Anyone make it out over the weekend ?

@ Island Pond on Saturday, the drawdown appears to be complete. The beach/launch center is shallow and flat - you'll need to display bow numbers on your pickup truck to legally get a bigger fiberglass rig off. I don't think I've ever fished it this late in the season - all my accumulated awareness of rock locations went out the window. I was bumping into boulders repeatedly. You'd think that a day with a breeze, an extended rainshower and 53 temps would have them snapping? I managed 7 bites, 6 landed: five squealers and a 3.5# LM that ate a spinnerbait. Dumped a 2# smallie on it's second jump. The other bites were an even split with a RkCrawler 55. There was another guy fishing out of a white Nitro Z6 - if you're reading this, LMK how you did?

Went to Clement Sunday, shut the truck off after dunking the boat in and spotted a pair of whitetails 150' in front of me. :smile:

Put the TM down and started fishing CCW with the spinnerbait. One keeper quick, then a 4.02#er at the first break @island. One on the first good laydown off a finesse jig, then another three on the jig - from small ledges in 18', right on the break to deep water. No dinks, but IDK if any of these broke 2#. No love for a LC Staysee 90SP or the RkC. I usually hit those ledges with a 6XD, but didn't want to work that hard. Gone by 3PM.

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Been laid up a bit, but improved enough to get back in the saddle for a few hours on Thursday @ Merrimack R. Water is low and clear @42F. Took a while to get any bites, and they were non-bass mostly. Only boated one little LM, dubbed "Skunk-Saver". Got
him on an Owner Captiva jerkbait (65 iirc). Attachment 536563

The Owner was running 8', under most of the fish I was seeing on LS, so switched up to a 13 Fishing WhipperSnapper 3". That bait runs 3'-5', with a very slim profile and narrow action. The bite count went way up, but alas - no bass.

Headed to Clement Saturday @12-4:00, clearing sky, got windy and blue as the day went on. Temp is 44. Struck out on my "best water" there with a jig, T-rig, and deep crankbait. Shifted to some offshore ledges and started picking them up in 14'-22' on a Silver Buddy and a jig. Got six, with a couple of misses on the SB. Got them on a 250' stretch, depth and hard bottom was more key than ledge. Biggest only about 2.5#. Not much time left...
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good reports, glad someone is still getting out there and catching some. :thumb up2:

Great to see your still getting after them. I may try this weekend in between soccer games. Luckily with massabesic at full pool, it should be a while before that freezes up so I still got time.

Been hitting some local places and fish are still biting. Getting harder to find.

Well today was a cooold day but it was my only chance so I made the best of it. Started out a total S show. Made it 2 miles from home before I realized my trailer parking break must have been froze. Back home fixed that then made it to Kingston. Tried backing up and apparently plug was dirty because brakes locked up trying to back up. Finally got that fixed and splashed her. Boat really didnt want to turn over but she finally did and it was game on from there. My main target was crappie but with hooking a largie on my third cast on a keitech I had high Hope's. And then it just fell apart.... Crappie were suspended In 4 fow. Throw anything near them and they darted to the bottom. Scoped a few largies and they would stare and then swim away. Ended up with some crappie all on a megabass bfs suspending jerk. 3 bass all on dragging a keitech on the bottom. Not exactly what I expected but a day on the water is a day on the water so I'll take it as a win. Water was 43.

Good on you for persevering. I had good intentions of getting out Saturday, but ended up prepping for the eventual weather change instead.

Went out fishing on Friday here in NH and had a fairly good day, capped off with a 5.00 lb smallmouth I caught on a damiki rig. She was shallower than I would have ever guessed they'd be too, only about 15 feet down. Had two blobs show up under my feet so I dropped down and plucked her right up. Then I went back out on Sunday with Andrew up into Vermont yesterday and we had a great day, I caught my PB smallmouth at 5.46 lbs and we had 23.5 lbs on our best 5 fish, mixed bag. Damiki, A-rig and football jigs for all of those. Water temps 43-ish in the NH spot and 45-ish in the Vermont spot. They're definitely moving up to the mainland points/banks finally. Blue jacket pic was the 5.00 lber.

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Thanks for the great report,Sean. Nice fish.

nice smallies!:thumb up2:

Got out yesterday with a friend. Went to Bare Hill pond . Cold and windy and fish were no where to be found. Caught a 1 lb largemouth early then nothing but crappie. Went to a weed/rock hump at the end of the day and caught a 6.11lb largemouth on a jerkbait. Froze all day to catch one nice fish.....well worth it.

