The weather is cooling off even more, and the jigheads are on the fish!
Mister Bobby Roast Beef reported that the water temps are slowly trending cooler and cooler as the amount of daylight has also been reduced. Since the last report he managed to get out four times.
His first up was a trip to Nashawanak in Easthampton where he was looking to cross off a number of species from his scavenger hunt list for the month of October. Initially he said he was just looking for trout, crappie, or perch, however he was floored when he managed to hook into a 20+ inch chain pickerel on a tiny 2″ swimbait on a small jig head. I have not personally caught a pickerel at this pond in years, but it was great to see a decent one in there! Unfortunately that was the only bite he’d get for the rest of this trip. On his next outing Bobby hit up a local pond in South Hadley for a quick bank send. He said his focus once again was perch and crappie. I was throwing that same small paddle tail on a jig head, but also on a drop shot too. Both turned out to prove effective! He caught a 10″ fallfish with that swimbait/jig on the drop (unfortunately, no fallfish on the list of acceptable species) and a number of smaller largemouths on that same presentation. On the drop shot however he hooked a larger bass. The last one was came in at 15″ and was a nice little upgrade to the LMB I had already submitted.
On Monday morning BRB headed up da ‘shires to the promised land most call Onota where he planned to target pike and smallmouth on this trip, but was also hoping to find perch, crappie, and rock bass. He set course for a weed edge that had proven to be great for pike and bass in the past and said that it was especially promising given the direction of the wind that day. He reported that he initially had a good size smallie follow a natural 4″ swimbait right up to the boat. Then, he decided to change up his bait to see if it could make a connection with some fish. He managed an almost 19 inch pike on a bladed jig in a perch type pattern and then made a number of additional casts with that bait to cover the area but didn’t connect. I then was thinking to try another downsized presentation to see if I was able to get a bit, maybe from a smallmouth. I decided to throw a finesse jig with a 3″ swimbait. After a couple casts I got bit by a huge pike! I managed to get him to the boat after a long and tedious fight; as I was getting the net, he cut my line with one of his teeth, sending himself back down to the depths. This fish was easily longer than my ketch board. I would assume 30″ or better and absolutely would have been handled on the bank… not messing around with a toothy beast of that size in my kayak!
Bobby said at that point he’d just about had it with the wind and decided to head to a bank line that was a little more sheltered. While continuing to throw the finesse jig and not getting any bites, he opted to throw a drop shot and started catching bluegill; ain’t nobody got time for THAT! But I continued to make my way through them, in hopes of a species that would collect another point for me in the scavenger hunt. No such luck. On my way back to the ramp, I made some casts with that finesse jig, getting a tiny smallmouth on and losing him when he went airborne. Jerk.
His last trip was back to Onota with smallmouth and more on the agenda and the conditions were much different from the last outing: Near slick calm surface with the only substantial wind kicking up early afternoon. Ultimately, Bobby ended up managing a small pike on a spinnerbait and after grinding for hours he made the decision to return to the rocky banks and throw a drop shot with a 4″ worm in a natural color. After not getting bit, he downsized the plastic to a 2 inch swimbait; That was the jam! He said that he started catching bluegill in the shallow areas but after reaching a predetermined point, he turned back around and began casting the drop shot out a bit deeper. That’s where I hooked into a small 13″ Smalljaw, earning himself another point; I’ll gladly take it. This month has been a grind. Bundle up and go fishing!!!
Tim got out for a little while on Sunday up in the Berkshires at Onota where it was quite chilly at 7 am and the wind was whipping. He said that he caught a few rat smallies on a weighted cut tail off of some boat docks and commented that he thinks the front moving through gave them a case of lockjaw. Tim said he tried moving baits, finesse baits, shallow, deep, and mid depths; despite all of the variety, that’s all he could manage. Thursday, Tim hit the local section of the CT river where the water temperatures was 58 degrees. He caught seven smallies on finesse presentations. I lost two decent ones that jumped, showed themselves to me and promptly spit the hook back at me! I also landed a decent pickerel and a fall fish.
Jerry got out a couple times this week the first being the MAKB Championship at Mashpee out east. Jerry caught a dozen bass, all smallmouth, and a couple white perch. He reported that he caught them on green pumpkin dropshot baits and the water was 66 degrees. Jerry’s second outing was Monday at a local lake in Huntington where the water temperature was 60 degrees. He reported the largemouth bite was excellent, having caught sixteen all on black and blue neko and ned rigged soft plastics. He said that the pickerel were also caught on the same baits and he landed fifteen of them all sizes from 12 to 23 inches. Jerry also caught one crappie and a couple yellow perch. Great day of fishing!
Nelson made it out once this week for a few hours on a lake in Sturbridge where water temperatures were in the 60’s. He said that the weather was cloudy with occasional drizzle and showers but the sun did pop out a couple times. Nelson said that it didn’t take long to get bit. His first bite was on a Spinnerbait but because of a bad hookset he said he never saw the fish. Nelson found some biting bass in a small cove that he caught with a weightless stick bait fished just under the surface slowly reeling and twitching quickly. I got several bites with this technique.
I also caught one bass on a Chatterbait in that cove.
Nelson said that after the sun popped out a few times he decided to go check some docks and said that’s when the magic happened. He said that his first bass off a dock was a 21.25″ fatty but unfortunately with all the excitement he forgot to weigh her – he said he guessed high 5 to 6 lbs. He kept fishing docks and caught several bass and said that he found an interesting pattern. There were mostly metal docks but some were wood at the shore and had a metal extension. If the dock was all metal the bass were at the very end of it closest to deep water. If the dock had wood the bass were at the end of the wood portion even if the metal portion extended several feet beyond the wood. This is interesting because wood holds heat better than metal and that’s where several of the bass were staged. All of the bass from the docks were caught on a weightless stick bait fish under and around them.
With the water temps dropping quickly the fish are feeding up for winter. Some of the bigger bass have moved up into shallower water and it’s a great time to catch a giant. Get out there before the freeze hits. Also, if you’re into catching some trout, most of the state has been stocked for the fall season. Good luck and be safe!! Don’t forget to wear your PFD!!
Shawn the FIsherman fished for a couple hours out in Sturbridge last weekend where he pulled up a handful of Largemouth that were punching over their weight class on a bass jig.
Shawn also took a trip out to Cape Cod on the holiday with his youngest to investigate a couple small, relatively wind-sheltered ponds. The first stop was the best, as he couldn’t keep smaller bass and a good-sized Perch off his Ned-rigged stick worm. Meanwhile, I hit 3 quality Largemouth with the largest breaking 20″, again on the jig. After a quick meal at Mac’s of Chatham (kick-@$$ food!), we stopped at a smaller pond where the jig picked up a couple more fish over 17″, then headed home.
Shawn commented that the waters all over the state are now in the 60s with the recent temperature downturn. Turnover should be right around the corner, so get out and fish while you can. Please be safe and take all precautions when on the water!
If you’re heading out on the water, stay safe and make sure you wear your PFD! Tight lines folks!
Wild Woman 