jjbagoose

I decided to skip sleeping in and instead went out for 3 hours of fishing before T-Ball games with the family Saturday morning.

Fishing was kind of slow but managed a couple here and there.

I had about 1/2hr left and I was pitching a texas rigged creature bait under overhangs on the bank.

Felt a thug, set the hook and had a good, drag peeling fight with my best fish so far this year. 4lbs 13oz

Made T-Ball that much more enjoyable.

I think the old saying is something along those lines.

Anyway, I had Friday morning off and was debating whether to go fishing or not. My back has been killing me all week and I wasn't sure hours in a Kayak would help.

Since it is my only real chance to get out this weekend I decided to head back to Hopedale Pond. I had been there a couple of weeks ago and really liked the potential.

I get in my yak and start paddling. I had a KVD Square Bill (the big one) tied on and started casting towards some pads as I moved along. On one retrieve the lure got caught up in a little weeds and rose to the surface dragging them along. About 10 feet from the boat I watch this mass come up and inhale the whole thing (lure + weeds).

The fish immediately started to take line and that got me excited. I finally get the fish to the boat and it was Huge! At least big for me. It weighed in at 4lb 15oz. So freaking close to the 5lb mark but either way it's the biggest fish I've ever put on a scale.

I took some pics (which is hard by yourself with a fish that large!) and sent Larry on his way and I was on cloud 9.

Fished for about 2 hours collecting 6lm and a pic on Worms, Buzz Bait and the KVD.

All in all a great start to the weekend.

I continued on my quest to check out new bodies of water instead of going back to the same old places. After some Google Mapping on Saturday night I decided to check out Hopedale Pond since it wasn't too far from me.

Got there around 8:30 and basically had the place to myself. It was a nice paddle but the water is overgrown with weeds right now. (Much like everywhere I go these days)

About 1/2 hr in I hit a pair of nice 2lbers on the Senko that put up nice fights.

I gave the frog a shot since this place is covered in pads. Had a couple of small blowups but no connection made.

Also tried some texas rigged creature baits with limited success. After all was said and done I managed 6 fish (all < = 2lb)

I like this place and I'll likely be back but it's tough to fish anything that's not weedless.

I had the opportunity to head out for a couple of hours Monday after work. I decided to check out Pratt Pond since I've driven by it many times but never fished there.

I launched and paddled my way past the Cemetery on the right. I started casting a bit towards the shore but then realized that it was packed with people shore fishing.

So I continued on until I was past the masses. Tucked away in the back there were lots of weeds and a little bit of structure to cast towards.

I started with the Frog and got a taker almost immediately. Unfortunately, I lost him pretty quickly. A little while later I got another fish to take the frog, got him all the way to the boat then he jumped. And all was lost.

Not feeling the frog anymore I switched rods to the trusty senko. After a couple of well placed casts I hook up with 3 fish in a short time period. All in the 1-2 lb range.

Since the sun was on it's way down I decided to move to the other side of the pond for one last hurrah. This area was super weedy/paddy, almost sludge-like.

I switched back to the frog and got a 2+ lber to smash the frog 5 feet from the boat. He swallowed the frog so I didn't lose that one.

Lesson of the day: Work on my hook setting skills with the Frog :)

I just got back from the Cape and wanted wanted to go fishing one last time before my vacation was officially over. After some bargaining with the wife we decided to go out for Sushi and then I would go fishing. The kicker was that I had to wake up with the kids on Sunday morning.

Dinner in itself was an event. First, my 1 year old son ate a huge chunk of Wasabi (not fun) then took out his revenge on the restaurant (Sapporo in Westborough, highly recommended) by covering it in Miso Soup and Sushi Rice. We are "that" family right now.

After a great meal I headed over to A1 and to my surprise the Boat Ramp was OPEN. I'm not sure if someone got fed up with the fence and ripped it down or more likely they opened up just the ramp area.

Got my kayak in quickly and was off. It was just a picture perfect evening.

I quickly had a 1.5lber and was off to a good start. I decided to switch to my Live Target Frog that I've been dying to catch a fish with. I've never caught a fish on this Frog despite numerous blow ups. I've only caught one fish on a frog ever and it was pretty small. One of my goals for this year is to do more frog fishing.

