frambrett

I put my kayak in at the Woerd Avenue boat ramp - nice access point with plenty of parking. It was around 4 p.m. so the shadows were starting to lengthen over the western bank, providing some shade from the sun.

There is a boat rental place just downstream, so there was a constant stream of kayakers and paddle boarders but since I was working the weed beds and other structure on both banks itwasn't much of an issue.

In addition to lily pads, this stretch of the river has invasive plants, including milfoil and water chestnuts. The water chestnuts actually form more of the surface mat than the lily pads in many places.

I started throwing a weedless Zoom Super Hog creature bait and got a surface blow up in the pads within a few minutes. Soon after I landed a nice chunky 1.5 pound largemouth. A smaller one, just under a foot, came a while later from next to a boat dock.

Lost another dink later as I explored the shoreline and a cove downstream, and had some other missed bites and blowups (threw a frog for a while on my other rod), but no more fish landed.

The river is quite wide in this section with some nice fallen tree structure in addition to the weed beds. I wished I had more time to explore but the sun was setting and I needed to get home. The evening bite no doubt was even better.

I talked to a two guys in a jon boat who had landed a few LMBs in the 2 pound range on Texas-rigged plastic worms.

I'll definitely be headed back here to explore more, particularly in the fall when the rental paddling crowd has diminished, and see if I can pull some bigger fish out of the weed beds.

I hit Gate 14 at Scar Hill Road late afternoon yesterday in the cool, overcast weather with some sporadic light showers, hoping it would have the smallies shallower and more active, particularly for the evening bite.

I threw a variety of baits in the cove south of the gate, and also at the ledge beyond the cove where there's a good dropoff. The water level is up from when I was last there a month ago, my Chu debut, so I had to bushwhack through the woods to reach the ledge area. For three hours, nothing.

About 7 p.m., I had returned to the head of the cove, about a hundred feet down the shore from the point. The trout fishermen who were set up there earlier were gone; just a row of forked stick rod holders remained.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a furious splashing in the shallows of the point, so I hustled up there with my gear. Saw nothing, but started casting. Still no action. Then I noticed a few bait fish wriggling at the water's edge, half out of the water entirely. Had a bass chased them ashore, or had the trout fishermen, who I noticed were using live bait, dumped their leftovers? I believe they were either shiners or shad.

I lip-hooked one of them, stuck a bobber two feet above, and lobbed it about thirty feet out. I stuck my rod in one of the stick holders and continued to throw a top water with my other rod.

At one point some more bait fish splashed in the shallows, and I caught a glimpse of a lightning-fast smallie veering back to deep water. The smallies were definitely doing a roundup, riding herd on one of their favorite meals.

Within ten minutes the bobber went under, fast. I grabbed the rod quickly and set the hook, and after a spirited battle I had a 14 inch, 1.5 pound smallie in my hand, my first fish out of the Chu!

I rigged another bait fish, but he was barely moving any more, and got ignored. I threw some top waters as dusk came over the rez, but the only thing I caught was a free concert as the loons started calling.

Despite the sunny, blue sky weather we've been having, which often doesn't help the bite, I decided to make my first trip to A-1/Stump Pond in Westborough yesterday.

I hit the water in my 'yak about 4 p.m. and while I knew the weeds and timber were going to be a challenge and limit my bait choices, what I didn't expect was a persistent wind out of the east. I anchored to the side of the island and started throwing a wacky worm and within a half hour I hooked a decent fish but he threw the hook halfway to the boat.

I lost a couple more on Texas-rigged worms over the next four hours as I explored all the way back to the standing trees and big lily pad beds at the western end of the pond.

By 8;30 p.m. I was thinking I was going to get skunked and would have to be happy with enjoying the simultaneous beautiful sunset and moon rise. The wind had finally died down and I was back at the island, and decided to throw a topwater for a while before I headed back to the boat launch.

You know the feeling - the light is fading, but you keep telling yourself, particularly when it's been a tough bite, just one more cast. After a dozen or so casts I was ready to call it a night when wham! A sizable bass slammed my Jitterbug.

