Ok so I am a few days late (oops) with this one BUT it’s cause I had a week off to chase turkeys and those turkeys have successfully outsmarted me for the time being….to say that they have made it quite personal is an understatement!
This past week whilst chasing turkeys I decided to enter myself into the May J&B scavenger hunt tourney – which no expectations of outcome other than to get out and fish more as my primary goal. Well, it’s already working! I fished not once, not twice, but 3 times since the tourney opened on May 1st. I hit a few local spots that I know have some different species, first along on Weds & Thursday and then Friday with my cousin – who did outfish me, but I got another point so it was still a win for me! The wind last week made it not fun but I was able to land a couple small sunnies and a brookie for the tourney. Water temps were in the 50’s and the bite on lures and bait was slow. I landed a brookie on a meps Shiner spinner and the sunfish too, he surprised me!
Bobby RB sent it with two local trips over the past week and Snakehead fishing in NJ. Right before the trip to NJ he went out to try some new jig trailers and see if he could get on some big bass and he totally did! He reported that pitching a jig into submerged timber was the key, with conditions being fairly clear skies with little wind. I managed three all day, the first being an absolute giant! 22″, and an estimated weight of over 6lbs.
Bobby’s next send was up da Shires. With a new month and a clean slate for the multi species scavenger hunt he went to check off as many boxes as possible and managed 5 in total: bluegill, pickerel, yellow perch, rock bass, and a crappie. He reported conditions as being slight wind and partial clouds giving way to full sun as he moved into the afternoon. This got him thinking he was on the right track with my downsized spinner, with a natural soft plastic trailer. Fish were mainly found up shallow fairly tight to cover for the most part. The rock bass in particular was hiding under some rocks, and in the slightly clearer water I was able to see him dart out to my lure.
Tim fished our club’s annual Ray Reardon scholarship tournament on Congamond lake lastt Sunday the 28th where he reported the water temperature at 57 degrees. They had 17 boats for the 6 fish team tournament and Tim said that they fished mainly in middle pond. He reports that reaction baits were the key for them netting second place overall. You had to put your baits in and around weeds to get bit. The winning wt by just over half a pound was 17.93 lbs. I believe the winning team found some spawning fish in north pond.
Tim TSJ also hit Onota lake in the Berkshires, where water temperatures were 58 to 61 degrees. He said he was able to get 5 smallies on jerkbait. Then when the wind picked up he switched to a chatter bait and grabbed 3 largies. I dropped a northern at the boat that ate a rattle trap… I had to finesse it because, as Shawn would say, I was riding bare back with no leader.😂
Speaking of Shawn the Fisherman, he hit a couple small ponds last weekend out on Cape Cod and caught about two dozen largemouth, including two really good fish and his new PB in the state. Shawn said that there were males on beds at one pond, but visibility was poor at the second, so he couldn’t confirm that one. Both ponds were at 60 degrees, and I caught all fish on jigs of various sizes with creature-bait trailers. This week should be explosive 🧨 fishing across the state with fish in various stages of pre-spawn to spawn. Be patient and look for beds when water clarity allows!
That’s all we got this week folks! Tune in tomorrow for another great episode of Jigs & Bigs! Hopefully Joe will have some more cool fish news for us! I missed that segment last week 🙂 Stay safe, have fun and as always, TIGHT LINES!
Wild Woman 