Hello all, Western MA area, new to site and trying to learn more about fishing, been fishing for a few years but recently got into it a lot more and don't really what I'm doing

Welcome!

Hello and Welcome to Bass Resource ~

A-Jay

Welcome to the forum from eastern MA.

Welcome aboard!

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to the forum.

Welcome ... to the land of small, shallow, weedy lakes.  Been fishing here in “true” western MA (As in close to the MA/NY border western MA.) for a few years. Do not despair!  I don’t know your exact location, but around Pittsfield I can think of more than a half dozen lakes where I have caught bass from four to seven pounds. (OK, one at an even seven pounds and one at six and a quarter pounds.)

 

As for skill level, the first time I took my wife out in my little Bass Tracker Bantam (long time ago to be sure) she made one cast with a Rapala on an inexpensive ultralight rig and caught a bass that weighed almost five pounds.  She just started cranking away as fast as she could, the drag started complaining, and the bass started swimming around an old submerged stump.  Funny thing was that the stump was directly under her rod tip. As he made a loop around the stump, she was cranking the loop off the top of the stump!  Thought we were gonna be there all day.

 

This year I spent my fishing time mostly washing lures.  Biggest fish I caught weighed in at a whopping 1.9 pounds.  Well, I did catch my first Northern Pike. It was 28 inches long and I caught it on a wacky-rigged senior.  EDIT: (I meant “Senko” ... furschlugginer auto correct!) Go figure.

 

My point is that Western Massachusetts has a pretty fair number of fishy bodies of water and the fun is in figuring them out.  As for skill level, in my opinion, increasing your skill improves your odds immensely, but in the end there are times when all the skill, daring, and fancy gear in the world won't beat blind luck.  That’s what makes this sport so much fun. So get out and enjoy the sport as you learn.

 

Oh, and as a member of Bass Resources you’re going to learn quickly from some really smart people. Read the articles and pay attention to the forums. I guarantee you’ll find your skills and catches increasing in no time.  Good luck!

Welcome home! We're glad you're here.

Guess I should chime in here and say greetings from North Central Bassachusetts! 

Somehow I missed this post earlier, but hello from Northwestern MA!

 

There's also some great lakes in southern Vermont.

On 10/23/2019 at 6:59 PM, GrumpyOlPhartte said:

 

This year I spent my fishing time mostly washing lures.  Biggest fish I caught weighed in at a whopping 1.9 pounds.  Well, I did catch my first Northern Pike. It was 28 inches long and I caught it on a wacky-rigged senior.  Go figure.

Well it's not just you who had a tough time up here this year. I had a good 2nd to last day of the season on Onota (I got my first Onota fish on a spinnerbait, at least two actually, can't recall if I got more or not), and a good trip to Button Bay but other than that I had to work to not get skunked.

 

I talked to many other people who also had a tough season, but a group of guys on Cheshire said they had the year of their lives night fishing. Go figure!

 

Grats on the pike! I caught my first Walleye, but it was tiny