guidoStow

I had so much fun I'm going to look for some more... Certainly a complete blast on the fly... Certainly a lot sexier getting skunked fishing for Northerns...

I was in VT this week and got skunked for lmb or smb on two days but I did get this gal: 9.5 lbs 36" Northern Pike...

My next visit in my new pond series was further west. The tea colored water was high and there are clumps of waterlily along the shoreline and sparse beds of coontail in deeper water. There was a good crowd of pumpkinseeds and small baitfish by the put-in. My third cast with the 6" watermelon worm fly brought a 4 jump fight from a fourteen inch largemouth. I missed another take about 10 minutes later on the same fly. But that was it for action, not even a tap for the next 3.5 hours. Oh well...

Another pond on another windy day. Maybe it was the high pressure but the Bass seem to have been retreated to the main dropoff and decided to wait till things settled down a bit. Lots of fish on the sonar but nothing I through at them generated the least interest. And the weed beds were completely quiet as well. For my persistence I got to share a few moments with a honking big Chain Pickerel who in classic Esox fashion hit with an explosive strike right at the boat, put up quite a fight with multiple splashy jumps and dogged runs. She then bit through 1x tippet (15 lb test FC) like it wasn't there because she is a pickerel. Then it rained on me as I put the kayak back on the car. Ah fishing...

Decided to stay local so put in at Long Lake (Littleton) as I tried to beat the wind while getting out before it starts rain again... Got the Kayak on the water by 7:30 and started working the first drop without success. So I swapped lines on the 10 weight to floating and headed for the lilypads. After a couple of stops I switched colors of my worm-like-fly to olive -- oops I mean watermelon -- and things started to pick up. A number of swirls and follows later I hooked up with a couple of nice size fish but came unbuttoned as they buried them selves in the pads. By then the wind was starting to really make things unpleasant. I worked another drop-off for a while and then paddled back to the put-in. Almost an inch and a half forecast from Larry tomorrow. Hopefully no additional contributions from Moe and Curly

First time out on a new pond yesterday morning. Got out a bit later than I wanted and found it was blowing pretty solidly. This was made worse by forgetting my anchor. I worked for a while with a 4" swim bait fly as the kayak was moving too quickly for slower presentations. Got one enthusiastic 12" Black Crappie. But that was it. But lots of interesting looking water and structure so I'll be back.

Thank you! Several of my favorite trout ponds are in the SE and Cape areas. Some fine fishing being horded in that part of the state! Yes it is filled with gems...

I had a couple interesting days of fishing in SE MA this last week. Last saturday before Henri came to call caught a 15.5" white perch, a wonderfully strong fighting fish on a fly. Released her to fight another day without a photo. Only to discover when I checked after I got home it was big enough for the state award program... oops... Then once things had settled after the storm I had two fantastic days on a private farm pond. Nice strong fighting fish topping out at 19". Some on top water poppers but mostly on a fly equivalent of a 6" black worm. The right kind of vacation...

Bringing the float tube so the access is simpler but the white caps are definitely a red flag for me! Thanks for the feed back!

Greetings! I'm be visiting family in Monson, ME next week and I was wondering if anyone had reports on how the fishing has been in Lake Hebron or other near by lakes? I'll just have my float tube so unfortunately the great smallmouth rivers are off the table (this time...) Thanks in advance! guido/Guy

Welcome Rob!

I use a Rhino Side Loader to load my 73lb. Native Watercraft Slayer 14.5 onto my Prius. It is really stable and makes getting it up/down a snap. Works much better than methods loading the boat from the back. The Prius still gets over 50MPG even with the Kayak on top. Makes visiting that distant lake so much more affordable...

I'm a Stow, MA based fly fisherman who enjoys catching largemouths and smallmouths from my kayak or float tube. I've been fishing for 58 years.