tate

Had a great time fishing Lake Pickwick last week. We were in the North side so fished mostly in Tennessee but also Alabama and Mississippi. We caught alot of fish at a steady pace, didn't catch any trophy fish but caught so many 2-3lber's. Water temps were 63 to as high as 70 on one day. We found them in 8' or less with the best spots being the transitions from 10' to 6' and around the points of the main lake as well as the creeks.

I caught most of mine on a Keitech Fat Swing Impact on a 1/8oz 2/0 ball jig head. Also did well with a shaky head rigged Senko and a PBJ finesse jig with a downsized trailer. I guess that the quality of the fishing has alot to do with the TVA flowing water at the dams, evidently the fishing really turns on when the current increases with the flows. Unfortunately they didn't flow any water last week but the fishing was still really good.

The trip down and back wasn't bad. We took two boats and had three guys from the this area and a fourth with his new BassCat coming up from Fla. We drove straight through so around 24 hours. I drove the entire way back and it was really pretty easy except from Newark NJ over the GW but with all the traffic, pouring rain and towing a boat it kept me VERY alert. LOL I think this will be an annual trip going forward. Looking forward to a week on Champlain the beginning of June. I suspect the water temps will just about reach 63 by then.

Spent the week of the 15th up on North Hero Island with my wife for a week of fishing. Had great weather and reasonable wind most of the days. Air temps in the morning were around 45-50 and by afternoon low 70’s. Winds were mostly out of the South and as low as 5mph up to 40mph on Saturday (no fishing that day!) Water temps varied from 57 – 63. Water level was at the 95.5 mark.

We started around Damius and Knight Islands, with water levels low the drops on each side of the almost connecting points are gone. No fish to be had. We then went to the North East point of Knight where steep drops are fairly close to shore. Bottom was a mix of rock, ledge and occasional weeds. As in the past this was a good spot again .... I caught two very good size Smallies and we both caught a few more on Keitech's Fat Swing Impact in Tenn Shad and Watermellon/Orange with gold flake senko's wacky rigged.

We then moved to the Gut, we skipped Hibbard Bay as it was so weed choked with the low water so we started at Abanaki camp where we slayed them earlier this year and we each caught a couple there, LMB, SMB and my wife catching a couple rock bass. These were caught on Fat Albert curly tail grubs in watermelon red flk, same colors on some senko's wacky and one big Larry on a Boag Hawg blk/blue jig with a matched panko trailer. We worked our way west around the opening out to the Alburgh Passage. Eva caught her then PB smallie on the gut side of the entry cannel on a Keitech. She also landed a decent size pike also on the Keitech. We both pulled a few more fish from the opening and to both sides against the banks. Seems like 7-10' was the most productive depth with a couple from under 4'. We fished up the passage to the train trestle across from Carry Bay. It was slow there but we each caught a couple Larry's. I lost a giant bowfin at the boat ... He took the blk/blu jig and fought like crazy right inside the Gut channel. Not sure how he got off as he must have been hooked but somehow got off.

We fished the trestle a few times during the week …. we continued to catch a few but it was slow. I got one good size Larry in the 4lb range and a decent Pike. With a stronger south wind we fished the south side of Carry which was extremely weed choked but figured we would try it. We both setup some Texas rigged crawlers and Alberts. I also was tossing my SPRO bronze eye popper frog with no luck. We were doing ok on the TM in the weeds until we seemed to really slow down, I pulled the TM to clear the weeds but found that I lost the GD propeller and nut! I know it was tight as I check it each launch. Of course I hadn't bought a spare yet but was able to pick one up at a local marine store.

We fished Macamb Bay and decided to drift north along the east shore from Macamb, past Holiday Harbor to the Rte 2 bridge. It was the right decision as I caught around 10 Larry's in the 1.5 to 4lb range. Awesome fishing, I pulled 3 nice ones from front of the remnants of the old wooden crib. I lost a monster smallie just in front of the bridge area, this one on a Keitech. He was pealing line and fighting like crazy. It seemed like he got tired and I got him to the boat and the he somehow got off.

In very heavy winds we tried to fish the rte 2 bridge. Omg that was not easy with the cement pilings waiting to grab u and the bucket brigade just north of the pilings. We caught a couple Sallies on the east most piling .... We worked our way to the west most piling and I hooked into another monster Sally on a Keitech in 12'. He fought like hell and I fought like hell to control the boat under the bridge with the wind howling. It really came down to save the boat or catch the fish, I chose the boat and he got off.

