Fishing With Don

Let’s Go Fishing at Quabbin!

For the first time to the 2006 season, Don and I went fishing to Quabbin. If you are not from the area, the Quabbin Reservoir is one of the largest man-made public water supplies in the United States (412 billion gallon of water!!) and is the source of drinking water for over 2 million people. Click on the following link if you want to learn more about the quabbin reservoir history.

This is a beautiful place, as you can see

Meeting at 8AM…well, 3mn late

We decided to meet around 8am on Saturday morning at gate 43, which is the gate we most often go to. From that gate, you can fish the reservoir or you also have the option of launching your boat into the Pottapaug Pond which has some great largemouth fishing (we plan on going in the next few weeks, so I’ll post something about it).

Gate 43 was quite busy, probably 10 to 15 boats already in the water by the time we got to the parking lot.
There is a “fishing” fee at Quabbin:
$2.00/person + $4.00/vehicle.

If you do not own boat, you can rent one half day or for a full day:
Full day: (Boat & Motor) $30.00 + $4.00/vehicle = $34.00
Half day: (Boat & Motor) $10.00 + $4.00/vehicle = $14.00
This is really a good deal to take your kids, family or buddies out for fishing.

8:30AM - Launching the boat…

We launched the boat really quickly, we probably deserve a Master of Sciences in “Boat Launching”…and the engine started without any problem. So here we are, leaving the boat launch area, cruisin’ on Quabbin:

We weather was gorgeous, but chilly and breezy. I advise anyone: if the local weather man announces a 10mph wind (or more) and a outdoor temperature of ~40 degrees, wear some Winter clothing! The wind carries the cold and humidity from the water and it ends up feeling like 30 degrees or less on the boat! Damn cold!

9AM - It’s Time for the Fishing Strategy of the the Day!

Don and I usually fish specific areas from Gate 43, where we’ve been lucky in the past. Early in the season, we want to hit places we know well, it’s difficult enough to catch any fish in early Spring, so go where you know the fish is! Later on in the season, we try exploring new areas.

We ran first using silver spinnerbaits and tiger crankbaits. We knew we had to go deep and reel back really slowly. After the first hour, even though we had not caught any fish, we saw a few following our baits back to the boat which made us realize that we were using the right lures, but these smallies were not ready to attack.

10 AM - Too windy…I Hate fighting the Wind

The wind was blowing a lot so we decided to move up from the dam area and cruise down alongside drop offs, the wind carrying us down.

We had the pleasure to see 2 bald eagles: one of the eagles seemed to be sitting the nest and the other one was a few trees away:

This was quite a beautiful wild scenery…

11:15AM - Here we go! First Smallmouth of the Year!

This year, Don is really on fire, I have to admit this. First time fishing at the Swift River, and Don caught the first three trouts of the season, now at Quabbin, he catches the first smallmouth bass. What’s left for me?! I guess the 1st largemouth, Pike, Pickerel, Walleye, Salmon or Laker…hmmm…wait a mn and read below, this one will get off my list really soon! Anyway, kuddos Don, you did it, first smallmouth for you (around 1.25 pound):

12:30AM - Lunch time

The wind stopped blowing us around…that’s actually really odd but common for the Quabbin reservoir: the wind usually blows all morning long and then stops by Noon time. The wind also switches directions like crazy…try figuring this one out
So we did not think twice, as hungry as we were, it was time to eat and try to get back to fishing quickly to enjoy the rest of the day.

1:15PM - A few hits and finally I catch my fish of the season!

FINALLY! YES, F-I-N-A-L-L-Y!.
We reached another dam area, with depth around 30 to 40 feet deep. So, while Don was napping , I switched from a spinnerbait to a 6″ pumpkin lizard on a Gamakatsu Jobee Pro Hook, let the line go deep and wait for some action. That smallie was not big, probably not even a pound, but it felt good catching a fish on my new rod and reel. I also caught another one later on, around the same size, nothing to get excited about.

Fishing on Plastic Worms for…Lakers??

Since the plastic lizard seemed working for me, Don decided to go back to the “old goodies”: a 6″ long Watermelon Yamamoto Senko…and there it is: we did not expect the following to happen:

Yep, a LAKER! 22 inches long, probably 4 or 5 pounds, a “monster” (I know, you can probably hear me saying it 10 times, I got excited, sorry!) caught on a “plastic worm”…well, go figure this one out as well! In the past few years of fishing, we heard stories from guys catching lakers jigging a plastic worm, but to be honest, I thought there were myths! Well, Don did it AND took away another fish of my list! Thanks Don, I REALLY appreciate it…hehe

2:50pm - Let’s Call it Quit with 3 Smallmouth Bass and One Laker

Not bad at all for the first day at Quabbin. Honestly, I was not expecting much (from myself for sure), but we did pretty well, better off than the previous years on the first day out on the reservoir. A total of 3 smallies and a laker (BTW - Don missed a big fish, could have a been a salmon for what I know!), and a few sunburns

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 30th, 2006 at 12:13 pm and is filed under Quabbin Reservoir Fishing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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