papabearl0ve

got to chestnut around 8:30am and fished until 11:30am. it was a warm sunny morning with a slight wind.

i had luck with a rooster tail last time out so i decided to try it again... unfortunately i got caught up on something heavy on the first cast and lost it. oh well. tied on a different inline spinner and i hooked up with a small 7in calico bass only about 1ft away from shore (thought it was a larger bluegill at first because it was small and so close to shore). a few casts later i caught a 13in pickerel in the same area.

moved a bit down shore and tied on a different rooster tail. hooked into what felt like a decent sized fist but it was able to shake free. a few casts later and i hooked into a fish again. this thick 15in pickerel put up a really good fight and was still putting up such a fight at shore that it made it difficult to control while removing the hook (don't worry it was returned safely sans hook and in a timely manner).

decided to explore some more shoreline with a different inline spinner. caught a small 6in yellow perch and had another small yellow perch (about 5in) shake the hook just as i was landing it. all in all it was a great day spent outdoors.

the calico bass and pickerel were caught earlier in the day on a faster retrieve while the yellow perch were caught later in the day with a pause in the retrieve.

went out on my friend matt's boat with two other guys. we fished from 7am until mid afternoon with a couple of breaks for swimming/rope swinging. 6 keeper largemouths, 2 good-size pickerel, 1 very large pickerel (took matt's drag out several times on the fight), 1 decent yellow perch and 1 big/mean snapping turtle! 4 of the bass and all of the pickerel were caught on worms (texas and carolina rigged). the perch and 1 bass were caught on in-line spinners. 1 bass was caught using a crankbait. the perch, the decent pickerel, and a couple of bass were caught near lily pads. the rest were caught over weed beds.

matt had a lot more success than me even when using the same type and color lure (i only caught the perch). it really showed me how much work my technique needs. i'll just have to keep practicing!

got out around 9am and fished into the afternoon. the only action was from the perch and bluegills. only one was hooked up and reeled in; a 6in yellow perch on an inline spinner. i tried worms, jerkbait and crankbait without any luck. i even saw a nice sized largemouth (well over a foot) in the shallows. unfortunately it had zero interest in any of my lures. this same thing happened to me a month ago!

got out there around 8pm. within the first 20min caught two fish: 7.5in yellow perch and 9.5in crappie. the crappie was a feisty sucka'. he went airborne several times while reeling in and splashed violently when i was putting him back into the water. both fish were caught on a rooster tail. continued fishing until 9:45pm without even a nibble, which was a bit frustrating since plenty of fish were breaking the surface of the water. i tried a popper and jitterbug without any luck. in fact, when i would start to throw the popper in the general direction of the noise, the fish would stop breaking surface there, but continue to do so some 30-40ft away from where i was casting. could the rattle of the popper have scared them off?

hit up a small launch area for canoes on the charles river off causeway st in millis, i believe. got there late afternoon/early evening and fished for about 1hr. current was swift and the deepest area seemed to be about 5-6ft. lots of fallen tree limbs and rocks. tried shallow crankbait without any luck. then tried an inline spinner and hooked up a nice 10.5in yellow perch. missed setting the hook on a couple other. a buddy of mine also reeled in a 9.5in perch on a rat-l-trap.

i've noticed others recommend bass fishing further down the charles (dedham). anyone know how far upstream you can find bass in the charles? we weren't targeting bass on this trip, but i was wondering.

got to quarter mile pond around 8am, and fished the south side and west side of the pond until 11am. got 1 hit with black/chartreuse worm but unable to set the hook. caught a small pickerel (9in) on a rooster tail.

then tried my luck at spot pond (12pm-2pm). tried fishing the south side by quarter mile pond and the northeast side. no luck there.

when i got home i saw someone posted a pic of a nice bass he caught at quarter mile that same day. doh!