DogBone_384

If I don’t work tomorrow I’ll be in Plymouth by 10:00-ish. Planning on Great South. If you see an orange Tundra parked at Little South, that’s me. I’ll be in the blue Lure 11.5. I’ll be at Redwing on Sunday for sure. Look forward to a big crowd.

I have a few Rapalas with spidered bills but none have failed. My old Rapalas are fine, one being 25+ YO.

I’ll be there.

I’ll be down the Cape M-Th next week, fishing Harwich & Brewster. Wife’s last weekend of tax season so I’ll be in Plymouth warming up for Cape smallies.... If anyone sees an inferno orange Tundra ..... you found me...

It’s ShimanoDiawa*** for casting reels and Pflueger for spinning.

Congrats on a great trip Mike. Aren't you glad you changed your screen name? I met a deaf kid fishing at that big place in Plymouth. 5'10", dark hair (?), dark baseball cap? He had a round baitcast reel on his rig. Might that be him?

$100+ swimbaits? I’ll pass. I have a hard time paying $9 for a bag of Senkos. Good on those that do. I read thay catch BIG fish.

Got the housework done, and even though the forecast called for high wind and rain it was bright-overcast and calm at my house this morning. I loaded up and headed to Hedges Pond in Plymouth to see what it looked like down there. It was overcast and not too windy so I tied on a perch colored jerkbait and prism gold/black Yozuri square bill. I caught one 1-12 SMB at my 'usual' spot then nothing. I moved northeast for a while and still nothing. The southeast corner garnered me another SMB just a shade under 2 pounds. The wind picked up significantly so I drifted back to the beach and casted a prisim-parrot Yozuri toward the bank as I went. I hooked into one more that had a lot of fight in it, but it unshackled itself before I saw it. The last fish of the day was a very dark SMB with a badly disfigured jaw. It was so skinny I wanted to bring it to Micky-D's and get it a double quarter pounder or something. It didn't look healthy at all, but it still hit my bait. Hopefully it'll survive. I threw a brown/yellow hair jig for a little bit, without success. Hedges' bottom is mostly muck with some sand. Probably not the right bait for this place. So far this year blade baits and square bills are my most successful baits. Water temps were 47.x - 48.x. All fish were caught in 8' or less. I can check April off my 'catch a fish in MA every month' list too. A++

What's north? I fish from Boston to Plymouth. Everything's wide open, water temps are in the high 40's and the weather forecast is wet & windy. Sorry, I can't help with trout season.

Looks like more bait for FISHERMEN.....

Seven setups is a good start.... When I started fishing again I bank fished with two rods and a SpiderWire backpack. When I bought my first kayak I bought more rods (I blame the MONKEY) and carry three on the kayak when on the water. My backpack wore out and I now use a Rigid (Home-D) 'milk crate' with whatever 3700s I decide to take with me that day. I have roughly 30 setups, about a 65/35 mix of baitcast/spinning, and choose what I take based on mood/weather. I have my kayak on my ladder rack almost all the time from April to October. Lastly I keep a baitcast and spinning travel setup under my back seat 'just in case'. Best of luck packing your travel gear. Like many members, you'll start off light and grow your arsenal as you go along.

I have Hook-5’s on both my kayaks. I paid more than $199 last year, but I’ve seen them for $199. I like them a lot. The screen’s big, they came with 83/200-455/800 downscan transducers, and integrated GPS. I power them with my Milwaukee M12 extended life batteries and get 4-5 hours out of them per battery. I fish mostly small waters and don’t have much experience with detailled mapping. I use a scupper mount on my Lure 11.5 and custom mounted the transducer with a plumbing flange on my Ascend 128T. Good luck picking your unit.

‘Boss’ and daughter were busy today so my mission was simple: do the housework, toss kayak in truck and head out. I dropped into Ponkapog around 11:30 and left around 4:00ish when the wind was just too much for a kayak. Water temps were 47.x - 48.x. I covered 75% of the place and came up with a 2-14 LMB on a Yozuri DB square bill. After looking at a quick job I found myself near Sunset Lake so I launched there around 5:30. It was nearly as windy there as Ponkie, but I made a couple of south - north passes, letting the current/wind take me. I didn’t expect anything because Braintree treated the pond last year and killed the weeds. From what I could see, Sunset’s bottom still looked like the moon - NADA - as far as weeds/structure. My perch colored Yozuri jerkbait got me a dink LMB, so there’s at least ONE bass left. Water temps were similar to Ponkie. Add: I found this on MAFishfiner .... thanks to the posting member: https://www.mass.gov/service-details/massachusetts-pond-maps-list-view

I keep a 7’ M/F Diawa Ardito under my truck’s back seat. It’s a 3 piece rod in a semi-hard case and is typical Diawa fit & finish (A+++). I don’t use it much, but when I do, it feels like most of my other casting rods. Lastly, JetBlue allows it as a carry on.

