination that worked.
Using this combination bait I was able to fish it very slowly and work any depth range that I wanted to work. I had caught a few fish on this and the biggest was a largemouth around 3 pounds. A few others in the 1 to 1.5 pound range were caught as well. As the clouds started to burn off and the sun became stronger, even that bite seized to exist anymore and with more boats starting to come out, I ended my day and felt good about the number of variety of fish that I had caught and can tell that the summer patterns are not that far away and summer fishing is right around the corner.
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May 23, 2007
Weather has finally stabilized and things are starting to get caught up a little and decided to take the boat out and hit a local lake. Arrived at the lake around noon and there was another angler coming off of the water and said that he had only caught one perch. The lake is 2 feet high right now from the previous weekend’s storms and the water is still cool. The winds were light but wasn’t long after launching that there were white caps once again and that seems to be the norm this spring as we are having a lot of wind and not many calm days as of late.
Started fishing deep structure and was marking loads of fish but wasn’t able to convince any of them to bite. After battling the waves and wind decided to move into a creek arm area and look for bass that are shallow and getting ready to spawn or may be spawning. Was fishing with the BearPaws Baits “Grizzly Jerk” that is fortified with MegaStrike and with this bait you are able to skip it under the over hanging branches and it is weed less as well. Wasn’t long and there was a big tug on the line and as I went to set the hook I could see a large fish roll on the bait and then it was gone. This was the first big fish of the year and I can tell that my reflexes are not quite up to par yet. The “Grizzly Jerk” is a fluke type bait and has a hidden pocket in it to protect the hook from snagging weeds and wood. The natural movement of this bait moving through the reeds and lily pads mimics an injured bait fish minnow very well. The area that I was fishing was a creek arm but had a muddy bottom and didn’t seem to hold much for spawning fish. I was able to get one 14 inch bass out of there but was a lot of casting and searching to find that one fish.
I did have company in there as there was a pair of swans using the area for nesting and I enjoyed watching them for quite a while. Worked my way to the back of this arm and wasn’t able to find anymore fish and the wind was getting stronger and blowing right down the length of the arm and making it for tough fishing. With an hour left of fishing time, and the bass were not cooperating, I decided to go searching for some panfish action.
Went to the back of a cove that was protected from the wind and the sun was warming the water in there. Wasn’t long and I found areas that were loaded with sunfish and crappies and made for some exciting fishing to end this fishing day. The panfish that I was catching were caught on T.H.E. Jig and also on Loby Baits Micro Flei in the pink color. Wasn’t the type of day that I was looking forward to as this lake has good numbers of large bass, but wasn’t able to locate them. The weeds have not started forming much yet and throwing in the high cool water into the mix, makes for some tough fishing but with some perseverance and changing up on baits and species of fish, you can turn a ok day into a day that you will remember for a while. It can only get better as the water starts to warm and the weed beds start forming, the fish will finish up with their spawning and move out to their summer haunts.
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May 22, 2007
The last few days have been hit and miss on a variety of ponds that were fished as of late. Thursday was slow as the storm was approaching and the winds were howling as usual. Was able to find some sunfish along the shores and they were biting on the Loby Baits Mousi in the white color.
The weekend was uneventful as the weather had turned sour and the winds and rains took over for the two day weekend. With all of the rain and runoff that has happened over these past few days, the water levels have risen again and temps have cooled the water temps as well.
Monday – sampled a couple of different ponds and I am seeing that depending on the day, weather and body of water if you are going to find fish or not. First went to a pond that have been doing very well lately and took a little while but found the sunfish once again. They keep moving around this little cove and seem to be in a different location every time that we fish there. These fish were caught on the Loby Baits Micro Flei in the pink color and was working very well. Went to another pond later in the day and this pond has risen 1-2 feet in water level. Water was clear and cool and after trying all of the locations that fish were caught on previous outings, ended fishing there with nothing to show for the efforts.
Weather has finally stablized once again and looking to get out bass fishing this week again and hopefully will have a good report for that. The long weekend is approaching and a good opportunity to get out in the outdoors and show the family and kids what the outdoors is all about. Memorial weekend is like the official kickoff to summer and the fun times and the fishing are really going to get into full swing…
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May 14 and 15
Things here in New England are finally starting towards the summer patterns and many species are getting through with their spawning duties. The crappies have done their thing and are gone from the shallows now, the sunfish have moved in and certain areas are thick with action. Waters are definitely warming and with that the fishing is only going to get better and the summer patterns will start playing into your fishing day soon....
Monday – went back to a bigger lake and before getting to the area that has been holding numbers of nice sunfish, had a nice discussion with a couple of young anglers and answered their questions that they had. Walked back to this area and the wind was blowing into it some and the fish have vacated that particular area. After walking the shoreline for quite a way’s to find more productive water, I ended in a small cove that was loaded with wood. As soon as I got there you could see the sunfish swimming around in this quiet area and the action was none stop. Lost a number of jigs here as the shoreline has a lot of tall dead weeds and grass and if you don’t get the fish on the surface of the water right away they may run into it. The bait for this area was a 1/32 oz jighead with a Loby Baits Mousi in the white color and the Polli in the pink color....
