BigEyedF11sh

Keep me posted if you find someone, I had some mice get into the tracker over the winter and did a number on the carpet. Found nests in the rod locker comprised of mostly that same carpet fiber.

Tried a new pond yesterday, shallow, weedy fishery; 10 foot was the max depth I found. Fished some topwater, a soft plastic jerkbait, jig head minnow, and gave my tiny bull shooter a shot. Milfoil fields made fishing treble hook baits tough. water temps were 67° and most bass must have been in post spawn mode as not a whole lot was doing up shallow, and found a lot of empty beds. Fooled 2 bass in my couple hours of work. One on a Zara spook which was my first top water bite of the year and a 3 pounder on a jig head minnow in about 8 feet of water. Junk fished a ton but never figured much of a pattern out. Caught a pickerel that was flirting with state pin size as well as a boat load of crappie on the jighead minnow. conditions were strange, muggy, hazy, intermittent sprinkles. Sun was coming and going all day along with the sprinkles. Thought it could have been a recipe for a mean bite but unfortunately it didn’t pan out that way! Re: Cape Ponds Others have given good tips here, structure can be hard to come by so running and gunning with a jerkbait has always been my most successful method on those clear sandy bottom-smallmouth type fisheries. Jerkbait for suspenders and ned rig for bottom huggers has always been my MO. I’ve also had luck on smallmouth specifically on a 1/10 oz black bucktail jig. Went to the dark side this spring and bought live scope for my rig and have been catching a lot of fish on the jig head minnow. Scoping is nice but I’ve been catching just as many fish blind casting and strolling it in high percentage areas, I know this method would kill down the cape. if all else fails either get there early enough or late enough for top water hour! Nothing beats catching smallies on a spook or a popper. Vicious strikes.

There were rollers and white caps pounding my usual pond’s ramp so I went down the street to the back up pond; got my teeth kicked in for 8 hours. Only bass I got to bite was on 3.5inch paddle tail on a 1/8oz dimiki head, shakin it like I was strolling. caught enough Crappie for a hell of a fish fry, never really understood crappie guys but after the 25th crappie today I could see how that could be fun.

Found a thread on here with some better casting alternatives to the shad rap so I busted out the credit card to do some of my own research. Berkeley Flicker Shad 7: 1/3oz, 11-13ft depth Duo Realis Rozante Shad: 1/4 oz, 5-8ft Megabass Flapslap: 3/8oz, 7 ft depth (after converting 2.1 meters to freedom units) For reference the shad rap is listed at 5/16oz. The Megabass looks super tasty in the package, as does all MB stuff and I’m excited about the significantly heavier weight. The duo realis is suspending which really excites me, great for those pause-retrieves we were talking about this time of year. and the Flicker shad basically looks like a knockoff of the flicker shad but it supposedly dives an extra 4-5 feet which will be nice to diversify the portfolio.

I find this happens a lot this time of year. I catch a tonnnn of fish when fishing a jerkbait and stopping to pick out a backlash, or adjust the trolling motor settings/boat position. I know this but I’m not patient enough to pause for that long myself🤣

Got out yesterday on my same local herring run pond, had much of the same results as everyone else here. went right back to the shad rap 7 on rock pattern as my last report; fishing all the rock flats I could find as I figured those would be warming the fastest. Found nothing but caught just about every pickerel in the pond. Stumbled on one bass that couldn’t have been larger than 1.5 and that was my only bass action for the day. Spent a good amount of time with the bladed jig and underspin but had no further luck. Water Temps coincided with @DogBone_384’s. Something tells me today is gonna be the day but I’ll be at work

