Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine Fishing Report 12-1-2011

Maybe you’ve had your fill of Thanksgiving leftovers… then may I suggest some holdovers? I’ve seen some of the photos and heard the tales: there are some impressive tiger, brown and rainbow trout being taken across our region that bear little resemblance to the stockies they once were. North Shore anglers are finally getting in on the smelt sweepstakes that their counterparts on the South Shore have enjoyed for weeks. And there are even a few hardy souls that are targeting spots outside of the Cod Conservation Zone and finding codfish.

While taps has been sounded for the 2011 season at Wachusett Reservoir, the ending can hardly be viewed as a requiem. Nearly every bait shop I’ve contacted, even ones far removed from the ‘Chu, had patrons that were paying the reservoir one more visit over the weekend. My buddy, Larry Kuettner from Clinton, told me that the activity level rivaled opening day. I’m sure that the 60 degree weather had something to do with it, but the fine fishing this past season surely was a factor. And as usual it all comes down to the bait. From April until November, the one constant has been that harvested fish had smelt in their bellies. This has hardly been the case in recent memory. Not surprisingly the landlocked salmon spawning run was the healthiest that most can recall. Doubtless the salmon were vigorous and fueled by feeding all season on the calorie-rich smelt, which resulted in an extraordinary number of salmon participating in breeding. While April is a long way off, take comfort in that the future of Wachusett is exceptionally bright and the fishing, especially for landlocked salmon and possibly brown trout, is only going to get better.

If you still haven’t satisfied that forktail fix, you can fish for lakers upstream of the railroad bridge in the Stillwater River all year long. And with water temperatures unseasonably warm and levels high, I’m suspecting that this section should be fruitful for awhile. Just because it is “small” water doesn’t mean the fish are tiny – there have been lakers over 10 pounds taken this far upstream in the past! It also might be time to tempt a native brookie or holdover rainbow or brown from the Quinapoxet River. Fishing is allowed here upstream of the Oakdale Pumping Station all season long.

Eric from Lunkers in Ashland told me of a young angler who took a trophy tiger trout into the shop for a weigh-in. The result was a MassWildlife fishing derby pin that will be forthcoming. The nice tiger was taken from Hopkinton Reservoir on a shiner. This reservoir has been giving up some holdover brown and rainbow trout as well. Another option, according to Eric, is carp from Spy Pond, where these heavyweights are falling for oatmeal clumps. Most likely Spy still has a few monster tiger muskie swimming in it so it wouldn’t hurt to toss a line out there with a jumbo shiner while you’re waiting for the carp to hit. No word on pike from the Sudbury yet, but anglers soaking over-sized shiners are hitting big largemouth bass.

While speaking to Laura from Ippis in Lynn, I asked if she was wishing for an imminent deep freeze but she told me that the open water fishing was so good there was no need to rush things. Sluice Pond in Lynn gets stocked 4 times a year with a mélange of salmonids including broodstock salmon, and this urban gem has been keeping anglers very happy. For warm water species, Laura recommends Flax Pond as well as Brown and Buchanan ponds. It’s great to hear that anglers are catching smelt on the North Shore and Ippis has the gear and the bait (grass shrimp!) to help you put some smelt in the pail. It seems as if most docks and piers from Lynn to Gloucester have a smelt bite of some degree. Here’s a smelt tip:  if you see smelt near the surface, you’ll fare better if you drop your wares closer to the bottom. It is the “tip of the ice berg” syndrome, and the fish below usually are bigger and more aggressive.

Of course, Ippis and other shops are getting their grass shrimp from “shrimp central” – Fore River B&T in Quincy – and not to be outdone, the smelt fishing continues to be fine in their bailiwick of Hull/Hingham/Quincy/Boston area. The latest hot spots are Pemberton Pier, Nut Island and Hewitt’s Cove. Lisa from Fore River told me of an unusual catch from Hewitt’s – 3- to 4-inch black sea bass. Last season there was a black sea bass bounty throughout Boston Harbor. In one outing Captain Jason Colby put a charter into 30 of them. From a personal perspective, I wince when I think of black sea bass since while fishing for them aboard Jason’s “Little Sister” I dropped a huge “humphead” at boatside this past August… it still haunts me. I’m not sure if this is a result of global warming, but we could be seeing some steady black sea bass fishing in the future. The shop also continues to dole out clams to a few hard core guys that seek inshore gadoids just outside of the CCZ.

Pete Santini of Fishing FINatics in Everett has been barraging me with text-photos from a clandestine caster who has been picking off 18” to 19” holdover rainbows. I’m leaning toward Walden Pond as the secret source of these nice fish. What I do know is that the bait has been blown-up crawlers. Something else I know is that those bows are most likely not the biggest fish swimming there; that crown goes to the brown trout. While these wily browns may grow big, sometimes to catch them you have to think small. I recall a trophy late-season brown taken out of Walden years ago that fell for a mealworm floated under a clear spinning bubble.

There’s good news if you’ve been staying away from South Pond in Sturbridge/Brookfield – the newly refurbished ramp is complete and from all accounts it’s a work of art! I bet those big browns are hungry right about now.

Best Bets

If you still long for lakers, you don’t need the therapist, you need the Stillwater River. Even though Wachusett proper is closed, forkies forage in water you can still fish upstream of the railroad bridge. A nice alternative is holdover tigers, brown trout and rainbows which belie their coldwater gamefish status by becoming active this time of the year. Check out Lake Mattawa, South Pond, Long and Little in Plymouth, Hopkinton Reservoir or Walden and Whites in Concord. On the North Shore try Baldpate, Sluice or Pleasant Pond. Mix it up with shiners, worms and mealworms to see what the fish really prefer. In the salt, the smelt bite smolders off piers from Hull into Boston Harbor and throughout the North Shore