Tuesday – went to two different ponds and both of them the sunfish action was unbelievable. The first pond, is the one that I had been showing pictures and video’s of the crappies along the shore and the sunfish have finally moved in and taken over and are in full color. Nice sized bull sunfish and they are giving a great fight on Ultra Light gear. Fishing a 1/32 oz jig with the Loby Baits Buggi in the white color and when they stopped biting that color switched to the deep purple color and they would start biting again. The second pond once the active area was found, they were on fire here as well. Numbers of sunfish were caught but only a handful of them were the nicer sized fish. Lots of smaller fish here but as long as the cork is going down, it really doesn’t matter. The fish at this pond were caught with a 1/32 oz jig with a Loby Baits Mousi in the white color and only needed to use one piece of plastic to catch around 50 fish....
Plastics are Fantastic...
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Week of May 7-11, 2007
Fished a variety of ponds this week and all of these are all at different stages of the spawn right now. The weather had been very warm for the week with a few days of mid 80’s for temperatures. As the warm weather has finally heated things up, a few of the ponds have gone on fire with fish activity but as well there are a couple that just can’t figure out yet….
Monday – fished the pond that I have been checking all the time and showing where the crappies are spawning right near shore. This pond I have not been able to catch anything out of as I don’t think that the fish are near spawning yet but a few have. I haven’t seen the sunnies move in yet so this is telling me that the water is still cool but I haven’t been back there since, so not sure as to what is happening there now....
Tuesday – went after bass in my early season pond which we usually do very well with numbers of big fish. This day there were no fish caught, the bass from what I am hearing have spawned and are through and in the post spawn phase. I was there for seven hours and not one fish made it to the boat as there weren’t any bites at all. I fished shallow, mid range and deep as well, fished a number of baits from jigs, swim baits, Carolina rigs, spinner baits, rattle traps and jerk baits and nobody came out to play. Even went searching for sunnies and they were no where to be found as well. Was nice to be out there on the first 80 degree day of the year and feels great to be casting for bass once again....
Thursday and Friday – went to a big pond searching for sunnies and the first spot was an indent in the cattails and the fish were swimming all around. After catching a few from there they stopped biting all around and couldn’t get any of them to bite. After leaving there went to the other end of the pond and caught a couple of small smallmouth bass that were cruising the shorelines. Was a lot of fun on an ultralight rod and 2 pound line as they were jumping all over the place. Moved to the other side of this cove and there is an indent that is surrounded by wood and this area is loaded with sunnies and bass. A few of the smaller bass were caught but they were doing more cruising than anything else. But, the sunfish are on fire in this area and just about every cast was another fish. They were sunning themselves on top of the water and swimming all over the place. After catching numerous fish from here, they just keep biting and the action is unstoppable. Was there Friday morning before work and they are still in there thick and a load of fun to catch. Went back during lunch and a rain storm and they are still biting like crazy and since this morning the bigger bull sunfish are in there thick and a lot of fun to catch. You can’t get your hands around these fish and they are actually pulling line off of the reel in the runs they try to make. All of the fish that I am catching are coming on the Loby Baits Mousi, Buggi and Polly. I have gone through a number of jigs and baits in this area as there is a lot of wood and if I can’t turn the fish before it runs towards shore, they always seem to wrap around something. I am going back after work and catch a few more and the last couple of days have been phenomenal....
Now that the weather has finally turned warm and the waters are starting to warm quicker, the fish are very active and it is time to get out there and wet a line. Get out in the outdoors and please introduce a kid while you are out there…
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May 3-4, 2007
Well after checking a few ponds around at the end of last week, I can definitely tell that the panfish are all at different stages....Tried a new place Thursday afternoon and they weren't even coming in yet....Thursday night went to the lake that the sunnies were going crazy at earlier but the wind was strong and they weren't as active as the previous trip but still caught enough to keep me happy....Friday afternoon checked the pond that I check a few times during the week and the crappies have started moving in and sitting on their beds now....they are very black and aggressive as well with the bass cruising the shores as well....Friday evening checked my backup pond and I have a feeling that they have moved out of there and are through spawning there as I caught a couple of perch and one crappie....doubt that I will be back to that shoreline spot as the wood ticks have taken over that area...
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May 1, 2007
Sunny, 65 degree air temp, light breeze
Spent a minimal amount of time on two different ponds today and had mix results between the two. The first pond is a walk into pond and I am still unable to get a bite out of this pond. I am fishing the side where the sun hits the longest for the day and the water just doesn’t seem to be warming that fast. There are a number of springs in this pond and that may contribute to the slow warming trend. I keep trying it a couple times a week and eventually they will come in and the fishing will get going there....
Left that pond and drove down the road to a neighboring pond to check if the boat landing was open yet. I was there last week and they still had the concrete blocks across with no access. The blocks were removed and the access is open for business, there was an angler launching his boat and I helped him for a while as he was unable to get the big motor started and opted to use the trolling motor to fish for the afternoon....
After work I stopped by a lake near my son’s preschool and have never tried this one in the spring. First cast out was a nice sunny, actually just about every cast produced a sunfish and these fish were on fire here. You could actually see their backs sticking out of the water and if you cast to one general area, the float didn’t even get a chance to stand up and the fish were on. No crappies were caught but one little bass was caught as well. I was using the Loby Baits Drag-n-Mag and actually a fish pulled most of the bait off towards the end and left one little leg, so I left that leg on there and the feeding frenzy kept right on. Was a lot of fun and after the fifteen minutes that I was there, I had around 30 fish by then and had to leave with a nice big smile on my face...