What’s up guys, long time no post. An insane year at work really cut into my fishing time last year but I’ve been back at it this season. Recently bought a truck which got me motivated to get my old man’s bass tracker that he’s been storing in my yard up and running. New water pump, thermostat, water tube, and a trolling motor swap later and she’s back in business and fishing better than ever. Launched twice in the past 2 weeks, both at my local herring run pond. A place that gets pretty beat up making them tough to catch in numbers consistently, but the ones you do catch are usually healthy herring eaters. First launch was last Tuesday; Mostly a trial run for the big motor after I put in a couple weeks worth of work trying to get rid of the overheating alarm that was plaguing the Old Man and I. Of course I had to bring along a couple rods with my favorites pre-tied on. I had the jerkbait (vision 110+1) glued to my palms as is typical for me this time of year, as well as my weightless senko rod. No bass but managed two small pickerel on the senko. Satisfied with the motor running well I called it a day. After a week of miserable weather, and yesterdays trolling motor swap (had to take breaks and cover the boat with a tarp to let the showers roll through) I was chomping at the bit to test out my new toy. Launched at the same spot around 2pm, temp was about 42° and windy with blue bird skies. Supposedly it warmed up to 45° during my time on the water but if it did, I didn’t notice. Water temp was still 48°-49°. Started out on the main lake in about 10-12 feet of water hucking around the jerkbait focusing on the elbows and points of the entrances to the shallower spawning coves hoping to stumble across some bass moving in or out. I managed to fool one real early and he shook me at the boat which totally de-railed my session, I spent most of the afternoon trying to recreate this bite in the same location and locations similar, despite telling myself I was going to cover a lot of water today. I kicked off the spot lock and switched over to the big explorer gill glide bait, and eventually a big paddle tail to no avail. With only an hour left to spend on the water I went with my original plan of tying on a reaction bait and covering more water. I went with a rappala shad trap 7, a crankbait I love and hate. I’ve caught plenty of fish on it but it casts like an absolute potato chip, especially on a day like today. I finally made my way to the 2 big islands where there is a nice shelf of mostly rock bottom on the main lake side of the larger island. The top of this shelf closest to the island is about 3 feet of water which eventually drops off pretty drastically to about 10 feet of water. Making long casts perpendicular to the shore I dragged the shad trap through the rock and then out over the drop-off where I managed to fool 2 really healthy LMB. It seemed like the lip of the crank beating the tops of the rocks was really what was getting them to react in a way the jerkbait wasnt. Didn’t have a scale with me so I’m not going to play the guessing game but the bigger of the two is pictured below. Hard bottom in close proximity to the main body of water seemed to be the key today. It also seems like these fish are still a little cold to be actively feeding, getting reaction bites seemed to be the move over the slower finesse stuff. Wish I had more time, kinda figured this pattern out in buzzer beater fashion but I promised the wife I’d be home for the dog before she left for work. Lets hope for warmer weather, hoping to be in here with some more reports for you guys soon!

Finally got into my first 4+ pound class fish of the year down on Great Herring in Plymouth this week! Monday was grey, windy, and nasty but the bite was on. Got the 19.5 incher first and then this healthy 16 incher who was trying to spit his breakfast back at me. Both on a copper-bladed grey and black jackhammer with a 3.3 inch keitech swing impact trailer. Wind blown shore has been hot for me as of lately. Water temp 52°. Can anyone identify what she was chomping on? I theorize it was a big herring but it could have been a yellow perch.

I've had about the same experience on my locals. Have only put down my jerkbait to pick up the spinnerbait. Some of the bigger water ponds I've been fishing are still pretty lifeless shallow; no fish, no bait, etc...Still finding most of my fish in the 8-10 foot transition zone which makes me think we're a little bit early for the big females to make their push to traditional staging areas. Partly just thinking outloud cause i got my butt kicked today but it felt like this weekend's cold front threw everything off a bit. Got a really nice steady and stable warming trend incoming the next couple days tho. I believe he did; My buddy sent the pic to me from a Whitman Facebook group. Might have to pickup a big bluegill swimbait.

Was there last week! Got 2 trips in and 2 fish, one dink and one 2lber chunking a Chartreuse Double Colorado bladed spinnerbait around in the deep(er) middle. Couldn’t really figure out a pattern. Interesting place I like it a lot, tons of good wood around the whole shoreline that I think will be really nice in a week or two. Water temp was 55-56 over there! Don, did you see the 9.5’er taken out of Hobart?? Kid hooked a live bluegill I couldn’t believe it. Figures I was there once a week all winter ?

Got bit at Maquan this afternoon, 15.75 on the ketch board which I imagine is the slight upper end of average at that pond. only out for a couple hours so I’ll take it! Vision 110+1 jr in bone white got the bite in 4 feet of water. Water temp 52. still hunting for that spring lunker! Gonna make some trips south this weekend/upcoming week.

Late launch today but got out for a couple hours on Indian Head today. Just one fish on a chartreuse, silver, and white Colorado bladed spinnerbait with a 3.3inch keitech trailer. Slowrolled near bottom on the drop toward deeper water. First time there today and wasted a lot of time in shallow water picking apart all the tasty laydowns in there, found that one fish deep basically on my way out. Sheeeeeesh that's a rough one, you get that out yourself?

