Arlington, MA & Medford, MA Fishing Report
Lower Mystic Lake & Mystic River
Hit up my usual spots again yesterday afternoon for a few hours, and while the action wasn’t as good as it was last week, I did manage to land two dink largemouth, pretty much the same size as two I caught this past Saturday morning.
First one came near the lily pads in the Lake close to where Mill Brook empties into it, a spot that has looked promising, but until recently, hasn’t yielded much in the way of success. However, I’ve figured out a pattern that seems to be producing for the spot, mainly, casting over and beyond the lily pads to deeper water on the far edge, and letting the lure fall back towards them. This isn’t the most ideal situation, as it means retrieving back through the pads, but I feel more confident I doing so now that I’ve switched over to 30lb test (equivalent) Spiderwire. I’d love to find a position from shore where I could cast parallel to the pads along the drop-off, but there isn’t a good one, at least not one I’ve been able to work out…. In any event, fish #1 came in the fashion, caught on a Yamamoto Hula Grub in Watermelon with Gold Flake. Had to drag him through the weeds to get him in, but I hooked him clean and it was an easy release.
Second one came from a spot that’s been working as of late, on the Medford side of the River about 200 yards from where the Lake empties into it. I was working a Berkley Power Worm in Watermelon & Purple (Texas-rigged) through the Hydrilla when the little Largemouth pictured started beating the heck out of it, pretty much hooking himself. Not big, but there are a ton of bass this size that I’ve seen, and I’m hoping they’ll stick around ‘til next year and get bigger: They all look active and really healthy.
Not sure what the status is on the bacteria outbreak in the Lake, but I made damn sure to rinse everything with clean water when I got home, and will try to avoid any wading for the foreseeable future. I’m going to try and get out again on Friday afternoon, which, at least as the weather forecast stands now, looks cool and sunny. I’m also hoping for a bit more current in the River as well, as that seems to make the fish a bit more active.
- Added By: ewhit73 on 08/25/09 08:48 AM
- Location: Arlington, MA & Medford, MA
- Report Date: 8/24/2009
- # of Hotspots: 2
- # of Photos: 2
- # of Fish Caught: 2
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Largemouth Catch
- # of Fish Caught: 1
- Water Type: freshwater
- Type of Fish: Largemouth Bass
- Fish Length (Max): 10 inches
- Bait Type: Grub Check Prices
- Bait Details: Gary Yamamoto Skirted Double Tail Grub in Watermelon Black/Gold.
- Location Details: Near the Mill Brook outlet into the Lake by the lily pads.
Largemouth Catch
- # of Fish Caught: 1
- Water Type: freshwater
- Type of Fish: Largemouth Bass
- Fish Length (Max): 8 inches
- Bait Type: Worm Check Prices
- Bait Details: Berkley PowerBait Original Power Worm in Watermelon Purple/Red Flake.
- Location Details: Medford side of Mystic River along the edge of hydrilla closest to shore.
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Comments
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The boat and watercraft traffic is borderline out of control at times. I've seen people in bass boats come zipping along, larger vessels going by with people actively drinking at the controls, but the worst are the people on jet-skis and personal watercraft. They seem to see the River as their own personal slalom course, and blow by often at or close to full speed... and there is not nearly enough room for that; someone's going to get seriously hurt one day doing this.
I try to avoid fishing it during the day on weekends, but it's pretty quiet to dead in terms of boat traffic on weekdays. If you're going to try a kayak, I'd recommend early on a Saturday or Sunday morning as the sun comes up: Not only is it damn pretty at that time of the day, but there's almost no boat traffic, and the fish are usually active.
To this point the best success I've had are using Watermelon-colored worms fished Texas-style, tossing them weightless into the hydrilla or along it and working it slowly. Haven't landed that trophy fish yet, but there's a lot of smaller largemouth bass, and if you can find them, smallmouth on the bottom, a finesse worm worked slowly being effective. -
Nice work. I still haven't been able to find them around there. I tried in the kayak near that bridge once and found it a little unnerving how fast some of the boat traffic goes under that bridge. Tried from the rocks a few times without much success either. I won't give up hope there, though, with good reports like these...