I set the hook and wrestled her in, a lean but mean 17 inch post-spawner that weighed in at 2 pounds. This is the first topwater catch I've had since I got back into fishing a year ago after many years off and it was a huge adrenalin rush.

It was a triumphant paddle back to the launch in the gathering dusk.

After reading so much about what a cruel mistress The Chu can be, I had very low expectations for my first visit. I figured it would most likely be an exploratory hike with fishing gear.

I hit Gate 14 at Scar Hill mid-morning and met a few guys who were winding down after being there for the early morning bite. A guy casting a spoon from the beached floating dock said he had caught a few small lakers, and a bucketeer with shiners said he had got one smallie, which is what I was after primarily.

I walked and cast, and then set up for a while on some ledge to the south. With the clear water I saw not only a few cruising smallies and some largemouths, but also what I think was a laker, in only a few feet of water. Got some follows but no bites.

Then I spotted a 2-3 pound smallie on a bed - wow, first fish I've seen on a bed this season - I thought the spawn was over. I ran several baits by her to no avail, then after switching to a bluegill lipless crankbait she slammed it after about six casts, but spit it after one gill-rattling leap! And a few minutes later she was back on the bed like nothing had happened - that's strong maternal instinct.

I don't know what was the bigger adrenalin rush, that or the 3 foot water snake that rounded the corner of the ledge in the shallows, headed right toward me until I let loose some shouted invective that caused him to make a wide berth around me, LOL.

A couple of hours later, I hooked another nice smallie in a cove down the shore a ways, on a drop shot Zoom lizard, but this one too made a mighty leap and threw my bait back at me.

That was it for action, but considering all the tales I've heard of The Chu skunking people who are far better anglers than me, I wasn't that disappointed. It was a beautiful day to be out in this entrancing place. I covered a lot of shore in eight hours of walking, and made some mental notes for future trips.

I can definitely see how The Chu gets under people's skin. Check out the Wachusett Reservoir Addicts page on Facebook, for example!

https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=wachusett%20reservoir%20addicts

My first time at Ponkapoag and despite the unseasonably hot, bright, humid day, the bite was on.

I found fish both shallow and deep (OK, we're only talking about a difference of 3 feet vs. 6 feet of water at Ponk) and soft plastics were the bait of choice. Threw a chartreuse spinner bait on one rod and got nothing, while wacky worms and a Zoom lizard produced all the fish.

Ended up with 2 14 inch largemouths, a fat 17 inch, 2.6 pound largemouth, and an 18 inch pickerel, and lost a few others short of the kayak.

The wind kicked up for a while and I tried out my new anchor, an 8 pound dumbbell, and it worked like a champ.

First trout outing at the Ashland Rez today, and I caught my limit - 3 rainbows - two 15 inch, and one 13 inch.

All taken on chartreuse Powerbait.

I had never shore fished there before, so it was a bit of exploration as I made my way down the eastern shore from the Spring Street parking lot. Not a lot of open spaces to fish from. I tried one spot for about half an hour and got nothing - throwing bass baits with a second rod while watching the trout rod with the Powerbait.

I moved to another spot about 3/4 of the way down the shoreline towards the dam, and things picked up considerably as I caught three within an hour or so. The last fish, one of the 15 inchers, only weighed 1.1 pounds but I had fight him long and hard to land him. I was using ultralight spinning tackle with a 4 pound leader and there were lots of big rocks in the water as well.

When I got back to the parking lot where several people were fishing in the cove, I got a lot of attention with the three rainbows on a stringer, questions about what I was using for bait, and one guy, and I'm not sure he was kidding, wanted to buy the trout from me, LOL.

They made for a fine dinner tonight.

I didn't get there until 5:30 p.m., but I was still surprised to be seemingly the only fisherman on the reservoir on opening day, at least on the Parmenter Road side. Not a single car in the parking lot. But it was kind of cold, blustery and damp.

