11 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

THIS^

 

Hey @Mr. Aquarium, when you go are you jigging or do you use tipups too? It's weird for me, open water I exclusively use lures, it's just more fun for me. But ice fishing I rarely jig, almost always bait fishing with tipups. I guess there's just something about chasing flags that gets me more excited. 

i usually jig! i  love catching crappies and perch through the ice! have caught some nice bass and trout jiggin. 
if its an all day thing, ill set up traps, if i only got a few hours ill jig.

Are we half way there yet?

11 hours ago, DogBone_384 said:

Are we half way there yet?

I am since my last day was in October and my next day will be in March or April.

 

You're half way, only if you do some ice fishing, or take your gear south.  

went out for trout yesterday, lot of people out, only one flag for us. my first fish of the year. chunky 2.5lb bass. 

Anyone been ice fishing lately?

not since last week! when i caught that bass! 

Scouted Jacob's Pond in Norwell, Houghton's in Blue Hills, and Ponkapog in Canton for ice conditions.  All three ponds were iced over. 

 

There was a guy ice fishing at Ponkie so I walked over to him to chat.  He had a LMB in his sled, about 1.5#, when I got to him.  He said he'd caught a couple picks and this was his first bass.  Ponkie's ice measured just about 7" thick.

 

If my job runs quick tomorrow I'm going to hit Pokie tomorrow try drilling some holes myself and see if I can get me something.  

 

One of my 2018 goals is to catch a fish in MA every month.  I missed January 2017.

 

My next trip might be to my new favorite spot in Plymouth.

I didn't get out ice fishing today, but ended up near Plymouth so some recon did I.

 

Little Pond: Locked up solid.  I walked out a ways and saw some healed ice fishing holes.

 

Billington Sea: Locked up but had a very gray look to the ice.  It's much shallower than Little Pond.  I didn't test it.

 

Lout Pond: Looked locked up as I drove by it OTW to Little/Big South.

 

Little South: Locked up.  I walked across it to get to Big South. A few ice fishing holes on the NW side near the pump house.

 

Big South: 80-90% Locked up.  The shallowest areas were open.  I walked out a short way but didn't want to chance it.  The small canal connecting Big & Little is open.

 

Halfway Pond:  70% locked up.  DEFINITELY not worth walking on.

 

Long Pond:  W I D E open except for a skim coat at the private beach to the left of the boat ramp.

 

Little Long Pond: 50-75% locked up.  Like Halfway, I wouldn't try it.

 

Hedges Pond: 50% open.  Another week above freezing and there'll be enough open water to drop a kayak in.  It might be fishable this weekend.  There's enough open water to cast to deep sections.

 

Great Herring: Mosty open.  There's some skim/thin ice in the shallow section along Herring Pond Road.  Plenty open for a kayak/skiff/canoe -  Fishing Rhino - leave the Nitro asleep.... at least for now....

 

Whitmans Pond (Weymouth): Locked up.  Two people were ice fishing as I pulled in the parking lot.

 

One way or the other I'm getting out next week.  I have a half day job Monday morning, so if anyone wants to meet, drop me a PM.

 

 

 

 

 

I finished up this morning, loaded the kayak and headed south.  Hedges had too much skim ice for my taste so I launched at Great Herring a little after 2:00.

 

I kept is simple with a black/blue hair jig, yellow perch colored blade bait, and gray/white Ned rig.  I worked slopes between 30-15' along the SE shoreline.  All said and done I hooked onto something that got away, landed my first stick and two yellow perch for the season.  The stick came on the blade bait, one perch on the Ned, and the second perch came late on a perch colored Yozuri slow sinking minnow.   

 

The surface temp settled in at 36.x degrees.

 

January's checked off my list.  Eleven months of catching fish in MA to go.

sick!!!! congrats on that first fish bud of the year. havent caught an open water fish yet this year! 

Get out there Mike. I’m sure there’s some open water in Plymouth after yeaterday’s rain & warm temps.

yea i found open water, but havent really been fishing hardcore, just more like getting out of the house, trying new baits

There's plenty of open water down here in VA but I've been holding off for now. I'm reading spoonplugging and a few other books right now and want to get a better grasp of structure fishing before I try and tackle the reservoirs down here, especially in janurary/february. My attempts last summer were miserable to say the least. 

Open water in VA! Not bad... my Tundra gets 15 mpg ... I’ll just wait for the northern thaw.

