themasterg

Lurkerofthedepths and I decided to wake up a bit early and hit the lake. When we got onto the water and there was a steady clip of rain and a solid southerly wind with totally overcast skies: the perfect storm for bass.

We knew the bass would be holding close to shore along the weed beds and we were right. Within an hour we'd both caught several bass with a few of them being close to 2 pounds - nothing crazy but enough to keep us excited. We continued to follow the shoreline casting at every lilly pad bed, overhanging branch, or really any piece of cover we could find. After two hours we'd combined for over 20 bass. We'd go on to fish for a few more hours and haul in another dozen or so before heading into shore to dry off and get some lunch.

Overall a damn good day on the water with plenty of great fish caught between the two of us.

"Look at all these empty bass beds"
"Yeah its like a Jordan's Furniture for fish"

I decided to take my canoe out for a few hours of bass fishing. The bite has been very slow for me so far this year and I wasn't expecting much in terms of action. The sun was shining and there was a moderate northerly wind. Cruising through the shallows I could see that the sunfish were starting to build nests and it seemed like some of the bass were also starting to bed down. I figured I'd focus on the shallow water with emergent weeds and it paid off.

I tied on a 5'' stick worm in pumpkinseed and it would be the only lure I needed all day. I managed to land 6 bass, all of them were pretty small 1lbers. All of the fish were located just off the shore in about 3 feet of water. Despite the lack in size it was a nice confidence booster and proof positive that some of the fish made it through the winter.

My family and I had our yearly week-long trip to Lake Bomoseen in Castleton, Vermont. The lake has a reputation for excellent fishing especially for small mouth and pike. Despite its good name I had difficulty bringing in fish. The weather for half the week was sunny and warm and the second half was cloudy, rainy, and cooler - which did vastly improved the fishing. We rented a 17' v-hull with a 15hp Mercury so we could really hit the sweet spots. Most of the fish we landed were hanging in about 20 to 30 feet of water right on the very edge of the weed lines.

The first day proved very frustrating with only one largemouth to show for it.

Day two was even worse. 5 minutes after dropping anchor Fish & Game showed up and sent us back to shore because I did not have a VT boaters license. I spent the next 6 hours taking the exam on my phone.

Day 3 yielded the same results with only 1 fish caught.

Wednesday, day 4, the weather turned to the low 70's with rain. The bite FINALLY turned on. I landed 10 fish in about 2 hours of fishing with the best one being a 3 pound small mouth. I lost maybe 10 fish as well. It was a welcome change to the nearly fishless previous days.

Thursday, day 5, proved to be equally good. Fishing the same spots that I had luck with the day before, I caught 5 bass including a 2.8 smallie. I tossed a crankbait parallel to a deep weed edge and got totally rocked. The drag on the reel was screaming. Whatever fish was on the line was big. I never saw it until it was too late. It was a northern pike and it must have been 30". The head of the fish broke water right next to the boat and before I could do anything about it, he shook his head, and severed the line. I don't think I've ever been so bummed out about a fish before.

Day 6 and the hunt for Essox was on. Following the advice of Muskie, I hit up an area on the northern side of the lake. It's a relatively shallow and weedy area. I bought a dozen extra large minnows, a case of beer and a fresh pack of smokes. I planned on staying there all day until I caught a gator. I didn't even get to my second beer before my slip bobber was ripped straight down into the depths. And there is was, my first ever northern pike. It weighed only 3lbs but I didn't care. I was stoked. Unfortunately the fish did not live through the fight (I'm going to head mount it and give the meat to my buddy at a Chinese restaurant). I tossed out another minnow and waited. Suddenly my rod was launched across the boat. Thankfully the reel caught on the edge of the gunwall. My rod tip was almost bent in half. I horsed the fish out the weeds and had a 7lb pike on the other end. Unfortunately I did not have my phone with me so the only picture is on a 35mm camera haha.

Needless to say the trip got better each day and my goal of getting a water wolf was met.

Oh also I watched a bald eagle swoop down and snag a trout not 15 feet from the boat. Totally badass.

Being bored with our usual fishing locations and looking to expand our horizons, me and my buddy Nick decided to go try out Milford Pond. Having lived in Milford for my whole life I've never fished this lake mostly due to the fact that its literally almost 100% weeds. However I've heard stories of it holding some monsters so we made the decision to try it out. Both of us live on the back side of Louisa Lake and figured we'd paddle accross the lake, portage the canoe over the street and down the bike path, and slip it in at the first sight of water.

What a mistake. The grueling sun and 85 degree temps were horrid. What we anticipated to be a 10 minute endeavor took more like 40 and by the time we got the boat off the land and back into the water we were dripping in sweat.

Now we have to find a fishable area but to our dismay we put in at what appeared to be a never ending maze of cattails and tall grass. After 30 minutes of meandering through this crap we hit open (realative term since it was a field of lilly pads) water.

Our first spot was on top of a pile of lillys where there was actual open water. After a hour, nothing. We moved into a back cove and hooked up with our first fish. Couple small one pounders. We headed out to the mouth of a brook that feeds into the lake. Hooked up with three largemouths in a 5 minute span. All of them being about 2.5lbs. Not too shabby.