The action was fairly steady - a 12 inch largemouth on about my third cast of a Biggie Smalls yellow perch patterned crankbait. A pesky small perch a few casts later. Moved down the shore a bit and caught another 12 inch largemouth that fought like a fish twice as big, curiously enough.

I rounded the corner to another section of the reservoir, and the wind was picking up and blowing towards me now and the clouds were thickening and the sky looking quite foreboding.

I was a few casts away from packing it in, with dusk less than a half hour away, when bam, I hooked another fish and knew it was considerably larger. Of course, during the battle that followed, a heavy rain started to fall!

I just got a digital scale, a Reel Sonar model for only $19.99, that I use with Rapala fish grippers, since the scale only has a hook. When I landed this guy he weighed in at 2.77 pounds and measured 17 inches.

I got drenched walking the half mile back to my car as the light waned, but I was pretty satisfied with my first outing at one of my favorite local spots.

I'd say the favorite forage right now is yellow perch, since I caught all my fish on that same crankbait.

OK, the spring stockies have only been there a week or so, and I've never really fished for trout, so I decided to give it a go today since I was off from work.

It was barely 40 degrees F and misty, but at least it kept the crowds down, with only 8-10 fishermen on the entire pond, and no one near me.

I followed the path of least resistance and set up an ultralight spinning rod with chartreuse Powerbait on a number 14 treble hook on 4 lb mono, fished 18 inches off the bottom with a 1/8 oz. steel sinker,

I barely had the bait in the water and had just made my first cast of an inline spinner with my second spinning rod when the first rod bent over and nearly got dragged into the pond. After a substantial fight I landed a 15 inch, 1.9 pound rainbow.

Throwing spoons and spinners with the second rod produced nothing, but about an hour later I caught another rainbow on the Powerbait, this one 14 inches and 1.7 pounds, who thrilled me with two beautiful, arcing jumps out of the water before I landed him. They feed them well at the state hatchery, apparently!

I usually catch and release, but one of them was gut-hooked, and heck, these are like buying farmed trout at the supermarket, so both of them came home and ended up as a delicious lemon trout almondine made by my wife!

With the warmer than average weather today, I decided to take the kayak out one more time before putting it, and probably my fishing tackle as well, away for the season.

It was a slow afternoon - only a couple of fish hooked and lost - as I approached the train trestle bridge at sunset next to Route 20 in Wayland where I had put in.

The river is high and the current stronger than usual, so I wedged the kayak against the shore south of the trestle and started casting a wacky-rigged watermelon green Senko worm near the pilings. About five casts in I got a good bite and set the hook and knew right away it was a big one. I don't have a scale, but I measured this largemouth bass at 17 inches and estimate the girth at 15 inches, which would put it at about 3.5 pounds, my personal best so far.

Great way to end the fishing season!

After going fishless for the past 4 or 5 times out, I was ready to put my tackle away for the season, my first for many years (OK, decades). I had never really fished into the autumn before, and while I've been reading it can be productive, I hadn't caught a thing since late September.

I did read recently that bass go big for shad at this time of year and lipless crank baits can be just the ticket, so I bought a Strike King Red Eye Shad. It produced squat yesterday at Lake Chauncy, even though I covered the entire lake in my kayak.

I decided today was too cold and windy to put the kayak in, and headed over to the Sudbury Reservoir for some shore fishing instead. My hopes weren't too high, but I at least wante to throw for a while, and also hike further down the shore than I made it over the summer, to scout some spots for next spring.

A white spinner bait produced no action. I put on that lipless crank bait and totally turned the day around, catching three yellow perch, two dink smallmouths (and losing two somewhat larger ones) and two keeper largemouths of about a pound each.

The peak foliage was an added bonus. The bite was so good I fished right up until after sunset until the light started to fade, and then had a half hour walk through the woods in the dark back to my car, feeling pretty satisfied - nothing really big (though one of the perch was the biggest I've ever caught, 12 inches) - but I was just happy to have some steady action after an autumn dry spell.