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April 29, 2007
Cloudy, 46 degree air temp, 53.5 degree water temp, breezy, damp
We are experiencing your typical New England weather that is made for a duck. We have not had much experience yet this spring with warm weather as the folks in the Midwest are having. Temps are still in the upper 40’s with cloudy and threatening rain and this week coming still temps only around 60. We will probably skip spring this year and go right into summer but as long as we can wet a line we are still going fishing. Took my son for a walk around a local pond and he and I tried for some fish from shore but they weren’t cooperating. He was having more fun throwing branches and rocks into the water and that is fine with me as long as he is enjoying some time in the outdoors that is all that matters. He is really getting into taking long walks and I really have been enjoying this as he always wants to walk in the woods now.
Sunday morning came and the weather was still the same, but the boat is all tuned up and ready to go so weather didn’t matter at this time. There are three ponds that I frequent the most closest to home and one was closed due to high water, one had a tournament going on so I ventured to the smallest one. I arrived and there was nobody there so was kind of nice for the first trip of the year to work any bugs out of the boat. Water temps are around the mid 50’s but this lake for bass doesn’t really turn on until the temps are a little higher. Decided to use the panfish equipment and was not disappointed one bit as the fish are actively into their spawning times and finding them wasn’t too difficult. The areas that I found that had fish in them they were separated quite a bit by species. Two of the three areas were loaded with sunfish, as the third area was loaded with crappies. One small bass was caught as well as a nice 15 inch rainbow trout. The trout made it to the boat but as I was trying to get a hold of it, the 2 pound test line snapped and back into the lake it went. Really wanted to get a photo of this fish as it was very colorful and gave a good fight as well. The bait of choice was only one today, Loby Baits – Drag-n-Mag. I fished the Drag-n-Mag about 3 feet under a cork and proved to be a deadly combination as crappies, sunfish, bass, trout and perch were caught in the few hours that I was out there. Had a very enjoyable first outing in the big boat and kind of nice to be out of the kayak for a change and fish a little more comfortable. Season is underway now and time to start targeting bass and get the fishing times rolling. Get out there and wet a line and enjoy what the great outdoors has to offer us anglers…
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April 27, 2007
Cloudy, Foggy, 44 degrees air temp, rain, breezy
Stopped for 15 minutes after work on the way home to check if the pannies were still holding near shore....The weather was breezy with fog lifting off of the water, raining lightly and air temps around 44....very cool and damp and wasn't sure if the fish were going to still be shallow....I tied on a 1/64 oz jig and tipped it with a Loby Baits Drag n Mag....It wasn't long and the cork was bobbing up and down and the first crappie came in....With the weather conditions that we are experiencing now I wasn't sure of the fish were going to be in the shallows yet but after catching numerous crappies in the short time that I was there, these fish are locked in and the spawning is in full swing....One thing that was obvious though was that there weren't any sunnies caught and without the sun warming the water, they may have pulled back out....But the crappies were there and that is all that I wanted to know....Needed to get going and head back home with a smile on my face....Sunday I will be venturing out to another lake and I have the big boat ready to go so if nothing else I will be getting the big boat running and getting everything ready on that and wet a line looking for some pannies and may also look for a bass or two....get out there and wet a line....
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April 23 and 24, 2007
Sunny, breezy, 70’s air temps
When you only get a little time to go fishing you really need to take advantage of it all you can. I am not able to get a day off here much lately so I have been grabbing 20 or 30 minutes after work on the way home to wet a line. Go down to the local pond and I have found a spot that the panfish are moving into getting ready to spawn. Casting is somewhat difficult as the trees are hanging over the water and the brush on the shore is fairly thick. So I have found one spot that there is an opening in and I am only able to cast out maybe 6 feet at the most. But in this spot that is all I need as the crappies, sunnies, perch and bass are coming and going through this spot. By having an opportunity as this, makes for some outstanding shore fishing and you can never seem to get enough. I am fishing with a float set at around 14 inches and have been using T.H.E Jig as a bait of choice. The only drawback that I am facing is landing the cast into a branch or tree and losing my rig but fortunately so far that hasn’t been the case. You only need to leave the float sitting for a few seconds and if they aren’t biting move it a little and they will bite. No bait is required as T.H.E. Jig is all they need and by fishing with such a small bait, this attracts more numbers of fish. I am looking forward to the next outing as the Loby Baits is coming out to play and put the hurt on these pre spawn and spawning fish. Until next time….
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April 22, 2007
Sunny, light breeze, air temp low 70's, water cool and high
The rain has finally left and the sun has come out to play once again, nice to have some days with loads of sun and enjoy a Sunday afternoon on April 22. Since we have been having loads of rain and very cool temps, I wasn’t sure is the fish were going to be shallow yet so I started fishing in 18 feet of water. I was marking some fish at these depths but wasn’t able to coax too many other than a couple little perch. So I decided to head for the shoreline and see if the shallows were warm enough to start drawing the fish in. It was around noon when I started the shallow fishing, and there were some fish that were moving in. The action was not fast or furious but they were consistent and as long as I was moving the bait around they were hitting it. I was fishing T.H.E. JIG and with it about 14 inches under a float and you could definitely tell when they were biting. The first thing that I noticed was that you had to be fishing the shoreline that had some wood on it, either a tree fallen in or some brush that was standing in the water. The barren shorelines were not producing any fish so the game plan was to stick to the shores that had wood on them. All of the fish that I caught were right next to shore and if you were 5-10 feet off shore, you wouldn’t get any bites. I had only used one JIG and caught many species of fish with it, crappies, sunfish, perch and bass. All of the fish that were caught were of the nicer size and the perch were all coming in at around 12 inches. It was very nice getting on the water once again and wetting a line after all of the storms that we had, never thought they were going to end. I figure we only have another week or so and the fish are probably going to move out again so hopefully we will get out again this coming weekend and enjoy some more of this fast and furious spring action. This is the prime time of the year to get some numbers and very nice sized ones as well so get out there and enjoy the early spring fishing as it won’t last long....
