Well, I think it’s safe to say that the fall bite is here! The jigheads have been on some beastly fish this week!
Shawn the Fisherman had a busy week fishing as he canvassed the Berkshires and Pioneer Valley this past week looking for a Crappie submission in the September Jigs and Bigs tourney. Unfortunately, he was not successful. Where he DID succeed was coaxing large numbers of species into biting. Shawn reported that drops hotting Berkley flatworms in 10 to 20 foot depths was particularly successful for panfish, smaller largemouth bass, and chain pickerel. He said that for larger specimens of bass and pickerel, a 3/8oz Lead Free Bass Jigs “Pro Rocker” jig with a Berkley Pit Boss did well for him. Shaw said that he recorded water temperatures in the high 50’s for the first time since the initial spring warmup this year. That, combined with the ravenous feeding this week is a sure sign that fall is here. Make sure you hit the water hard when you can!
Bobby Roast Beef has been out a handful of times this past week, mainly hunting for some of the missing species to round out this month’s Multi Species Scavenger Hunt noting that the bluegill (and LMBs) are biting! He started last week looking at a local regular haunt looking for trout, crappie, rock bass, bowfin, perch and pickerel. As luck would have it he was able to put together one hell of a bag of largemouth and reported that they were hitting natural colored bass jigs flipped into shallow water with nearby wood. Biggest of that day was 18.25″, which made for a great day… but I wasn’t able to check anything off my list, aside from my any 5 stringer.
The next day Bobby went out was up “da shires” where he says he was killing it with bluegill and dink bass in deep water. Utilizing a drop shot, they seemed to be pretty keyed in on white that day. Put over a dozen in the boat just looking for a species I was missing, hoping I might stumble on something useful. I did however (as I was heading back to the ramp), have a bullhead smash a ned rig up super shallow near some pads. I’ll freaking take it! The next morning he was back at it again up “da shires” but at a different pond where he says he was mainly throwing around a downsized spinner. He hooked into 14 fish in total and noted that all of them were in less than eight feet of water; most in very shallow water. It was a mix of (you guessed it) BLUEGILL, a couple of smallies and largemouth rounding out the bag. Bobby did, however, manage a pickerel in the mix to secure another species off his list for the tourney.
This past Monday, Mr. Roast Beef ventured to a pond he hade only ever fished once before on the recommendation of a fellow angler, who also joined him that day. Bobby was again looking for a variety of species; his friend was desperate to find a crappie. He said that the sunfish were munching the spinner, as were a couple bass. This day, the rain was pretty consistent and the bites all seemed to be close to lily pads for him. As luck would have it, my plan to just keep working through all the bluegill paid off as I, Bobby Roast Beef, managed to finally put a crappie onto the ketch board! At least we now have a handful more points to work. The bait that’s been killing it for me has been a small spinner (from a beetle spin) rigged with a heavier jig and a tiny 2″ paddle tail swimbait.
Wednesday, I had errands to run and decided to hit a local bank spot to see if I could hook up on my new jig rod. Bingo! Let’s hope that my plan for the rest of the missing species works out like I’m hoping!
NelsonI only got out once this week and it was for the last MAKB Western Division event of the season on Ashmere Lake. He said that being one of the coldest mornings since the spring, he thought that the fishing might be tough but with the weatherman calling for rain he was still hopeful. Water temperatures were in the 60’s. He reported that the fishing was stingy for most and although he caught a dozen bass only seven of them were keepers. Luckily for Nelson, one of them was a giant coming in at 21.75 inches and 6lbs. 7oz. This bass moved me from 6th place to 2nd place with two hours left. I never caught another keeper that would help me and I finished the tournament in 4th place. This 4th place finish helped Nelson secure the Western Division Angler of the Year title for the second year in a row. Way to go Nelson!! He caught all but one fish on a drop shot with a Junebug worm in 8-10 feet of water. The giant was caught on a NED rigged creature bait also in Junebug.