Next day we did a lot of run and gun ….we covered so much. Started in Squires Bay, no luck, very shallow and weeds to the surface and thick. Headed to the trestle past the dozens fishing for Crappies and sunfish at the rte. 2 bridge. We caught a couple at the edge of train bridge. We then head to the entry of the Gut from Alburgh passage. We caught a bunch of smallies here... Probably a dozen between us and Eva with her next PB smallie. It was fish after fish for a while. We then headed to the Abanaki camp .... No luck ... Next we headed under the draw bridge and past the marina fishing the south shoreline heading from the marina to the Inland Sea. Did very good in there. Next we headed to the south points of Ball and Burton Island and we caught a bunch of Larry and Sally's here as well with Eva catching the most including her 5th specie being a yellow perch. We then headed to a 7' hump in 25 feet of water between these islands eastward. Eva caught one Sallie here. We then headed north west to Butler Islands North East point where I caught a solid 3.45 smallie on a 4" orange weighted wacky senko. One fish only and it was getting late so headed back. Had a really full good day. We also worked the drop shot catching one or two and the same with a white spinnerbait.

The new boat was terrific .... Able to cruise in comfort and get around really quick. What use to be our limit on distance with the old boat takes no time to travel now. It was also a little rough this morning and we would have been pounded to death in the old boat but zipped right over it. Overall another great trip to Champlain

Fishing reports out of Champlain area have not been good due to the large amount of rain and cold water temps. I guess the bass were really confused with some fish being pre-spawn, spawn and post spawn. We were there from Thursday - Sunday fishing the most northern points of the lake. Water temps varied from 58 to a few places as high as 63. Friday we fished mostly for LMB;s in the weedy shallow area's thinking the water temps might be a little higher and fish more active. We did ok, a couple decent size and a good number of 1.5's.

For us the fishing really got going on Saturday. We targeted Smallies and headed to clear water fishing depths from 4' - 18'. Fished some points and humps that had sporadic patches of weeds. A few of the Smallies puked near the boat and we could see they had been eating Alewife so we matched the size and color to soft plastic swim baits and started to kill them. As I learned on previous trips the Watermellon copper orange red laminte 4'' senko wacky rigged also works great on the rocky bottoms. We found some spots that produced so many quality smallies, what a great day it was. We covered a lot of terrain over the 10 hours on the water. Even my wife was happy to fish for such a long time as she was also catching plenty.

It was without a doubt my best day on the waters of Champlain. Really learned what that lake can give up! Can't wait to head back.

A buddy and I hit one of our favorite ponds in the Plymouth area on Sunday. We were on the water around 5am which means my day started at 3am but it sure is nice to get on the water early on weekends before the pleasure crafts get going. Water temps started at 67 and ended the day at 69-70 under sunny skies all day.

We started in the the north end of the pond on a weedy flat approx 4'-5' deep. We both caught a bunch of good sized SMB's and LMB rather quickly. We were off to a quick start but it slowed downed after that initial burst. We caught fish in most places that day except a large 10' depth hump with surrounding waters around 20' that usually produce quality SMB's and a point that extends out well into the lake also approx 10' deep. We both caught a number of good size pickerels. We caught fish in depths ranging from 2' to 17', the sweet spot seemed to be at the quick drops just offshore, perhaps around seven feet. Nothing in tight and some pretty far offshore. We caught fish on wacky senko's, curly tail grubs (blk/red flk and watermelon red/flk), Menace, shakey heads, and my new favorite lure the Keitech Fat Swing Impacts. All equally successful nothing on spinnerbaits, jigs or cranks. We ended up catching over 50 but not a lot of size, maybe a half dozen 2.5s, most were Smallies, one pickerel may have been 5 or 6lbs.

Not a big deal in some parts of the country but we got to see a bald eagle a couple times, one time he did a dive straight in the water from high above and came out with a fish on his first dive/cast. I felt very incompetent after watching that Eagles efficiency catching fish. We were off the water around 2:30 and had another great day in the books.

Next trip is Lake Champlain.

What a great day we had fishing a small honey hole on Cape Cod. We were on the water by 5:45 under cloudy shies and heavy mist. Water temps were at 64 up from 68 on Thursday. The weather through everything at us from howling winds, light rain, heavy mist, fog, partly cloudy, partly suuny, ect.

I started throwing a blk/blu Boag Hawg jig with a Paca Chunk trailer. Within 20 casts I had 6 quality fish in the boat. My buddy had no luck with with a Rage Menace and even the Wacky Senko didn't work. He switched to Shaky head using a four inch SK finesse worm in the coppertreuse color and started catching them.

