Anyone make it out over the weekend ?

Finally got out on Saturday. We went to Franklin Pierce.
The place was packed. Only a couple boats fishing. Probably 50 boats water-skiing ,wake boarding and don't forget the jetskis. Got swamped twice by the wake boats. I don't know how those things can be legal.
Fished for about 9 hours and all I caught was one 2.5 lg on a jig :laugh:
My friend got one lg about 3 and a rat smallie.
Just couldn't get bit. Was nice to get out but would probably skip fishing there the next holiday weekend. :laugh:

One is better than none! I got out Saturday and Sunday, and specifically chose ponds with either horrific access or idle speed only. Saturday I fished with Andrew from 7-12 and we caught them pretty good at Otter in Greenfield. 35-ish between the two of us, quite a few 3+ lbers and a 4.02 for me. Wife and kids joined me from 12-3 and we put a few more fish in the boat but the bite basically died right before 2:00. Everything was way offshore in submerged veggies, mostly low lying stuff. No rhyme or reason to it, not like they were on a patch that was slightly taller or shorter than everything near it, they were just out there. Active Target absolutely helped.

Sunday I went out alone in the pouring rain to a different pond and did the exact same thing, caught 40 on the dot and left them biting, my hands were torn up from being soaked and lipping that many fish. Not a single one over 2.5 lbs, but also only a few that were under 1.5 lbs, vast majority were between 2-2.5 lbs. Most of the fish both days were out in 5-7 feet and nowhere near the bank. I tried fishing shallow but we didn't get a single bite at either pond in both days trying that.

Texas rigged craws and a swimjig/swimbait combo was the ticket all weekend for us too. Couldn't buy a bite on anything else. We'd watch them turn their noses up to literally everything else we tried, but they'd smoke that t-rig or swimjig as soon as it went by them.

Nice job Snover. Glad your catching them. Normally I would have just taken my pelican somewhere like you described on a holiday weekend. We didn't do well on Franklin peirce last time we went there so my friend wanted to go back and give it another try.

Thanks Tim. And I understand his desire to go back, vengeance is a hell of a drug. :laugh: Going back out tomorrow somewhere local again. I hate to say it, but I hope the rain comes as promised so it'll keep the boat traffic down and open up a few more options to choose from.

Yes. His exact words were. "Franklin peirce for the challenge ".
Well we took the challenge and failed miserably. :laugh:
I also like the rain this time of year keeping people off the water .
Good luck tomorrow :thumb up2:

Ha, you and me both! Beyond thankful for FXR and their continued support, even if we lose that sponsorship I won't be using anyone else's rain gear, their stuff is amazing. I stayed dry until about the 6th hour of constant downpours, then it finally got through in a few spots. That's pretty damn good all things considered. And not a single other person even tried to get out there with me so it was nice to have the place all to myself and just have at it without working around anyone/anything. Hopefully the rain fires them up again tomorrow, maybe I can finally get a good topwater bite.

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Originally Posted by TMG

exact words were. "Franklin peirce for the challenge "

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Even though FP is the closest water with a ramp, I look at it the same way - it's usually work to scrap out a limit there. I can usually get a couple good ones there grinding a 6XD in 14'-19', starting about now.

I got out Saturday on Northwood. Showed up at 11:00, met a couple of guys that said there wasn't much going on. Lake was high, so I had a theory about current, so I headed towards the dam. Got one about 3-8 within reach of the dam off tape grass, and another 12" - both on T-rig. The only decent bait I saw was down there. Got another off a hump: 4' in 9'-10'. Another 3# off a boulder, and 3 more in the 1# range. BTW: grass is rare there this year (yet again:()

Watched it pour all morning Sunday, finally jacked my tail out of the chair around 2:00. Went up to Massasecum - started fishing my milk run of boulders with T-rig, squarebill, topwater and jerkbait... zero bites (on some damned fine pieces of cover:crying:. Eventually got one off the t-rig, then glued a Gunfish in my hand and picked up 5 or 6 more - all solid fish. Outside the pads, stop and go. There was a guy (the fellow with the Nitro that has a place o the lake) tethered to one of my better structures that I use to get a bead on them - a hump that nearly breaks the surface, chunk rocks to 8', then a few more nuggets and often grass to 15'. One of those places where you can test 4-5 things without going anywhere... alas I never got a shot at it.

Glad you got on 'em Sean. :thumb up2:

Nice job Eric, glad your catching them :thumb up2:

Finally got to fish again this weekend with my sons soccer schedule finally taking a break for a few weeks. Was at camp in stoddard. Saturday I only caught a few fish, but I really only had a few mid day hours to fish in between doing stuff around the place and entertaining on the one nice day. Sunday though was a different story I fished a good portion of the day in the rain till dark. Caught a ton of 1's and 2's a couple 3's. Lost 1 definitely over 4 at the boat as it jumped as I tried to grab it and threw my jig. About dark I hooked into a fish that I never saw but was an absolute giant. I've landed quite a few 6ers with my dropshot rod and this thing just took me for a ride. Then it finally snapped my hook off. There was no turning it, tried following it with the tm but that didnt work. Oh well guess that's what keeps you going back.
All my fish were deep on rock and on a DS or a jig. Did catch a few on the bucco wake gill but nothing big.

