MassYak85

I've had similar wakes that still haunt me. One spring I had a fish knock like 4 or 5 feet of slack into my line fishing a mattlures soft gill. I wasn't able to catch up before it spit it, turned, and shot off. And I'll never forget the wake it left. This was fairly shallow maybe 3 FOW but it was windy as hell and I just saw this torpedo looking wake fire off away from me that stood our even amongst the wind waves.

Had a great day today at Norton Reservoir. It was only our 3rd time there but so far I have been fairly impressed for how shallow and "featureless" it is. Some "deep" weedbeds gave up almost all the fish. Biggest went just over 3lbs but the average size here seems really good, just no bigs so far. Most fish were between 2 and 3 lbs. And I can't explain why but the fish just act different. I expect bass to shake but the largies here act like smallmouth, making acrobatic leaps out of the water pretty consistently. Idk if it's just because it's so shallow they'd rather do that since they can't head deep. Anyways, I ended with 14 and my dad got 10, as well as a bullhead that hit an underspin that was close to being a pin. We saw tons of beds but only bluegill were on them. Might have had a couple bass on deeper beds but it was hard to tell. Water temps in the low 70s. I think most of the ones we caught were postspawners. Some healthy fish but on the skinnier side. Good luck out there!

I might have to. I've never actually landed a pike in MA. But I've had plenty of them break me off. Went out early this morning and bailed once thr sun came out full force. Brutal day. I managed one small bass while there was still some cloud cover, but it was just one of those days you feel like you're fishing in a lifeless pool. A few pickerel showed up at least.

I saw tons of fish on beds today but it was still kinda slow. Got 7, no bigs. I did see a pretty big one on a bed that bailed to deeper water. I had some good wacks on a WCZ citizen 6, got one pickerel, then broke it off on what was probably a pike. The teeth on whatever it was made quick work of 35lb leader.

Fished Quinsig today, temperature was all over the place with the warming trend. I saw as low as 59 in the main lake and 71 in shallows. Did pretty good, got 15 bass on a variety of baits but mostly a jig and spinnerbait. A few dinks but overall pretty decent fish. Biggest one fell to the spinnerbait and went 4.23lbs. Missed a few other fish here and there. Feels like we skipped straight to summer!

Got out today on Thr Nip. Foggy in the morning and tons of surface activity. Turned out to be mostly pickerel pushed up into the shallow weeds just blitzing sunfish and shiners. Got some good ones a couple just shy of a pin. One had an 8" golden shiner freshly eaten down it's throat. The bass came later but didn't seem to want to come to the surface. Did most of my damage on a jig. No dinks they were all quality fish but nothing much over 3lbs. Got 8 bass in total. Headed out again tomorrow not sure where yet.

I rarely deal with anything like this but there's been a couple times. When it's clear what's about to happen I will absolutely BOMB a cast in the direction I'm already fishing, usually this will land close to where the boat is intending on going before they actually get there. That combined with a friendly wave and a smile gives the "hey a-hole, you know what you did" impression without having to say anything. If they still get close I'll glady fish behind people to try and rub it in a bit.

80s into the weekend should get things going for sure. Lots of places been hovering in the mid 50s for weeks now. Should finally get the water temps into the 60s. I'ts been kinda slow my last few times out. Feels like the fish are in a waiting pattern. I did see a smallie on a bed last time it hit 70. I think they usually get a head start on the largies.

I couldn't believe the bluegill activity today with all the black flies. The entire lake was slick calm but you could see ripples across the whole lake from a non-stop bluefill feast. I would have thought the bass would be taking full advantage and ambush some of them but I couldn't buy a bite on anything bluegill colored. Wouldn't touch a jig or swimbaits on top either.

Last nights shore mission was a swing and a miss. Strange wind out of the south might have had something to play in it but who knows.

Got out again today, not much action but I got a couple solid ones on a jig under some docks, 2.5 and 3.5. Had to put my skipping skills to the test for both of them. Gonna try and get out from shore again tonight.

I wasn't satisfied and driving by my home lake this evening after dinner I saw some sunfish activity at the surface as the wind died and it was slick calm with the sunset. I felt the tug on my heartstrings and knew I had to try again, it just felt right. Went for a shore mission with one bait tied on, a Monka Crawler. Fished a roadway that splits two coves that are both key spawning areas. The last hints of sunlight were on the horizon as I made my first few casts. Frogs were croaking up a storm and the stars were coming out with a slick clam surface. It was cool but not uncomfortable and just so peaceful. If you've never fished a crawler they cast like a missile and the retrieve is pretty slow. It can take 5 minutes to bring the bait back in. So on my 3rd or 4th cast I just kind of closed my eyes it was so peaceful out to take it all in and BOOM. I felt and heard the hit and swung. Not a moment I'll forget for a long time. Fish went 5.6 and is my biggest so far this year. I stuck it out a couple more hours and bagged 5 more fish including a 3.4 and a few other decent ones. Missed one that I think I foul hooked. Night fishing in April is new ground for me but I see guys do well at night pretty much anytime it's not frozen.

