MassYak85

I got out on Friday. I got four solid fish around 3lbs but man it did not feel like it. Every bite was spaced out and a grind and I did not get on any kind of pattern. All fish on swimbaits, two on a wake the other two on a TK fished like a jerkbait off deeper weed edges. The two wakebait fish came off dense weed clumps right next to deeper water. I hear you @DogBone_384 sometimes the "Fall bite" never materializes for me. A lot of times the "nice" fall days where the sun is out and not super windy I don't do well. It's almost like they need that cold front to take the hint that it's feeding time but I also find the bite windows can be short. But I think all my bigger fall fish and better days have been overcast and windy and colder. Usually if there's a 65 or 70 degree day it's nice to be out but the bites are few and far in between.

There are definitely guys that do it and catch toads. I haven't been successful at it yet but I have caught fish on MS Slammers down near 40 degree water temps during the day.

Southeast MA is more @DogBone_384's stomping grounds I think. I don't make it out there very much. I've heard good things about Monponsett though.

I wouldn't call it "deep". It was near a submerged boulder in a weed bed off the first drop that sits along a row of docks. It's an interesting area of the lake where you have a transition area between multiple basins. It's slightly deeper than the coves of the shallower basin. Maybe 6-7 feet.

@1984isNOW I got mine back in mid August on a 10" Black Power Worm (T-Rigged). Fairly calm day with some clouds. It was the first weekend it felt like Fall was coming with some cooler night time temps.

Correct that we don't have traditional "shad" like gizzards and threadfin. But we do have lots of shiners, landlocked alewives, normal alewives if you're in a fishery that dumps to the ocean, and the river systems also support american shad runs in the spring. Typically I do not go for straight white, but silvers and golds to mimic shiners, and if I want to mimic alewife a little purple or blue secondary color.

The weekend is looking VERY nice, I will likely be out on Friday. Haven't gotten out as much this year, still only one 5 lber so far but there's still time.

Yup, as long as I can keep getting away with no gloves I'll be happy.

Are you using microguides by any chance? I fish braid to leader almost exclusively and don't ever have this issue. Alberto and Blood knots for me. I will say, 30lb braid to 20lb leader is a large gap in line diameter and that can play a roll. I would either downsize the leader or upsize the braid to at least 40 if not 50lb. My typical setup is 30lb to 12lb or 40lb to 16/20lb.

Ad far as mono vs copoly vs fluoro, yea I think the whole debate is a bit silly. As far as braid vs those lines I think each had there place and there is an obvious difference.

Looks like all their rods are pretty steeply discounted. Are they going away or something? I've never tried their rods but the Helium series I have heard good things about and they're marked down to 250 from 400.

I got in the habit of it. If it helps preserve the drag stack a bit great, but it also keeps me honest to set the drag appropriate for each time out.

It's huge, but that's about it. I like the regular DoooN spinnerbaits, I just wish they would use a better hook. Those things bend out on 2lb fish if you aren't careful and use a soft rod.

Solid deal, if I didn't already buy like 12 jackhammers last year in a similar sale I'd be all over it haha.

This transition time can definitely be tough. I feel like once we hit the mid 50s again I start to get those more aggressive feeding days.

Tempted to snag another PB rat. I've wanted a black 2 piece for a while.

That fish would have had to be suuuuper skinny to be 3.17. Usually a healthy fish at 21" is at least 5lbs for me.

I sometimes just buy the normal straight shank gamakatsu hooks and make my own keepers with shrink wrap to mimic the roboshot ones.

Tactical Bassin had a video recently that kind of legitimized something I've felt for a while but couldn't quite pinpoint. Essentially that the fall transition starts earlier than we think and as soon as those first few colder nights hit the fish start behaving differently. My last couple outings even going back into mid august the bait seemed to be acting different and the fish were just a bit off. I have struggled in the past this time of year but I think it has been in tandem with my unwillingness to fish deeper. I have been having more luck on those deeper weed edges or edges of flats in spots the weeds are most healthy and attract the most baitfish. Everywhere else has felt like dead water. Every year there's always that one tree on the shoreline that has it's leaves changing super early and I think that's really the first hint. Nature knows what's coming and I'm sure the fish do too.

I have a few confidence "search" baits that I might cycle through. Once I feel I've found something I can call a pattern I will pay more attention and slow down in those areas and see if I can increase my bites. But sometimes you just have a bad day and spend all of it looking. It happens. Usually when that happens I end up fishing "history" based on the time of year and going back to structure or areas I know the fish "should be" and fishing slow to see if they are just in a mood that day. Once that fails I usually call it.

Y'all finally got me, snagged some 15lb samurai for my spinning reel. I have it on my jerkbait and crank baitcasting setups and have liked it a lot.

My trip out last weekend I noticed a lot of concentrated baitfish activity around the most lively and thick weedbeds and the bass seemed to be in lock step. I actually had one bass spit up some baby bass from this spring! I doubt all the bait we saw were bass fry but definitely a few of the smaller schools. Of course we caught them on thing that didn't resemble baby ass at all haha. I even switchd to a small bladed spinnerbait at one point to try and match the hatch a bit better but they didn't want it. Sometimes you just gotta stick with what is working and not overcomplicate it. The cooler nights are definitely here and that switch to the fall bite will be here before we know it. I'm hoping to do more fishing in september but it's traditionally been a tough month for me.

Awesome bait, I just wished they casted a little better.

I fished today with my dad in central MA. I had an awesome summer worm bite going on the 10" black power worm. Probably got 15-20 fish and all very solid 2 to 3lbers, capped it off with a 5-0. My dad started us off strong in the morning with a 5-1 on the psycho gill and did some damage as well on a jig.

He's in central MA. His Psycho Gill is the crappie pattern one.