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Living in New England in the spring, you will never know what the weather conditions are going to be like. Good example: we are heading into April now and after yesterday’s storm; we are looking at snow on the ground again and temps in the 30’s. Easter is this coming weekend and usually Easter weekend is fairly nice and warm. Many folks in New England this Easter are going to have a white Easter while they didn’t have a white Christmas, go figure. The whole northern part of the United States is experiencing these weird weather conditions and it is looking like spring is going to have to wait to come this year. This brings a question to mind, the fish in our lakes and ponds are starting to get ready for their yearly spawning ritual and with conditions like this, what does this do to them? Time is the only thing that is going to tell us this as there have been years when it is cool like this and some of the fish just never get to spawn. Hopefully this is not the case this spring and all of the fish are able to go through their motions. Let’s keep wishing and hoping that spring shows up soon as many anglers in New England want to get out there on the open water and get this season underway.
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March 31, 2007
Sunny, 48 degrees, Ice free for about 2 weeks, Swirling breeze
Was a great feeling to finally slide a boat into the open waters of the local ponds once again. The big boat is still hibernating so I decided to take the kayak out for its maiden voyage of the 2007 open water season. The pond that I had ventured to has been ice free for a couple of weeks but our weather here hasn’t been very warm and lack of sun as well. The water temps are still fairly cool but we went searching for fish. With the Vexilar running and slowly paddling on the pond, I was not finding any areas that had any type of fish concentrations. I was marking a few fish here and there but was unable to find any schools at all. I search shallow water, deep water, the north and west shore as well as the east and south shore. There weren’t any other people fishing so I wasn’t able to see if any fish were found. The swirling breeze was making fishing somewhat difficult in the kayak as the kayak would constantly be moving from side to side. Unfortunately no fish were caught on this outing and actually there weren’t any bites at all. If we could get some warm weather and a number of days with the sun out, this would warm the waters up and get the fish in the spawning mood and bring them towards the shallows. This week is not looking good for that as the temps are staying in the low 40’s, overcast skies and drizzly rainy weather for most of the week. This coming weekend we are going to try our backup pond that we used heavily last fall and winter and hopefully these fish will be a little more active.
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March 27, 2007
As spring starts setting the stage for the upcoming open water season, many birds and animals are getting active and others are coming back to the New England area. Along with that, the ice fishing season is officially over and many anglers are waiting for their favorite bodies of waters to become ice free. Many of the smaller ponds in our area are just about open and with ice only left in the small bays and coves, looks like this weekend we will get our first opportunity to get onto the open water. Weather this week is looking to be near 50 degrees all week and dry. With the sun getting stronger and the daylight being longer, the shallows of these smaller ponds are going to warm the quickest. This upcoming weekend we will be concentrating on smaller, shallower and dark colored water ponds, as these are the ones that warm the quickest which means more active fish to catch. We will be searching the water from the shallows of the shoreline out to the first break line in the deeper water. Depending on how much the water temperatures go up this week, will position where the active fish will be. The first couple of weeks after ice-out, in most circumstances, will be the time that you will catch your biggest crappies of the year. Once these big females lay their eggs, they will disappear back to the depths of the lake and become tough to locate once again. So please check back often and see how we are doing in our pursuit of giant crappies this spring season….
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March 13, 2007
Cloudy, 49 degrees, 14 inches and ice is starting to honeycomb, Light winds 4 mph
Since the last weekend’s weather of being around 50 degrees and being that there is always a wind lately, the ice is fading fast and figured that I need to get out one more time before we are unable to fish. Today, Wednesday, we are 65 degrees and the winds are blowing and ponds are turning black fast and honeycombing as well....Access point to get onto this pond was still good as the trees are shading this shoreline most of the day, but by the time that I had left, water was starting to form on top. Take a look at the following photo as this was a hole that I had drilled 3 days earlier and these conditions are what the angler needs to watch out for....I fished in all of the same holes that I had on Saturday and there was only a 3/8 inch of ice skimmed over all of them. I only drilled one extra hole and that was nice for a change as the ice was still around 14 inches. But after the weather we are having now, I have a feeling that this weekend will be out for fishing and the ice season will be over with....The area I was working had 8 holes and I would move from one to the next depending on what the Vexilar was telling me. If there was no activity in that hole when I checked it, I continued on to the next and then the next until I found active fish. By keeping on the move like this, it allows me to stay on active fish instead of sitting and waiting for them to come to me. After a while you start seeing that there are 4 holes that will have activity in them as opposed to the others....I was alternating between using the Loby Baits Mousi in the pink color and T.H.E. Jig in the orange and yellow color pattern. One thing that I did notice several times was that after pulling 1 or 2 fish out of a hole, the others would totally disappear and was time to move onto the next. One very fascinating thing that I started noticing a number of times was that a hot fish would go straight for the sinker on the line, but when I would lift the jig to the fish, they would shoot straight to the bottom. Not sure why this was happening as this was the first day that I noticed this....There was a variety of sizes caught and anything from 4 inches up to a couple that pushed 12 inches and there were a number of smaller fish than larger fish. The sunfish that were caught were on the smaller side as well and I didn’t venture to the shallows to see if the fish were stating to move in yet or not, I was still fishing in depths around 18 feet....This ice season had been a very good one for me as this was the first winter since moving here that I was able to really get out there and enjoy it. Winters here can be very strange and to get safe ice the days can be very numbered as the temperature range varies so much from day to day....There will probably be a week or two of down time as the shores on most of the ponds I am fishing, the ice has pulled away. It is suppose to cool down at the end of this week and snow some over the weekend, but hopefully the next couple of days of rain will soften the ice considerably and this will speed up the melting process. I am going to start checking out a trout stream near my home and see what the activity is like over there. They haven’t stocked it yet but I want to be there shortly after they do and enjoy catching some of the rainbows that they put in there....
