charliep

Finally got out for the first time this season. We hit Upper Massapoag Lake in Dunstable from 8:30 - noon. That was the first time either of us fished the lake. It was very windy with occasional gusts that were a lot of fun. Water temps were between 52 and 54. We fished drop offs and the shore line. I covered a lot of water with a vibrafox in line spinner and he stuck with flyfishing. Tally for me ws 4 slime darts who hit and fought with the veracity of a wet sock, and 3 largemouth all between 1-1.5 lbs. No pics as they weren't anything special. I did miss a nice fish off a dock. I did snap a pic of my buddy's largemouth because he got it on a popper on the fly. He also slayed the sunfish.

All in all a good few hours. I will definitely hit it up again.

This posting is about a week late as I was waiting for a couple of photos. I went out with a friend last Monday morning to fish a few honey holes on the Concord. I went in anticipating what I thought would be Fall conditions and I was prepared to spend some time with my white spinnerbait. As is the rule, I misjudged and found myself switching back to my go-to Ribbit Frog. First hit was a pike that took a swipe and missed....or I missed him. I will let you decide. The next pike stuck and and was landed. A few more casts and his twin hit and stuck for fish number two. I followed up with another cast to the same spot and the water absolutely exploded. The pike clamped on to the frog and immediately was off with a mouthful of frog. This fish went through the 30# braid as cleanly as if I cut it with a pair of scissors. Those fish were all active in shallow water in heavy submerged weeds. I really slowed my retrieve my last two trips. I am keeping my rod tip up high and am reeling in just fast enough to keep the frogs at the surface. Previously, I was ripping the frog across the surface and I was both getting fewer strikes and landing less. The last fish of the day was taken off of a point and it was a nice largemouth. He took the frog very deliberately and he really had some fight in him.

Any estimates on lengths and sizes are just guesses. I don't carry a scale - but will next year I think. Hell, I never even took photos till I joined here last year. If you guys have any guesses to the size of the bass, please chime in. It felt pretty heavy in my hand.

Very slow day on the river today. There was a lot of water flowing compared to just before the storm and the water temp was down from 76 degrees on Friday to 68 degrees today. I fished hard in all of my usually productive places with my go to lures - a frog popper for my fly rod and a ribbit frog on my bait caster. My friend fished a similar popper with his fly rod and a jointed perch rapala on his spinning rod. I had just one hit and landed a nice pike(lousy pic). It hit the ribbit frog about 5 feet from the boat and just about caused me to soil myself. I saw the strike and it can be best described as deliberate. I was really amazed at how efficiently the pike took the bait. I got him in, took a fast pic and let him go. I neither weighed nor measured the fish, but it was around 28". There is a full sized tackle box behind it for an attempt at reference. The only other action was a lost fish (buddy) on a perch j-11 rapala. We never saw the fish but it took 2 solid runs.

The fish were definitely off today but it was still nice to get out.

Got to the Wotton St. ramp in Chelmsford for the first time today as the Pawtucketville BLVD. ramp was closed. It was busy at the ramp and busy on the water. I headed upstream toward Tyng's Island (the golf course) and saw some exposed rocks. Out with the trolling motor and I was able to position and anchor just below the outcropping. There was a nice rocky channel. I cast a Strike King Crawfish colored square bill and missed a nice fish. Second cast, same as the first. I peppered the area and no more interest in the hardbait. I switched to a gold vibrafox #2 and fish on the first cast. A small smallmouth. I threw the spinner in the same places that I cast the hardbait and ended up with 5 smallmouths the biggest at 17 inches and a nicely sized and colored sunfish. I am excited to get bck out there. Sorry for no photos, but I was fishing alone and just got caught up in things.