Mill Pond - Maynard

I took Jr. to the Mill Pond on Saturday to kill 20 minutes. We dug up 7 or 8 worms and headed down for a few casts. Right away the Sunfish were hitting. He pulled in 3 small Sunfish. He loves it. I didn't catch anything using a dressed Mepps #1 silver. No hits.
We did notice one oddity, just as we were ready to head out I noticed a small turtle right in front of us. I ran to the car to get my net. I laid down on my stomach right on the bank, extended my arm out and lowered in the net. As soon as I attempted to scoop the turtle he back peddled away. The strange thing is, I have no idea what type of turtle it was. It was a little bigger than a softball and had a long skinny protruding neck with a pointy head and long legs. It didn't look like any of the "regular" turtles we see. (painted, snapping, sun, etc...)

Heards Pond - Wayland

I met Andy at 5pm at Heards. Hot - at 5pm it was still in the high 80's and humid. Conditions seemed perfect. Right away I caught a Largemouth using the black willow blade spinnerbait.
Then, for nearly an hour no hits. The pond is very weedy. I kept throwing the willow blade and a dressed Mepps #5 the entire time. I caught maybe 8 Crappie and a couple of small White Perch on the #5! Andy also did well with the Crappie. He also landed a few small Bass.
As we fished the back side I threw my Mepps far into open water and received a massive strike. I pulled in this nice Pike (pic). A great battle against the drag (12# test)
Before the trip was out, I ended up landing a really nice Pickerel, my PB this year for sure. I actually thought it was another Northern until he got right to the boat.

Worlds End / Town Pier - Hull

I headed out in the boat to fish the incoming tide around Worlds End (solo). It was very windy. I trolled from Roackaway all the way to Sunset point. By the time I turned around the motor started to sputter. I packed it up and cruised home. I did manage to get one decent strike. Other than that, nothing else.
Later that morning (home by 8am) I took the wife and kids to the town pier to use up the rest of the seaworms on the bottom. I witnessed a 7 year old girl catch one of the largest Flounders I've ever seen and another guy catch a Bluefish, right from the dock.
I fished the bottom and only caught a crab. The minnows were stripping my bait on every drop. Depressing.

Mill Pond - Maynard

I took the kids by the Mill pond on Friday after dinner to test out some packaged minnows that my father gave me. (I normally have the kids use worms)
We used bobbers and the minnows. Not even a hit. I used a small Zarra spook and even a minnow on a bare hook. No signs of life.

Deep Sea - (out of) Gloucester MA

I tagged along on a private charter out of Gloucester (thanks to Cisco Systems).
We were on a 50' party style fishing boat. We motored out 20 miles to fish a ledge. Over a 2 hour ride just to get there. A the first stop I fished (and held on to) the bow. A majority of us fished clams on the bottom. We were using 16oz weights due to the fact that we were fishing at 230' of water. It was deep. I was shocked to see how much line went out on my first drop down. All I could think out about was how much of pull it was going to be pulling up the 1 pound weight from 230 feet below. Immediately, 2 small Cod were pulled in. We continued to fish for almost an hour (no hits) and we pulled up and moved. We moved maybe 4 times and ended up in 280' of water. I ended up catching a Cod (undersized - they must be 24") and one Sand Shark (Spiney Dogfish).
I don't have pictures of any because the mate walked right over, tore the fish off the hook and tossed it back in. When he unhooked the Dogfish he deliberately snapped it's neck.
At the end of the day there was only a few Haddock and a nice Wolffish in the bin.
After the 2 hour ride in, it was a long day and my legs were a little tired fighting the 2-4+seas.

Sudbury River - Lincoln

I may have had one of the work outings in some time. Andy and I met as we did last week at the Sudbury River Canoe launch at 5pm to fish Fairhaven Bay and surroundings. I literally went from 5:15 to almost 8pm without even a bite! As this skunking unfolded, Andy was upto 6 or 7 Largemouth using salted worms. I was throwing both my dressed Mepps 5 and my black/silver willow blade spinnerbait. In frustration I took a few casts with the salted worm and did get a few nice strikes. I actually lost what appeared to be a decent Bass. Finally, I catch a small Bass on the Mepps. Around this same tiem Andy lost a small Pike. Just at dusk around 8:30pm right in front of the canoe landing I caught this Bass (pic) using my Mepps. In the end, Andy caught 7 or 9 and one weight close to 3 lbs. No other species other than Largemouth Bass were caught.

Provincetown - Town Pier

On our way home from the Cape we stopped by the Provincetown town pier to see if anything was on the bottom. Right away I noticed the pied was lined with kids fishing and they were catching Flounder. I couldn't believe it. Everyone was catching fish. After stopping into the local bait shop (Nelsons) I picked up a bag of frozen Sand Eels (pic). I user a flounder spreader with 2 hooks. Right away I could feel something tapping on my hook. Whatever it was begin to strip my bait every time I lowered it down. It was deep too. Finally, I felt tap-tap-tap and then I just set the hook. I ended up foul hooking a Perch (Cunner). A nice one. No picture. Then about 10 minutes later I caught a small (what appeared to be) Pollock. Nice way to wrap up the weekend.

Asaabet River - Powder Mill Gate - Acton

I made a quick stop by the Powder Mill gate on my way home for a few casts. With my Mepps 1 still tied on from the last time out I took several casts and nothing was touching it on the flow side of the dam/waterfall. I moved over to the flow side of the gate and tied on a small green Zarra Spook and on the first cast into a stiff current a nice small fat largemouth attacked it. A touch reel up and across the current with 6# test. Then, a few more casts later I caught one a little bigger 1lb+ (pic). A nice fat (but short) Bass.

