Massachusetts Fishing Report – April 2, 2015

It may seem like a belated April Fool’s joke, but right now you can choose from freshly stocked trout or hardwater holdovers within a 2 hour’s drive from each other! Oh…in case you are interested, stripers are hitting too!

Finally, the rumbling of plows has been supplanted by the rumbling of hatchery trucks! As you read this, there are just-stocked trout swimming throughout the Southeast District of Masswildlife! The process began earlier in the week and should play out until the end of next week. This is just the initial batch of rainbows, but they are beauties, averaging about 14” long! You know the drill by now – consult the Masswildlife website for the specific list of stocked water bodies – but it looks as if much of the Cape and Plymouth will be reloaded with trout just in time for the weekend!

There is still too much ice on ponds/lakes in the other districts to allow stocking.  Successful stocking of trout involves more than just finding a hole and dumping a few hundred stockies in it. The biologists at the districts look for access and then sample the water before stocking to ensure that they will support trout. After the exceptional, smothering snow levels we’ve had this year, the possibility of “choked out” water bodies is at an all- time high. Oxygen levels and PH levels must be measured to ensure that the trout will survive. The process at the moment is ongoing and I’ll keep you updated when the other districts begin their stocking. And believe me, they are just itching to clear out their hatcheries to make room for the next brood!

Eddie of B&A in West Boylston said that the “new” Chu opening date of April 11^th looks to be in serious jeopardy. There is still just way too much ice out there! All that ice – 12 inches plus – means that it is still game on for hardwater anglers. Comet Pond in Hubbardston is still giving up trout and even the occasional survivor broodstock salmon! Holdover rainbow trout are being taken but the shock of the week is the estimated 8-pound salmon that an angler had repeatedly to the hole only to have it break off! Smallmouth anglers are getting their bass fix at East Waushacum Pond. Access to this pretty pond is off Sweat Hill Road. If you’re looking to gear up, check out Eddie’s sweet collection of new Wachusett goodies. The walls are adorned with winning colors of Krocodiles, Kastmasters and Trophy Spoons. He even has a few of those Gut-A-Bite strike indicators, which are a must have for bait soakers.

Lake Mattawa is on fire according to Rod from Flagg’s. He recently weighed in a largemouth bass that went 7 pounds, 3 ounces and was entered into the Masswildlife Sportfishing Awards Program junior category. Remember, there is now a catch-and-release category in the program so you no longer have to kill your catch! Additionally, a number of pin-sized perch along with some good-sized rainbows are being caught from Mattawa. Those taken in by Tully Lake are enjoying increased success for crappie, bluegills and pickerel now that snowmelt is making fish more active. If you are looking for an open-water option in the CRV area, the Deerfield River sticks out. Rainbow trout, brook trout and brown trout swarm from the Fife Brook effluence to where it meets up with the Connecticut River. There’s even a float boat outfit – Harrison Anglers – that runs year round for a truly unique way of fishing this river as well as the Swift and Miller!

“Eighteen inches!” said Jim from JCB Bait in Cheshire when I inquired on the average ice depth in the Cheshire area. Anglers are fishing live and dead baits as close to the shoreline as they can in anticipation of pike which are energized by spawning urges. Even with super-sized shiners, a flying flag could be the handiwork of a big largemouth. Holdover rainbow trout are being taken from North Pond. From personal experience I suggest you opt for trout worms, downsize your leaders to 6- or 4-pound test and stick that bait just under the ice. The trout are cruising and looking to put a bruising on baitfish that they can pin against the ice/shoreline. A melting shoreline composed of sand or gravel is a good bet; combine that with an inlet and you have a winner!

It’s pretty much dead along the Northeast coast with one notable exception: stripers are stirring! I’ve seen pictures and I’ve heard the accounts of holdover stripers being caught. The Neponset, Charles, Mystic, Saugus and Danvers rivers all hold vacillating numbers of striped bass and doubtless there are more rivers that harbor some. Boston’s never-say-die dynamic duo of Carl Vining and Dave Panarello registered their first hat trick just this morning, while the fish were only 18 to 22 inches they were bright, fat and robust, which indicates a healthy harbor! The “team” does most of the damage on a tube and worm; the cold temps mean the fish are rarely feeding and it helps immensely if you tickle their noses with “meat”! Bridge Street Sports in Salem is carrying seaworms again.

Fishing Forecast

Rare are the times when catching open-water trout and ice fishing opportunities are available at the same time. If you’re one of the hordes dying to cast a line and catch something, then the stretch from Plymouth through Cape Cod is the place you want to be this weekend as the stocking of trout has begun. This will be ongoing through next week and expect most designated trout water in the Southeast District to have trout by next weekend. I hope you view the 14-inch (on-average) rainbows as worth the wait! Meanwhile the hardcore hardwater junkies are still targeting trout from Comet Pond and Lake Mattawa. Cheshire Reservoir remains one of the better bets for a late-inning pike with North Pond promising for a western Mass trout. Of course if waiting for the migrants of May just doesn’t cut it, holdover linesiders among the rivers/estuaries of Greater Boston make a heck of a consolation prize!