Here we are, another week down, and lots of great fishing! In a week we have seen a pretty big change in the weather, with what feels like summer now in full swing. I was unable to get out at all this week, but our Jig Heads have been busy!
Andy went out last Saturday morning to Otis, early enough to avoid the crowd. He reported doing well in deeper waters, catching smaller bass and perch using shiner patterns. The biggest fish he landed was 17.5 inches. He also went out into the stumps looking for bigger fish, catching a few spawned largemouth. In the stumps, the fish were all over the top water, hitting soon after the lure hit the water or not at all.
Tim pre-fished Onota last Friday morning, concentrating on fishing deeper weeds with weighted soft plastics and was able to get two smallies. His buddy fished ned rigs closer to shore and had a decent day with five plus bass. Water temps were reported at 68 degrees. Tournament day on Sunday for Tim and he took 4th. He said he started off looking for smallies, found one near a bed shallow and one other deeper bed that had 4 largies lurking. Unfortunately, he could not get any to bite past the initial pick up. Then they would move out of bed and spit it out. He moved shallow where he proceeded to fill a limit with fish off of lily pads , docks, and weeds with senkos and chatterbait. Top waters elicited a few blow ups, but no hook ups. Tim’s biggest fish went 4 lbs out of 1 foot of water and he reports that the smallies were a mix of spawners and post spawners.
Berkshire Brett reported not much action this week. He only got out on one successful outing, doing some bank fishing with a couple friends. He caught a couple small fish (perch, pickerel, crappie) on a small in-line spinner with a curly-tail grub for a trailer. His friend caught a slab of a crappie and had what Brett guessed was a 3 pound pickerel.
Brett also reported that if anyone is looking for trout in southern Berkshire county, the big fish are still hungry after a rain. Brett went out a couple hours after the heavy downpour to the Housatonic again along with one of the feeder streams. He estimated 20-25 strikes over the course of an hour, but just couldn’t find a hook set. All but one which snapped the line as he was getting ready to grab it. Brett said he is pretty confident they were mostly browns hitting because he watched about half of them chase down the lure on the retrieve.
Shawn the Fisherman fished the Chicopee River in Ludlow on Sunday with Nelson. They were looking for multispecies fun to both finish up the Jigs and Bigs May tourney and kick off the Chronic Trips June tourney. Temperatures were HOT and the bite was slow. He nabbed a half-dozen Smallmouth, the biggest being 17.5″, and small rock bass, pickerel, and bluegill.
Shawn reported that all species were caught on ned-rigged plastic creature baits. It’s that time of the year when downsizing will pay big dividends. Shawn said to keep that in mind on cloudless, bluebird-sky days.
Nelson fished the same small ponds off of Rt. 9 throughout the week from shore both before and after work. He reports that he didn’t have much action other than small bites, most likely from bluegills, on weightless soft plastics. Nelson said that in talking with other anglers fishing the same areas, they mentioned that they had caught some trout on rooster tails. On Saturday morning Nelson fished a “new to me” lake on the eastern end of his region. Fishing out of his kayak, he caught a total of 14 bass, both largemouth and smallies. He reported catching most of them on weightless soft plastics and a chatterbait. Nelson said the key to getting bites on the soft plastics was to fish it tight to any kind of wood or overhanging branches. The chatterbait bites came from a bit deeper water and those bass were a bit bigger. Water temps were 65-68 degrees.
Nelson also reported on his Sunday morning outing with Shawn. He was in his kayak on a section of the Chicopee River that he had never fished before. He spent 8 hours on the water and I caught one rainbow trout on a small crankbait. He thinks the fishing Gods wanted to remind me why it’s called fishing and not catching.
Ryan reported from both saltwater and freshwater this week! He had an incredible weekend out on the Cape hitting both Buzzards Bay and Cape Cod bay. He said that the striper bite is absolutely to die for right now. They pulled over 130 stripers onto the deck on Sunday with the big being 48″ and 44 pounds caught by his buddy. Multiple 35-40″ fish and tons of slots. Ryan said that they got them all on giant top water hogy lures. They will be going back for another smackdown!
On the freshwater side of things, Ryan snuck out last night after dinner to a small secluded body of water near his house, and reports the fish were hungry. He said that this is one of those ponds he hits when he needs a confidence boost, because the bass are so aggressive and he tries to get one with 5 different lures every time. This time he landed them on a shaky head and worm, jitterbug, spook, frog, and a small wake bait. Ryan says the bass were post spawn, aggressive, and hungry.
As are getting into the thick of summer, and school is getting out, more and more recreational boaters and jet skiers will be in the mix. Pay attention while you’re on the water and be careful out there! As always, good luck this week. Get out and fish!
Wild Woman 