bigtuna

Hit the Charles with my dad around 1:00, grabbing a rental canoe and working our way downstream. Along the way to the spot where I got broken off by boss hog last week, I spotted an interesting looking cove. Two casts, two fish - one on a floating minnow and one on a wakebait. Too bad they were perch! Decent perch, but not what I was after. My dad was happy though -- he was inaugurating his rod, a Christmas present from 2009. Paddling near "the spot," I tied a mid-depth crankbait on for my dad. And first two casts, two fish for him -- junior-sized largemouth and smallie. And then, the skies cleared and we got blanked for the next three hours, throwing everything we could at every good-looking spot. A bit of a letdown after the great start, but some good time with my old man nonetheless! Oh, and you can really see the weeds pulling back... Fall is coming!

Couple of hours on the Charles today pre-Hurricane. Still learning the Senko, I threw a texas-rigged weightless 4" for a while and got a number of hits including a really good smack that tore the Senko halfway off the hook, but I couldn't set the hook on any of these. So, I switched to my lures-of-confidence, some shallow-running crankbaits. After a few light bumps, WHAM, a massive hit! Setting the hook, I knew it was a big one, and the fish made a few good runs, screaming out against my drag. Finally, I got the fish near the canoe and then it got really mad. With a violent shake, I saw the silvery flash of a large gill plate and "snap!" my line broke. That sonofagun stole my lure!!! Once again, Larry wins. Anyhow, I did manage a lil' larry on another crankbait, but I'll be back for the big one soon!

Quick run over to the Watertown ramp today. Got an 8" perch and a dink bronzeback on an old-fashioned floating minnow. My trusty shallow shad rap produced too -- an old t-shirt piece (gotta love that dirty water!) and a 4/0 nautilus hook on what looks like 50# mono. Left a Senko in the fallen birch tree on the left of the ramp. Skunked on spinners & senkos. Will have to try this spot under different conditions. 

Took the kids over to Hill's Pond in Arlington today for their first time fishing. Spent lots of time re-hooking worms and untangling lines, so tough to give a decent assessment of this place, other than it's a really nice park for taking kids -- easy walking, smallish pond, and a shaded playground to boot. Ended up with 2 small Larry Juniors on a crankbait; skunked on worms, senkos, and the kreature. Saw some decent surface hits in the dead center of the pond; other than that, just some small bass being caught on shiners by local kids.

Nice couple of hours exploring the river Charles this afternoon. On the plus side, my canoe anchor worked great! On the minus side, just one 10" largemouth for me.  When I arrived at 2:00, they were hitting stuff on the surface pretty aggressively, so I tied on a SkitterPop and on the second cast, got hit. Bummer that the little guy got one of the trebles snagged in his gill plate -- that really pisses me off about all those trebles! [Took me about 5 min of deft pliers work to extract the hook. He swam away with vigor, so hopefully he will be alright -- if not, some turtle will be happy. After that, the bite died off. Poppers - nothing. Senkos (not that I have a clue what I'm doing with softbaits) - nothing wacky or T-rigged. Shallow crankbaits - nada.  Oh well, at least I got to see a huge great blue heron, get the crap scared out of me by a big snapping turtle, learn just how thick water chestnut can be, and get bit by a wasp. Pretty fun, all in, though -- except for the wasp bite!

First time at JP. The water seemed pretty low and all anyone was getting was Sunnies on live bait (except for one guy, whom I had to help unhook a 9" turtle). Casting crankbaits from shore, all I got was one good bump and a 4" Pumpkinseed. Saw some 5-7" LMB swimming around and a few small perch, but that was it. Not the best outing...

First time at LC. Rented a canoe and explored the north half of the middle lake and the southern eighth of the upper lake. Got a nice bump shore-casting a floating minnow adjacent to the boat ramp, but didn't get a real bite until I hit the water. While I saw some LMB along the western shoreline of the middle pond, the best action was along the north shore and between I-90 and Rt 30. While I didn't get anything of notable size, I caught 1 LMB, 1 SMB, 2 Pickerel, and 3 Sunnies on a shallow shad rap and a floating minnow. Was a fun day.

Being new to MA fishing, and only having an hour or so, I headed over to Brookline Reservoir. Bad time of day -- the sun was beating down, with just about zero shade on the water. Ended up getting skunked and only saw some 4-6" LMB in the shallows of the west end. Did see something jump about mid-lake -- looked like a 12-16" fish, but it was too far away to make it out. I know there are some decent fish in there, but they were smarter than me today!