It’s time for another J&B Fishing report! Happy Thursday friends!
Over the weekend I went off on another saltwater excursion up in Kennebunk Maine where we fished for stripers, a trip organized by the Maine Women’s Hunters group. The water was oddly chilly for this time of year (according to the captain) at 58 degrees and we had a very hard time finding bait to bite, and finding the striper bite. We did in the last hour and change manage to get all the gals on board a fish including one keeper!
Tuesday morning before work I planned a just over an hour bank send, hoping to grab some more fish for the multispecies tournament. My hunni had fished there the evening before and landed some perch so I hoped I was going to get lucky. Although the fish were super active jumping at bugs, I even spotted a nice rainbow and some perch from shore, they did not seem at all interested in anything I was throwing. I had 2 small bumps on a mepps and that was it. The skies were clear and the water was warm to the touch, and by 7 am it was already hot and humid. I was also startled by one of the biggest snapping turtles I have ever seen who was happily feeding on some small bluegill, and of course by the time I got my camera out he was gone.
Tim TSJ got out for a fishing tournament in Central MA this past weekend on a lake that he said they had never fished. Friday they pre-fished, and quickly established a pattern fishing submerged wood and Tim said that topwater elicited numerous bites throughout the day. Unfortunately, as luck would have it, on tournament day they found the wood pattern to be non-existent. They were able to adjust quickly and find fish biting on the deeper side of weed edges and patches. Definitely the morning was the bite window as the lake got super busy with boat traffic. This time it was soft plastic jerk baits, weighted wacky rigged worms, and weighted soft plastic Texas rigged that did the trick. Tim said that they were able to catch their limit of bass, just not the right size to place in the money. He also caught a rainbow off a bridge piling on a Texas worm during the tournament.
Tip of the day: pay attention during the early morning dawn hours while towing your boat on the highway. I was able to narrowly avoid hitting a deer that wandered onto the highway. Just some quick maneuvering allowed us to steerclear and continue our day!
Time also spent a relaxing day on Congamond for the first day of the heatwave. I guess the fish don’t like the heat either, I only caught 12 on a slow, slow day using senkos under boats and docks.
Andy was finally able to get out this season with a quick send on Otis where the water temperature was 69 degrees and so was the air with clear skies and slight wind. His his first fish of the year was a good one; a 6.2 lb. pickerel who was shallow under some branches. Andy said he hit a soft plastic and took off!! After a good fight while simultaneously retrieving my net I was reminded of why I love getting out on the water. As they say ” the tug IS the drug”.
On Wednesday Andy got back onto Otis again and reported that the water temperature had jumped up to 75 in just a few days. He found that the key was to get deep along structure as the fish head for those cooler spots.
That’s all we got this week folks. Stay cool out there, and tight lines!
Wild Woman 