3 hours ago, MassBass said:

Bass is a warm water fish. If

I know. I got back into fishing about 2013 or so and fished with @Fishing Rhino quite a bit.

As far as stripers, I live 200 yards from the ocean.

Thanks for your well wishes and advice.

For me the fire is out and I no longer have any interest.

46 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

Here's one of 15 I caught this afternoon in the wind:

I'm going to try surface lures tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed they're active enough to feed upwards.

Great fish.. I just packed a couple topwater lures for the am as well.. I’m hoping it’s time.

Hit the Nip as promised today. Super tough bite I only got two. My dad struck out. One was a bit over 3lbs. Both fish on spinnerbaits and both were skinnier than I would have expected this close to the spawn. Eat up!!

That was it though. Both those bites were definitely reaction strikes and we couldn’t buy a bite the next few hours. Couldn’t trigger reaction bites either. Usually we kill it with pickerel at least here but didn’t catch a single one. Can usually convince a few to hit jigs as well in the shallow rocks but nadda.

The weeds were higher than I expected for this time of year, water temps were 57-59. I don’t think they liked the south wind today. It was pretty stiff at times and we were in and out of light rain showers.

I went out this afternoon to my favorite clear water pond to see if the smallies were either still prespawn or on beds. Although the past week has seen colder than seasonal averages, the smallies were right up near the shoreline tending to their nests. I must have kayaked past about 5-8 fish before one finally committed. Not sure how unpopular it is in the forum but I really enjoy the challenge of coaxing a fish to bite on a bed. Naturally I put them back in within 30 seconds, but seeing them nose down and suck up a bait is really fun. I landed 10 and saw about 30. The water levels are real down here and a lot of them were actually deeper than last year - around 8-12ft deep.

I caught 23 yesterday morning, but it felt different to me. I only fished three hours, so I averaged nearly eight an hour. It feels like the fishing is heating up as the water is a little warmer. Still, it was 38 degrees when I launched and the real problem for me right now isn't water too cold to catch bass, but the wind. It. Just. Won't. Stop. Blowing.

If the chain blocking the access road is down, I'm going to my pal's pond today to add the accessories I bought for my new, but used Old Town Predator kayak. I'm going to leave that kayak there for ease of fishing, so now I'll have two boats at my pond and one at my pal's pond. I'll be attaching a trolling rod holder, a three-pole rod holder, and a net or paddle holder. I look forward to fishing from that big (13'), steady boat.

Here are three bass from yesterday morning:

On 5/3/2026 at 9:05 AM, Swamp Girl said:

I caught 23 yesterday morning

Hoky smokes! Why am I working out, all I have to do is drive a couple hours north! Congrats swampy despite the wind

Well this weekend my boat goes in and if the seas cooperate I’ll fish. It can pour, my boat is self bailing. I’M FISHING! Haha

Happy memorial weekend

Got out today, wasn’t expecting too much with the cold front coming in. Ended up not too bad got like 9 bass on a variety of baits. Nothing big. Water temps were hovering just below 70. Fish were NOT on beds. All the ones we caught were in what is considered summer spots and were pretty skinny. The bluegill seemed to have begun their claim to the shallows and a couple seemed to be actively guarding nesting areas.

Helped a snapping turtle who had swallowed someone hook. Thought he was dead at first but he was just exhausted. The line he was attached too had gotten tangled in a submerged tree and he looked like he had just given up. After a few pokes he showed he was not dead and we were able to cut the line and free him and he swam away.

Went out on a small lake today in Southern NH, and glad I did. Caught 41 fish in total in around 4 hours, by far my PB in in terms of numbers in a single session. 38 of those were pickerel, but still had a blast with the non stop bite. 2 small bass, and 1 crappie rounded it out. They couldn't resist my vision 110 Jr today. Caught 40 of the 41 on that, and the other was on a TRD ned rig. I had to re-tie my knot a few times due to their teeth fraying up my line, I'm mostly surprised I caught that many and didn't lose my jerkbait.

13 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

After a few pokes he showed he was not dead and we were able to cut the line and free him and he swam away.

You're the best.

About a week ago, on a cloudy afternoon, I caught one of the biggest bags of my life, about 24.6 pounds, based upon a length to weight chart.

In 2025, I fished a stretch of low, bushy trees and caught eight bass in eight casts, my record for consecutive bass. They were all males, from 15 to 16.5 inches, but great fun, so I decided to return to this shoreline to see if they were there again.

