Catching Cold On The Quabbin (Opening Day Report)

On Saturday, I headed to Belchertown, Massachusetts for my annual freezing and soaking on the Quabbin Reservoir opening day. Given my track record at the Quabbin, I wasn’t surprised when I saw the forecast. Temperatures in the low 40s and pouring rain made for less than pleasant conditions on the lake, but tradition being what it is, I decided to fish anyhow. This year, my original fishing buddy, my mom, Eileen Fee, joined me and persevered through the tough conditions.

The plan was to pick up my mom at the Providence train station at around 10:20 Friday night, grab a late dinner and head to Gate 8 at the Quabbin Reservoir to secure a rental boat. To secure one of the limited rental boats at the Quabbin on opening day, anglers arrive the night before to get in line. According to the DCR Employees at the gate, some fishermen were lined up as early as Wednesday.

Everything was running on schedule until an Acela going 120 miles-per-hour hit a pedestrian, and all trains heading north, including Eileen’s, were stopped for four hours. We reached Gate 8 by 4 a.m., secured the second-to-last rental boat, and at 6:30 motored out onto the cold and rainy, but still beautiful, Quabbin Reservoir.

Ten minutes into trolling, one of the rods started bouncing and a small landlocked salmon began dancing on the surface behind the boat. These fish may be the prettiest freshwater fish we have in the Northeast with their blue and purple gillplates, bright silver sides, and aquamarine back. Unfortunately, I had left my better camera in the car due to the rain, and only brought out a waterproof point-and-shoot to document the catch.

Not long after that, another rod doubled over, this time with a lake trout. Eileen took the rod and brought the fish to the boat. An hour or two passed, and we decided to head back to change into dry clothes and warm up in the car for a bit before heading out. On the troll back to the ramp another small landlock hit.

I have to give credit for the trolling success to the Scotty Clamp-On Rod Holders. While fishing the Quabbin with Anthony DeiCicci in years past, we would improvise rod holders from the oarlocks and other parts of the rental boat, inevitably leading to terrible, terrible tangles. With the Scotty Rod holders, I was able to spread out the lures, and keep them clear of each other during turns.

During our warm-up, I swung by Gate 8 Bait and Tackle to pick up a couple dozen shiners. The trolling quieted down for us on our second foray onto the lake, but by 3:00 the rains stopped and the skies cleared, at least making the fishing more pleasant. When the skies cleared, we put the shiners to work. Only two fish found our shiners, but they were both big—a 4-plus- pound smallmouth and a big lake trout—and they were both caught by my mom.

We returned to the rental dock at 6:30, unloaded the boat, cranked up the heat in the car and headed for home. As we turned onto I-90, my mom, still trying to regain feeling in her fingers, said, “That was nice, but tell Anthony he can have his spot back next year.”