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Originally Posted by A Wood

this thing just took me for a ride

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I've been up to Island 5-6 times this season, and haven't spotted any activity at your place (it's difficult to imagine wanting to be elsewhere that often :laugh:.) Happy that they treated you well:)

Ya I would much rather been up there than some of the crap holes I've had to go to lately. With the rain they got over there yesterday i bet you can catch fish swimming on my front lawn by now..:laugh:

Glad you got out and stuck some Adam.. sounds like you had a good time. :thumb up2:

Made it to Massabesic on this past, gray Sunday. Got a couple 12-14"ers quickly on a Gunfish over flooded reeds, thought I had a clue... well that was it for the shallow bite! Fished outwards from a rocky reedbed and found a nice tight grassbed. Fished gradually deeper in that spot for nada. Moved to some good rock areas - no bites. Worked over a hump with the 6XD... same. Ran to the park and fished the outside (10') grass line and picked up a few smaller ones - that was the clue. Not a ton of mifoil in the lake, it's not near the surface yet (where I was looking anyway), but it seemed pretty dense, and growing as deep as 14' with the crowns at 6'-9'. The bass were positioned on the downwind (and downcurrent) sides of the grass edge: picked up 3 on 5 casts, with one over 3#. I ran to a series of connected humps on the WW side, that I had waypointed for grass in the past. Got 5 fairly quickly over there, with another 3+. Given the conditions, I would have expected them to be more spread out - all my better fish came from very small, specific spots. Maybe someone else who was out there can comment? I should have milkrun some of the wood that's been good in the past (and surveyed for new stuff following this snowy winter): the high water should have made it better... just fished that one near the marina for zilch. Current is ripping through the narrows, and there is a ton of bait schooled in it - off the edge of that shallow creek on the WW-side. Something was busting them once in a while - pretty sure they're perch - didn't get bit around them . I did catch a couple of small keeper-sized bass off the rocks, in the channel near the red-topped spar. Edit: couldn't get them on my usual T-rigged baby Brush Hog in GP - got everything on a Zoom U-Tale in chartreuse pumpkin.

TL;DR: Thought it would be easy - it wasn't, but turned out not to be that hard.
Attachment 527700

Nice report, good job figuring them out.

I went deep sea fishing out of eastmans on Tuesday.
Had a pretty good day. We caught haddock, Pollak and cusk.
We also caught some good size cod but you can't keep them right now.
Had a nice fish fry yesterday.

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Originally Posted by bassboat1

Made it to Massabesic on this past, gray Sunday. Got a couple 12-14"ers quickly on a Gunfish over flooded reeds, thought I had a clue... well that was it for the shallow bite! Fished outwards from a rocky reedbed and found a nice tight grassbed. Fished gradually deeper in that spot for nada. Moved to some good rock areas - no bites. Worked over a hump with the 6XD... same. Ran to the park and fished the outside (10') grass line and picked up a few smaller ones - that was the clue. Not a ton of mifoil in the lake, it's not near the surface yet (where I was looking anyway), but it seemed pretty dense, and growing as deep as 14' with the crowns at 6'-9'. The bass were positioned on the downwind (and downcurrent) sides of the grass edge: picked up 3 on 5 casts, with one over 3#. I ran to a series of connected humps on the WW side, that I had waypointed for grass in the past. Got 5 fairly quickly over there, with another 3+. Given the conditions, I would have expected them to be more spread out - all my better fish came from very small, specific spots. Maybe someone else who was out there can comment? I should have milkrun some of the wood that's been good in the past (and surveyed for new stuff following this snowy winter): the high water should have made it better... just fished that one near the marina for zilch. Current is ripping through the narrows, and there is a ton of bait schooled in it - off the edge of that shallow creek on the WW-side. Something was busting them once in a while - pretty sure they're perch - didn't get bit around them . I did catch a couple of small keeper-sized bass off the rocks, in the channel near the red-topped spar. Edit: couldn't get them on my usual T-rigged baby Brush Hog in GP - got everything on a Zoom U-Tale in chartreuse pumpkin.

TL;DR: Thought it would be easy - it wasn't, but turned out not to be that hard.
Attachment 527700

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:thumb up2:

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Originally Posted by TMG

Nice report, good job figuring them out.

I went deep sea fishing out of eastmans on Tuesday.
Had a pretty good day. We caught haddock, Pollak and cusk.
We also caught some good size cod but you can't keep them right now.
Had a nice fish fry yesterday.

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:thumbsdown1: thanks for calling us!!~ :wink:

I didn’t get no call either !

And going to Blaisedale tomorrow!

:laugh:

We should do a BBC deep sea fishing trip some time.
Good luck tomorrow Phil.

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Originally Posted by Phrog Phil

And going to Blaisedale tomorrow!

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is there a boat ramp or is it carry in?