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March 10, 2007
The days of this ice fishing season are starting to wind down as the temps are getting warmer and the rains are starting to come through. Wanted to try a secret pond today but upon arrival the shorelines were very wet and soft and some of the areas had actually started opening up and to have any chance of getting on the ice would have to drag the sled around the pond to the other side....Decided to go to my backup pond, the one that I frequented with my kayak this past fall, and surprisingly enough, the shorelines here were very good and the ice actually was thicker at 15 inches compared to the last time that I was there....Started in the area that I usually go to and after drilling the first hole, started producing fish right away. There were other anglers out here as well and with the nice mild temps made for a very comfortable outing. Since the temps were in the low 50’s, the surface of the ice is very wet and sloppy and more water forming as the day went along....Was using a NEW Vexilar FL-12 and was very impressed with the performance and really enjoyed the flat screen on this unit. I have been using the FL-8SLT for a number of years and the flat screen of the FL-12 is so much easier to view and works great in the sunlight as well. The FL-8 was tough to read in the sun without the sun cone on there and that was the only drawback I have ever found with the FL-8....After drilling numerous holes around this area, I would use the FL-12 to find a hole that had active fish in it. If I checked a hole and there was nothing on the screen, I would move on to the next one until fish were located. When going out with a short amount of time, this is a common thing that I do and this allows me to catch active fish and not waste precious minutes on a dead hole. This is a run and gun technique that keeps you catching fish and allowing you to maximize your time on the ice....The baits that were working today were the Loby Baits Mousi in the pink color and T.H.E. Jig in the yellow/orange colors. These fish were fairly finicky today and they were in the water column but you really had to work them to get them to bite. The pressure is high today and with the front passing through made for a somewhat tough day. But by moving around from hole to hole made the best of it. If the fish came through the mid level of the water column, those were so much more active....This may have been my last trip out and will have to see what this week’s weather turns to. Suppose to be around 50 all week and showers passing through just about everyday, so the ice will probably start rotting fairly quickly here....
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March 5, 2007
On Friday this past weekend we had experienced a Northeaster that hit the North Shore of Massachusetts with a little snow at the beginning but changed over to rain shortly after. The rain continued a majority of the day and with the snow/ice and frozen ground, made for the runoff go where ever it had chosen. Friday was rain and around 40 degrees, Saturday came near 50 degree temps and sun and Sunday was near 40 degrees, partly cloudy skies and wind. With the current weather conditions happening, the ice fishing season may be coming towards an end as I had checked three ponds this morning and all three were unaccessible at the normal points to get onto the ice. There is colder weather coming in the next few days but not sure if this will be enough to freeze enough over to be able to get out again this coming weekend. We are getting to that time of year that the pond shorelines are getting soft and open water is greeting us there. If you are still able to get onto the ice, please by all means, be careful out there as the fish that we search after on these ponds are not worth taking your life into your own hands....
Be safe out there and please use your best judgment and spring is coming and that means open water fishing is right around the corner....
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February 24, 2007
Sunny skies,25 degrees air temp,14 inches of ice,Strong winds 25 mph gusting to 36 mph
Have been talking to a local fisher that fishes numbers of ponds in the area. He told me about a pond that is used as a city water supply and not many people realize that there are fish in there. So loaded the equipment and headed over to this pond and the nice thing is that it is only a couple of miles from my front door. When I arrived there it was true that this kept secret is a secret as there was nobody there the whole afternoon that I was out there. I had some entertainment as the local fire department was doing ice rescue operations and going into the water to do these. Never being to this pond I started in an area that had some old holes. I drill 20 holes while out there and didn't’t locate any activity until the last couple of holes drilled. Earlier in the afternoon I had hooked into a nice bass on T.H.E. Jig and fought it for a while and was able to get it to the bottom of the hole and see it before it made one final lunge and broke my 2 pound line. I was trying all depths to locate fish and went from 8 feet out to 16 feet and until the last two holes were drilled, was not able to catch anything. The last hole was the greatest reward as it was loaded with crappies and very nice sunfish. The fish were very aggressive and when the Vexilar screen was loaded up, as I was watching the bait fall the fish would always come screaming up to it to attack it. These fish were very aggressive as the water was 12 feet deep and they were coming to 3 feet under the ice like this was their last meal. I haven’t had this type of action since early winter in the open water and in my kayak. Had to leave when the fishing was getting good as I had other commitments to attend to but the next outing will be back to this pond to try my luck once again. The baits that were used on this outing were Loby Baits: Mousi and small Maki. The bass that was hooked earlier fell victim to T.H.E. Jig. By having one rod rigged with Loby Baits and the other rigged with T.H.E. Jig I am able to give the fish whatever it is they desire and be able to switch up quickly and get back to catching fish.
Until next time keep your lines wet and take your KIDS out fishing with you.
