nhbassin

RMcDuffee726, you sound upset. Here are my two biggest bass from southern NH this year (First is 6, 2nd is 7) and my wife's 3+. Hopefully this cheers you up a little . Just like Mainebass is always describing, move away from shore and shallow water in the warmer months and hit the first drop off to deeper water. These came on a chatterbait and a spinnerbait, fished in the 10 foot range of a steep drop off that goes from 5 to 16 feet pretty quickly. Most lakes hold big fish like this, it just takes some time to learn the lakes and some basic electronics to figure out depths. You will get on them soon if you put in the time. Good luck.

Most of the water with public access around the Boston area has signs saying that you cant be there after sunset, but I have fished a bunch at the Brookline Reservoir and Crystal Lake in Newton right after sunset and done pretty well with black spinnerbaits, chatterbaits and swim jigs with a rage craw trailer. Most people do better on those high pressured lakes once the sun goes down. Good luck.

We are getting that in NH right now too. When there is a lack of rain and bodies of water get low & hot, a heavy rain washes an excess of sediment into the water. This excess sediment brings an overload of nutrients into the warm water and creates perfect conditions for algae blooms. My home lake just had thick/brownish boogery looking algae blooms after last weeks rain. This can lead to fish kills in some instances. Hope for some slow steady rains soon, rather than quick downpours!

Its been 6 years since I was there, but there were always 2 12 foot aluminum row boats tied to a tree at the pond next to the gables. I used them every week for a few years. Your not supposed to fish it, but there are bass above the d**n behind the football fields also. My favorite spot at the U was always Oyster River, where it flows into Mill Pond. There are are big bass, pickerel and carp in there. Good luck.

Try hitting up Crystal Lake in Newton for largemouth or trout. I have fished there many times and almost always catch a few small bass. It receives more fishing pressure, but the Brookline Reservoir is another good shore fishing option for that area.

The water should still be around 60 in early October, which is great for both largemouth and smallmouth. During the summer months Winni is harder because its lots of drop shots and Carolina rigs, but you should be able to get them with a horizontal presentation when you are going. October can get windy there, so for safety reasons, make sure you are prepared for some wind and waves.

Definitely try to learn jigs from a kayak/canoe/boat because you will loose a frustrating amount of them if you try to learn from shore. Having the right line (florocarbon) and rod make a huge different with being able to detect a bite vs. feeling nothing. Good luck.

I fished a tournament there about a week after ice out so I focused on the big shallow flat that is on your left once you get to the first part where the river opens up to a pond. I ran chatterbaits right under the surface and got a few in the 2 pound range plus about 15 big pickerel. There are a few deep pockets mixed in near that area that may be more productive this time of year.

When you take a right out of the boat ramp the first half of the pond is a ways down the river and is shallow with milfoil everywhere. Largemouth and pickerel in that side. If you go through the small railroad bridge the lake opens up to the other side which is deeper and does hold a few smallmouth too. If you check it out on google maps right now it is half drained so you get a good idea of where the main river channel runs through.

I would recommend throwing a yellow perch pattern swimbait, because I don't think there are any rainbows in Northwood. "Match the hatch" as they say. During the last tournament that I fished on Northwood, I spent a lot of time following schools of 2"-3" yellow perch that were being forced to the surface by schools of smallmouth. Most of these schools were right at the very end of "Old Dump Road" in around 15 feet of water. Good luck!

Welcome. I agree, check out the "Any luck in southern nh yet" thread. NashuaNev will likely share some input about the Merrimack and Nashua rivers in the Nashua area. He knows them better than most and usually shares some good suggestions.

A few years ago I downloaded the annual stocking report that NH fish and game uploaded to their site which lists the number of trout stocked in each lake throughout the year. I then looked up the acreage of many lakes in southern/central NH that were on the stocking list and also were home to largemouth. From these two pieces of data I got the number of trout stocked per acre of water, for lakes in NH that hold largemouth. There were 3 that were significantly higher than the rest, so I spent much of my time that summer focusing on those bodies of water and it resulted in 3 fish between 6.7 - 7.1 pounds. I am pretty confident that those bodies of water held larger fish too. The point of this is that I agree with Mainebass that there is likely a 10 pound largemouth in NH right now and its probably in a smaller body of water that has a large food source, such as stocked rainbow/brook trout. P.S. One of those lakes with a high stocked trout per acreage ratio was Pleasant Lake in Deerfield, which was surprising because that is a good sized lake.

Hey guys, I am heading to Ossipee this Friday-Sunday for a bachelor party and plan to put in some time on the water. Is it safe to say that most fish will be post-spawn there?

Any luck last weekend?

The Brookline Reservoir and Crystal Lake in Newton were my personal favorites if you are in the BC/BU/Northeastern area. If your north of the city there are a ton of places to try around Medford and Stoneham

Mike had a good suggestion with Spot Pond. It has very clear and deep water. I prefer to park at quarter mile pond off of Woodland Road and fish that for largemouth and continue to walk in to the southern most part of Spot pond and fish for smallies off of the big rocks there. Just south of those two ponds is Wrights Pond in Medford which has a small dirt parking spot on Elm Street. This is more stained water and isn't as deep, but holds plenty of largemouth. In the opposite direction, Harold Parker State Forest in Andover has a ton of ponds, a few of which (Field Pond specifically) hold nice largemouth. Also if you have your kayak you can access Fosters Pond in Andover off of Rattlesnake Hill Road. Good luck!

Where in the Boston area? I spent 2 years there and know a lot of good shore fishing spots around the city. I caught many 2.5 - 4 pound largemouth within on a few miles of the city. Ill share some spots with you if you are near the areas I used to fish.

I would focus your efforts on smaller ponds this time of year if you are fishing from shore. The Merrimack can produce great largemouth and smallmouth, but I have usually had better results after the spawn on the river. Good luck.

With jerkbaits in very cold water, I prefer suspending jerkbaits that stay in the same place between twitches. Let us know how you do.

On Wednesday Baboosic Lake in Merrimack was 99% frozen over and by sunset on Thursday, it was more than half open water. Its exciting to see the larger bodies of water opening up so early. I will have the boat in by the middle of next week if the weather cooperates.

That place can be amazing if they are pulling water. This may not be correct, but it seems like every time I have fished there and they have been pulling water, the 2nd tallest smoke stack has been releasing smoke. When that 2nd tallest stack hasn't had any smoke coming out of it, then I don't believe they were pulling water, and the fishing has been very poor. Hopefully that helps.

The same amount of fish, concentrated into half of the area of the pond before it was lowered doesn't seem like a bad thing to me. It should be far easier to locate them right now. I frequently fished a river in the Durham area, and each fall when they lowered the water level dramatically to work on a dam, it was by far the best fishing of the year. Give it a try and let us know how you do.

I dont have an exact address, but take exit 16 and take a left at the end of the ramp if you are coming from 93 south, right if your coming from 93 north. The road bears to the left and is West Portsmouth Street. You will see a dirt parking lot/dirt driveway on your left after only a quarter mile. I think it is a pretty rough ramp for a larger boat, and I know the water upstream of it has some hidden rocks that can cause trouble. I usually put in at NHTI to fish that part of the river.

heading south on 93, just after exit 28 there is an oxbow of the river that has great largemouth and is perfect for a kayak. Its intimidating to drive down a steep bank off the side of the highway to get to it, but ive done it in my Hyundai elantra many times and have caught some chunky bass there. Definitely google earth it before going

Thanks, that gives me a few options on how to approach the day. I appreciate the input.