Pond somewhere in Boston was wide open, and the South wind was perfect. Limited out on holdover browns

14 hours ago, MassBass said:

t. L

What did it hit?

@Saltysmalljaws joined me today for some SMB hunting. We launched around 0730 and left at 1600. Jake's knows the water we fished very well so we focused on wintering areas. I finally checked off my first SMB for 2026 with a silver/black top Damiki blade bait in 30' of water. I brought 3 SMB to the boat, all around 1 1/2 - 2 pounds. Jake out fished me roughly 4:1, including a couple really good ones.

There were four other boats there today. I spoke to one guy as he was coming off the water. He skunked.

Water temps were 39.x when we launched and 41.x when we left. It got very cold and windy from mid morning to mid afternoon, but calmed down and brightened up by the time we left. Air pressure was 29.7 in the morning and rose to 29.9.

I'm supposed to be here all week, but the weather doesn't look promising. It'll be a day by day decision.

On 3/21/2026 at 10:50 AM, Banned User said:

What did it hit?

You can see my lure

Woooooo @DogBone_384 great job getting it done!

Went 1/2 on trips this weekend. Saturday I tried a new pond in the southeast that was stocked with trout pretty recently. I usually do terrible in kettle hole ponds but I wanted to target trout mostly so I thought why not. The first two and a half hours I struggled immensely, no bites and no clue on what to do. The people on the bank were hammering the trout on kastmasters but I didn't want to intrude on their space so I stayed off shore. I made a final decision to anchor on the northwest side and just cycle through baits and cast to a place that I marked had a ton of fish cruising.

No joke as I was picking my nose a spunky 13 inch lmb smacked my jerkbait, and that gave me the clue that helped my last hour go a lot better. I interrupted my cadence about halfway through my long cast and sure enough I got another bite. I upsized my bait to a larger one and caught two more, including the biggest fish of the day at a fat 16.5 incher. Overall I caught as many fish this trip as I did all of March last year, so that's pretty awesome.

Sunday due to the rain my initial trout fishing trip got postponed, but I made a quick stop by a smallie pond to get some casts in. Unfortunately at that spot I skunked, but I learned a lot and I had a good time so wins all around.

Helped my dad get his boat ready this weekend and got my tackle all organized. It's time!

Proof that I didn't get skunked. Beautiful colors on her.

8 hours ago, AverageAngler said:

Saturday I tried a new pond in the southeast that was stocked with trout pretty recently. I usually do terrible in kettle hole ponds but I wanted to target trout mostly so I thought why not.

Nice work, I also went trouting Saturday with a buddy that hasn’t fished since he was a kid. I was outfished in my own canoe with my own rods, but I think he’s got the sickness now. He’s been sending me links to gear he’s interested in.

Placed my 2nd Tackle Warehouse order within the last year. I was slacking haha. Needed to restock on some Roboworms and EZ shiners before the season gets going for me.

Lowkey kind of cruel that TW keeps track of your entire order history lol. I don't need to see my bad decisions layed out like that haha.

17 hours ago, TheSwearingAngler said:

Nice work, I also went trouting Saturday with a buddy that hasn’t fished since he was a kid. I was outfished in my own canoe with my own rods, but I think he’s got the sickness now. He’s been sending me links to gear he’s interested in.

Haha that is awesome! My cancelled trip was actually going to be with some of my close friends who were interested in trying something new. Hopefully they get the bug like your friend.

16 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

Lowkey kind of cruel that TW keeps track of your entire order history lol. I don't need to see my bad decisions layed out like that haha.

It's like when uber eats did their year end review and showed me every poor decision I made over the last 12 months...

Any of you guys do this new required boat safety course yet? I'm scoffing at the cost of the online course and certificate but seeing the in person ones are either multiple days or a fulllll day and a follow up test. Kind of blows ngl.

@MassYak85 Good grief, I forgot all about that. Thanks for the reminder. And it includes canoes or kayaks equipped with trolling motors.

1 hour ago, MassYak85 said:

Any of you guys do this new required boat safety course yet?

Yes. I did mine on line.

11 hours ago, DogBone_384 said:

Yes. I did mine on line.

Which one did you do I saw there were a couple options?

Boat-Ed. https://www.boat-ed.com/?lid=h1hc2lo1r91r&utm_id=69c3f4f0f2222bb4bea9fbd55558df8f&utm_source=braze&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=boat+ed+usa+spring+break+cardholders+1+year&utm_canvas=

My buddy did an online one, he sent me screenshots and it appeared to be ridiculous.

Reminded me of my retail days when you’d apply for a job and they’d give you these little stories like “John was hired as the assistant manager last week but Tom has worked for the company 8 years, Tom pointed out John made a mistake inventorying and John wrote Tom up for insubordination.”

Who do you agree with and why

A. John, because chain of command?

B. Tom because John made a mistake… etc etc.

I can post a couple of the screenshots he sent.. then he sent me a pic of his actual “license”/certificate. So it’s legit just seems crazy.

Seriously what are we doing anymore?

35 minutes ago, TheSwearingAngler said:

Seriously what are we doing anymore?

lol what is that 🤣

Got mine 20 years ago

1 hour ago, MassYak85 said:

lol what is that 🤣

Oh and furthermore he didn’t use google to find this “course” it was linked on the Mass.gov website

It was $75 and came with 2 certificates

I fished four ponds on the Cape over the last two days. I've skunked 13 of 14 trips this year. It's time to step away from fishing for a while.

Water temps were in the low 40's in the ponds I fished. Air pressure the last two days was 30.3 - 30.4.

Best of luck to those getting out. Keep this thread going. I'm going to find something else to do for a while.

2 hours ago, Mr. Aquarium said:

Got mine 20 years ago

Weren't you about 5 YO then? 😛

🤣🤣 they had a kids course

Been eying some spots on the Merrimac to try for stripers when the time comes. My dad caught a 40"er when we went up it with his old boat years back. Sketchiest fishing experience of my life navigating up the current and the rocks in a fiberglass boat.

54 minutes ago, MassYak85 said:

Been eying some spots on the Merrimac to try for stripers when the time comes. My dad caught a 40"er when we went up it with his old boat years back. Sketchiest fishing experience of my life navigating up the current and the rocks in a fiberglass boat.

I fish the river mouth sometimes and while the fishing is good, it can be absolutely terrifying and outright dangerous if you catch the winds and tide wrong. The joppa flat is well known for a reason though, so much fun.