Anyone make it out over the weekend ?

[bassboat1]

Silver Lake in Harrisville yesterday,...and that's the extent of "quality" we've found in that lake.

There are several structures there (I'm sure you fish them too), that have everything one could ask for in a smallmouth spot. My results have been the same - keepers are a rarity. I got turned onto it by a friend that grew up ice fishing for trout there, and indeed my best catches there have been several fat rainbows on a Roboworm DS.

[A Wood]

Yes there seems to be a real problem over that way with lakes that should hold good fish but rarely do. Mostly due to a lack of nutrients for forage. So as a side caveat but actually relates to this, forever ago when I did a college internship and worked doing fisheries for F+G I found old reports from the 20's and 30's where they used to dump cow manure in certain bodies of water to increase the fertility of the lake. Not sure if silver was one of them but Granite Lake was one of them that caught my eye as I used to fish there. Haha can you imagine that happening in this day and age.....

[Reel Northern Bass]

Yes there seems to be a real problem over that way with lakes that should hold good fish but rarely do. Mostly due to a lack of nutrients for forage. So as a side caveat but actually relates to this, forever ago when I did a college internship and worked doing fisheries for F+G I found old reports from the 20's and 30's where they used to dump cow manure in certain bodies of water to increase the fertility of the lake. Not sure if silver was one of them but Granite Lake was one of them that caught my eye as I used to fish there. Haha can you imagine that happening in this day and age.....

Haha that's definitely interesting. Granite Lake is another place I've been to several times with less than great results. Couple of 3+ lbers but mostly rats. Now that being said, we did go out there this summer and my buddy Andrew lost an absolute giant smallmouth right at the boat. Just that one fish so far that had me excited about that lake. Most of the smaller lakes that also have lake trout in them have yet to produce numbers of quality bass for me, but I'm also dealing with some small sample sizes in a few cases so the jury is still out on them.

[bassboat1]

where they used to dump cow manure in certain bodies of water to increase the fertility

The way Gorham is built, I imagine all those "camps" on the shore contributed mightily to the productivity. I'd bet that NH's practice of insisting on conforming septic systems when properties change hands has put a dent in the food chain, especially on these waters without a defined inflow. Add in the improved control on non-point sources like shoreline development and fertilizer...

[bassboat1]

Got on the Merrimack around 2:30, started in the oxbow. Lots of green, cheesy algae mats neat the confluence. Plenty of bites on a spinnerbait, the better fish came flipping wood. I skipped the 393 backwater again, as the level was down and it appear to still be covered w/ algae bloom (I'd be interested if anyone's been getting bit in there over the last 3-4 weeks?). Returned to the main river as a 6-8 boat club was taking out. NH F&G page says it was the Granite State Bass Hunters - anyone here fish it? Spoke w/ one guy - he said it was won with around 22.5# on 5 fish, anchored by a 7+! Damn! I fished the obvious wood and got a 4.62# on a squarebill (I'm sure that girl had seen some s^&t all day!). Rain was falling, I wussed out on a run and took out.

Decided to avoid the wind, and launched at Powdermill around 2:00 on Sunday. A couple of duckhunters kayaked up, so I fished the first upriver backwater (no bites), worked my way downriver and got a 3# flipping the outside grassline. Fished all the way down to the bogs, several more on the spinnerbait and got another 3# flipping wood. Pattern had evolved to be outside bends/areas getting current with a little more depth. Worked an upriver bend with the right stuff but no bites, then the wood-filled oxbow. Took my time in the trees w/ the spinnerbait, squarebill and flipping a Woolly Bug for nada. Picked up two more on the cutbank above, and another in the main river. Hard to believe there were no bites in those logjams :/ Fished 'til sundown, ended up with 8 keepers. Didn't see or hear a duck all day, so I think I did the right thing. Spinnerbait got the numbers, 'Bug for size. Water temp was 59.

[Reel Northern Bass]

Nice work buddy. I know of a NH Bass Hunters but not the Granite State Bass Hunters, tried looking them up but didn't find anything.

We fished a two day tournament in Vermont over the weekend on Lake St Catherine and Lake Bomoseen. Day 1 was St Catherine and we managed 20.22 lbs on our 5 fish, and I had lunker on the day with a 5.36 lb largemouth. Jigs on the outside of weed lines, 12-20 feet was the ticket, though we did get a few others on a dropshot but nothing that stayed in the well for the end of the day. Day 2 was Bomoseen, we had 20.50 lbs anchored by a 6.28 lb largie by my buddy Andrew that was only the 3rd biggest fish of the day, lunker ended up being 6.48 lbs that my buddy caught. Good enough for 3rd overall out of 16 boats. Felt good to get back into some bigger fish again after having an absolutely horrible stretch fishing only in NH the last 2 months. Each of our first fish caught on Saturday went a hair over and a hair under 4 lbs, and we both caught a tank. The old Ranger held up just fine for the long drive and long days so I'll be fishing out of state the remainder of the year whether it's in this boat or when I finally get my boat back.

[bassboat1]

NH Bass Hunters but not the Granite State Bass Hunters

I looked them up too - I think they had a name change (except on the NH F&G tournament permit page). The last post under the GS name was 2018.
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Nice work crushing the big ones!

[plbass]

Went to Webster lake Saturday and the bite was way off. Caught 7 bass with biggest being 2 1/2 lbs.

