Dunks N Dinks

Hahahaha message received. I've got a tourney coming up there and guess i'll just have to try to figure it out on the fly. Anyhow, I got out on Wequaquet Saturday morning and had a pretty rough go of it. Got 2 fish in the boat within the first hour on the water before I broke the shear pin in my trolling motor head, leaving me totally to the whims of the wind. Ended up calling it a day shortly after.

Anyone fish South Watuppa lately? Wondering if its worth the 1-1.25hr drive from the East Cape this time of year?

Derby Report and Cape (Fresh/Salt) Update: Saturday: Fished a team tourney on The 'Nip, 75 degrees, slight wind and sunny w/ bluebird skies. Water temps were 74-76 and fish were in a bit of a post-spawn funk. Lots of fry and mostly non-keeper males fry-guarding up shallow; caught maybe 12-13 fish, but only 7 or 8 keepers. Partner dumped a 5lber right at the boat, maybe an arms-length from my outstretched net, which was a total heart-breaker. Our keeper bites mostly came flipping swim-jigs around isolated hydrilla clumps out offshore. Ended up in the top 1/3rd of the field with ~9lbs, so not a total disaster, but the big one would've made a difference as the winners had ~13.5lbs. Sunday AM: My buddy and I got out early for some redemption on Cliffs in Nickerson state park. Amazingly, waters temps were still in the upper-60s (67-68) and it showed; the small population of large-mouths were up shallow and still on beds, so we initially focused on the small isolated pockets of reeds/emergent pad stems. With clarity >10ft, it was very cool to sight-cast hair jigs and drop-shots for cruisers and locked fish from 30-40ft away. We ended up both catching a couple of 3lbers, which made up for Saturday's misfires. We also picked up a few nice smallies on finesse swim-baits and tubes in 8-12ft on rocky spots. Sunday PM: Got out on the salt for a few hours before sunset in Stage Harbor in the whaler and got my first keeper striper of the year. Better late than never I guess. Got 4 fish between 22-29" on a Sebile magic swimmer glide-bait just at the channel entrance. Go Bs!

Cape Update: Frisky Fiver (a bit late) but I got out on Memorial Day with a buddy on Mashpee and got my first >5lb largie of the year(!!). Both smallies and largies were on beds, as conditions were primed for spawning activity. The early morning clouds gave way to sun around 8am as temps ran up into the high 70s, with the water ranging between 64-67 degrees. The smallies were mostly in the 6-10ft range near wood, while largemouth were very (2-3ft) shallow and setting up on beds near grass in the northern basin. The big bite came on a BC magic flick on a drop-shot (8" leader) shook subtly just a few feet off a bed. I was sight-casting just beyond a 3-ish pound male guarding a bed when a freaking submarine came out of nowhere and slurped it. After a heart-pounding fight around the back of the boat, my buddy netted the beauty. We grabbed a quick pic, and back she went to the grass-bed adjacent to the bed. Before the release, we also couldn't help but notice the 8" herring down her gullet...so incredible.

Cape Update: Shallow & Angry Was out on Wequaquet Friday, dawn to dusk. I hadn't planned on such a long day but the way the fish were biting (>20 keeper bites), it wasn't really much of a choice ahah. While it took an hour or so to figure out what they wanted, once I got dialed in on shallow wind-protected pockets, I was getting constant action. It was a bit of a battle against conditions, with NW winds kicking up into the 20s, but I'd reckon it was the primal focus on spawning on those flats out of the blasting wind that stacked the fish in those easier-to-fish areas. As I was fishing the water temps rose from 62 to 65 in the sun. Caught fish on drop-shots, stick-baits, and t-rigs (flipped up around bushes), with almost every bite in less than 4ft of water. Most fish seemed to be relating to wood cover or docks. While I don't normally like picking fish off beds (especially in smaller lakes), I did make one exception for what turned out to be the biggest bite of the day. I had spotted a 2lb male guarding the base of a sunken tree limb on a very visible circular sandy bed, and was trolling past when I nearly ran over what I thought was a log on the end of that tree out in 6ft of water which actually turned out to be a huge immobile female bass. As stealthily as I could, I turned around and spot-locked a good 15-20ft off the bed and started pitching back to the area. It took nearly 20 mins and three bait changes as the female cruised around this deeper tree limb, but eventually the fish sucked in my drop-shot that I had left shaking in the sweet spot. With just 6lb test on, the fight was pretty nerve-wracking but I finally got her up to the side of the boat and lipped her. She went 4.61lbs and was by a decent margin the biggest of the day, though I did get another around 3/3.25 near the end of the day on a beaver-style bait pitched into the seam between a dock and pontoon boat. A great day and hopefully a good sign for the next few weeks to come...