Serious warming trend coming next week, I see one day below 50 on the forecast. I think they’re going to start turning on very soon.

Went back today and got one of his leftovers I think! Really sick bite. Casted at some wood with a yellow perch vision 110+1, saw a silver flash come darting out of the wood and paused my retrieve and got to watch him annihilate it like 10 feet from the kayak. also got another 1.5-2lber in the same area who was fired up and dogged me at the boat a little. First time that’s happened since last fall, funny how sluggish they get in the winter. Sick fish @Mr. Aquarium give up some of your swim bait juice, what would you suggest to someone looking to get into the swim bait game?

Friggin tank perch @Meowmicks Those perch 110’s are a pretty solid color match

Got out for a couple hours on the yak this afternoon, chose to stay close to home and fish Maquan pond. Launched at Camp Kiwanee around noon and was happy to find balmy 45° water. Wind was blowing hard and steady from the south. Fished mostly jerkbait and crankbaits due to the heavy wind making it tough to keep contact with my lighter bottom baits. Marked a lot of fish in 10-12 feet of water on the eastern shore in the northern part of the lake and was able to entice one bite out of a healthy 1.5-2lb largemouth on a vision 110+1 in yellow perch. Satisfied and sick of pedaling upwind to hold position I headed back for the ramp at around 3, water temp was up to around 46°. There’s my March fish! Thinking about heading back tomorrow and bringing my anchor rig with me this time.

Does anyone in here know if the river that connects Great Herring and Little Herring is navigable by kayak? Launched directly into little herring just before ice up this winter but everyone who’s launched in there knows how much of a pain in the backside the terrain to get to that launch is. Would rather paddle up a small stream on a nice day even if it took me an hour.

Put in a full day shift at Little South yesterday and got my teeth kicked in for 8 hours lol. Fished shallow, deep, everywhere in between and no bites. Threw a vision 110+1, 110+2, shad raps, jigs, senkos, you name it. water was still very cold, about 40° when I showed up and the northern portion 42° when I left. On arrival the whole third of the area in front of the Great South Creek was locked up. When I left everything was melted except for the creek..figures cause I really wanted to fish great south. Gonna try to make it down there Friday after the warm up. only positives I gathered was I found a brush pile in ~20 ft of water and a couple other piles/downed trees in about 10 ft of water that I’m gonna have to circle back around to in a couple weeks. place is tough but I have a soft spot for it. I either catch multiple 3-5 pounders or absolutely nothing lol

I got on a few this week on a smaller pond in 12-15 feet of water on a small 1/5 oz black with red flash bucktail. Slow rolled near bottom with some rod twitches. Couldn’t get any bites on bigger reaction bait type stuff even though I knew they were in the area.

Had a good day down at Hedges today. Got to meet @DogBone_384 and thank him personally for sharing his honey hole with us. Awesome to have a smallmouth fishery you can really break down in a day from a kayak. Only got into 2 smallmouth but they were both quality healthy fish on a 1/5th oz hand tied bucktail jig. My first fish on a handmade lure and can confidently say I’m hooked. Found a couple stacks of em in the Northwest corner in 12-15 feet of water. Little footage I managed to grab of my first fish: NSFW language cause I was so psyched to finally get into fish again lol https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMejgbcee/

Might see you down at hedges, I’ll be in a white Jetta and blue old town!

Got out for a little bit yesterday before class, found the two best shore fishing spots on Monponsett off 58 were open and void of ice. The open area big enough to comfortably cast on the east side where the pull off is and the culvert on the west side that connects the two ponds. slowrolled a spinner bait and dragged a z-man finesse Ned jig through both spots thoroughly and got out of there. hoping to get out somewhere on the kayak this weekend for sure.

We got 40’s on Monday and Tuesday, 48 and above freezing over night Wednesday, and 45 on Thursday...hopefully some water unlocks for us this week!

This is awesome, exactly what I was looking for. Can’t wait to do more research. Thanks a lot and good luck this season!

Perch and bluegill patterns definitely work as far as hardbaits go. My baby bass shad rap has caught a few fish too. Like previously stated your shad patterns will still get bit as well; I think most of the shad patterns are good herring imitators which are especially prevalent in a number of ponds down here in the Southeast part of the state. I fish a lot of jerkbaits and I don't so much get caught up in the color itself but I try to match the finish to the sky and water conditions mostly. Matte type finish on calm and sunny days in clear water and something with a little more shine and glimmer the windier, cloudier, and more stained the water gets.