Assabet River - Mill St Bridge - Maynard

I stopped by the Mill St bridge on my way home tonight. I only had a few minutes, people waiting for me at home. I took 5 casts on one side and managed to pull up a small dace. I crossed the street and took an additional 10 casts and caught a similar fish. The water has fallen dramatically. Every cast something hit my lure. I threw a dressed Mepps #1 silver.

Sudbury River - Lincoln

Andy and I finally made plans to meet at the Sudbury River after work. The exact same place we use to meet and fish at 10+ yrs ago. We built a dolly system to wheel the boat down to the river, it seemed to work well. We fished up the river towards Rt2, thru Fairhaven Bay and maybe a 1/4 mile upriver past the bay. Fishing was pretty good. I ended up catching 2 Largemouth and 2 Pickerel. All decent size. The larger of the Bass is pictured. I only used a dressed Mepps #5 silver and a black and silver willow blade spinner bait.
Andy also did well. He caught a nice Yellow Perch, a couple of Bass and a nice Pike (pic).
We fished right up until about 8:30. Andy landed his Pike just before we called it quits.
I should also add that one of the wheels on the dolly snapped on the way back up the hill.
3/3 - we've caught Pike the last 3 times we've been fishing.

Heards Pond - Wayland

Andy and I went back to Heards Sunday morning. I only had a few hours to fish. I met him at 4:50am, loaded up the boat and we were in the water at Heards at roughly 5:20am. I piloted the boat, and at roughly 30 or so minutes in I landed a nice Northern (pic). We fished all the way around the pond and made one pass down and back through the center trolling. On the back side I caught a couple of small(er) Largemouth's and trolling I caught a few Crappie and a small Yellow Perch on an old Rebel that I've had in my box forever. Just after my Northern, Andy landed a solid 2+ lb Largemouth on a salted frog. I was home at 8:55am.

Heards Pond - Wayland

What a night at Heards. Of course the first thing I noticed when I got in the boat was I forgot my digital camera! As usual, for me, things started very slow and didn't look good. I fished for nearly an hour without a major strike. Behind me, Andy was catching fish and within the first 10 minutes he landed a Pike (pictured). This immediately depressed me but only made me try harder. There was no need to get creative or change anything other than my thinking. I went out with steel leaders ready to go. My original intent was to fish for Pike and anything else I caught would only be a bonus. Using 2 rods, I ran a large black and silver willow blade spinner bait on a spin combo and my other bait casting rod, I ran a Mepps 5 silver with a buck tail on a steel leader. I ended up catching 2 small Largemouth on the Spinnerbait. Andy on the other hand was making his was to catching everything in the pond. He caught about 10 Crappie, a Bass, White Perch, a couple of Yellow Perch and believe it or not, he caught a small catfish trolling a jig spinner. It was shocking.

Casting my Mepps over and over into open water away from shore finally paid off. With a long cast around 7:30pm I had a very strong strike. A Northern Pike! Finally, a decent fish (pictured). After a few quick photos with my Treo phone the fish was released and very lively. Sorry, no high-res digital pics. To make things even better, just as we were finishing up I landed a nice Pickerel. Nice enough to make me think I had another Northern on.

Asaabet River & Mill Pond - Maynard

Thursday was a long day. I had a lot planned with a day off. Drive to Hull, pickup my outboard, attend a pre-school graduation, go to the doctor and fish.
After returning from the southshore and before the graduation, I stopped by the Ben Smith Dam for a few casts. In only 2 days the water seemed to have dropped significantly. I was able to take roughly 20 casts landing 2 Fallfish (Dace).

After the Graduation I took Jr. to the Mill pond (after digging worms) and did out best at fishing high-noon and direct sunlight. The Sunfish were nowhere to be found. He did end up catching 2 small Sunfish but it actually took some time and effort. I landed one on a Mepps 0.

Assabet River - Mill St Bridge - Maynard

I made a quick stop over the Mill St bridge on my way home Tuesday night. I stopped, parked, took about 15 casts and landed 3 fish, all Fallfish (Dace). One was almost 12" and another had red coloring. The water is very high and moving quick. The Dace didn't seem to mind. As long as the spinner blade was moving in the current, they seemed to chase it and nip at it.

Town Pier - Hull

The entire family stopped by the town pier at the gut and fished seaworms on the bottom. Just for fun, we decided to use the worms I bought for trolling in hopes of a Skate or a Flounder. It was cold and I already knew that this was going to be a short trip. As soon as we lowered the worm down: tap-tap.....tap-tap-tap and up reels a small Sculpin. I wasn't exactly sure what it was at first. The kids loved looking at it. That's all we caught this weekend. See pic.

Worlds End - Hull

I took my wife out for some trolling at high tide. 1:30 high tide and hot & sunny. First off, I need a new tube eel. The tube I was using is simply too heavy for fishing 6-8' of water. I continually got hung up on the bottom. It was very frustrating to say the least. No other activity, no strikes.
Later in the day I took Jr to the town pier and used the Aqua-Vu underwater viewing system. It was amazing. Very clear. We saw starfish, crabs, school's of small fish, and I did happen to notice a large fish swim by in the distance, I couldn't make it out.