tony93

Fishing has been s-l-o-w lately... I've had several outings with not even a single swipe, or even activity seen. I'm guessing it's due to the Fall turnover(the lower cool water mixing with the upper warm water, equalizing both temperatures and oxygen levels). It should pick up in a week or two... I went out today to Snipatuit Pond around noon or so... again, nearly 2 hours without even a nibble. I decide to make one last cast at a spot adjacent to where I had been fishing and WHAM! my Zoom Super Fluke(in pearl color) takes off like a shot... this guy even pulled drag a few times(8# Berkley 100% fluorocarbon on spinning gear). After a wicked fight(and some choice mutterings about not getting cut off on such light line) I landed the biggest chain pickerel I have ever caught. Not sure if it comes across in the picture, but he's about as long as my arm... no idea on his weight. I thought it was a pike at first because he was so big, but he's definitely a pickerel. That's a helluva way to end and otherwise un-productive day on literally my last cast!

Back at Snipatuit Pond for an hour or so before supper... it's spitting rain on and off the whole time, but it doesn't really bother me that much. Tried a Zoom Super Fluke and a plastic worm, but got no takers. I tie on my favorite lure - a spinnerbait. About 4 casts later, a strong fish grabs my lure. A serious fight later - I was shocked at how much he fought - I landed a 3 1/2 pounder. (see pic) Nice larry!! I'm just a shore angler who is extremely limited as to where he can fish(and how long, but that's me, not lake access), and I'm catching some really nice fish... imagine what kind of big fish are actually in this lake... out there somewhere?! *grin*

I went out to Snipatuit Pond about 7:30pm... I hadn't wet a line since last week, so even a small amount of time was better than nothing. I fished for about 15 minutes where I had caught largemouth bass and even a northern pike before, but got no hits & saw no sign of any activity whatsoever. I moved over to the lake portion and starting chunkin' & winding my old fave - a spinnerbait. I have enough confidence in this bait to keeping tossing it for hours without second-guessing myself, which I think is where alot of beginners miss out - in their mind they're subconsciously saying "will a fish even hit this?". I KNOW they will! At 8:25pm I get a massive strike and a pretty fierce battle begins - I was surprised at how strong the fish was and thought it might be a smallmouth or even a pike... it was dark by this time(see pics) but I landed a thick bruiser of a largemouth, about 3 pounds or so. This is the first fish I have caught on the lake side of the road(see map), and man, it was a good one! Unfortunately, the mosquitos got the better of me and I headed to the house shortly thereafter.

I've been doing really well at Massasoit State Park this year... which is my first year fishing there, as we moved to Middleboro in January. No monsters caught here, but it's been fun. I got there on Wednesday about 10:30am and fished at Lake Rico first for about an hour, getting only 1 hit on a chartreuse/white Stanley Bull Ribbit frog in the pads, but not hooking him. After baking in the direct sun, I decide to see if they opened the gates to allow people to drive back to Big Bear Hole Pond... they haven't been opening them due to low personnel, and it's too far for me to walk back there. YES! They opened em. I get my pass for my car(I was the only one so far that day!) and head on back... It's now almost noon so I go for something that can get in/out the thick weeds - like the recent 'hot summer bassin'' threads in the forum, you need to go deeper(which I can't as a shore angler) or go thicker(weeds, that is). Out comes the Strike King Shim-E-Stick(their version of the Senko) and the fun begins! I land 2 larry's on that, rigged weightless tex-posed, and a 3rd on a smaller wacky-rigged 4" Yamamoto Senko. I also lose 2 more when they come unbuttoned during the fight. The spot peters out so I head for the thick lily pads - flipping the Shim-E-Stick into pad gaps pays off with a 4th larry, about a 2 pounder - nice one! I fix my bait, make another cast, and nail #5 on the very next cast!! This rocks! A few casts later a toothy critter bites my bait in half under the pads... and my phone rings at 1:05pm - time to pick up my wife from work. What a day!

bored at home so I decided to pop over to Snipatuit Pond(only 7 minutes from my driveway) for a few casts... about 10 minutes into it, I tossed a Strike King Shim-E-Stick(like a Senko) near some lily pads and gave it a few slow tugs - and it tugged back! I slam the hook home and a pretty decent fight later, I was holding my very first northern pike. Not a monster at all, but he had the stereotypical BAD attitude! Unfortunately, all I had was my cell phone to take a pic... I thought it was a big pickerel at first, but then I noticed the lack of the black 'teardrop' pickerels always have under their eye & the spots rather than chainlink side markings. Cool!