Derby & Cape Update: Hangin' 9 or 10 It's definitely not surfing weather yet down on the Cape, but certainly feels like we're stuck in the awkward stage between SM and LMB spawning waves (and the return of keeper Stripers!). Last few trips its been an awful tough grind to get 5 bites, with 9 or 10lbs the most I've managed to compile, even resorting to super-finesse tactics. Saturday my buddy and I fished a team event on Long Pond Lakeville, where we were confronted with quite a balmy session (74f air, 61-63f water, sunny and little wind). We ended up with ~9lbs on 6 keeper bites in 8hrs, in what what an exhausting barrel-scraping effort to figure out a pattern. It wasn't until there were 2hrs or so remaining in the day that we dialed into some fish skipping 4" dingers up under docks. Really letting it soak in the shade was the only way we could coax some action. On Sunday, I hit up Mashpee-Wakeby solo, and was greeted by similar conditions (a bit more wind), and managed to find a few smallies shallow, but on no particular program. Several bites came on flats in the 5-6ft depth, while the remainder were on ML points, possibly fry-guarding or late-spawners on deeper beds. A finesse swimbait on an under-spin did most of the damage, while i got the biggest of the day (~2.75lbs) on a chatter-bait under an overhanging tree limb. Nothing special, but Go B's!

Cape & Derby Report: Fizzled Out Fished a team derby on Johns Pond Saturday. Weather improved steadily throughout the day, from 54 and rainy to 65 and sunny. Wind was almost non-existent from the N, which had fish up shallow, but somewhat spooky. Caught two smallmouths off deep beds right out of the gate, which had us rolling...but the momentum really fizzled out despite conditions setting up right. We focused primarily on smallies, catching 6-7 keepers, but nothing larger than 2lbs...which had us scrambling in the last few hours, switching to flipping shallow cover for large-mouths (docks, weed-beds, trees). The one moment i wish i really had back was a 3-4lb class fish that i hung up on a ned rig, which snapped my leader off on a dock post after i skipped up under the walk-way. That was a huge let-down and we didn't get another bite of that quality for the rest of the day. We finished the day with 11.5lbs and missed 4th place by a half pound. The top three teams however, really had it dialed in, with 2 teams >17lbs in weight. Both focused on pre-spawn larrys and one team noted that they had seen a >6lb quality fish w/ a male fanning a bed just prior to the 3pm cut-off time.

Cape Update: Bed-side Manner I scouted a smaller pond in the Mashpee area Saturday (water temp 56-58). The interesting development was spawning smallmouths, a minority of which were "locked" fish, but plenty had smaller males somewhere along in the process. Have to imagine some warmer weather will push a nice wave in within the next week or two. Maybe even the sun will come out, but that might be asking too much... While I did pester one or two into biting just to see how'd they react, I left the rest alone just because I'd rather let them do their thing, ensuring more fun for the rest of us for years to come. Anyhow, I spent the rest of the day focusing on (still) pre-spawn largemouths...and managed to get a handful of decent ones in the 2-3lb range in the 8-12ft depth-range. Got most on a C-rig (3/8oz sinker, "18 leader), something that I never have had a ton of confidence in, until now. Fished a finesse worm and a beaver-style bait on it...any other tried and true soft-plastics you guys/gals would recommend for this technique?

@hamma better than nothin! I'll be back in the neighborhood on Saturday, hoping to scout out Ashumet and John's Pond for a couple tourneys later this month.