They weren't.

Instead, females were there, tucked under the trees in two to three feet of water. I used the same lure that worked with the small males, a fat, white Whopper Plopper, and I didn't cast close to the trees, knowing that if the lure landed a tree, I'd likely kill the fishing that stretch to free it. Proximity didn't matter. I'd see a line in the water as the bass came out from under the trees to attack my lure and then the challenge was keeping the bass from returning to the trees once hooked. I used the scale in my kayak for quick measurements, but the bigger the bass, the quicker I return her to the water. The big ones are so rare, so I treat them with all due respect. Here are a few of them leading with the biggest, a 22-incher. You can see the trees behind most of the bass:

It was a great weekend in Ny. Caught a bunch of fish , 2 new species. 20’ fish total for me

Walleye, lake trout steelhead, drum, smallies and redhorse sucker ( new species). Greater redhorse and shorthead redhorse. Up to 126 fish species

Wow, @Mr. Aquarium!

Oh how I missed this forum!

This past month has been kind to me in terms of freshwater fishing; I put in a lot of hours trying to improve my game and I feel pretty good on what I learned. Saltwater has been a different story but I’ll keep improving little by little.

Instead of detailing my numerous trips I’ll just share some highlights:

My first ever Wachusett Reservoir fish! It took me about a year with 5 trips ranging from 1-4 hours to get this one. I landed another about 30 minutes later but this one was way prettier. On the jerkbait.

Nice 3.5lber on a bed. I just had to flip the tube in there when I saw the female was still on it.

Personal Best brook trout, also on a jerkbait.

One of about 20 I caught this day. I noticed after the first week and a half of May most beds were vacant and the bass were post spawn.

Big ol slab at about 14 inches. Underspin.

This past weekend I went down to the Cape, post spawn was fully in effect and the smallies were chewing. A rainy Morning on Memorial Day brought some awesome topwater action with most fish hovering around 17-18inches. The next day brought some bluebird skies and some shallow flat bluegill eaters. Water temperatures between 67-70°.

Some pretty pumpkinseeds too.

And a giant pickerel. 25 inches on the baby bull shad.

You're not looking real average now, AA.

Caught this monster of a pickerel Monday after the weather cleared up nice mid afternoon. It's my PB pickerel by far, didn't get a weight as I was too excited and had it out of the water long enough trying to get a decent photo by myself. Caught it tight to cover in 2-3 feet of water with a Megabass karashi on a medium light rod. What a fight! Had to loosen drag and let it take my line under the boat a few times before finally netting him. Anyone have any guesses on weight? I'd say probably in the 3.5-4 pound range?

Duplicate post, sorry don't know how to delete

Edited May 27May 27 by NRJ1988
Duplicate

2 hours ago, NRJ1988 said:

Duplicate post, sorry don't know how to delete

Users can't delete posts on this forum - it messes up the indexing system.

Almost ready for the Norton Res outing, anyone?

20 hours ago, Jigfishn10 said:

Almost ready for the Norton Res outing, anyone?

I was born ready.. just say when.

That cold front this past weekend was something else huh. I went out twice and I managed to get a couple fish feeding shallow. I tried the Charles River in Needham and the current was flowing more than expected due to the rain. Looks like we’re getting more rain on Sunday too, we definitely need it but the vibes of the summer in 2023 where it rained for 14 weekends straight are starting to be felt🫣.

Nice post spawner after work.

The bass in the Charles were tight to cover, they bit right at the current breaks.

BR was down during my week of fishing. Here is a brief rundown.

This is a very late start. My first trip on the water should have been April 25. On April 25 I loaded my car, put my kayak on my roof, backed out of the driveway and when I hit my break pedal at the bottom of the drive my foot went to the floor. No brakes. Parked the car, unloaded, and went back in the house. First skunk of the year.

The week before Memorial Day was a vacation week. I fished Saturday, Tuesday, and the next Saturday. Falls Pond in N Attleboro was were I spent that week. Falls pond is sort of 2 ponds. They are separated by a road and are connected by a culvert under the road. The total acreage is 125 and the northern section is probably slightly larger. The southern section is where I fish most of the time. It is stocked with trout, max depth is around 25' visibility is usually around 3-4'. It is not electric only but the speed limit is like 5mph. There is a little bit of everything here. We have lily pads, sunken boulders, a weedy section, steep banks with shoreline cover, and a few docks.

