timcauliffe

Solid one from Lake Boon a couple weeks ago. No scale. Pushed 22”.

Planning one last outing with a good friend this weekend. I'm in the Hudson, MA area and looking for open water in the 45min range. I've been fishing the Sturbridge area, but any one have anywhere in that area that's not iced over yet? Have a 14' v-hull with 10hp if that helps. I would drive around and do it myself, but figured I could ask here first. PM me if you don't want spot burners!

Need some purchasing advice... I can get good deals on both the LC Pointer 128SP and Slender Pointer 127MR. Which should I do? Both suit my fancy.

Lateral Vision www.lateralvisionbrand.com

Ventured out of MA for a 1-hour ride to Massabesic Lake on Saturday morning 5am-12. We had some dink smallies on spooks early in the morning fishing transitional spots, but not many. A bunch of hits. We moved on under the bridge to the other side and fished dropoffs and surrounding grass/pad areas burning 3/8-1/2oz spinnerbaits with Keitech trailers and pulled a few hefty largies and couple dink smallies. A bunch of reaction strikes. Fun morning. Would definitely go back - just need to get myself an NH license instead of buying daily licenses each time.

Ended up with the shallow-v at a great price. Thanks for all of the tips!

Got it. Are we looking at a semi-v or deep-v here? Hard to tell. https://westernmass.craigslist.org/boa/6011398415.html and https://boston.craigslist.org/sob/boa/6026177498.html

I do not own it yet!

I'm about to acquire a 14' shallow V-hull for a good price. Is it worth doing a deck modification in the front or would that work better / be more stable on a deep V? Pictures attached!

Thought so. PS I grew up in Sterling!

Any open water in the Central MA area? Live in Hudson and was looking to take the jon boat out this weekend!

Your best bet for an affordable rod and reel is the Daiwa Lexa 300 and a Daiwa DX H or XH or Okuma Guide Select H or XH. Both the older version and "a" series are great rods. I would not recommend using the same setup for saltwater and freshwater. Saltwater will cause you to clean your reel more when wanting to use it for freshwater. Hudds are great, but you may also want to look at Real Prey Swimbaits. They are made from high-grade silicone and give a better tail kick at both slower and fast retrieves AND will last longer. Made in MA, too

We just had one open no more than a year or two ago here in Hudson, MA - where I live. Wondering if it will close or be turned into a BPS...

Fast Sink will obviously get you down there quick. Medium Sink is going to get you down there not as quick. Both options work well. Depends on how you want to fish it. Top hook is always good, but if you want to BB rig it with a treble on top, go with the bottom hook option.

Both work great. The Dark Shiner is great one, but the light shiner looks great, too.

Fished Ossipee Lake last Friday-Sunday with a close family friend who has a house on the lake. We targeted smallies with tubes, jerkbaits, swimbaits, topwater, etc. Fished Friday night from 10pm-1am and had 1 blowup, but no other fish. Saturday we fished morning until late afternoon with several followers, 1 connect that spit the hook at the net and also had another smallie swimming closely behind it, but no other fish. Fished Sunday early afternoon and had a couple followers and yet again, no fish. This season has been one of the worst for me here in MA and now NH!

What does the underside/mount look for this? Looking to do the exact same idea for my portable transducer mount.

I work with Joe on the Real Prey website and fish his baits more than any bait I own. All of his products are handmade, hand painted and of the best quality of any swimbait company out there. More durable than any soft plastic. Every bait Joe makes is well thought out as far as forage and species goes. The tails give one of the best thumps I've seen even at slow speeds. The Golden Shiner in both the 7" and larger size have caught numerous PB's here in New England. Joe is an outstanding guy to boot. As far as the sink rates go, I can't say exactly that this is true, but I would say the fast sink would be closer to a Hudd ROF12-16. You can call Joe directly and he will gladly answer your questions and provide more help than you could imagine. One of the most intelligent big bait guys out there.

If that was the reward, I would say forget it - leave them there It's just a couple Real Prey's and a Hudd. Luckily, I work with Joe at Real Prey, so they are replaceable, but losing them always sucks especially when you know exactly where they are!

Lost some swimbaits close to shore/fishing from shore at Lake Chauncy that I would love to retrieve that snagged on some shallow underwater structure. Can't get my boat out for a bit because of a new baby in the house (). Anyone willing to help? Can reward with lures, etc. I know exactly where they are.

I live in Hudson - work in Burlington. There's some somewhat close spots around here. You have the Mill Pond / Burlington Reservoir (shore access only), Spot Pond in Stoneham, Horn Pond in Woburn, Russell Mill Pond in Chelmsford, Nuttings Lake in Bedford, etc.

I fish it in late September usually with a friend who has a house on the lake. Tubes worked great in the rocking areas. He throws cranks all the time and brush hogs/creature baits with success. I have caught largies on 5-6" senkos. We had a great time this past September night fishing. Catching smallies on large rat baits/swimbaits and him on poppers.

Any open water in the Hudson, Sudbury, Worcester areas? I have Monday off and plan to fight the weather and get out!

+1 for this. Plus, a great warranty to boot. Also, here great things about the Daiwa DX as gulfcaptain stated.

We JUST literally had a Cabela's open down the street from me within the year. Wonder what's going to happen to it...