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February 22, 2007
Sunny to Partly Cloudy, 35 degrees air temp, 12 inches of ice Slight breeze,
As the week is starting to wind down with the kids being off for winter break, decided to hit my lake for a quick couple of hours first thing in the morning. There wasn't anyone else on the lake and I haven't been to the lake in the early morning so didn't know what the bite was going to be like. It is impossible to get any reading through the ice now with my Vexilar as this lake has some snow cover and we are experiencing slush pockets under the top layer of ice. Found an area that had a bunch of old holes and was able to drill these open with my Jiffy Jet hand drill and check the area out. Wasn't seeing much action but found one hole that had some activity and started fishing there. I drilled another hole on either side of this and was able to get both of my lines showing on the Vexilar and was working the Loby Baits at one level and T.H.E. Jig at another level. By doing this I was able to cover better area's of the water column and catch the fish that were coming through. The fish were located on the bottom and the nicer Crappies were coming from 5 feet under the ice. The depth of water in this area was 17 feet and had fish at the bottom, 5 feet off of the bottom and 5 feet under the ice. When they would come through it was hard keeping two lines going as they were crushing both of the baits. As things started to slow down I had started punching other holes as well and was getting fish in each of them. It all depended if I were to get to the hole at the right time and they were going through. Didn't catch a huge number of fish but caught enough to get my fix for the day and then head off to spend more time with the kids. Friday is kids day so there won't be any fishing for me today. Get out there and enjoy the outdoors.
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Partly cloudy skies, 45 degree air temps, Medium Winds gusts to 15 mph, 12 inches of ice with slush melting
With the kids on winter break I decided to take a day off and spend it out on the ice with my daughter. The day was warm at 45 degrees and felt like summer out there and if it weren’t for the wind every now and then would have been very warm feeling. Went back to the same lake that I had fished on the previous outing, was hoping to catch some of those big crappies. But today was going to be a humbling experience as this was the toughest day that I have had on the ice this winter season. But with the temps in the mid 40’s there was going to be no complaining as the weather was beautiful and the catching was 2nd hand to that. My daughter brought along her ice skates and passed some time skating around the lake, but with the ice conditions they were a little tough for her. Last weeks storm had left an inch or two of slush behind but at the last outing was frozen solid. With the warming temps, the slush was thawing and the ice for skating wasn’t the best but she enjoyed it anyway. With the melting slush it made it impossible to use the Vexilar without drilling holes to get any type of reading. This didn’t allow me to run around the area looking for the fish so I started popping holes all over this small cove looking for fish. As mentioned previously, I was working 13 holes in this area and working was putting it lightly. I was not able to find one crappie on this afternoon outing and was able to ice a handful of very colorful sunnies. My daughter caught her first fish through the ice so the trip out there was well worth watching the excitement that she was showing. Not sure when the next time that I am going to be able to get her out there again but when she is ready we will do it all again. The baits on this outing really didn’t seem to matter as equal numbers of fish were caught on Loby Baits and T.H.E. Jig. Watching the Vexilar the whole time I never once seen any suspended fish at all and I was trying in depths from 18 to 12 feet of water. They just had vacated this area and wasn’t able to get a good game plan together. The best part about getting out was spending this quality time with my daughter without any TV and radio’s around to distract her. We had some very good conversations and she got to experience some time in the outdoors. I always look forward to taking her out into the outdoors as she really enjoys the times when we are out there but being a teenager, gets tough to get her away from her friends and activities. But when I do I treasure those times and get loads of photo’s to remember them by. Was a very tough day out there but any day out on the water and not behind a desk is well worth it fish or not. Always look forward to getting out there and enjoying the outdoors.
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February 18, 2007
Sunny skies, 37 degrees air temps, Strong Winds gusts to 25 mph, 12 inches of ice
The lake of choice for today was a small pond that is in a park management area so there is no development around the lake. I haven’t fished a lake with this look of remoteness in a long time and the scenery was fantastic and pristine. After finding a way onto the lake around some of the open water, there was only one other fisher out there. Headed across and he came over to me and we had some good conversation and our talk turned to electronics and the Vexilar I was using searching for fish. I have a feeling that a number of the folks here are not use to or have not used electronics in ice fishing at all as he was totally amazed. After my demonstration I have a feeling that Vexilar has sold another fisher to using electronics on the ice to help with his fishing. We have 12 inches of ice and this lake has an inch or two of frozen slush on top with no snow cover at all. I am still able to get a reading through the ice with my transducer with a little water underneath so that I am saving drilling to many unwanted holes. I started out deep and wasn’t seeing any action and kept moving and checking as I went towards shore. Finally found a spot that had some activity but the fish were not cooperating and would come look at the bait but no takers. Decided to move towards a point and back cove and check numerous spots and couldn’t find any activity what so ever. The other fisher was moving his traps all around as well and I didn’t see any flags around him the whole afternoon. We were getting to far apart so I never found out if he had caught anything or not but have to give him credit as he made a gallant effort and drilled more holes than I would have dreamed of. Since the activity was near none existent, I decided to head for the opposite shore and back towards my truck. I was getting the sense that I am not going to have a good day and thoughts were running through my head about going back to MY Lake where I know that I can catch some fish. But from what I had been hearing about this lake having slab sized crappies, I just couldn’t leave and kept searching. I ended at the opposite side of the lake and started seeing some activity on the electronics and drilled a bunch of holes in this area. The fish were not coming fast and furious but they were there and were active as well. I had drilled 10 holes in this area in depths from 12 to 17 feet of water and was finding that 4 of the holes were active. The action was consistent and fairly equal numbers of fish were caught on the Loby Baits Maki in the white color as well as using T.H.E. Jig caught numbers as well. These fish were fairly finicky again and they would come in but I was not able to get much lift out of them. I was catching a good share of nice 10 inch crappies with a mixture of 6-7 inch sunnies. As I was fishing and the bite would stop I would pick up and move to another hole and if nothing showed up in a few minutes would move to another. Was seeing that there were 4 holes that had active fish in them and one hole in particular had the "slabosaurus" crappies that I was looking for. I had found what I came looking for in the pond and this one hole produced my first 13 inch crappies of the season. These were the biggest slabs that I had caught yet this season and you would hook one of these and you knew right away you had a good one. These were the rumors that this pond holds these big crappies and for out here, these are very nice fish. I am looking forward to getting back there again soon as this may be MY LAKE now with what I have seen so far. This lake doesn’t get a lot of pressure and after seeing these fish, I am excited to get out there right after ice out and see if I can find the crappies once again. Until next time keep your lines wet and your hooks sharp and enjoy the great outdoors.
