Quabbin Reservoir - Slow Morning, Bad Weather, but it paid off
Back to the Quabbin reservoir this week…we could have gone fishing somewhere else (Quaboag river) but it seems that fishing isn’t that good so far this year, maybe because of the weather we’ve got so far in May, lots of rain. I drove by the river via Route 148 in the morning and the water is really high for the season, so that could be it, the bass are still in deepest part of the river and have not yet moved up. Well, hopefully within the next few weeks we can try going over there, with higher temperatures and the water warming up, the fish should start becoming a lot more active and aggressive…we have some great memories of fishing the river, we caught lots of nice bass at Quaboag in the past few years and our largest pickerels.
7:00AM: we meet again…and on time!
I reached Gate 43 right at 7:00AM, so Don, I don’t want to hear anything! I was NOT late! These damn state patrollers have the tendency to slow me down on the Mass Pike…I have nothing against them, they do their job, it’s just that I think the 65 speed limit on the highway in 2006 is ridiculous…OK, I’ll stop there.
7:30AM: we’re on the way…but what’s going with the engine today!?
As you already know, the engine has been causing Don a few headaches…well, we are not sure if this the reason why, but maybe because we had a lot of humidity in the air this month (it rained 6 days in a row, and not small showers, hurricane style showers!) but the engine was dying on me every time I would put it on neutral…really odd. When running full speed, we had no problem, but it would not idle properly….God knows what really happened. Don is going to put some dry gas in it and we’ll see how next week goes. I’ll write an update about it.
7:45Am: Windy Morning…what the Hell!
Ok, I am not crazy about rain showers, but worse is the wind! Plus when you are the one managing the throlling engine, it stinks big time! The weather was beautiful, but we knew this was not going to last with that powerful wind pushing heavy clouds to our direction….
It’s getting cloudy….
And there is it….get your rain suit out!
Actually it did not rain, but I wish it did, because the fishing was horrible! We did hit the 2 or 3 sections we are usually lucky with and we did not catch one single fish until probably late-morning…And these smallies were nothing to be excited about.
10:45AM: Time for a strategy meeting…
Don suggested that we move up to a spot we actually never fished, because every time we would get there it is always crowded. I was totally okay movin’ away from the dam (ie:damn hehe) area and try to reach more tree or island cover because the wind was killing us.
11:00AM: Let’s move on!
Wonder how it looks like when we go full speed (okay, 20 miles per hour top!) on Quabbin?? Don looks really concentrated, doesn’t he? Well, you actually have to, shallow waters run at you within seconds and if you don’t pay attention, well, you’ll probably leave a propeller behind for sure!
11:15AM: Where we Never Fished…
As expected, we were not the only ones (AGAIN!) trying to fish the area. There were two boats, one was actually moving out slowly, but the other seemed not ready to move yet! The guys were really smart, as you probably figure out when looking at the picture below (check out the video also), there is a pretty intense stream of water coming down and the bass are probably hunting outside of the active zone, just waiting for baits to come by…and these guys were right on the spot!
We patiently waited for a 1/2 hour before they left. We really wanted to cast our baits within the same area, not really caring about its surroundings…and that was a big mistake!
11:50AM: First nice Smallmouth Bass for Don!
I cannot believe we did not take a picture of that smallmouth, it was probably around 1.75lb, really a nice fish that Don caught on the left side area (see the picture below) using a plastic worm…you cannot go wrong using plastic worms all season long!
So the guys finally left and we got the chance to fish on that magical spot. We caught one or two bass, and missed quite a few as well, we could not hooked them up correctly, but, it appeared that the bass were right there as expected, feeding on anything that came by them, only plastic. Interesting thing: we did not get ONE hit on spinnerbaits.
12:30PM: Time for lunch
We took our lunch break (thanks Brenda for the awesome sandwitches, as always!!) and one boat came by. Since we are nice guys, we moved out from the hot spot and stayed outside to let others get in and get a chance to fish it…
1:20PM: Big Rocks can hide Big Bass!
So, the boat was finally leaving the area and we decided to get back to fishing…Don spotted a shallow water area near the big rock (see the photo above?)…and wahoo, we got the adrenaline back in our bodies!!
A 3.8lb largemouth bass, so far the largest of the season! And believe or not, but Don kept casting right back on the area for almost one hour, missed another BIG one and caught 2 smaller ones…Big rocks DO hide big fish!
2:25PM: Where is my luck today…”Don, What About a Last Cast?”
I am not complaining, I had caught a few bass so far that day, but missed quite a few in a row and nice ones…i was able to get them close from the boat, nice keepers, but they would fight hard and get away. Don and I decided we had a lot of fun and it was time to call it a day…But I decided to through my lizard in the the water one last time, and BOOM! Big hit, lots of pressure, but a miss…Damn it, what the Hell today!? Reeled back in, and throw again in the same area…and BOOM! Again, that time, he is hooked, and giving me a great figh! A nice smallie, 2.7lb which will make my day! That smallmouth was waiting for baits to go by. You cannot really see it on the picture below, but its stomach was ready to pop! And it gives me a count for the largest smallie so far this year!
2:30pm: Largest Small & Large mouth Bass so far!
Not a bad day at all…I guess there was no need to wake up at 5:20AM, because we did not catch any fish until late morning…that gives me an idea…
HAHAHHAHAH, just kidding!!!
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