Welcome to the forum BostonBassin. If you’ve got a kayak/canoe, Ponkapog pond off Randolph street in Canton would be one of the first places I’d send you. Other places on the south shore are Whitman’s pond in Weymouth, Sunset Lake in Braintree, and Jacob’s Pond in Norwell. There’s also Houghton’s pond that has trout, bass, and pickerel. It’s shore fishing only and fairly pressured. Whitman’s has a nice concrete ramp. Jacobs’s has a gravel ramp but doesn’t allow any motors of any kind. Sunset Lake abuts Braintree HS and has a sandy area you can launch a kayak or canoe. Braintree killed off most of the weeds in 2017. I haven’t fished Braintree since May 2017. I fished Great South today, launching at 10:00. Started at the NW shoreline and worked to the SE cove. Water temps on the main pond were 41.x - 43.x and 50.x in the cove where I parked in 8’ of water along a bunch of visible brush piles. I saw a couple of nice LMB. I finished up at 3:30 PM after moving back to the NE side along the island. I started with a gold blade bait, square bill, jointed DT10 Rapala and changed to a black/blue Rage Tail Menace and similar Senko. Nothing. There was some topwater action along the NW flat when I got there and more south of the island around 2:30. I threw a Zara Spook and Whopper Plopper but came up empty. I also saw my first Osprey there today too, and a family of Loons (to my surprise). I’m 0/4 here so far this year .... just can’t figure the place out. I’ve got Hedges pond figured out, but it’s 1/10 the size of Great South and has little structure. Just have to keep at it.

Good to hear you getting out Mike. If I don’t work OT tomorrow I’m hitting the big Plymouth pond. I have a new 7’6” MH Veritas I want to throw some DT-16’s on....

I use 7’ M/M casting & spinning Abu Veritas Winches for smaller crankbaits. They load up great, are light and sensitive. I dragged a squarebill through light salad with my spinner today. They’re $99 almost everywhere.

Abu Garcia Veritas gets my vote in your price range. I own six of them in different configurations. I own Fenwick Elite Tech, Kistler Magnesium 2 & 3, St Croix, Diawa Tatula, Abu Veracities, a Villain, and one Fantasista Regista. Two of my most used Veritas are 7’ M/F spinning (current generation) and a 6’9” MH/F (original ~ ‘15). My favorite small-medium crankbait rod is a 7’ M/M (Winch) 2.0. My Fenwick’s Elite-Tech’s ran $149. I find them a little more sensitive and a somewhat ‘lighter’ medium than Abu rods. Other members might agree: I find Abu Garcia’s MED power rod a slightly heavier medium than my other brands. No matter what, try to handle as many different rods as you can. The one that feels right in your hands is the best one for you. Best of luck choosing your rod.

Didn’t drive to Plymouth but took a short trip back to Ponkapog. Couldn’t get the bass to cooperate but a couple pickerel liked my bluegill flavored square bill. Water temps were 42.x -43.x: still a little cold for LMB methinks. Another couple weeks I bet things’ll be ramping up big-time. I’m heading to Plymouth or Westport Thursday if I can’t snag an OT shift.... haven’t decided yet.

What he said ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ You might add suspending jerkbaits and squarebills. Those are the three baits I’ve done well with in SE Mass this year where water temps have been in the high thirties and low forties.

Thanks Tom. Yeah, I’ve been on a pretty good roll this year. I’ll chaulk it up to fishing with you and reading this forum. There are still a couple waters in Plymouth that escape me, but it’ll come. I’m not working tomorrow so I might just take my new Kistler spinning rod out to the big pond in Plymouth that I’m 0/3 so far this year. Going to bring nothing more than blade baits, lipless, and a some DT-10 & 16’s. Just a three weeks until Harwich too. I’m really looking forward to three/four days of marathon fishing.

I don’t. When my tackle bag gets soaked I empty it out and put it on a boot dryer.

I’ve got a 7’ Kistler Helium 3 ML/F casting rod (1/16-3/8) paired with a PXY-68 I throw Ned’s on a 1/16 jig heads and Zoom U-Tails nicely.

I had a few hours this afternoon so off to Ponkapog went I. I had the place to myself less a pair of swans and one comerant. Two decent pickerels and a 3-0 LMB on a Yozuri square bill and Vision 110 jerk bait came in the kayak. Surface temps were 39.x - 40.x and an on/off breeze from the north kept me moving.

No. I’ve never fished the Canton Res. I fish mostly Plymouth & Cape Cod waters.