And just like that, it’s November. The weather has been on the mild side for the last couple of days, and the Jig Heads are still out landing fish, with a little bonus story this week from Nelson which I just had to include.
Tim hit Congamond at the end of last week and again today and reports that water temperatures are holding steady at 57-58 degrees. He said that his first trip yielded one largemouth in shallow water on a chatter bait. Today Tim fished the main lake hump and a chunky 1.25 lb largemouth trucked his Carolina rig. Then he moved to a shoreline where they saw bait balls where he hooked into bass throwing a crank bait through the bait. They also had one pickerel landed on a drop shot. What a beautiful morning for fishing! Get out there the weather looks good for the next week or so.
Shaw the Fisherman fished the MAKB “Catch ‘Em All Fall Brawl” this past weekend which was a remote event in which the anglers pick their body of water within Massachusetts to fish. Shawn took a spin out to a favorite spot on the Cape. He said his goal was to hit as many fish over 12″ as possible, so lunkers weren’t his main target. Although the bite was hot at first by 10am, a Northeastern wind and accompanying bluebird skies slowed the bite significantly. Shawn threw finesse plastics all day, managing to catch enough to finish in the money, but says that it’s that time of year in New England where lockjaw seems to be pretty prevalent most of the day. Try fishing later in the day, even right up until darkness, to get the bite on the warmest water of the day.
Jerry reports that the last week of October was fairly slow in the number of fish as he hit the water the last three days of the month. Saturday was the Big Bass Challenge tournament which took place in Rhode Island with four lakes to choose from. He arrived at the lake he chose at 4:30 in the morning, only to find the lake had been drawn down for winter and was looking at nothing but rocks and mud with the water about 80 yards out. So I hastily ran to another lake in which 10 others ended up at, due to two of the lakes being drawn down. Jerry tried all sorts of different baits and only caught two largemouth all day on a green pumpkin wacky stickbait. He said that all the competitors on this lake had similar results with the largest bass on this lake being fifteen inches. The biggest bass of 19.5 inches, caught on another lake, won $1000 along with some great prizes.
Sunday Jerry spent another six hours on the water in Hampshire county where he caught eight pickerel on neko rigged stick baits and two bass on a sexy shad crankbait, both coming in around 13 inches. Monday afternoon he hit Richmond pond for a few hours in search of some multi species to close out the Jigs and Bigs Podcast Multi-Species Tournament and caught seven pickerel from sixteen to nineteen inches. Jerry said he also lost one in the twenties on jerkbait and others on soft plastics. He also caught one nice largemouth bass on a black and blue neko rigged worm.
Nelson was out on the Quaboag river late last week where he said his mission was actually scouting for a duck hunt Saturday morning. I couldn’t resist bringing my fishing gear. He ended up finding some bass on a drop shot in the deeper holes and on the whopper plopper in the more shallow grass flats. Nelson reports that the water temperature was in the mid to upper 50’s and the fish were very active.
Saturday’s duck hunting mission included his daughter and her boyfriend, and they were greeted with temps in the upper 20s, and very thick fog with calm winds. We only saw a handful of ducks and could hear plenty of geese flying by but couldn’t see them because of the thick fog. I did get a couple of geese to come in close enough for some shots and both my daughter and her boyfriend got their first Canada goose. Although it was a slow morning, it was great to spend a few hours outdoors with them telling stories and enjoying the outdoors.
Nelson said that while they were hunting there was also a bass boat tournament out of Quaboag pond. He said that after talking to a couple of the fishermen that came by their blind, he heard reports of a very tough bite, and the water temp had dropped to the low to mid 40s.
This weekend is looking absolutely beautiful for fall fishing but water temps are now at a very dangerous level. Please be careful if you’re going out in a kayak or canoe. Good luck out there!! Be safe!!
November is here, but the weekend is looking like it’s going to be in the high 60’s even with sunshine! Whether you’re out there fishing while you can before it really gets cold, or you’re like me, and you’ve hung up your rods & reels and switched over to full on hunting mode good luck!
Most importantly, stay safe! Tight lines!
Wild Woman 