Massachusetts Fishing Report – February 4, 2021

Massachusetts Fishing Report

The weekend provided redemption for the close-to-the-coast cadre who finally found some frozen fun. However, the best remains out west where in some cases there’s 15 inches of ice and 4-wheeler access.

Hardy New Englanders took to the South Shore in hordes over the weekend, according to Pete from Belsan Bait and Tackle in Scituate. With good surface ice, it made for some odd couples as fishermen were having their traps triggered by errant hockey pucks. Reports were that the fishing more than made up for the occasional false flag! The bass bite was good with some talking of 4-pound Larrys and pot-bellied perch. If there ever was a sweetwater fish that doesn’t get the respect it deserves in these parts, it’s the yellow perch, but catch a 1 1/4-pound jumbo all ablaze with spawning colors and you’ll be likening it to a northern peacock bass – sort of! Anglers had warm-water species action on Jacobs Pond, the Norwell Bog Ponds, Lilly Pond and the Widows Walk Golf Course pond. Some have targeted trout successfully at Little Pond.

Eric from Lunkers in Ashland saw a picture of an impressive pike that looked to be all of 11 or 12 pounds that was caught out of Heard Pond in Wayland. Heard is occasionally breached by the Sudbury River, which reloads it with the full panoply of what swims there. One patron of the shop pulled in a 5-13 brown trout out of Walden Pond over the weekend. Walden also has a thriving smallmouth bass population. Dudley Pond does not have a lot of smallies but a while back, a 5-pound trophy was taken there.

Fresh from unloading bait, including suckers, David from Merrimack Sports gave me a report list as long as the pike they’ve been catching in the Merrimack River. Regarding those toothies, he suggests the site of the old Ogden Martin plant in Haverhill and by the Lawrence Community Boating Center, which is just upstream of the dam. For trout, tigers have been the ticket at Baldpate, while Plugs Pond and Round Pond are the local picks for brown and rainbow trout. Lake Attitash is a good choice for largemouth bass, pickerel and panfish.

For those who are forever wishing they were fishing Wachusett Reservoir, Eddie of B&A Bait and Tackle Co. in West Boylston told me that the big reservoir is completely cloaked in white now. Anglers have been catching rainbow trout close to shore at Lake Quinsigamond. Two other trout spots worth trying is Whitehall Reservoir and Comet Pond. Anglers are still talking about toothies from Indian Lake. Rod from Flagg’s Fly and Tackle in Orange said that several anglers who target panfish, especially crappie and bluegills, are raving about Lake Rohunta. While most are content with just setting up traps and soaking shiners there, smaller specie specialists are using electronics, bouncing around and catching a lot of fish with jigs. Rod knows of a few 20-inch smallies and rainbows that have been caught from Lake Mattawa recently. Many of his customers continue to fish for pike and walleye at Barton Cove, Turner Falls and the New Hampshire oxbows of the Connecticut River.

Ice is so thick on Cheshire Resevoir that Jim from JCB in Cheshire told me that a guy drove his truck out to his shanty! This is by no means a suggestion that you follow suit but rather an indicator that ice is not going anywhere anytime soon out west. Families just looking for fun have been finding pickerel to be just the thing to escape the winter doldrums and there are plenty in Cheshire Reservoir. As for a hint as to where to find the pickerel’s bigger northern pike cousin, Captain Patrick Barone of Charter The Berkshires suggests that you stick close to the shoreline. Usually by now the fish are in deeper water but the oddities of this year continue. Perch are following bait fish in open flats and occasionally grubbing around for crayfish among intermittent rockpiles. Beware that there are plenty of tournaments scheduled this weekend out west so you may want to steer clear of bigger water.

Massachusetts Fishing Forecast

Many of you have no problem traveling to get your ice fishing kicks. One of the more enticing endeavors has to be the Winnipesaukee white perch bite. Some of those cousins of the striped bass are as big as schoolies we catch in the spring. Regarding the South Shore through Boston, it might behoove you to wait for the cold snap, which is predicted next week, to shore sketchy ice back up. Out west if you’re in the mood for panfish, Lake Rohunta looks like a good option. For pickerel many spots will do with Cheshire Reservoir a nice choice. For the much larger cousins of pickerel, pike are prowling throughout the Merrimack River.