Got out on webster. Managed 7 or 8 but never really felt like we were on them. No big ones but they were all fat fish. Jerkbaits, tailspin and a blade bait did the damage. Also got one on the MDC crankdown perch that was probably only slightly bigger than the bait itself ?

Tough day today. Spent the morning getting skunked on swimbaits. Wind was brutal. Afternoon I gave in and tried to just find some fish with a spinnerbait. Managed 7 but mostly dinks, 1 fat 2.5lber was the highlight. All on windblown shores. Water temps were still in the low 50s.

Yea for better or for worse if it was me I'm going back every chance I get lol.

Bought a new net and proceded to have the worst day so far this spring. I think the fish knew!

That's good to hear. I've been tossing my 250 around a bit getting more in tune with the retrieve but it's a lot of bait haha.

How does that glide cast? I've been meaning to pick up something like that or like a Bullshad glide but didn't know how it would do in wind so I've stuck with thinner profile glides for the most part.

We made the trip down to Agawam Mill today. Didn't have quite the day we hoped but not bad. I started the day off with a 4-4 on a white and silver spinnerbait with a Beast Coast Miyagi swimmer on the back. The bigger profile seemed to pay off. I got a couple other small ones and lost what was probably a 3lber. I tried the Real Prey Alewife quite a bit with no interest. We each got into some TANK pickerel. My dad got one that weighed in at 4.07lbs and 26.5". Mine was slightly bigger but didn't get the chance to get measurement. Turns out our net has a nice hole in it lol. I only say mine was bigger because mine barely made it though that hole while his managed to get through it a little easier lol. I'd guess mine was similar length just a little fatter, maybe 4.5lbs. Besides that it was really slow. Even the Opsreys seemed to be coming up empty on their dives.

I start a new job next week so I had the rest of this week off. Had another killer day. This time 22 bass. Mostly small ones with some 2-3lbers mixed in. The males are definitely getting active in the shallows. I can't seem to find those females though when I go deeper. Spinnerbait and chatterbait did all of the damage. They'd only touch either one if it was slow rolled and staying near the bottom.

@Mr. Aquarium Jeeeeeesh dude you're killing it! 3 over 7 is insane!

@DogBone_384 Webster can be great but also tough. If they're keyed in on the alewife schools you can spend a lot of time trying to find them. I had a day last fall where I caught like 5 in 5 casts and then almost nothing the rest of the day. It's one of those patterns where if you have livescope (which I don't) you're at a serious advantage.

Hammer Time! (Jackhammer that is) Boy what a weird day.... I Had a sinilar experience to @bass.slayer69 Got out today around 10am. Water temps were still in the low 50s to start, main lake was still 48. Weird wind out of the south to start. We made the mistake of starting deep, fishing the deep side of breaks near spawning areas. With the water temps I thought no way they're shallow. So we spent most of our day deep and I managed 3 bass doing that. 2 on a fire craw jackhammer and 1 on a vision 110 in perch. The wind was brutal all day but started picking up more into the afternoon. I didn't have the desire to attempt finesse fishing in 20mph winds so we basically started junk fishing some areas shallow that we have luck later in the spring usually. We turned this one corner and just started getting them left and right on the jackhammer in bluegill. I lost a good one right away, probably 3.5 or 4lbs. My bad for trying to lift it onto the net. The next couple hours was just a beatdown on 1 to 2.5lbers. And these fish were all in less than 4 feet of water. That's the last time I ever assume anything about where the fish are. I ended up with 19 bass, should have been 20 if I played the big fish properly. Only a couple were dinks thr rest were solid keepers, and all came on the jackhammer. It was a very weird bite though, not quite subtle but the fish almost were just...there. They weren't hitting hard. Around 7 the wind did a complete 180 and started blowing out of the North even harder now with driving rain. I guess the fish must have been putting the feed bag on before the front. Definitely a day I won't forget. That makes it into my top 5 days for quantity.

Today was brutal and looks like I wasn't alone. I was thinking with the full moon and warm temps they might be starting to push shallow but nope, got slapped in the face by the wind and brutal post frontal conditons. Water temps were 55 to 58, couldn't buy a bite shallow other than pickerel. Tried just covering water with a spinnerbait but only the pickerel were interested. Switched to a jerkbait a little deeper and got my first bass. I thought that was gonna be the ticket but nope, it was also my only bass. What followed can only be described as an infestation. Pickerel every cast on the jerkbait, an absolute nuisance. Now I'm not one to complain about catching pickerel usually but I'm talking absolute dinks...like 8 inches. One after the other. The perfect size to thrash around and get every single treble hook into them. We tried some deeper areas trying to avoid them without any luck. Hopefully tomorrow is better.

Got out today. Wasn't a bad day I got 6 in total including a few 2-3.5lbers. Bite seemed a little off. Had to go the reaction route jigging a lipless and using a jerkbait. Did manage a couple on a chatterbait though.