fisherdad

The kids were away with Grammy and Grampy, so I took to the water with my sister and her boyfriend this evening, at the A1 Site. My sister hammered a big one right on the island on the way toward the back, and then it was slow for a long while.

It was the calm before the storm.

Shortly after that slow period, I couldn't go more then two casts without catching a fish... mostly bass. 16 Bass, two pumpkinseeds, one crappie, one pickerel and one perch. Some of the bass were good size, including my largest of the season so far!

I didn't do much fishing on this trip. I spent my time fixing lures and re-rigging them after they were pulled through the weeds, or positioning the boat in opportune spots for little ones... but my girls both caught nice bass!

A weekend away means dad will play! Many short (1-2 hour) trips over the weekend out at Watatic in Ashburnham. Shoving off from our camp, I was making trips all around the lake with different groupings of visitors (my kids, my father, my brother, my sister and her b/f, amongst others). It was a fantastic weekend, including a 1 hour trip on Friday night that boated 7 bass in about 50 mins.

There were some pretty good ones boated, too.

For years I've heard about the stump pond in Westborough. For years I've wanted to fish it. Well, this morning that finally happened.

My father, my brother, and I set out around 4:30 this morning on our 45 minute trek south to get to the location. We arrived on time, and were on the water by 5:30. We set out right off of the boat ramp, and navigated the vast shoreline. For the first hour or so, we were frustrated by hits that just never turned into fish in the boat. Once we made it all the way around the edge to the island (before you enter the stumpy area), I finally connected on a small one-pounder, followed up on the very next cast by a solid 2.5 pounder.

We continued along the edge, slowly trolling backwards so that I could navigate the stumps properly, and made it all the way to the very end of the pond, pulling out 4 more bass along the way. We then drifted out into the center of the pond, where the standing trees are, and started throwing out spinnerbaits (as opposed to our rubber worms and crawdads that we had been using). We caught two more on spinnerbaits, just drifting along.

That's when it got interesting... not from a fishing perspective, but from the adventure factor. We'd been out trolling around for over 4 hours at that point, and though I was monitoring the battery charge carefully, we never heeded the warning, and the battery died ran out of steam.

My brother and I ended up rowing the boat all the way back to the boat ramp. Our shoulders were sore as hell, but overall the day was exciting and beautiful!

My brother and I decided we were going out tonight, so I loaded up the boat and prepared everything for departure. Just before I left, my older daughter (7) Brianna asked me if she could come, too. Of course!

It started off slow, but kicked into gear after the first 90 minutes was up. I landed a decent pickerel first, to get it all started. I followed that up with 3 bass to build myself quite a lead... though all of my bass were pretty small.

My brother then caught a couple as we moved out of the weeds and over deeper water, casting towards to uninhabited shoreline.

Then, it happened... we saw a fish jump a ways off the back of the boat, so I instructed Brianna to cast over that way, as she was the only person with her line in the boat at that time. Within a minute, she was screaming for me to get the net ready, and she landed the biggest bass of her (short) life, all by herself!

I couldn't have been more proud... nor could she. She bragged the rest of the night, hysterically.

Overall, a great Friday night with the Fam.

I took the kids out last weekend for a little romp around Lake Watatic. We all caught something, so they were happy, though they would have liked a bass or two!

A quick (2 hours or so) trip with my wife and kids around Wampanoag. Stiff winds made casting into tight places a bit challenging, especially for the 6 and 7 year old in the boat, but just being out on the lake was peaceful and exiting!

A few really good hits, but only one (pickerel) landed.