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February 10, 2007
Sunny skies, 34 degrees air temps, Light winds, 12 inches of ice
I haven’t been back to this lake in a couple of weeks, so I was excited to give it another try for some slabs. There wasn’t much fishing going on this end of the lake as there were more folks on the backside in the shallower water. I am finding that the fish are more active in the deeper holes and tend to stick with what seems to be working for me. Walked out on the ice and turned the Vexilar on and still fortunate to be able to put a little water on the ice and get a reading through it. After the next couple of days of snow coming, not sure that I will be able to do that anymore and will have to go back to drilling many holes looking for the fish. After locating an area that showed some very good activity, I got set up and time to jig some fish up. The pressure was dropping but still fairly high, but found out right away that the fish activity was very good as well. Within the first few minutes I had iced a few nice slabs and missed just as many. There was a group of 4 off to my left and one of them came over to talk a little. They were running a tip up line and that is very common way to fish out here. You are able to use 5 tip up’s per person and these guys had a point covered on both sides and across the top. As I was chit chatting and catching a few fish, his curiosity in using the Vexilar had him intrigued. They weren’t using one and I have a feeling they haven’t seen how they work either. I explained where the bottom was, where the fish were holding and also was showing where my jig was and how the fish were reacting to it. He couldn’t believe what he was watching and called over a couple of the other guys to watch as well. After my little demonstration on the ice I think they will be looking into buying a Vexilar as they were amazed at what it was telling them and showing them where the fish were. As I was mentioning earlier, the bite was a little tough but between giving them the one two punch of T.H.E. Jig and Loby Baits, I was able to have an outstanding day out there. One thing that I did notice was that the very active fish were the little 4 incher crappies as the slab crappies were more finicky and you had to work T.H.E. Jig and Loby’s Stoni plastic more to get them to bite. I was able to get into a number of nice gills as well and these were the best fighters I have had in some time. The gills in this lake are nicer once you find them but they are a little tougher than the crappies to locate. After the little time that I was out there I had iced around 25 crappies and gills and had to call it a day early and get back home. It is nice having lakes close to home so that if I can get a half hour or an hour I am able to still get out fishing. I only had to drill 2 holes today and that is great as I am not wasting time moving and setting up and doing more fishing. Going out onto the lakes these days without any sort of live bait is getting better and better all of the time. With the vast selection that Loby Baits offers and having a handful of T.H.E. Jig’s, one is able to catch multiple species of fish and a whole variety of sizes. If you haven’t gotten yourself away from the live bait scene yet, next time you go out try the Loby Baits and T.H.E. Jig and you may be very surprised.
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February 3, 2007
Sunny skies, 28 degrees air temps, Very windy with gusts up to 30mph,
Well, the weekend is finally here and time to wet a line. I have been talking with Craig from Auger Buddy and we decided to hit a local small pond and try for some of the stocked Salmon that they put in there. This is going to be a new experience as I have never fished for Salmon before and should be a lot of fun. We noticed that the wind was blowing fairly hard with high gusts as well but were fortunate that the temps were in the upper 20’s and wasn’t bad. After meeting Craig and his wife Judy at Dunkin Donuts we headed over to the lake to give a try for the Salmon that swim in there. The pond that we are fishing gets a stocking of Salmon, trout and there are also pike, panfish and largemouth bass in there as well. The Salmon that are stocked there range in sizes from 4 pounds up to 20 pounds and with that being said, time to get the lines in the water. We had a coating of snow the night before and made the landscape just look great from all of the brown that we have been looking at all winter season. After getting all the gear on the ice Craig let me try out the Auger Buddy and drill holes all around. One thing that I liked about the Auger Buddy was that it really saves your arms and back and I will follow up with my review later. Here in MA we are allowed to have 5 lines a piece in the winter so we set out 10 tip-ups and started fishing. Today was not a fish catching day as there was only one small pike that came through the hole but getting out was still a lot of fun. I had a great time fishing and having good conversation with Craig and learned much from him on this different type of fishing. The Salmon weren’t in the feeding mood but that didn’t matter. Craig and I met another fellow and his sons out on the lake and after talking with him we found out that he was from Mound MN and you really find out how small the world really is. Between all of us we had 19 traps in the ice and that will show you how tough of a day it really was. Craig, I want to thank you for taking me out there and showing me a different type of fishing and next time they will be more cooperative and we will get them. I had a great time with you and we had some very good conversations. Thanks Craig and nice meeting you Judy
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January 28, 2007
Sunny Skies, 38 degrees air temps, Breezy, Light coating of snow, Ice 6-7 inches thick,