Nice job gents!

Thanks guys!

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Originally Posted by plbass

Got out yesterday with a friend. Went to Bare Hill pond . Cold and windy and fish were no where to be found. Caught a 1 lb largemouth early then nothing but crappie. Went to a weed/rock hump at the end of the day and caught a 6.11lb largemouth on a jerkbait. Froze all day to catch one nice fish.....well worth it.

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Is the water still high enough to launch a big boat in there? Was debating shooting over that way in a week or two, but I'm curious what the water temps were too. I'd be happy with two fish for day's worth of work if one was that big! The crappie in there are insane, we went there this spring and I spotlocked off a spot we wanted to hammer for a minute. As luck would have it, I stopped us perfectly in between two schools of crappie, one behind the boat and one in front. We caught 100 crappie and never moved an inch, it was a ton of fun.

We were in a small boat. Water is too low for any size boat. There is a hump at the ramp from people power loading. It's fine when water is up but now there isn't much water on the backside of the hump. Did you get chased around the ramp by the gate lady? Usually your good before Memorial day but sometimes they want $25. to launch and park up the street.

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Originally Posted by plbass

Got out yesterday with a friend. Went to Bare Hill pond . Cold and windy and fish were no where to be found. Caught a 1 lb largemouth early then nothing but crappie. Went to a weed/rock hump at the end of the day and caught a 6.11lb largemouth on a jerkbait. Froze all day to catch one nice fish.....well worth it.

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Nice fish Paul. Always worth it :thumb up2:

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Originally Posted by plbass

We were in a small boat. Water is too low for any size boat. There is a hump at the ramp from people power loading. It's fine when water is up but now there isn't much water on the backside of the hump. Did you get chased around the ramp by the gate lady? Usually your good before Memorial day but sometimes they want $25. to launch and park up the street.

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Aw bummer, I'll have to wait for ice out then. I only ever try to fish there in late March and early April, went one time in May the very first time I went there in 2018 I think it was, still haven't had a run in with the ramp lady. I've heard all of the horror stories though. Imagine caring that much about something that's not even yours and being awful to people all the time about it, what a miserable person...

She used to be nice, Don't know what happened but I could only imagine.

Great job guys ! Glad your still getting out. I had to cut my season short.
Can't wait for spring. Lol

Took advantage of the warm(ish) weather Friday afternoon, and headed to Massasecum 1:00-4:00. Had to do a little icebreaking with the trailer to get in, then the transom support to get turned around, then the last 30' with the boat. :eek:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/sKGLzWZFCRg

The lake is @75% ice free, surface temp was a uniform 36 degrees. Stuck with a Silver Buddy mostly, but threw a jerkbait on a flat w/ bait and a jig at a (the, if you know it) deep boulder.

Saw a few on the graph 6' off bottom (a good sign), got turned around and found them glued to the bottom w/ LS and got this guy right away - a little over 2#.
Attachment 537357

Had another fish that was all over it on every hop, right to the boat. Jigged it off bottom and bam! a pickerel :/
Found some giant schools of bait (perch likely), all stuck to the bottom in 25'-35'.

Only other fish was a crappie.
Attachment 537359
The path I chopped should stay open for the weekend, if anyone's so inclined.

Made it back over for a couple of hours on Saturday. Just a couple of crappie, no bass bites.
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Nice job getting out there. Glad you caught a few. :thumb up2:

Been mentally arguing with myself all day .. one lake open here that I won’t have to drive around and break ice up on .. it’s muddy it’s a silted bottom ….. but it’s going to be pretty warm and not suppose to get crazy windy until later in the afternoon and I didn’t tarp the boat yet

Guess it will be a morning coffee decision

Made it out again on Saturday to massabesic. Luckily some duck hunters were pulling out when I arrived and had broken up the ice good at the launch. Beautiful day, fishing was slow. Water was around 40. Tried blades, jigs, slow rolling swimbaits on bottom for bass all to no avail. Finally found a small school of crappie suspended 54 feet deep. Caught a few on an ice jig and that was it. Still better than a day on the couch. Hopefully going out this weekend again.

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Originally Posted by A Wood

Made it out again on Saturday to massabesic.

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Good effort! I emptied the boat Monday - still holding out hope, but have to be prepared to get buried.
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Saturday is looking good weather wise.

With that rain massabesic should be open for awhile. Ton of water flowing in. It is well past full pool at this point. Just wish the fishing was better there.