Heading back into shore I tossed a worm at a brush pile and caught a solid 3 pounder which would be the best fish of the day.

Overall not a bad time out. 4 hours, 8 fish between me and Nick, and a pair of outrageous sunburns.

I made my first ever trip out to Wachusett Reservoir on Friday. I woke up at 4:30am and met up with Muskie at the gas station off of 122 in Worcester. While I was following him to the fishing spot I got pulled over for having too much ice on my windshield haha. After dealing with that hiccup we made way to the spot. Got there are almost exactly 5am and were the first ones there. It was cold as a bastard for mid April and my fingers were just about numb by the time I finished rigging my gear.

We threw our lines out in the water and the waiting game began. After about 10 minutes a handful of other guys showed up (all of them were on MAFF as well hah). Muskie left the spot at 6am for work and then my buddy Levi met up with me. He set up and we waited. And waited. And waited. Around 8am I had my first hit. Set the hook right away and pulled in a 3 pound laker! My first fish from the Chu and my first ever laker! Now we were getting excited.

About an hour later I had another hit. This one was big. After a real good fight I hauled in an 8 pounder! The thing was a horse. It fought all the way up to the shoreline and didn't stop until it was on the stringer. I was worried my 15# leader wasn't going to hold up the abuse this guy put on it.

After several more hits but no fish we packed up around 11am. I brought my catch over to Jerry's Bait and Tackle in Milford to get it weighed. To make an already awesome day better, the 8 pounder qualified for a state pin!

I made my first trip out on the ice on Sunday. After hauling my sled full of gear down the hill onto the ice I cut 4 holes with my ice saw. No action for at least an hour. I relocated further down the lake towards the dam (the water is much deeper here) and reset. After a about 30 minutes my first flag went up and I had a nice ~2lb bass on the line. About 20 minutes later the same tip-up sprang and I had a solid pickerel. After another hour of nothing but a cool breeze and watching the sun sink I had two flags go off in a 5 second span. I got to the first trap and pulled up a frozen shinner - the fish had spit the bait. The second trap was still spinning, although very slowly. I made my way over and pulled up the line. I could feel the fish tugging and hauled it in and got myself the last fish of the day - another small bass.

Overall it was a nice way to the start the year. I'm still looking to snag an ice hog though.

Last night my father and I went out to Stump Pond around 6pm in the canoe for a bit of fishing. We each grabbed a dozen large minnows from Jerry's and used them with a rattle bobber. We set up around the island in the middle of lake. We forgot an anchor so we were drifting a lot which proved problematic after the 4th or 5th time one of our lines got snagged in the weeds. The bass were definitely hitting and were all over the minnows. Within an hour I was able to land 3 decent sized bass (all around 2 pounds). After a slight location change I hooked into what seemed like a monster. The fish ripped the bobber straight down upon it hitting the water. After fighting the fish for a solid minute and a half the line snapped. I retied, recast, and the same exact thing happened: instant hit, fight, line snap. (Not to self, never buy Stern 8 pound mono from WalMart). I switched over to 10'' black texas rigged worm and caught another decent bass. As the night approached I tied on a top water frog and after about 20 minutes of casting into lilly pads I snagged a 3.5 pounder. A nice night on the lake with the old man, and it only makes it better that his 2 month dry streak of going bass-less in MA continues. He actually refuses to fish with me anymore because as he says "you use all the same damn bait and lures I do and you always catch f******* fish. I'm done"

I think I'll probably wait until a lot of surface weeds die off before I fish here again. It's like trying to paddle across a carpet right now.

Son - 1 Dad - 0

Me and my buddy took my jon boat out to Lake Winthrop in Holliston for a day of fishing. The weather conditions were perfect, totally overcast, a slight breeze, and a comfortable temperature in the high 70's. After swinging by the baitshop for a couple dozen shinners, and the package store for a few beers, we got to the lake and unloaded the boat. We made way for the two islands on the south side of the lake and set up shop right off one of the points. We hauled in three or four pickerel within about an hour and managed to lose a bass on a spinner. Deciding to relocate we moved to a point along a weed bed and fishing some worms through a hole in the weeds. Again we were nailing pickerel but came up short on the bass game. Some guys in a bass boat were playing with firecrackers which was kind of annoying. I attribute our lack of bass to that haha.

Overall a very good day of fishing with a pile of picks caught and few perch.

Me and my buddy decided to head out to Stump Pond for a day of fishing after being rained out for the majority of the week. After picking up a dozen and a half minnows, we made our way down 135, and eventually set up shop on the small dam off of Mill Road. Immediately we began hooking into solid sized large mouth. In fact, the second fish of the day was also one of the biggest - weighing in at just over 4lbs. In total we hauled in 13 bass and 1 pickerel. Once we ran out of minnows we made the switch to lures. First cast out using a black and purple spinnerbait I hooked into what felt like an absolute monster. It peeled drag off the line for well over 2 minutes. As I started to drag the fish into the weed line I was able to see that I was indeed a big bass, easily the biggest of the day. The fish dove straight into the weed, tangled himself up real nicely, and managed to snap my line. I guess the one that got away really is the biggest. Overall a great few hours of fishing.