Cape & Derby Report: James Browns Braved the elementary onslaught on Saturday, fishing the first team event for Capt Bub's Bass Trail. Launched at Mashpee-Wakeby at 7am, and as has been the case of late, the weather was downright funky (48 w/ light rain at launch, 54 w/ 25-30mph gusts and hail at noon, 58 sunny and stable by 3pm weigh-in). 29 teams were in attendance, hoping/praying for a shot at a true Cape Cod pre-spawn slaunch. Water temps were in the 54-57 range, hinting at some magic to come... After a few forays into FAIL-sville early (fishing too deep on the main-lake, then too shallow in the canal in the mid-lake section), my partner and I began to hear the music. The "music" being that sultry pre-spawn staging tune. As we soon found out, the resident smallies seemed to have one thing on mind: "get on up", and get to baby-making. We ended up targeting the 5-7ft depth zone on one of the lake's biggest spawning flats, finding a good combination of gravel and rock-piles. Making long-casts with finesse presentations, we slowly crept our baits through what we think was a deeper set of spawning beds being made. Multiple smaller fish hit 2-3 times, first nipping, then inhaling baits, which was suggestive of nest-making behavior. But, it wasn't until the afternoon sun shone that the ladies showed up to dance. As the surface temps began to flirt with 56-57, what appeared to be a wave of females pushed into the shallows. Culling 3 fish in the last 2.5-hours, we ended up with a solid bag that managed to tip the scales just beyond 17lbs, good enough for a 2nd place finish. Our true kicker, a 5.1lb chunker, was an absolute blast to hook into and had my hands shaking and heart racing for 30mins after the fight... The rest of the field had a pretty mixed session; just 4 limits over 12lbs, 6 or so teams >10lbs, with the winners at 18lbs and change. One enormous large-mouth was weighed in at 6.99lbs, a herring-eater no doubt. Could be a great couple of weeks going forward down here on the Cape...

Derby Report: Green Egg & Hams Happy Easter folks. Hope everyone's fam is good. 2nd derby of the year (for me), the Easter Bunny Open, saw a bit of a curve-ball from mother-nature down in Harwich on Saturday (transitioning from 58f air and cloudy/drizzle 12mph S to 68f air and partly sunny w/ gusts up to 30mph SW in the afternoon). Water temps were variable, 49.5 to 52.5 degrees in parts. 26 teams showed up for the open tourney, making Long Pond a bit crowded in the process (only 750 acres), but everyone launched and the lures began to fly at 7:45am without any issue. My partner and I drew boat #5, and took a short bunny-hop across the lake to a Southern Wind-facing main-lake point, setting up shop for what would prove to be a pretty stingy day on the lake. Our game-plan was pretty simple; focus on the deep finesse smallie pattern that I had developed two weeks ago pre-fishing (small swim-bait and drop-shot), and then keep the shallow pre-spawn large-mouth bite honest in the afternoon. We ended up dredging up two solid 3lber's within the first hour in 30ft on the swim-bait, which proved to be a bit of a blessing in disguise, as we went 0-fer for the next 4.5hrs, prompting quite a bit of frustration in the process. We unsuccessfully gambled on a shallow jerkbait pattern, then tried pitching ned rigs around docks in the Western-end...but with 1.5hrs to go, we still had ~6lbs in the 'well. At last, we decided to go back to our original deep-water access point to finish out the session, and that ended up making all the difference. Our last and final two bites were both high-caliber; I cracked a 4.12 and 4.62 before the whistle blew. Without a limit and with no clue how everyone else did that day, we had the nagging feeling we had come in a dollar and few pounds short of victory. All said and done however, it turned out the front had made a mess of most prevailing patterns, with the shallow bite proving tough despite the warming water trend. With our 4-fish limit of 15.05lbs, we managed to squeak out the win with a little bit of home-field-advantage going a long way.

I'll see you at registration bud!

Derby Report: Silver Linings First outing for the 2019 NEBassin Eastern MA trail was on Long Pond (Lakeville) this past Saturday. Weather was variable, to put it lightly. Launched at 7am to driving rain, 58f air, 12mph SW winds...this kept up for 3-4hrs before a sunny warm afternoon (66f, 10mph S). Water temps were 50-53, slightly warmer than a week prior, with perhaps a slight helping hand from a warm/rainy night Friday. With 22 teams competing, it was one of largest turnouts for the Eastern MA trail yet. Unsurprisingly (lol), my partner and I drew the 22nd start slot, which threw a wrench into our morning plans. We had planned on fishing the northern-most man-made "horse-shoe" canal, but having draw the shortest straw, we knew we'd be fishing behind at least 3 or 4 teams. Our back-up plan saw us fish a few main-lake points with reaction baits, before pushing shallow into a bay in the NW section of the mid-section of the lake. We got a modest limit fairly quick throwing rattle-baits on the ML points, but by 1pm we were still sitting on <9lbs with little to show our shallow efforts. But as the sun shone out, a bit of patience paid off, with our last three bites all the right size. A 3.25, 4, and 4.25lber all came in 4-5ft off isolated rock-piles within 45-mins. Our team's 15.5lb limit was good enough for 2nd place, still a ways from catching the winners at 18lbs and change (an impressive bag for anywhere in Mass). The winners noted that their two biggest bites (both around 5lbs) both came first thing in the morning, so its a decent guess that the overnight rain helped set the mood for those pre-spawn mommas.