Over the next 9 hours we caught 100+ LMB's with almost all of them 2 to 4+lbs. Almost all of them were caught tight to shore or through the partially emerged pads. I aslo caught many on a Fat Albert curly tail grub watermellon with blk/red flake on a 1/8oz round jig head painted by yours truly. One my best days fishing ...... ever. Had a blast but a little sore today from the endless stream of fish being caught. Also got to see a pair of Bald Eagles. Days like this make it worth those tough days when you work your butt off and only catch a few fish. This will be a day to remember.

Myself and two friends fish Lake Cochituate on Saturday. Started in middle pond and had a good bit of success in one of the coves out to the left. Caught a handful of Larry's on white spinnerbaits, and soft plastics around the edges. After the EP checked us out he pointed out the course for large sailing regatta and said we would be fine but just stay clear of the course. We headed over to North Pond and had an outstanding day. We caught so many 2 - 2.5lb Larry's, had a blast. Caught almost all of them in the shallows between 1'-3' deep. White spinnerbaits, sluggo's, grubs and wacky rigged Senko's all caught plenty of fish. I was disappointed that I had no luck throwing the jigs even though I did not switch back when the grubs were working well. Overall an excellent day!

We intended to fish Santuit but there was a small tourney going on and limited to no parking so we headed over to Mashpee-Wakeby. After I slipped climbing on board and went in up to my knees we started in the south/west working the shoreline out to 17'. I was through jigs most of the day but switched it up with slow rolling a white spinnerbait and a shallow running crankbait. I also tossed Fat Alberts for a while but no luck on any of them. We covered a good bit alot of the South West shoreline including the points. We then head in Wakeby and fished the flats for a while just after the gut on the right. I caught a perch so I guess I didn't get skunked ... technically speaking. My buddy caught a good size slime dart. Water temps were 42 - 44 and no surprise to most of you .... it was extremely windy out there!

We loaded up at 12:30 and headed over to Johns Pond but decided my buddies rig was to long for the parking there so we headed over to Ashumet. Water temps were to 46-48 and the wind was still howling. We fished the area around the submerged brush in the south end but no luck. Eventually my buddy caught a small SMB which was the only bass of the day. Not a great day of catching fish but still had a good time.

On Saturday a friend and I fished one of my favorite small ponds on the Cape. Due to the shallow 3'-7' depths the waters warmed up significantly as the day went on. At 8:30 water temps were 44, when we left at 3:30 the water had warmed to 49.

We had a good day catching LMB's throughout the day as well as a couple pickerel and a good size sucker fish. We boated around 15-20 with most being in the 2lb range. The fish were schooling so when we caught one in an area there were usually 2 or more to follow. I started the day throwing a blk/blu jig with a craw trailer working it for at least the first hour and a half plus. Switched to bottom bouncing a Fat Albert curly tail grub (watermelon/ red flake and started catching fish. This year I want to improve my jig fishing so I did switch back to the jigs on and off but no luck, I know I need to put my time in to learn the technique. I also fished a bit with a white spinner and a small twitch bait Sluggo. My buddy tried a few different lures but ended up throwing weighted, wacky senko's and caught some nice fish on them. Overall a good way to start the season.

On the water by 8:30. cloudy, 2-3mph out of the Southwest, air temps 33, water temps 47-49.

Started in the connector between the lakes and worked our way into pickerel cove, across the mouth of the cove. Then up to the first island and 7' flat northeast of the connector. I caught a two pound Larry on a white w/gizzard 3/8oz spinner, silver willow, gold colorado. A bit later same area I got a decent size pickerel up to the boat before he shook it loose. We moved further north to the point past the flat. My buddy caught a 2.5 Larry in approx 15' with a 3/8 white spinner. In the Northeast side of Wakeby. To the south side of the island I hooked into 3-3.5 Larry in around 13' got him up to the side of the boat but lost him trying to get him in the boat, again on a white spinner. All caught during a slow roll bouncing on the bottom.

Fishing was slow for sure but air temps were comfortable and it was great to be out there in late November. In addition to the spinner I was tossing a c-rigged lizard, some jerk baits and curly tail grubs. We fished water depths from 4' - 40'.

Off the water around 2:00 with air temps around 50.

Not much to report. On the water by 8:00am.... pouring rain non stop until we left at 11:15. Not one fish made it into the boat. We fished the shorelines and the drops as well as some areas where the there is an undulating bottom. Depths varied from 2' to 30'. We worked the 6'-16' depths hard throwing cranks, spinners, jigs, soft plastics including grubs, sluggo's and senko's. Nothing produced. With the pouring rain and lack of fish we called it quits before we got up river to some of our favorite spots but at that point we had enough.

Still better than hanging around the house on a rainy Sunday morning and got to watch plenty of sports in the afternoon. So still had a good time with good company.

- Tate