I fished here 2 of the days. Water temps were in the mid 60s, fishing was slow with lots of skinny bass. First day I caught 6 bass. All small, one on a Texas rigged Culprit worm the rest on a 1/16th oz hair jig. All 6 fish were caught in 6-8 FOW targeting shoreline cover.

Tuesday was kind of the same except I caught more pickerel than bass. I threw buzz baits, swim jigs, football jigs, inline spinners, and a C-rig/Mojo rig. Ended up catching 4 pickerel and one bass. Again one bass on a Texas rigged worm. Pickerel were caught hopping/ swimming a hair jig.

Saturday I went to the Northern section. The Northern section is a little deeper, more rocks less weeds, and clarity tends to be 6-8'. This section is not stocked with trout and has more recreational boaters and fishing boats. Speed limit here is 25mph.

Saturday was cloudy and calm. The water was glass at 7am and pretty much stayed that way all morning. Water temps were 68. That equated to easy boat management but slow fishing. I'm looking for bigger fish so I start on the few way points I have marked on my sonar. No action there. Fished both islands. Nothing there either. I finished the morning with 2 small bass both caught on a 3/8oz football jig fishing shoreline cover.

There were empty beds and skinny bass on both sections, post spawn.

Not a great week but it was great just to be back on the water.

@Jigfishn10 I was going to head to either Norton or the Charles on Sunday. Norton sounds great. Should be there by 6am. I drive a old red Hundai Elantra.

@DogBone_384 I will be sorry to see you go. You were very inspirational to me. On the water pretty much all year long in NE. I have been trying but in the end I am too wimpy.

This weekend I tried for Stripers, kind of failed miserably. My skill gap locating striped bass compared to largemouth bass is quite large; hopefully I’ll get better with the former.

Saturday I got my first frog bass of the year, and Sunday I got away for a few hours and tried a new section of a pond i’ve been frequenting recently. Summer came in hot!

Choked it!

Fat and healthy.

On the dropshot.

There was a stiff breeze blowing in from the SW Sunday. I was up by 4am and loading up around 5:15 watching the treetops blow around. I was at the Norton res boat ramp at 6am. Water was choppy. The conditions altered my plans. I ended up fishing the large island across from the ramp. First the sheltered side then the windy side.

Noticed a lot of pond weed growth. Much more than last year. Water temps were around 73. I fished the banks around the island and the weed lines circling it. I threw buzz baits, swim jigs, a football jig, a Texas rigged worm, shakey head and a hair jig.

I didn't get a bite until after 9am. I had fished the entire windy side and was coming around to the protected side had a shakey head with a 6" roboworm tied on and got a hit. Second strike on the shakey head was on the fall. Set the hook on a energetic 2lb bass that went on a run and turned my kayak. A few cast later I caught another. Was off the water by 10am.

So not really an epic trip but the class of fish got better. A 2lb bass is twice the size of what I have run into so far this year. Good times.

On 6/11/2026 at 4:30 PM, Bass Junke said:

There was a stiff breeze blowing in from the SW Sunday. I was up by 4am and loading up around 5:15 watching the treetops blow around. I was at the Norton res boat ramp at 6am. Water was choppy. The conditions altered my plans. I ended up fishing the large island across from the ramp. First the sheltered side then the windy side.

Noticed a lot of pond weed growth. Much more than last year. Water temps were around 73. I fished the banks around the island and the weed lines circling it. I threw buzz baits, swim jigs, a football jig, a Texas rigged worm, shakey head and a hair jig.

I didn't get a bite until after 9am. I had fished the entire windy side and was coming around to the protected side had a shakey head with a 6" roboworm tied on and got a hit. Second strike on the shakey head was on the fall. Set the hook on a energetic 2lb bass that went on a run and turned my kayak. A few cast later I caught another. Was off the water by 10am.

So not really an epic trip but the class of fish got better. A 2lb bass is twice the size of what I have run into so far this year. Good times.

I've had some really good days there when the weeds are well established. Some years they spray it early in the summer and kill it all off and then it can be tougher to find them after that.

I don't know if you guys saw my trip report, but I caught 80 bass at my pond yesterday morning. To be frank, it was too many bass. I really felt my age at the end. @Lottabass out in Iowa experienced the same thing with his half dozen four and five-pounders. His shoulders were barking and he had to quit. Even if the fishing were hot enough again for me to catch 80 bass, I don't think I would. I was just so tired at the end.