I hope everyone had a fun and safe holiday weekend! Despite the dreary weather that we’ve had, the Jig Heads are still getting out to fish.
Berkshire Brett said that the rain kept him from getting out for most of the week. His plans to go for some pike on the Housatonic were swept away with the muddy water and fast currents, but he had just enough for me to get out Monday evening. No pike on that run, but he was able to test out a new inline spinning rig that he modified, which the bass apparently found appetizing; Brett landed two.
Brett’s weekend plans for the river turned into fishing one of the mountain ponds. He reported throwing just about everything he had before he eventually changed out to a weightless senko. No luck on that until he downsized from a 5″ to a 4″ weightless Texas rig. He churned out three fish and missed two others over the course of an hour.
Cousin Jon made it out this week in Rhode Island with Sam, his Uncle Rick (their “charter” Captain) and his Aunty Cathy. The stripers and bluefish were very active hitting umbrella rigs and chasing baitfish at the surface. Sam took the crown with a nice keeper at 34.25″. Jon pulled in a 17” and a 26.5”, his aunt had a nice blue, and his uncle had a schooly striper.
Andy fished the Connecticut river in Chicopee. The water was 71 degrees, 66 in the Chicopee river. He started fishing a sandbar that was creating cloudy water with a rattle trap and was able to pull in some smallies. He reported that the rest of the day he landed a good quantity of smallmouth using a Rebel crayfish bouncing off the bottom sand and rocks in fairly clear water. They were hitting on sinking soft plastic crawfish near the structure as well.
Ryan was able to get out once this week and reports it was an unbelievable day. Eight quality fish over 2.5 lbs and one lunker. Only throwing two baits in the middle of the torrential downpour rain: the spook and the popper. Ryan said the fish were just exploding the top water baits. His lunker was a bit of an experience, coming in at 5.2 lbs. Ryan said he had to get in the water as she insisted on wrapping herself up on an underwater log in about 3 feet of water. Reaching down with knowing she had a mouth full of trebles scared the crap out of me but was able to get her untangled and land her! Ryan also mentioned that he will have a fun Central Park fishing report for next week from NYC!
Nelson started his week off in North Carolina where he ended his vacation with 3 sharks landed, 8 broken off, and one lost just as he was going to grab it; the line snapped and it swam away. They also caught a couple sting rays and several other species of smaller fish. These smaller fish are what he live-lined for the sharks.
Nelson was also able to make it onto some freshwater this week but only for a short time before some storms rolled in. He fished a small section of the Ware river off of Rt.9 where he found bass and pickerel in the lily pads on a weightless plastic stick bait. He also reported finding both species on the edge of the weeds on a chatter bait.
Shawn the Fisherman is making us wait until the next Jigs & Bigs episode to talk about his week, so tune in on Tuesday and check it out!
Until next week, tight lines!
Wild Woman 