MassYak85

THESE^ I got a pair this year and they are awesome! I used my fingernails for a long time but when you start using beefier split rings on larger baits and need to open them wide enough to get larger trebles on, you really do need pliers of some sort.

Man what happened to the Packers? I mean their defense seems terrible but is that the only thing to blame?

First Snow! And of course the entire Thanksgiving long weekend is forecasted to be a total washout....hopefully they get that wrong. I'd like to get out one last time besides from shore. And yea it's an interesting sport Dogbone, most colleges have a team these days.

I use a hiking daypack I've had for years and it doubles well for bank fishing. I can fit about 3 plano 3700's in and some plastics if I need to. It's nice because I can load it up good and it is still comfortable given it's original purpose.

I wish I could have gone yesterday, the weather was absolutely beautiful for this time of year. But I had an ultimate frisbee tournament. Did any of you make it out?

I'd say 15-20 (if you count there and back as 1). Especially when I was younger (I'm only 19 though) we would visit family a lot, and that usually meant a trip to see one of the grandparents during spring or winter break, and/or flying somewhere for vacation (which was less common).

Yea I meant that a lot might die from poor handling, especially how much more vulnerable they are to that during ice fishing. All it takes is a deep hook and someone who can't take it out or cut the line quickly to freeze up their gills. And when they are that small they really make it hard to take out deep hooks during open water season, throw in ice fishing conditions and numb hands and the odds aren't in the fishes favor if it's being handled by someone inexperienced. And chauncy can have easily 100 people on it during an ice tourny. I can only speak from personal experience, but I feel like Whitehall gets way too much pressure to be on any top LMB fishery list. I rarely hear of anything big coming out of there. Then again apparently some kid caught a double digit at the dam a couple years back in the early spring, so what do I know. It seems to be very hit or miss for me too, I've had too many days there where I could only manage one or two dinks. I can't say I've ever had a great day there. A few high 3's spread out but I've never caught anything big there. I personally would still put Webster in the conversation. I fished there a decent amount over the summer and had some great days. 3/6 of my biggest bass came out of there this year (4.4, 4.5, 4.8). But they really have done a number on the weeds. The thing I like about Webster is you have the potential for a really nice smallmouth or largemouth. I lost a few really nice smallies that hit a 130 plopper there over the summer. It's probably my favorite but I haven't fished too many places in the state. I really haven't done any in western mass other than the Connecticut river for stripers. Haven't touched the Cape or the North shore either other than me living right next to the Merrimack while I am at school. There's a pretty good smallmouth population in there.

I've always wanted to drop some live perch down in that 12ft hole right off the launch while ice fishing to see if any northerns were lurking down there. Good to know about those fingerlings though, I wonder if some will be able to be tempted by a spinnerbait or swimjig in the next couple years. Chauncy gets absolutely hammered during the winter so I imagine that population won't fair too well in the long run. I suppose it's also possible a couple of those smaller ones could make their way over to little chauncy and maybe grow up in there.

I'll probably go through what I have over thanksgiving break and decide what needs replenishing. The only thing I know does is some braid, and some hooks for ice fishing. Besides that, and I can't believe I'm saying this....there isn't really anything I need or want that comes to mind. A challenge to the bait monkey I guess.

Last season I went a little crazy buying stuff to try and cover all my basis over a vast variety of techniques as I have really only gotten into a lot of new techniques in the last few years, and I won't lie...I enjoyed buying some of the stuff more than actually using it. Some of the stuff disappointed me, and some of it was a big success. But now I have a pretty solid idea of the brands and the type of lures that I would like to focus on going forward, and as a result I have a lot of stuff I suspect may just sit in my tackle box. Next year I'm going to try and consolidate some stuff and figure out what I actually can and will use when I go out. For example I have 4 chatterbaits of different brands I got to try them, and now I know which one of the four I liked and was the most useful. Same with spinner baits, same with line. Last year was more of a buying trial-and-error period.