This is the first frog that I feel really comfortable with. I've tried a couple of other cheap frogs and for some reason this just seems to float well and rarely gets hung up. It could be that I'm getting better too.

I immediately get a small bite on the frog but not enough to set the hook. A little while later I see a huge blowup so I start casting to that area. About 3 casts in I finally get the bite I've been looking for and he crushes the Frog.

I wait a sec and set the hook. "Fish On" or more like "Human On" for my fish friend. I start reeling and instead of pulling the fish out of the pads he pulls me in. After a really nice fight I land my biggest of the season (3 lbs 12oz).

After catching a couple of other 1-2lb fish I call it a night. A successful night at that.

But a tired morning :)

Thanks to some advice from a member on this site (Zack) I found this small pond that was 10 minutes from my rental house in Hyannis.

This was my second trip to Garrett's, the first was on Father's day which was pretty successful.

This trip was pretty good too. I had one decent LM (2.5lbs) and a couple of short smallies in 2 hrs. Besides that I landed numerous pickerel which seem to be the dominant fish population here.

Garret's is a beautiful clear pond with lots of rocky structure to fish. The Town Provide "Boat Access" which equates to a 1/4 mile unkempt downhill trail to the water.

Since I was fishing by Kayak and had a fishing buddy both times this didn't prove to be a big deal. If anything it deters people from fishing here. We were the only people on the water on both occasions.

Despite the large population of Slime Darts I enjoyed fishing here and will go back.

On another note, I tried Hathaway's pond as well but that seems to be filled with short LMs. It was also very busy with loud music blaring both times I stopped there.

Stopped by A1 yesterday for about 45 minutes. The bite was pretty slow but I managed 2 fish.

The better of the 2 was pushing 3 lbs.

Fished mostly with Texas rigged Senko (Some green with flake variety)

A buddy and I took the Kayaks to A1 for the first time this year.

It was a little slow at first which included dealing with a bad birds nest. Finally started picking up when I tied on a Black Blue Flake Senko. Lots of bites and then hooked 2 shorties in the middle of a stump field.

The bite died down so I moved into a very shallow area that was about 1ft. Immediately hooked up with 2 nice fish.

Ended the day with 6 fish. A good start to the season.

So I've been super busy at work and decided it would be best to put in a full day this Saturday. The wife and kids left town for the weekend.

I head into work around 8:30, get some good work done but spend some time thinking about taez555's Sudbury Reservoir trip report. At about 4:30 I take off and on the way home I pass the res so I stop by for a quick trip.

A quick walk down the path off of Farm Rd. and immediately catch a short LM. This area is super super weedy but I'm getting bites so I continue. A couple of casts later I get a real good strike on my pumpkin senko and I set the hook. The fish puts on a real good fight and then I realize its a SM (~2lb). It's actually the first Smallie I've ever caught. I can see why people like fishing for them.

The bite dies down so I head back to the car but now I got the bug. Luckily my Kayak is on the car and everything is packed so I head home and walk the dogs. Then off to A1.

Just a perfect night there. Fished from about 6:30 - 8:30. Caught about 6-7 largemouth. Had a Pickeral come off at the boat (Nice!) A couple shorts, some 1.5 pounders and a couple over 2. Fish were very active, killing the senkos with a Square Bill and Sexy Shad mixed in. I really love this place.

A great end to the unexpected workday.

Decided to take an hour off of work yesterday since it was so nice. My plan was to try and hit up Sudbury Reservoir which is pretty close to where I work. I drove around for a little bit found a spot and tried for about 10-15 minutes. No sign of life where I was and I had limited time (promised the wife I'd be home by 6) so I gave up on the Res.

Decided to head back to A1 where I had luck on Saturday. When I got there I almost got back in my car. It was so freaking windy and the wind was right in my face. Since I took off early I wasn't going to give up so I started casting into the wind.

A few bird nests later and I had my first hookup, then my second, I moved around a little then had my third in about 15 minutes.

After about an hour I managed 7 LMs ranging from 12 to 16 inches and was certainly glad I didn't head home before giving it a whirl.

All fish were caught on my KVD Square Bill, my new favorite Crank.