grayrider16

Well now I am hot for fishing here!

For my 40th Birthday I decided a trip to Florida for some bass fishing was the way to go. Rodman Reservoir in Ocala/Silver Springs with a great guide, real professional.

As I wanted to fish on my birthday (12th) had no real choice on dates so did 11th and 12th. Rodman was drawn down (every few years) and was in process of refilling. No issue, we caught 40+ bass on day 1 (allover 3 lbs, with most over 4, and 6 over 8) and on second half day got over 25 fish, with a 8+ hog.

Was unreal and we saw and missed fish that were WAY bigger.

Weather looked to be good so today I went out to Wachusett Reservoir. Got to B&A Bait shop around 7am, got some shiners and some crayfish. Headed out to gate 35. Walked in a ways and took the left branching path to the shore. I wanted to be sure I was past that first cove where the small stream enters. At the bank here you can get fairly deep with a good cast (maybe 20-25 feet deep) and there are weedlines here so I figured why not set up shop.

Used slip sinker rigs and circle hooks. One rod shiner, one rod crayfish. Had a good run on the crayfish rod, missed the fish. Another hour goes by with no real action, checking bait and recasting every 20 minutes or so.

Checking the shiner rod around 8:30am and I thought I snagged a rock or something. I gave it a little elbow and then it began to swim! Very reasonable fish I figured. Fish was staying down and head shaking a ton, not sure what it was going to be, smallies usual go airborne after hooking. Took a good 3 minutes to steer this fish into shore. Finally got a look at it, BIG largemouth! I don't catch many largemouth here. Landed fish and tried my best to take a couple pictures. Measured 20 inches and fat fish, easy 4 pounds.

Got another 2 smallmouth (small fish) on shiners, no takers on crayfish. Wind started picking up a lot and it was hard to keep baits set correct. Headed out around 11am.

Two things make me hate Wachusett, one old, one new. Old: the freaking ticks! Don't touch anything here, holy cow. I deep woods off'd a lot at the parking lot before I went out but I was scared to death until I got home and could really check myself over. No joke, this place is heavy on ticks so take precautions. The new? These crazy brown snakes!!!!! The are all over the shore and go in and out of the water. They get real close and just look at you. Never seen them here before and not a good thing. Nasty critters.

Actually got up at 5am and was ready to roll. Headed over to Flint Pond in Tyngsboro with the Kayak. On the Water at 5:45am. A couple of guys were fishing from shore. Started off about 200 yards past the boat launch in the ever-present lily pad beds. Second cast with a frog led to a nice "BOOM" and I caught the first bass of the day (in picture). Landed 8 more over the next 45 minutes, all on the frog, all between 1-3 pounds. No lunkers today for me. No takers for Senkos or my new Bog's Bait snakes. Right at 7am the Sun became real strong and the bite fell off quite a bit. Was reeling in the frog fast to recast and right at the boat a small pickerel grabbed it. Poor fella in picture below. Was fun but it was like Africa hot by 9:30 and I headed out at 10. Not a bad trip and I saw a few boils out there that make me think there are still a few big ones in there.

Was torn between going to Flint Pond in Tyngsboro or hitting the Merrimack River. Decided on the river. Grabbed some shiners at the Vinyl square store and headed to the softball field boat ramp to launch the Kayak. MAN!!! The water was low, the lowest I have ever seen it. Paddled out to my "go to" spot. Its across from where the Vespa Golf Course tributary empties back into the river. Saw my beloved "deep" water rock piles jutting out of the water. The water was SO LOW. Anyways, I caught nothing, not one hit on shiners or senkos. If you can locate any bass on the river chances are there will be a ton. They must be bunched up someplace. Wind was ridiculous out there too.