 

Today, for example, I launched at Hedges Pond in Plymouth around noon and fished until 4:00. Gaught 3 SMB and 3 yellow perch, with the biggest of each being 2-2 and 1-4, respectively.  

 

A gold blade bait, mud minnow finesse TRD, and 4” wacky rigged green/red Yum dinger did the trick.

 

Surface temps were 39.x and all fish were caught in 8-12’ of water.

 

Oh yeah, I also landed an old discarded minnow net. Boy did it put up a fight ?.

wow 8-12 feet of water! d**n thats pretty shallow for this time of year

Hedges is 20’ max.  Tried deep for a while without so much as a nibble.

Hey Dogbone,

 

Unless something happens to slow my recovery, I should be close to ready when I get back from Daytona.

 

I'm off the crutches and about done with the boot, though the doc wants me to wear the  boot when I'm in the crowds at the races.  I can walk without a limp whether I'm wearing the boot or not.

I'll let you play guide when I get back, and have a follow up with the doc.  

 

You can school me on some early season Cape fishing.

got out this weekend. saturday was tough in the wind. my buddy missed a pickerel. sunday found more open water. caught a pickerel at spot 1. got booted off spot 2. last spot of the day, i love this spot, old faithful produces again. not much open water but enough to cast, pickerel were stacked up. caught 6 pickerel and a perch. felt so good bending the rod again

 

Hedges is open. More later.

 

OK, it's later: I launched at Hedges at 10:30 and stayed until 3:00 when the wind picked up enough I started looking for Dorothy and the wicked witch.  Until then I used the same baits I scored with last week plus a jointed, yellow perch, Rapala.  

 

I worked clockwise around the whole place and a short time in the middle, working 8' and deeper and couldn't buy a hit.  

 

Surface temps were 39.2 and 39.6 at the pond's north shore.

8 hours ago, Mr. Aquarium said:

got out this weekend. saturday was tough in the wind. my buddy missed a pickerel. sunday found more open water. caught a pickerel at spot 1. got booted off spot 2. last spot of the day, i love this spot, old faithful produces again. not much open water but enough to cast, pickerel were stacked up. caught 6 pickerel and a perch. felt so good bending the rod again

 

Booted off? As in by the cops?

nah the land owners came down, so i knew it was private by all the private signs, i waited a bit to see if they would come out. no one so i unpacked the car, drag the yak down the bogs.  get to the kayak to the waters edge, ready to launch, he comes out says you cant fish here. I don't understand he waited until i was ready to launch!   i was ticked!!! 

worst part is this place  you used to be able to get to.  the launch was down these bogs! heard good things about it. 
i shore fished it once before but that was cutting through some thick woods, so ill find another way in

So, you see signs telling you it's private, you launch anyway and then get mad because he came out and told you what was already apparent, then you say your still going to sneak in anyway?  WHAT PART OF PRIVATE DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND. Why make some one angry and give others a bad name?  Maybe if you knocked on his door and politely asked him if you could PLEASE fish there you'd have stood a better chance.  Not trying to be a jerk, but if you did that on my property I'd have you arrested, and don't be surprised if he does, he's already told you you can't fish there.

i was frustrated with getting to the water then getting booted off.  the pond its self isnt private, the easiest way in is private.
i rarely  have any bad encounters with bog owners. if i see someone out side ill make small talk with them, if they do ask me to leave, im very polite.  most of the time they dont come out.  ive gotten permission to fish a few places as well.

i also pick up trash, dont leave anything behind and respect the bog owners land. so its not guys like me that make fishermen look bad, i make the place look better when i leave, most of the time people dont know im there

If I don't work OT tomorrow you'll find me at Hedges pond.  I'm going to try and get there by 10:00-ish.

 

ADD: Hedges is skimmed over. I’m off to find some open water.

 

ADD MORE: Hinckley’s Pond in Harwich is open. Looks great!  More later....

 

It was a long day at Hinckleys.  I started at the north end around 11:00 and covered most of the pond, tossing differend blade baits, a 1/4 oz brown/yellow hair jig, yellow perch jointed rapala, a couple different 4” wacky worms, a green/red Rage Tail, a couple Neds, and a 1/4 oz yellow Mepps.  I left around 5:00 pm.

 

I got a single yellow perch in the kayak.  I would have loved to find some bass, but one beats none and February’s checked off the list.

 

Surface temp on the north side was 36.9 and 36.2ish for the rest of the pond.  It was pretty windy until about 4:00 pm.