It’s Thursday and that means time for the fishing report. The heat has not stopped the jig heads from getting out there and fishing!
Andy fished at Quaboag with his nephew this weekend where the water was showing 3 feet lower than normal. He reported that the air was close to 90 and the water wasn’t far behind at 79 degrees, in all the areas fished. They did get into a large school of white perch on the edge of a drop to deeper water, catching 30+ until deciding to continue on looking for bigger fish. The big fish never showed up for us but it didn’t stop us from trying!
Shawn the Fisherman placed 8th in Elite Kayak Fishing tourney on the Connecticut River. He hit the smallmouth on topwater in the shallows and finesse creature baits at mid depths and caught a walleye during the tournament.
Shawn also caught his first striper surf casting with a floating plug in a sand pattern! He’s enjoying the sand, surf, and sun hoping to lay into some sharks!
Jerry’s week started at the Elite Kayak Fishing Tournament on the Connecticut river where he said it was a rough experience pre-fishing at the most Northern launch. It did not produce any size to the smallmouth that he caught. He then took a gamble on another boat launch a bit further south where there is a long stretch of river which is shallow, except for a couple deep hole where he caught his first smallmouth in eight feet of water on a green pumpkin tungsten jig. First 12.5 inches, followed by a 14incher. Jerry tried the ned next and it was one after another from 10 to 18 inches. He spent 8 hours on a half mile stretch of river just enjoying the smallmouth bass fight in current. So get out on the river and have some fun fishing for smallmouth!
Jerry’s next outing was Sunday morning at a decent size pond in Berkshire county which, from the boat ramp, there’s a stretch of slow moving river loaded with lily pads for 3/4 of a mile to access the pond. He said that the fishing was super slow, with only 6 bass caught in six hours and only one pickerel.
Nelson got out a couple times this past week where pre fishing for the Elite Kayak Fishing tournament on the CT river was his focus. He fished a couple areas to the north and the south and some in between, and he didn’t find any bass anywhere that he thought would do well in the tournament.
On tournament day Nelson chose to fish the Chicopee boat launch where he got his first bite 15 minutes after lines on a spinnerbait. He said it was a great sized smallmouth, but unfortunately after jumping 3 times it spit the bait inches from the net. Throughout the day Nelson caught a few more bass on weightless soft plastics, including his two biggest bass. The top water and spinnerbait bite he had found during pre fishing wasn’t there on tournament day, aside from that first bass. I filled my 5 bass limit in the last two hours on a jig but was never able to upgrade. All the bass I caught came off of some kind of hard structure, wood, rock, and man made structures.Another good day on the water. Nelson finished the tournament in 12th place out of 39 anglers.
If you’re looking to do some carp fishing definitely check out the Chicopee stretch of the river. I saw hundreds of carp of all different sizes throughout the day. Many of them were GIANTS. Good luck out there.
Ryan reports that it was a good week! Friday he fished at a local central mass lake and nailed fish deep on the drop shot all night, largies and smallies, playing the rock game and just pinpointing them with my electronics.
Sunday he fished a tournament on Webster Lake, where water temperatures were 79-81 degrees. Ryan found plenty of success on punching and bladed jigs in the hot sun, in about 9-12 feet of water. He said that he couldn’t get anything too deep or too shallow, but just after the weed lines was the ticket. Took me all day to figure it out but with an hour left of the tournament I went from 5lbs to 13 lbs to take the win. Congrats man!
Tim was able to get out a couple of times this week. First was a team tournament at a border lake where the water temp was 77, and mostly cloudy skies. Tim reports that the bite was tough again and they had to slow down and be patient. He caught around 15 largemouths and was able to upgrade all day long. Our last stop of the day was a good one because the timing was right, as were our baits, again slowing down. We were able to cull three times a 1 pound upgrade and we ended the day winning the tournament.
Tim was out today today on Congamond where the water temperature was 83, and air temperature was what felt like a billion. He managed 3 largies, two on docks and a third out in some scattered weeds.
The weather is going to stay hot over the next few days here in Western MA, with a possibility of stretching into the 90s on both Saturday and Sunday. If you’re going after the fish, be sure to stay hydrated and don’t forget your sunscreen!
Tight lines everyone!
Wild Woman 