[JerryT]

Yes there seems to be a real problem over that way with lakes that should hold good fish but rarely do. Mostly due to a lack of nutrients for forage. So as a side caveat but actually relates to this, forever ago when I did a college internship and worked doing fisheries for F+G I found old reports from the 20's and 30's where they used to dump cow manure in certain bodies of water to increase the fertility of the lake. Not sure if silver was one of them but Granite Lake was one of them that caught my eye as I used to fish there. Haha can you imagine that happening in this day and age.....

My aunt lives on a private lake in Douglas ..in the late 70’s and 80’s you could paddle your boat through cows wading in the water at one end of the lake … giant groups of them and you could Pat the cows as you paddled by .. but it also stunk horrible on that end of the lake as they would poo while wading around cooling off … I’ve still not to this day seen blue gills or perch as big as that lake had (that was more of what I caught as a kid ) giant schools of bait fish everywhere .. huge crawfish

All the adults would always fish down in the cow pasture … still try to get on that lake every year

[TMG]

I looked them up too - I think they had a name change (except on the NH F&G tournament permit page). The last post under the GS name was 2018.
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Nice work crushing the big ones!

That's a nice limit for sure.

[TMG]

Nice job Snover
My NH fishing this year wasn't the best either.

[TMG]

Fished Gorham pond Saturday with some friends. Double digits for all, but keepers were in short supply. They got all theirs flipping plastic in the pads/pondweed, while I got mine on a Rapala F9 and an Owner Rip'N minnow 70 jerkbait. I did blunder into a #4-5 that was as heavy as the previous 10 totaled. That place has a forage issue.

Went to Franklin Pierce Sunday, hoping for an aggressive fall bite in shallower water. Started at the no-wake markers and did nothing in 2'-14'. Finally got one off a dock on a squarebill. No bait evident in the entire top end. Fished a little hump in the basin that comes out of 14', that's usually good for one or two... nope. Scanning around, there was a ton of bait (perch?) on the deck in 20'-24', so I moved over to the roadbed. Got one speedcranking a Tactical DD, then 5 more on a 6XD - all super fat #2+ except the lone smallmouth. The lake's been dropped 24"-30", so the 6XD will juuust about make bottom on the entire roadbed. Only the one batch of fish though, and I couldn't get the pattern going on some other rocky structures. Tried a Damiki w/ no bites. Temp is 63-66, not much water moving at either end.

I grew up fishing Gorham pond. It always had some nice fish.
Probably 10 years or so ago they went after the millfoil. The water went crystal clear and the bigger fish seemed to dissappear. Haven't been in a few years.

[TMG]

Finally made it out over the weekend.
Fished silver lake in tilton on Friday. Slow day in the rain.
Managed a couple decent smallmouth and some huge pickerel.
Water temp was 67.
Sunday I fished little sunapee. Same deal. Got a couple decent smallmouth and one 3+ lg and again some giant pickerel. Water temp was 63 I think.
Monday I fished winnisquam. A couple 3 pound smallmouth is all I could do.
Water temp.was 65
I was in my pelican so I could only go so far looking for them.
It was nice to get out for a couple days.

[bassboat1]

I grew up fishing Gorham pond. It always had some nice fish.
Probably 10 years or so ago they went after the millfoil. The water went crystal clear and the bigger fish seemed to dissappear. Haven't been in a few years.

Lots of pondweed now, but no milfoil.

Good to hear you made it to a few places. I haven't done much damage to the smallmouth population this year.

[bassboat1]

Had a couple hours to spare - so back to the river for 4:30. Water level was quite low/slow, temp is 58. Fished wood for an hour, couldn't get bit on the squarebill. Got 4 small keepers on a Yum Wooly HawgCraw (digging this thing for flipping - stays on a screwlock really well ). Sun dipped below the treeline, switched to a spinnerbait on the backside of the bar - nothing. Moved to the 12' water in the oxbow and found the crappie stacked up. Fished an Owner Rip'n minnow 70 (dives to 7'-8') and was getting bit 2 out of 3 casts. Probably landed 20-25 before I bailed at 6:30. For such a small bait, it shows up on FFS really well.

[TMG]

Nice job. Glad you got out. I have to get back there, it's a nice place.
Except all the people that have to park at the launch instead of the parking lot so they can go walking.

[bassboat1]

Except all the people that have to park at the launch instead of the parking lot so they can go walking.

NHTI has been doing a good job roping off enough space for probably 10 trailers + some cartops. The athletic fields have gotten much busier than a few years ago, so there's that too. The school had the entrance coned off and an attendant there to move them & approve entry last weekend.

[TMG]

NHTI has been doing a good job roping off enough space for probably 10 trailers + some cartops. The athletic fields have gotten much busier than a few years ago, so there's that too. The school had the entrance coned off and an attendant there to move them & approve entry last weekend.

That's great news

[Phrog Phil]

Well…Russ and I always go to Long Pond in Henniker near or at the end of the season. For those who haven’t been there it’s a smallish lake with lots of pads and a bit of rocky shoreline. There are about 6 houses on the lake due to the out side being very swampy in some areas. Anyway we pull into the ramp road and Two signs (one at entry,one by water) saying Private road no trespassing or vehicle may be towed. We pulled in and the ramp was leaf covered and not rutted( it’s usually rutted this time of year) so we left . Went to Keyzar in Sutton and caught 4 before wind drove us off. Water in high 50’s

[JerryT]

Water temp still hovering 59-60 in mass ..getting tons of action up shallow on moving baits and decent action on the jig in what’s left of pads ..last weekend they were on every piece of wood on the lake this week off tue wood