We are just about half way through the month, and the fish seem to be happily on summer patterns now!
I spent a long weekend on Lake Bomoseen in Castleton Vermont fishing my tail off with my fiance. Dylan may have out fished me in numbers, but I was lucky enough to find some a couple decent-ish fish to enter into the J&G June Scavenger hunt. We tried to land as many species as we could – and he out did me there too! The water was relatively warm in the low 70s and in the evening we just hit a beautiful glassy lake bite. The fish were biting a lot of top waters – including my favorite – the Ripplin Redfin. We caught a lot of nibbler largies, a lot of sunnies and only one perch and two crappie. We stayed mostly in the smaller pond and the weeds were so abundant that fishing with most other baits really just wasn’t working. Shoutout to my gal pal Toni who I FINALLY convinced to throw on a topwater and she caught a largie after fighting me every step of the way! (Love you lady)
On Tuesday we had to go back to work, ick, and when I left the house that morning I threw my gear into the back of my car because I just wasn’t ready to let me long weekend of fishing go. I hit up Ashfield Lake and was able to add two more to my list catching a brookie and a decent brown – they slammed a gold mepps with a black blade. I SAW some perch from shore, which is another fish I am desperatly trying to land for a point, but they just were not interested in anything I threw at them. When I first got to the lake the water was relatively calm and the bite was okay, but when the wind picked up almost an hour later it seemed to die down.
Shawn the fisherman got out three times this week to ponds in central Massachusetts and up to the Berkshires. He said taht for the most part, the bite has been shallow, and big fish have been all over bass jigs around vertical structures. Shawn also noted that when the wind picks up and the fish were more aggressive, the Chatterbaits were what did the trick.
This week illustrated that bass have moved into their summer feeding patterns, as most fish I caught were recovered from spawning. The night bite has picked up, as well, so don’t be shy about wetting a line after dark.
Cousin Jon got out Saturday in the Berkshires for a tournament where he reported the water temperatures in the low 70s most of the day. He said that it was a nibbler-off for sure with most bites coming off of chatterbaits and ned rigs as well as a couple bites on a natural colored swimbait as well. Jon did manage to take lunker bass and toothy bastard with a whopping 16″ bass and pickerel, and finished 3rd overall. It was such a tight finish, 1st and 3rd were separated by less than an inch. We had some variable weather throughout the day with sun, clouds, wind and rain but a good day none the less
Last but not least, Mr. Tim TSJ Jaques! He reported that he had planned a pre-fishing trip out to a Worcester area lake for an up coming tournament but decided to just go have some fun locally with some smallmouth. Tim hit up the Ct River at the Oxbow section and said the fish were biting! He started by throwing top water, poppers and a walking bait and had a couple of blow ups, but nothing major. Next he threw out a stupid bait (Senko) near some submerged wood that he liked the looks of and landed a couple decent fish. Next he moved spots to further north where he threw top water around bridge abutments. They were absolutely demolishing them. Also tossed Senko every now and then on a miss and they chewed that. Moving even further north and hitting western shore with timber Tim continued to hit them on topwater, Senko, and ned rig in and around submerged structure. All in all I ended up boating 36 smallies and 2 largies , nothing bigger than the 3 lb largie , but tons of action. Tim also said that he probably dropped about ten others because they were feisty fish. I also had a good size northern flash at my spinnerbait right at the boat, that gets the heart rate up!! Tip of the day: when throwing topwater, have a follow up bait ready for those missed bites, the fish will still be there and chances are you’ll catch them on your follow up bait.
If you are interested in getting into a tourney, the Jigs & Bigs is hosting a nationwide BASS SLOT tournament is STILL open for registration! Catch and submit as many 12-17 inch bass as you can within the allotted 8 hours with no limit! At the end of the event the angler with the highest cumulative score wins! You can register here on the Fishing Chaos app and start getting your bass fishing on! Registration is open until 06/28!
The weekend is looking like a good one, and don’t forget it’s Father’s Day! What better way to spend time with dad than to get out on the water and fish?! Have fun and catch fish! Tight lines folks!
Wild Woman 