With the temps dropping, the open water season will come to an end before we know it.
Get out there while the fishing is still good. If you’re into catching some trout. Fall trout stocking has begun all around the state. Good luck everyone!! Be safe!
Ryan aka The Butcher made his way to the “6th Great Lake ” – good ole Lake Champlan where he fished in all corners of the lake, from south hero, st Albans bay, Alburgh passage, to inland sea. I covered a lot of water and the temps were mostly in the low 60’s everywhere I went. Ryan said he started his trip pre fishing grassy areas just to see if the largies would be a factor. He was flipping grass and heavily weeded areas, landing a few largemouth in the 2 – 3 lb range and endless pike with the biggest being about 32-36″. He said that he wasn’t really bothering landing many since he was there for bass. The Butcher said that after day one he realized they weren’t going for largies, and his flipping sticks would stay locked away unless he needed an emergency fish.
He was able to get on a smallie bite on day 1, where he was fishing in about 35-40 feet with big smallies suspended on and under bait balls out in the inland sea. Ryan was able to get them on drop shot and damiki rig. All of his fish were caught on the drop shot were on the Berkley maxscent 3″ flat worm. I was able to land a 4.48 smallie day one with a bunch of mediocre fish surrounding him for a total of 16lbs. Day 2 was reported to be much windier. He was able to find a hump in the middle of what felt like the ocean where it went from 74, to 21 feet; up to 7. The wind was blowing from the west to east and was just pushing bait up on this hump. The water again was in the low 60’s, very clear and he was using his 360 to find these rocks they were setting up on and then using forward facing sonar to get the bites. Ryan said that mixing in the drop shot, getting a limit of probably 15 lbs quickly, he switched to the dimiki rig with a 3.3 inch bait and just laid into big fish after big fish, I sat on this hump for 6 hours with a total weigh of 21.98 lbs for day 2!
Total just beat down on this flat all day and it all just happened the right way. I pushed to find a pattern and took the time to decipher it. I have spent endless hours learning the tools on the front of my boat and they are paying off. Without that hummingbird mega 360 I wouldn’t have been on those smallies like I was. Huge huge tool for my success up north! Fish are hungry!! Go get em!
Jerry got out a couple times this week. The first was for the MAKB WEST’S last kayak tournament of the season on Ashmere Lake. He reported that the water temps in the mid 60’s and he started out fishing a decent size weed bed. Jerry’s first bass was caught on a chatterbait switched soon after to a wacky rigged green pumpkin Yamamoto Senko and he caught five largemouth off that weed bed in six to eight feet of water. Then he tried throwing a spinnerbait a bit which the pickerel couldn’t resist, and he ended up with a dozen largemouth, four pickerel and a few pan fish.
Jerry’s second outing was a quick outing with his niece Nikki at Upper Highland for some bank fishing. They caught some rock bass on nightcrawlers as well as a couple small largemouth on neko rigged soft plastic worms. Shoutout to Nikki who caught her PB smallmouth- a 17 incher! Fishing has been pretty good the last couple weeks.
Tim was out to Congamond again where the water temperatures were in the upper 60’s. He said that he started off on a drop off of a point, marked a bunch of fish but couldn’t coax any to bite. Then made a move to a mid lake hump and dragged a C-rig around finally enticing a nice two pounder to bite. Next Tim went near a wind blown shoreline tossing a spinner bait but ending up hauling nothing but water. Then he got to a stretch in between docks and needed to retie and threw a Senko out randomly while he took care of that, went to lift up his bait and felt weight. Reared back and set the hook on a 4.11 beast! I fished a few more docks with that same bait and grabbed another three pounder off a dock.
The weather for tomorrow isn’t looking all that hot, but Sunday looks like a good day to get out and get on the fall bite! If you are interested in going after some fall stocked trout, check out the MA Stocking page for inside details of what is being stocked where! Stay safe out there folks, and tight lines!
Wild Woman 