Well the ice season has finally gotten underway here in New England and my lake has a good solid 6-7 inches of clear ice. There were numerous folks on the ice: fishing, playing hockey, football and general ice skating. Looks like everyone is finally enjoying being able to get out onto the ice for some winter activities. My daughter has never been ice fishing and wanted to get out there and give it a try. After getting her convinced that she is safe to walk on the ice we walked across the bay to where I had been catching numerous slabs with my kayak only a couple weeks beforehand. All of the folks that were fishing were in the shallower water and not one soul was in this deep water hole. Using the Vexilar and checking all around before starting to drill, I was starting to notice right away that there were not many signs of the schools of slabs that I had been experiencing catching not long ago. After checking around 10 places I finally came across a spot that had some activity just off the bottom. So I grabbed my NEW Jiffy Jet 6” hand drill and started cutting holes. Got the house set up and rigged up my girl and time to sit and watch and see what we are going to catch. Today was a very tough day and not totally sure why as the pressure wasn’t bad but two days previous there was a major cold front that came through and may have shut them down. There were fish on the locator and they would look at the bait, but were reluctant to take a bite of my Loby’s Maki bait. On the other rod we were using T.H.E. Jig and went all the way down to the 1/100 oz version and couldn’t entice them with this either. As I kept changing through my Loby Baits, the first fish I caught, which was the nicest, was caught on the Mousi in a white color. Only caught a couple on this bait and then tried the Micro Flei and and caught a couple small sunnies and crappies. I was starting to see that I would need a very small bait and ended with the Loby Polli that caught a few more crappies. One thing that was very apparent with this tough and finicky bite was that the size was very small. Of all of the times that I fished there with my kayak, I never once caught any fish that were 5-6 inches long and other then a couple goods one early, these were all that we were catching. Thankfully we were catching something but for my daughters first time out I was hoping to stick a bunch of nice slabs. I can tell that things are going to be different now that the ice is there and fishing may be tougher, but we will figure them out. She was having much more fun just playing on the ice and enjoying pretending to be a dancer and skater. She is ready to go again and that is great especially after a tough day. She had numerous bites, but with them biting so lightly and not even moving the spring bobber, made it tough for her. She will get it and will be slaying them soon enough, she is very persistent.
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January 13, 2007
Cloudy skies and rain, 48 degrees air temp, 32-38 water temp, Calm no wind slight breeze,
One last voyage out in the kayak and I was very well rewarded once again. Can't get enough of the panfish action and the bite is continuing on right where I had left off from the day before. Decided to try a few different areas of the pond today and by doing this I was able to get into the sunnies very well. The main area that I have been fishing there weren't hardly any sunnies there but these new areas were loaded with them. Of course with the rain that was happening the photo taking was limit but that is O.K. Most of the fish were suspended and without any wind today made fishing much simplier. Wasn't moving around as much as I usually do and there were many times that I would catch multiple fish one after the other. Fishing was a lot tougher today as opposed to yesterday. Yesterday the fish were on fire and I was able to use many types of different baits to see the difference in sizes that were caught. Today the fish were there but much more finicky on the bite and the bite was very light that the spring bobber barely moved at all. The baits that were used today were 3 varieties of Loby Baits which were the Rocki, Drag-n-Mag and Maki. The Maki did the most damage for the Loby Baits presentation as with the lite bites the small size of the Maki made that the better bait for the day. The final bait that truely shined today with the tough bite and needing a small precise presentation was T.H.E. Jig. The Totally Hot Everyday Jig was on fire today. T.H.E. Jig truely shined and put numbers of good sized slabs and gills in the boat. The lift presentation proved its value today and the fish would come screaming up and stop and look at it and then by moving it up a little they would grab it. By the end of the day I caught 76 slabs and gills. Even with the rain in the morning and the overcast skies, the warm temps, I have been really enjoying this late season open water fishing. I have a feeling that this week this type of fishing will be over and will be time to get on the hard water....
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January 12, 2007
Sunny skies, 50 degrees air temp, 32-38 water temp, Windy out of the north,
Who would ever think that I would be fishing in open water, in my kayak in the middle of January. Never thought that this would be happening, but I am taking all that I can get. Going to get cold this week and I would imagine we are going to ice over and then it will be a wait to get on the water. Where do I start, oh yea, I start where I left off the last time I was to my new favorite lake. The fish are not getting any pressure what so ever and are hungry like you can't believe. From the picture you can tell the baits of choice for this day were. Loby Baits were on fire and no matter which Loby Bait I had on, the fish were biting. It was a nice day and around 50 degrees but of course there was a nice wind out of the north and made the fishing fun as usual. I was fishing in 18 feet of water and the fish were any where from the bottom up to 12 feet. The screen on the Vexilar was lit up like a Christmas tree most of the time that I was out there. This pond is getting no pressure what so ever and these fish act like they have not eaten in weeks. Just makes it that much more fun for me when I am out there and I can't get enough of it. This was a fantastic day and I caught between 50-60 fish this afternoon. I used Loby Baits for the majority of this trip. I used 8 different Loby Baits and those were Stoni, Drag n Mag, Rocki, Mousi, Leaf Leach, Maki, Buggi and Spiini. I wanted to see what the bite was like with all of these different baits and they all performed right up to par. One thing that I liked the most was I used all of these 8 baits and all 8 went back into the box after fishing. That shows you the durability of the Loby Baits and makes them a very worth while and dependable bait. Try the Loby Bait product line if you haven't yet as I do not go on the water without them anymore.
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