Great job getting out there guys.
Hopefully you can get in another trip or two and stick a couple before the ice gets to thick.

If it makes anyone feel any better, I skunked this past weekend. :laugh: Hit the same pond twice, had the last 2 hours of daylight on Saturday but no bites. Saw some good fish around boulders and a steep point on livescope, so figured the impending front on Sunday would help the bite. Could only fish until 12:30 though, so was on the water from 7am to 12:30. Not a single bite. Saw those bigger fish moving around in the same spots, but couldn't get anything to bite, and I threw the kitchen sink. Closest I got was on a blimp of a fish sitting 5' down in 15' of water. Threw a jerkbait right at it's face and got it to sniff-follow it for a good 40 feet, but it wouldn't bite. Even soaked a ned rig for awhile. Nada. Wasn't a lake I would want to fish this time of the year, but with the limited time and the limited options I can actually get my boat into right now, plus with it being a lake I already know, I felt it was my best bet. This is why I don't gamble. :laugh:

Why would your skunking make anyone feel better? I hate hearing about my friends skunks.

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Originally Posted by Phrog Phil

Why would your skunking make anyone feel better? I hate hearing about my friends skunks.

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Misery may love company? :confused2::roll:

Really hoping the weather holds out for Sunday, headed to Champlain or Candlewood looking for smallmouth again I think. Or may go swing for the fences on some largies in another spot in Vermont. Haven't had the best year for big bass, best 5 is at 27.75 lbs but I'd like to get that closer to 30 lbs and I'm running out of time. Set 4 goals for this year. 30+ lbs on my best 5 largies, 25+ lbs on my best 5 smallies, and a new PB largie and PB smallie. I'm 1/4, got my new PB smallie two weeks ago with a 5.46 lber. I think I can get to the 25+ lb mark on smallies, one more close to 5 lbs will put me there.

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Originally Posted by Phrog Phil

Why would your skunking make anyone feel better? I hate hearing about my friends skunks.

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I enjoy it lol …If Forrest is getting skunked dragging his gill net around the lake I feel much better only getting 2 tiny perch lol

Once again had Kingston to myself for the day. Place was like glass for a few hours. Ended up with 4 largies all on a mb trick shad worked so slow you could nap in between twitches.��

Nice job still getting out there :thumb up2:

Went up to Winni today. Caught 3 small smallmouth, and Andrew caught 1 smallie. Bonus laker for me. Never been up there this late in the year, got a few spots from a friend to help out but nothing panned out. We ran around a lot from launching in Back Bay, tried 20 different spots in the greater Wolfeboro area, all around Rattlesnake Island and a few other spots close to there, even ran up to Long Island and fished all over that huge area on the east side of it. Marked a decent amount of fish and a lot of lakers, but getting anything to bite was a chore. Heard from a friend that was in an entirely different area and they did exceptionally well. So just don't go to the places I mentioned and you should be good. :laugh:

Changed it up and went down to the Housatonic River in Connecticut to get on some stripers. Nothing massive but that is always a fun trip in the winter. Biggest one caught was 28.5" by Andrew, we had a few around 24" and a ton in the 18"-20" size range. Very few rats on the day, alabama rig caught all but one fish.
Attachment 539133Attachment 539134

:thumb up2:

Sounds like a fun day

Nice job. I'm sure that was a fun day.

Well the past 2 days have been some of the best bass fishing I've had since September. With warm water these fish are in almost an early spring state of mind. Finesse jerks have been doing it in. Fish are surprisingly shallow. Caught 19 yesterday at the little pond down the street in the yak. Today my buddy joined me at Kingston and we cracked 20+ including 1 over 4lbs. Water was 42 today.

Got to love new years eve largies. My buddy was blown away at catching fish in 6 fow today..
https://i.postimg.cc/4Yswsw5h/76888.jpg

I made a couple visits to Massabesic on both sides of Christmas. Didn't get one certified bass bite in 10 hrs of time on the water (whilst I come home and read about the successes of other on here :doh:). Temps 35 one day and 38 the other. Hardly seeing anything that wasn't glued to the bottom and identifiable as a bass. Broke out of the rut Sunday at Clement and picked up 6 on a blade - water's 36. All bites between 16' and 22'. I've got to set up some winter reels, because braid and microguides are a no-go:ohwell:. The Merrimack is ice-free too (but as high as can be!), Massasecum also open (launch too).

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