Snipatuit Pond - only 7 minutes from my driveway *thumbs up* According to the Mass wildlife site it has largemouth, chain pickerel, yellow perch & northern pike. My wife & I fished there the other day for an hour and got a few hits, but nothing landed... so I went back today, before this afternoon's thunderstorms moved in. Forum member timmo gave a few Sizmic toads the other day when we happened to meet at Big Bear Hole Pond, so I tied one on and on my 5th cast BINGO! Thanks Tim! I also caught a chain pickerel on silver/yellow Mepps spinner.

my wife and I dropped off our 2 nephews at friend's houses for a sleepover and what do we pass along the way? Lake Rico! So, we pull over for an hour to make a few casts... and on her 3rd cast with a 1/4oz colorado bladed spinnerbait with a "blue glimmer" Booyah skirt - BAM! she nails a decent larry about 1 1/2 pounds. She was totally excited as this was her first largemouth bass of the year. I was probably more excited that she caught it than if I had caught it... About 15 minutes later, I nailed a larry on that same white Bass Pro Shops double willow spinnerbait I've been catching em on recently - but he's only half the size of her bass! DOH! Oh well, she's 'on the board', and I am happy, as was she.

I got to the lake about 11am or so... while I tried various presentations, I didn't get a single bite for quite awhile, and was getting ready to head out to another body of water, when I nailed larry #1 on my trusty spinnerbait. Within an hour, I had landed 2 more bass(see pics) and a baby chain pickerel(he shook off before I got the camera out of my pocket), all on that same white 3/8oz Bass Pro Shops Lazer Eye dual-willow blade spinnerbait. I also got to meet forum member Tim aka 'timmo' and his son! Nice to meet up in real life with a fellow fishing fanatic. He hooked me up with some killer new frog baits too, which was very cool. Thanks Tim! GREAT to see a parent taking their child out fishing too. If more kids had fishing licenses, I doubt they'd wind up as troublemakers later on...

my wife and I left early - 5am - and got to the lake by 5:30am... this is the first time she's ever gone fishing this early, so I was really hoping she'd catch something. Unfortunately, it didn't happen... but I did catch 3 bass, and lost one other. The first one - which I didn't bother to take a picture of - came on a shallow running wake bait in sexy shad color. The next one came on the same bait, but it threw the lure after a brief battle... neither were very big, maybe a pound at most. The next bass came on my old trusty spinnerbait(see pic). These were at Lake Rico. After they opened the gates at 7:30am, we went back into Massasoit State Park to Big Bear Hole Pond. By now, it was quite warm, and we were both sweating our asses off, mainly due to the sky-high humidity. She had a few bluegills picking at her lures, but nothing caught... right as we were gonna call it a day, I flipped a Strike King Shim-E-Stick in watermelon/black/red flake into the thick lily pads - and my line took off in the opposite direction. BAM! Set the hook and yank a larry out of the vegetation - take a pic and head to the house and back to bed! Not a barn-burner by any means, but 3 fish landed and 1 lost is not too bad for 3 1/2 hours, I suppose. I still wish she had caught the fish instead of me.

"somewhere in Middleboro" - I only made 3 casts with a white Bass Pro Shops Lazer Eye spinnerbait - 3/8oz, double nickel willow blades. BIG bass nails it about 10 feet in front of me... I battle it on a short line(12lb Vicious 100% fluorocarbon), but land it. I estimate it at 5 pounds EASY - take measurements, pics & video, then release it. I check the measurements when I get home with the Texas Parks & Wildlife department largemouth bass chart(they use it for immediate catch & release 'paper' tournaments) - 22 1/8 inches long & 6.52 pounds!!! No, an estimate will never be as accurate as a scale, but they certainly know what they're talking about(the Texas state record largemouth is over 18 pounds!!!), and I'm not gonna keep a bass for the wall(i.e., kill it) unless we're talking 7 or 8 pounds.