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Originally Posted by TMG

:laugh:

We should do a BBC deep sea fishing trip some time.
Good luck tomorrow Phil.

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:thumb up2:

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Originally Posted by Phrog Phil

And going to Blaisedale tomorrow!

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In Sutton? Driven by it many a time, taking my kid to school @Kearsarge - that place looks fishy! There's a pay ramp right on 114, I'd love to hear, if there's another access?

That’s the only access and it costs $15 and there’s no facilities. You can’t get on before 8am and you have to be off by 4pm.

A month ago we go stuck behind the gates after a day of fishing,couldn’t get the gate lock to work and it took an hour to get a lake associated member to answer our texts and calls. The Lake association definitely does not want fishermen on the lake. Today they requested we stay below headway speed because of the high water but we saw several Lake front owners pulling people in tubes and driving full speed up and down the lake. We honored the request but it kinda pissed us off.

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Originally Posted by Phrog Phil

A month ago we go stuck behind the gates after a day of fishing,couldn’t get the gate lock to work and it took an hour to get a lake associated member to answer our texts and calls. The Lake association definitely does not want fishermen on the lake. Today they requested we stay below headway speed because of the high water but we saw several Lake front owners pulling people in tubes and driving full speed up and down the lake. We honored the request but it kinda pissed us off.

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Typical of them and not at all surprising. Bunch of hypocrites.

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Originally Posted by Phrog Phil

That’s the only access and it costs $15 and there’s no facilities. You can’t get on before 8am and you have to be off by 4pm.

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You have to be off by 4 ?
That's a deal breaker, it takes me longer than 8 hours to catch one. :laugh:

Speaking of keeping people of thier lake.
Anyone ever look up Horace lake ?
A few weeks ago when I went to Franklin Pierce. I thought maybe we'll try Horace lake.
Yeah right.....$50 to launch if your not from Weare and $5 to park....PER PERSON...:eek:

Tim,your hardcore fishing card is well known! $50 crazy but it works to keep the lake private with the false claim of it being “open” to the public. It’s a smart work around and shame on the State.

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Originally Posted by TMG

Speaking of keeping people of thier lake.
Anyone ever look up Horace lake ?
A few weeks ago when I went to Franklin Pierce. I thought maybe we'll try Horace lake.
Yeah right.....$50 to launch if your not from Weare and $5 to park....PER PERSON...:eek:

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I used to dump my boat in next to the road/outside the gate there. It was doable, with 4WD needed to pull out. They've long since rolled some boulders in front of it.

It's a decent ice fishing destination - typical warmwater species, plus rainbows and browns. They keep the gates open 24/7, and there's no charge. You can put a kayak in at Bijah Bridge up top. From my limited experience, it's not one of the better bass options in the area.

Funny/notfunny - had a friend fishing with me there, and he failed to strap his tackle boxes down (that boat was 100% deck). Run 1/2 way down the lake and I see that he's short one box. Pull a U-ey and see juuust the corner before it goes down in 18' of water, with a pistol inside. You might think "what an odd place to keep a pistol?", but he generally had 2-4 within arm's reach.

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Originally Posted by bassboat1

I used to dump my boat in next to the road/outside the gate there. It was doable, with 4WD needed to pull out. They've long since rolled some boulders in front of it.

It's a decent ice fishing destination - typical warmwater species, plus rainbows and browns. They keep the gates open 24/7, and there's no charge. You can put a kayak in at Bijah Bridge up top. From my limited experience, it's not one of the better bass options in the area.

Funny/notfunny - had a friend fishing with me there, and he failed to strap his tackle boxes down (that boat was 100% deck). Run 1/2 way down the lake and I see that he's short one box. Pull a U-ey and see juuust the corner before it goes down in 18' of water, with a pistol inside. You might think "what an odd place to keep a pistol?", but he generally had 2-4 within arm's reach.

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Always wanted to try it. My uncle had a place on it until a few years ago. They wanted $30 + $5 each for parking back then.
I've been to Chace Park fishing off shore a few times. We had our yearly family reunion there a few times. The years clough State park was closed.
I bet your friend wasn't to happy about that. Tough loss for sure.

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Originally Posted by Phrog Phil

Tim,your hardcore fishing card is well known! $50 crazy but it works to keep the lake private with the false claim of it being “open” to the public. It’s a smart work around and shame on the State.

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Definitely shame on the state.

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Originally Posted by Phrog Phil

... it works to keep the lake private with the false claim of it being “open” to the public. It’s a smart work around and shame on the State.

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So true - especially with yours's and my license money going towards stocking trout in there.

And some shame must go to the town.

I agree Phil. I'm just more disappointed in the state because I figure they're still stocking trout.

They probably are.

Just a few from Cobbessee Stream the past week
Attachment 528298Attachment 528299Attachment 528300

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Originally Posted by Big Al

Just a few from Cobbessee Stream the past week

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Chunks!

Those must be the dumbest fish in Maine! Good job

Nice fish Al :thumb up2:

Thanks Guys, still looking for that 6+ lunker