MassYak85

A1. Usually gets hit pretty hard during ice season. Left of the island was a bit sketchy for whatever reason there was a good stretch that must have opened up during the first snow storm.

It's ice fishing season boys! Got out today for the first time. This is the first season I've had a shelter and it was much appreciated today lol. Single digits and winds around 15mph made for brutal conditions and real feel temps in the negative teens to start. Ice was good. Solid 4 to 5 inches of mixed iced. There was a decent section of pure black ice that froze last. It was only like 2.5 inches. Probably would have been fine but I wasn't gonna risk it. It started slow but the bass made their way around. Ended up with 7 bass, 3 pickerel. Biggest bass was probably around 3.5lbs. Pretty good day to start the season.

Today should add significant amounts to any place that's locked up. I've heard reports of 2 to 4 inches of mixed iced in Central MA. Being this cold I'd think there should be close to 6 on a lot of small ponds this weekend but we'll see.

Charles can definitely be an underrated place, especially this time of year.

Same man. Ice season used to be AT LEAST a solid 2.5-3 months. It's gonna be wild when kids 20 and 30 years from now look up the old MA record bass and wonder "how in the heck did someone ice fish that part of the state?"

7lber is my goal. Don't think I'll make it out as many times as this year so gonna go for quality over quantity.

55 and raining on New Years....RIP ice season. Will be lucky to squeeze in 6 or 7 weeks at this point.

I appreciate the invite I actually won't be around for New Years unfortunately. Sometime though for sure!

I'm in the area for Christmas. Most local ponds are skimmed. No softwater but all the ice is too thin to fish yet. ?

Profile or broomstick defcon? I've got an older bluegill profile series that I've done well with in the cold. Can wake or crank it down its got a tight wiggle.

The "approaching front" theory didn't do too much for me this year to be honest. Actually thinking back on it I think most of my 5lbers this year were post frontal. But that's for bass.

Ha, yea. I do that but pat myself on the back if it survives until ice-out lol. Anyone else have a winter restock wishlist, trim it down to "necessities", then add it all to your cart and realize you gotta trim it down again haha.

Got out for a few hours this morning in the Yak. Slick calm with a little drizzle and actually a few patches of ice that were putting off some serious fog with the air temperature difference. Spooky lol. I saw some surface activity which I think were trout. Had a few slap at a blade bait never hooked up. Mainly worked steeper banks that had rock with a blade bait and ned rig. The ned rig came through with my only fish. I've never been happier to catch a 13" bass lol. The sun started to peak through around 10-11. The water was still slick calm but I could see the clouds above me were absolutely racing by so I knew it was about to get bad and I started to pack up around 12 as the wind started. Hey I didn't skunk I'll take it lol. Looks like next weekend is supposed to be 60 and raining again. So much for ice anytime soon I guess.

Alright Mother Nature might be nice here... Originally looked like tomorrow was gonna be a washout hurricane. Looks like wind is gonna stay fairly calm until about 1pm, and looks like a break in the rain until then too. Might be able to squeeze a short 4 hour morning trip. Still got my gear loaded up. There's a local pond that's got some depth and harder bottom I might hit up in the morning if the rain isn't too bad when I wake up. Fingers crossed. My skunk streak is at two at the moment...three would suck lol.

Braid yes. Leader knots no. I'm a braid to leader guy and I just make sure to use a leader that won't go into the reel.

Mission Failed. I took a look at my logs and today was trip #50 for me this year (excluding shore sessions). Little Chauncy had some ice so I fell back to Big Chauncy. Never been a huge fan of the place honestly and that continued today. Took the big skunk. Put a solid 6 hours in and threw the gauntlet at them. Blade baits, jigs, ned rig, jerkbaits, swimbaits. Not even the pickerel or perch were interested. On the bright side it was pretty nice out. I was very comfortable most of the day until the sun started setting. Might be my last trip, might not. I'm not gonna brave the 20+mph winds forecasted for tomorrow in my kayak, might try a couple spots from shore. My reels are screaming to be cleaned lol. A long season has a bunch of the bearings getting noisy.

There's definitely exceptions, small ponds and situations like you said.

I'm headed out in the Yak tomorrow. Might try little Chauncey but I've got a feeling it might be starting to skim over. Plan B might be lake Boon. Never fished there but I think its deeper. Loaded up with blade baits, hudds, and jigs.

My rule, whether it's another shore fisherman, another boater or kayaker...is if we can both cast towards each other and cross lines someone got too close.

So the Tactical rig at least has 3 on top, 3 on bottom, with the top being dummy baits. The middle wire on the bottom is longer than the other two. I've always been under the impression you use smaller baits as dummies and that that middle one on the bottom was supposed to be like "The One" that is usually hit. If you are only allowed two hooks would you just rig that middle as a smaller dummy and then the two side bottom ones would be larger with actual hooks? Or just remove it altogether?

Broke my first red this year, high sticked a Dobyns Fury spinning rod. Used Dobyns replacement policy and sent them the labeled section of the blank and asked them to upgrade me to a Sierra. Pretty painless. I forget the exact pricing but it's on their site. Was definitely cheaper than buying the rod new.

Any of you guys fish A-rigs or know the rules about fishing them? I tried doing a little research and some people seemed to think it being 1 "rig" kinda bypassed the 2 hook/line rule but I don't see how it wouldn't fall under that as you absolutely can catch multiple fish on it. But either way, have any of you rigged it with just two hooks? I was thinking of picking up one of the Tactical Bassin A-rigs and cutting off the middle wire on the bottom. Not sure how that would affect the action though.

I've got Monday off and I'm seeing 60s forecasted. Might make the trip down to MA for some kayak fishing. I'm sure wind will be brutal with that kind of temperature swing.

I've already heard reports of guys out in the Berkshires. Big thing is to find smaller shallow ponds that are sheltered from wind. Those will lock up first.

I almost wonder if the milder winters down there might mean bigger fish in the long term. Longer Falls and no ice should mean more time to feed up and longer growing periods in theory right?