D&D Update: PB & J(ack-hammer) Got it crank'd up again on Long Pond Saturday (air 44 to 53f, water 46 to 49f, winds W 7mph) alongside quite a few other boats. The morning bite was all but non-exist (steady cold rain until 9am), but as the sun peeked out and the wind kicked up, the fish began to stir and hands began to numb. Ended up nabbing a half dozen pre-spawn largies shallow, nothing of size (all males likely). The real deal however, was targeting the deeper browns; I caught my new PB smallie, which tipped the scales at 4.82lbs, in 40ft of water! On Sunday, I ventured 45 mins North of the Wall, err i mean, Bridge and got into some shallow large-mouth territory (air 45 to 58, water 49 to 55, wind S 10mph). Not much to show for the day (handful of dinkers), but got my first chunky vibrating jig bite of the year at the end of the day up in some shallow grass-beds.

Cape Update: Yellow & Brown Submarines Dropped in on Long Pond Saturday for the first full-day there since last October and managed to track down a few small-jawed craw-consumers. The weather was fantastic (partly-sunny, 10mph SW, air 55, water 43-45), making it an enjoyable search for signs of life. At about 11:30am I was still scoreless, so decided to do a bit of graphing to find bait or anything resembling a prey-fish, and ended up stumbling on a rather subtle little underwater ridge that had a few text-book arches in the neighborhood. While it was a lil deeper than my confidence zone, having been inspired by the Elite Series highlights on Lake Lanier (https://***/2HQ4W9c), I decided to invest some time in finesse-dropping the depths. Over the next few hours, I nabbed 4 chunkers off that ridge (one pushing 4lbs), and then filled out a limit later that afternoon a bit shallower. Definitely a lesson learned in patience and persistence. I could tell you all the spot, but then I'd have to share it with you. Sorry, but my mom always said im just not a great sharer lol.

Cape Update: Sundae Schooling Pushing off the beach in Barnstable, my bud and I kinda felt like ice-cream cones, flash-frozen as I throttled-down into the stiff Westerly wind (~20mph, 39degrees at 9am). It wasn't until the sun peeked out around 11:15am that I managed a glove-less knot-tie and lure swap. It also wasn't until around noon that we had a clue, to be completely honest. But as the temps crept up to the 46-47 mark (water temps still in the 42-43.5 neighborhood), the gears started turning... Counter-intuitive clues are often the easiest to ignore, but when we couldn't manage any action on the northern-most points/areas of the lake (most sunlight), we decided to follow the wind. The first indication we were onto something was when my partner reared back on a decent size pickerel as we pulled into a wind-sheltered South-Eastern pocket, noting that the water temps were +1/1.5 off the lake average. Given the last 3-4 days had seen a fairly consistent NW-blow, we reckoned the wind was pushing the warmer surface water to the opposite end (possibly junk science?). We ended up piecing together a pattern on a few relatively deeper areas next to spawning flats that had some staging fish fairly stacked-up, and got on a pretty consistent jerk-bait bite. Fish wouldn't touch a jig or swim-bait, but were knocking slack in the line to get some treble-dentistry. Ended up nabbing a handful of Larrys off each spot, most in the 1-2.5lb range, with a few pushing 3lbs. A fun puzzle to figure out, especially considering the icey-cold start.

Cape Update: Working out the Kinks Pulling up to the Wequaquet ramp Saturday morning with a lap full of coffee, plug-less, and with a flat trailer tire, I knew it was going to be one of those mornings...but hey, we all know what they say about days fishing and days working. After some tire-sealant handi-work, a jerry-rigged boat plug, and the ceremonial first-cast bird's nest...the day was off to a lovely start. Anyhow, the conditions were about as optimal as can be expected for an Ides of March launch; 45-degree air, 41-degree water temps, 3ft clarity, and a 15mph gust out of the NW... I started off working anything beyond 12ft that could hold heat on the Northern banks: rocky points, offshore hard-spots, etc. Threw a combination of (hair) jigs, blade-baits, and finesse swimbaits. In sum, I hauled water (and some hold-over vegetation) for the better part of 3.5hrs. Into the early afternoon, the wind picked up to ~20mph and I was forced in tighter to the northern banks to allow for effective casting. Lo-and-behold I spotted a few pickerel milling the banks in pockets...soon discovering that in some cases, the water temps were as high as 44-degrees in some wind-devoid spots. Cutting to the chase, I managed to nab 2 smallies and a decent-sized pickerel fishing a perch-colored jerk-bait in the mouth of a channel connecting the main-lake area and one of the warmer-water pockets (transition from 41 to 44-degrees). All the bites came within a 15 minute period in 10ft or less (and after 1pm). That was the only action of the session, but I think(?) it made up for all the morning's headaches...

