Massachusetts Fishing Report – November 23, 2017

Not long after the orange, red, yellow and the rest of the brilliant palette which define our fall foliage dims, another hue becomes apparent to sweethwater enthusiasts – bronze! – as in the bronze of smallmouth bass! As surface water temperatures cool, many water bodies “turnover” spreading oxygen rich stratified water throughout a watershed. This brings forage such as perch fry closer to the shore and with them an odd couple of predators including holdover trout and smallmouth bass.

Massachusetts Freshwater Fishing Report

This fall has featured water temperatures that dropped as if they fell of a cliff! Large, relatively clear ponds and lakes throughout the commonwealth, that often hold trout and smallies by now, have turned over and in some cases feature improved fishing. One that I know of intimately has improved as if a switch was flipped! In actuality, it has: surface temperatures dropped to that pivotal 39.2 degrees, became denser than the H20 below, sank and flushed out the bait as well as the smallies and trout of summer from their deep water haunts and they are now within casting distance of shore anglers!

There is usually a substantial gulf between the ideal offering for trout as opposed to smallmouth bass, but not now. Much of this is based on ol’ bronzebacks preference for a lobster dinner of sorts – crayfish! But this time of the year crayfish become a lot less active and more often than not hunker down under a rock or burrowed in a lair making them less available to the smallie. But finned forage have no such sanctuary and smallmouth have the edge. With both trout and smallmouth bass seeking the same prey, for a few fall wonderful weeks it can be one-stop match-the-hatching for a kaleidoscope of quarry from bronzebacks to brown trout to rainbows.

Now is the time to break out the metal and slim-profiled minnow imitators. Some of the stars in my backpack now are Gold Thomas Bouyants, metallic perch and red/gold Little Cleos and Kastmasters, gold/black Yo-Zuri Pins Minnows and a Tennessee shad Rapala Husky Jerk. For most of these baits I’m working it on a steady crank with a periodic ‘Vinning Twitch”, which I’ve named after my friend Carl Vinning whose learned, deft touch strikes fear into everything from slab crappie to 50 pound stripers. That “twitch” is simply a subtle snap of the rod followed by a brief pause, usually the fish strike on the pause!

Spend more time looking for sun-drenched and sometimes wind-swept shorelines as structure to find your quarry. Those subtle upticks in water temperature will hold forage and the wind is often a vehicle to deliver it up against the shore. Above all keep on the lookout for baitfish, chances are the predator will be nearby.

On the South Shore consider Long and Little Pond in Plymouth for the possibility of the enviable combination of a smallmouth bass and and a holdover trout. Closer to Boston, Walden Pond sticks out with nearby White Pond getting a nod also especially for largemouth bass. If the central section of the state works for you than you have to patronize Wachusett Reservoir for the prospects of a bronze/rainbow combo with runner up status going to Webster Lake and Lake Singletary. In the Connecticut Valley Region Lake Mattawa has smallmouth bass and is stocked frequently with several species of trout.

If you prefer your smallies and trout in a river setting than Miller River is for you! For a dual threat closer to the Berkshires, Patrick Barone of Early Rise Outfitters suggests Stockbridge Bowl which is stocked with trout and contains pickerel big enough to eat a stockie! Patrick swears he had the state record shadowing his lure there this past summer! Lake Buel has bass, a menagerie of different trout and the water wolf of sweetwater species – pike. However, if one of the things you’re most thankful for this time of the year is prospects of a good ice fishing season, you may be able to capitalize on pike which are behaving as if hardware is imminent. The shallow, pike-laden Cheshire Reservoir already has conditions similar to what’s typical of a water body which has “caught”. Weed growth has stymied, forage fish are balled up and pike are behaving aggressively. And this place grows them big, last year a 20 pound trophy was taken through the ice!

Massachusetts Fishing Forecast

If you’re looking for relief from too much turkey and the other fixings than shake off that tryptophan with a “turnover” which has nothing to do with more pastry. Pack light, take along a few minnow imitators and focus on spots where bass and trout may not be mutually exclusive! And most of all have the happiest of Thanksgivings!