My biggest from there was earlier this year, 4.5 on a swijig. It was pretty early in the season, actually probably only about 50 feet from where that muskrat den is right now. A1's usually good for a few 2's and one or two 3's. But I agree, I feel there has to be some BIG ones in there. I hear stories when I talk to guys at the ramp of 10lbers back in the day but the biggest I've ever seen come out of there personally was ice fishing last winter. Some guys fishing to the left of the ramp in that shallow flat pulled one out and were screaming and hollering. I'd guess it was over 6 by the looks of it but we were pretty far away. I've also seen some massive swirls when paddling around shallow. Last time I launched my kayak in there I was in that same spot to the left of the ramp and something just took off for like 30 feet and it just looked like a mini torpedo got launched by the wake it left. Oh by the way, people keep telling me that there are pike and even a few tiger muskies in there. I know they used to stock it but I have never caught a member of either species of any size from it, and I've only seen one picture of a pike coming out of there. Have you caught any?

I think the mound they built is new this year. I initially thought that I was only now noticing it because the water levels were so low and it had become exposed, but it sticks up high enough that I feel like it should be visible when it's full. And oh yea the swans never leave. I've never seen so many in one place as A1 before. They always seem to group up in the section past the island with all the stumps. I paddle back there in the summer and fish the lily pads and usually end up getting pretty close to a few as I pass by. They seem rather calm as swans go though. I've heard stories of people getting attacked in their kayak in other places but these ones have never given me trouble. Funny thing is they will even stay there through the winter. Last year there was about 20-30 that stayed and actually kept a decent size area past the island and to the right from ever freezing. It was so weird to stand on a foot of solid ice and then look over and see them swimming around in their own little "pond". Good example of how the ice conditions can vary dangerously though on the same lake or pond.

Those beavers really do sneak up on you sometimes at A1. You hear the water explode behind you and give yourself whiplash hoping to get a glimpse of that "8 lber" that just jumped only to realize it's another beaver. Last few times I was there there were like 3 muskrats that have taken a liking to the right shoreline looking out from the launch. They even seem to have built a home out of mud. You can see it sticking up out of the water like a mini beaver den except it's totally made of mud and weeds it seems like. The lily pad edge right near there is one of the few spots where you can throw a hard topwater with trebles at A1, I got like a 3.3 literally 5 feet away from the muskrat den last time I launched my kayak.

I like 20lb braid for smaller topwaters. Larger ones like whopper plopper 130 I use 40lb, and frogs I use 50lb.

Nice to hear I'm not the only one that had issues with super 8 slick. I got more wind knots using that stuff for a week than I had from years and years of using regular power pro.

My favorite for coming through weeds has been the Lethal Weapon IV swimjig. They have a very pointy head and a light weed guard. Unfortunately that light weed guard makes them terrible around wood and you will pretty much hook any branch the jig so much as looks at.

^ Very important. Especially without actual roofracks where the kayak might not be secured as well. And with the heavier kayak if you should need to stop suddenly while driving, if it is not tied to the back and the straps aren't holding it snug to the roof well then you might have it slide forward.

Can I borrow your time machine? There's a particular day back in the spring I'd like to have another shot at. In all seriousness though you can still catch fish. Water is getting into the 40's now in MA which means they will definitely be slowing down but the right techniques can still produce fish. I got a 2.5 off a hudd 68 pretty shallow (bank fishing) a few days ago. Water couldn't have been any warmer than 50.

Well as long as my lure doesn't bounce off the surface I guess I can't complain . I'll probably stick with my new hudd and some jigs and just fish super slowly. I wonder if there will be ice this year or it'll be like last year with me casting from shore in shorts on christmas eve. Had to wait until February last year in central mass before there was "safe" ice.

Next possible time I can get a line wet is gonna be the 25th, I'm guessing water will be well down into the 40's by then. I'm seeing forcasted night temperatures starting to be consistently below zero for next week.

x2 If you want all the benefits of a leader...use leader material, not mainline material, it's not the same stuff. There's a reason those 25yd spools of "leader material" are so wiry, they are very tough and abrasion resistant but lack the castability of the mainline fluorocarbons.

Props to the seahawks for, yet again, another close game.

If there were more Pike in my neck of the woods I would definitely target them as well but right now it's pretty much just bass.

Forgive me if my sarcasm detector is just low on batteries but I hope that was a joke.

The most crowded I've ever seen some ponds up here is in the middle of February, not June. And the guys going out in 0 degree weather on a sunday while the Pats are playing surely aren't doing it just for the beer, they have warm bars with 50 inch flatscreens for a reason. I get that Ice fishing is not everybody's cup of tea but I don't get your comment about it just being all about beer and catchy dink panfish.