Beautiful fish! Well done!

34 minutes ago, MassBass said:

Thats a real legend right there for these parts. From a trout stocked pond? 

Yep she was a trout eater 

3 hours ago, Mr. Aquarium said:

Finally got my goal bass, I’ve been hunting this fish for years. Countless hours and heart breaks. 
I started out waking up at 430 am, feeling like crap, mixture of expired cheese and a couple of beers the night before. Almost didn’t go, but I said I have to, I wouldn’t catch my dream fish sleeping in.  Got to the spot at 7 am. I got a small bass just shy of 3 on the glide. Few cast later I caught this giant. Didn’t know she was this big until I weighed her, thought it was a 6er my 7.   She hit the glide along a drop off to a spawning flat. Slowly worked, she just nipped the hook, only one hook point in the top lip.  
 

She went 8lbs 2 ounces 22 inches. I’m so happy to finally break 8lbs in MA!    I needed to change my undies  after that fish 

Fantastic Bass !

Fish Hard enough and long enough, if she's there . . . . . 

Congrats

A-Jay

Today's trip with @Fishing Rhino fell through so I trekked to Little/Great South.  Four and a half hours in the rain got me a pickerel and LMB.  Larry came on the last cast as I was OTW back to the launch, weighing 3-6 and measuring 17 1/2".  My pick chomped a live river shad Rapala Ott's Tiny 4 and my bass took a 3.8" bluegill flash Fat Impact on a 3/8 oz under spin I let sit next to a downed tree.

 

Water temps were 48.x - 50.x.  Winds were 10-12 mph from the East and air pressure was 29.9.

Sounds like nothing there has changed! Always been a tough place for whatever reason.  I would have bailed and hit Little Pond for the trout!

Went out again to the spot, missed another giant and got a “small fish”

Anyone going to the swimbait expo this weekend? I kinda want to try and grab a Psycho Trout but not sure I want to wait in line for hours in the rain either haha.

1 hour ago, MassYak85 said:

Anyone going to the swimbait expo this weekend? I kinda want to try and grab a Psycho Trout but not sure I want to wait in line for hours in the rain either haha.

Nope, I’m looking for another 8

4 hours ago, Mr. Aquarium said:

Nope, I’m looking for another 8

Yea you seem like you're on a good bite this spring, no bait is worth missing out on that. I might say screw it and go out too. 

2 minutes ago, MassYak85 said:

Yea you seem like you're on a good bite this spring, no bait is worth missing out on that. I might say screw it and go out too. 

Amen, I rather go stick another 8 then go buy another bait 

5 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

Anyone going to the swimbait expo this weekend? I kinda want to try and grab a Psycho Trout but not sure I want to wait in line for hours in the rain either haha.

I was considering it, but doubt I will give up fishing to go.  Will be at the Chu looking to break the state record Smallie...

1 hour ago, Frezzy said:

I was considering it, but doubt I will give up fishing to go.  Will be at the Chu looking to break the state record Smallie...

I really want a Psycho Trout but I also don't want to stand around in the rain for 5 hours to potentially still not get one lol. I'm not sure how crazy it's gonna be. Apparently people were standing in line in the snow before sunrise at other expo. If I'm gonna be wet and miserable I'm gonna at least be catching fish while doing it haha.

 

My compromise to myself might be getting my Psycho Gill painted over next winter.  I've seen some insane bluegill patterns on social media. Mine is one of the realistic wrap collabs in Crappie but the hooks have torn the wrap to shreds and it's missing both eyes lol.

One of the nice things about tying my own flies, is that if I want a specific fly, it is up to me to make it. No lines.

14 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

I really want a Psycho Trout but I also don't want to stand around in the rain for 5 hours to potentially still not get one lol. I'm not sure how crazy it's gonna be. Apparently people were standing in line in the snow before sunrise at other expo. If I'm gonna be wet and miserable I'm gonna at least be catching fish while doing it haha.

 

My compromise to myself might be getting my Psycho Gill painted over next winter.  I've seen some insane bluegill patterns on social media. Mine is one of the realistic wrap collabs in Crappie but the hooks have torn the wrap to shreds and it's missing both eyes lol.

No Pizz at this show.  He’s the hottest name in Swimbaits and drove much of the craziness at the show a few months ago.  Don’t get me wrong.  You will still need to get there early to grab a Psycho, but nobody is sleeping out in tents tonight or getting there at 3am….

Fished Walden Pond in the fog and drizzle this morning. Cot a couple of taps on a swimbait fly but no contact.

 

Maybe if I had a Psycho trout?

 

A couple of guys got a couple on a small jerk bait, the largest looked to be >2lbs.

 

Tough day out there for me. Put in a good 4 hours at my go-to local spot and came up with a skunk. Threw basically my entire tackle box at them, using senkos, jerkbait, crankbaits, jigs, swimbaits, wakebaits, and chatterbait. Still a little early in the season I guess.

I always thought of April as one of the toughest months of the year. Too many cold fronts with bluebird sky and that stiff NNE wind. 

On 4/8/2022 at 6:41 AM, Frezzy said:

No Pizz at this show.  He’s the hottest name in Swimbaits and drove much of the craziness at the show a few months ago.  Don’t get me wrong.  You will still need to get there early to grab a Psycho, but nobody is sleeping out in tents tonight or getting there at 3am….

Just got a new job so I have to do check out some places to lice in NH this afternoon so figured I'd swing by the expo in the morning.

 

The expo was WILD. Guys showed up yesterday I guess and they didn't want people camping out so they started handing out numbered wristbands as a placeholder in line. I never even stood a chance at a Gill nevermind a Trout so I went to the Sherpa booth instead to snag one of his new crawlers. 

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. 

Made a trip to the Cape for the weekend.  Fished Walkers Pond in Brewster yesterday and took a skunk after a few hours of battling whitecaps in the canoe.  Today I fished Upper Mill Pond in Brewster this morning with calmer conditions and landed a few decent smallies on a NetBait STH Finesse series tube rigged with a 1/8 Keitech tungsten jig head.  

Quick trip in the kayaks with my buddy last night, neither of got so much as a nibble until it was dark out then i pulled this 1.46lb crappie out of a brush pile on a black and blue jig and a few minutes later he snagged a 2.2 LMB on a jig too.

 

We threw spinnerbaits, crankbaits, swimbaits with no luck until busting out the jigs.

I tried for the night bite fished the hell out of topwaters, 3 small bass that made for a huge bag of 3lbs.  I definitely should have brought the jigs, chatters, trigs and spinner baits 

I fished Ponkapoag yesterday afternoon.  The bass didn’t cooperate, but three good sized picks devoured a 3.8” super shad Keitech, with the biggest being at least 3 pounds.  All three were nice enough self-extricate at the kayak.

 

The winds were light from the north, water temps were 56.x - 57.x, and air pressure  sat at 29.8.

Some of my friends did really well yesterday - I couldn’t make it out . They killed them on jigs - getting around 20 fish with a 4 pound lunker all from shore. Gonna try that spot today.

I planned on Snake Pond today, but a necessary kayak repair and 'honey-do' list kept me home too long to make the trip worth the drive.  I randomly picked Lake Masapoag in Sharon.  After two hours in STIFF winds from the west, I felt like I'd just rode a century on my mountain bike, up hill.  I threw the kitchen sink and came up empty, and so did another guy on his Tracker.  Water temps were 55.x - 56.x and air pressure was 30.1.

 

There are supposed to be SMB there, and two locals confirmed it.  I fished there in April '20 and came up with a pickerel.  There's a 60 HP limit, so my Ranger stays home.  I might give it a couple more tries in better conditions.