Scouted out a few Cape Ponds on Saturday.... - Long Pond is completely clear, water is 38-degrees, dropped a blade-bait on a few of my favorite spots for 2.5hrs, hauled water - Sheeps is 70% iced over, launch area locked in - Scargo is 30% iced, managed to launch and tooled around for 2hrs, threw a suspending jerk-bait and soaked a ned rig around some rocks in 28-32ft...nada...water was 36-37-degrees - Seymour is 80% iced, cartop launch was locked in - Hinckleys looked clear from the road, similar temps I imagine Spent the rest of the weekend mounting a side-imaging transducer and re-wiring a new imaging unit for the console...just a few more warm weeks and it'll be go time

I'm gonna give it a go this weekend (will try to scout Cliffs, Scargo, Sheeps and Long Pond)...and report back with water temps at least haha. Bringing the jerk-bait, blade-bait and hair-jig boxes for sure...

Spring Training Report '19 With pitchers and catchers reporting for the Bo-Sox this week, I'm happy to report a soft-water bassin' update from just 60 miles east of Fort Myers, FL. While my outing this past Sunday on Lake Okeechobee might not help anyone catch more fish through/around the ice in E.Mass, hopefully it'll help alleviate the seasonal depression some might have, and get people amped up for the upcoming season. For some background, the Big O is still suffering from low-water levels (4ft lower than last year) and a grass deficit, due to the semi-recent hurricanes. With that in mind, much of the best fishing (according to locals) is being had in the slightly deeper and relatively clearer north-west region that holds a number of reed/pad fields. This was also a major area that came into focus during a recent FLW Costa tourney, though quite a few fish came out of the rim-ditches which surround the outside of much of the lake. We started our adventure with a bumpy 18-mile run from the Clewiston area (south-west corner), with winds kicking up around 12-14mph from the east. Coming off plane to the sun rising through the mist, we eased into a shallow maze of reed stems and began firing at will. Over the next 10hrs, this is what we learned... --> Clarity is relative, at most it was 24" before your bait vanished into the tan water...nothing like the Cape smallie waters I'm familiar with. --> With fish in pre-spawn and actively spawning phases, time of day, sunlight and the associated feeding windows were far more important than presentation. We found that the 1pm-3pm bite, when the sun was present, was far superior to any other time of day. It was also the time when we caught our biggest fish. --> Bait silhouette, rather than color, seemed more important as we caught fish on anything from red to chartreuse to black while blind-casting to likely bedding areas. --> The "spot on a spot" is definitely a thing. Almost every bite came within 2ft of cover (mostly reed stems), even on top-water. --> Can't stress how important targeting the isolated items of cover was. The smallest, most boring looking pieces of cover farthest away from anything else "fishy-looking" were the best. --> Long casts were critical, even in the dirty water, though it made fighting big fish a tad more interesting as they were happy to launch themselves into the heavy stuff and dare you to follow. At the end of the day, we ended up with somewhere around 25 keepers, and were blessed to hook into and land two fish over 6lbs. Both came on soft-plastic stick-baits, t-rigged with 1/4oz pegged weights. It was a great way to knock off the rust, and now its time to hurry up and wait until the thaw...hope to see you all out there soon.

Boat winterized *facepalm*

hey, Santa gets thirsty too

Merry Fishmas yall...putting the spinner-bait box to work this holiday szn

my bad, was including the starter/electronics battery in the equation. So currently have one 12v trolling, one starter...will likely need two 24v trolling and starter when i switch

I was out on Saturday fishing the small open tourney on Mashpee that @Janderson45 mentioned. Tough day for me as well, fishing and equipment-wise. Caught 1 short fish and 1 small keeper early on drop-shotting a small craw bait in 20-25ft, and missed one good one at the side of the boat on a deep jerkbait. Then the wind whipped up and in the process of trying to rid my trolling motor of some weeds, i snapped the trolling motor cord, and it became locked in the down position. By the early afternoon, my trolling battery was out, so i had to limp back to the ramp and call it a day. Not exactly how i drew it up. Anyhow, the situation has me considering upgrading my 12v 55lb TM (2 batteries) to a 24v 80lb (3 battery) system to link with a sonar unit on the bow... anyone have any idea what mapping chip is best for NE Mass (navionics/lowrance vs. Humminbird/Lakemaster??) Also down to grab lunch at the EoY