It’s Thursday again and the Jig Heads have been busy!
Brett was able to make one trip out this week. He managed two 16″ largemouth on an in-line spinner and had one small bump from a pike about 5 feet from the boat. Other than that, no luck.
Nelson was lucky enough to get out with Mr. Ryan “The Butcher” Bogli on his bass boat this week, something he hasn’t done in 25 years. They hit the water, where temps were right around 64 degrees, early and started fishing shallow. After trying several presentations with no action they moved out a little deeper. Nelson said they finally found some action in the 10-15 foot range on Ned rigs and drop shots, but reports that the fish were very finicky. After checking several areas around the lake, the only other action he had was a smallmouth bass that chased his bait up from 29 feet to the surface, but never hit it. Thanks Ryan for taking me out. It was great to stand and fish instead of sitting in a kayak all day!
Nelson also made a quick stop at a pond on Rt.9 in Ware to check for trout stocking but there were no trout at that pond yet. He made a few casts for bass and did have fish chasing a top water lure, as well as a soft plastic stick bait right to the bank, but they never committed.
Ryan went out on Friday and had some action on crank baits and jerk baits. He said he was only there for about 2.5 hours, but found life with two 14 inch largemouths then a nice 3 pounder. Water temps were around 66 degrees and he was tossing in the 8-12 feet of water. He also said that the yellow perch were slamming the jerk bait!
Ryan also reported on his Saturday outing with Nelson. He said, like Nelson, they had a day of searching. They started in the shallows throwing every presentation under the sun. Ryan said they started to see some life in the 10-15 foot range on small finesse baits. Deciding to move deep they saw some life with a few follows, but nothing was fully committing to any bait.
Sunday Ryan was fishing a tournament and got a ton of shorts along with sunfish who wanted to be stuck by crank baits. All in all he said it was a tough day, but he’s heading back out there this weekend for another tournament and is looking for some better results.
Shawn the Fisherman fished twice since the last report. The first time was with Bobby Roast Beef on a larger waterbody in the Connecticut River valley. He said they focused on a weedier section adjacent to some deep water, and turned up several largemouth, the biggest breaking 19 inches, on numerous lures in dark tones.
The second jaunt was up ‘da ‘Shires with our fellow contributor Andy for some multispecies shenanigans. Shawn said it was a slow bite all day, but they succeeded and hooked into largemouth, smallmouth, a northern pike, yellow perch, bluegills, and Andy boated a few freshly stocked Rainbow Trout. Mission accomplished!
Shawn reports that with recent rains and colder nights, the water temps have started to drop a bit. We’re still about 10-15° away from turnover, so keep doing whatever it is you’ve done this summer and listen to the fish. They’ll tell you when to switch things up!
Andy Fished the Berkshires this weekend, reporting that Saturday and Sunday were both calm days with water temps around 63 degrees at both lakes he fished. He reported that productivity was high early in the day on Saturday picking up some smallmouth and largemouth early on before meeting Shawn at the boat ramp. Andy said that all day he and Shawn caught a large variety of fish mostly coming from or near the weed beds in 6-10 feet of water. Andy was able to finish the day picking up 4 stocked rainbow trout just before heading off for the day.
Sunday he says it was calm at Otis as he covered most of the western shore lines, picking up a large number of smallmouths on top water and a few more on Ned rigged creature baits.
Monday on Otis Andy reports that it was a cold 54 degrees and raining, with water temps at 60 degrees. He still found plenty of fish using Ned rig creature baits or paddle tails. The stocking truck had made a visit there as well and he decided I would try for at least another trout before he left the water, and managed a stocked rainbow.
Tim started his week off fishing the Connecticut River out of the Oxbow this past weekend with water temperatures around 67 degrees. He hit some top water bass, and broke off one tight to cover early in the morning. Gotta check your line I didn’t. Smallmouth were all deeper on drop offs, and Tim hit them with a Ned rig. Then he found a bush up close to shore that he pulled three largies off of in the main river.
This morning he hit Congamond for a quick tour where the water temperature started off at 66 degrees and got up to 69 degrees. Tim got one on the main lake hump on a drop shot and he had three blowups on a pop bar close to the shore but nothing hooked up. When he made a move to a different area of the lake where he found bait balls. Tim fired out a soft jerk bait and promptly caught 4 to 5 decent largies and a couple pickerel. Largies you could see were hanging off of the deeper drops right around the bait balls. They were just waiting for an easy meal.
I had intended on getting out for some trout on Sunday, but my dad got a deer in VT and we had to get it cut up, maybe this week! The upcoming weather looks like we could be anywhere from 58 degrees to 70 degrees during the day with less rain (let’s hope!) and the high 40’s – upper 50’s at night. Don’t forget to keep an eye on the Massachusetts trout stocking report to keep up with the progress on their fall stocking program!
Good luck out there this week everyone, tight lines!
Tournament Information
Chronic Trips
10/1-10/31 October Nationwide Freshwater and Saltwater Multispecies Tourney
10/23 – MAKB Championship
*Invite only
10/30 – MAKB Catch ‘em All Fall Brawl
*Membership required
Wild Woman 