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Author:
PECo
Date:
Aug 10, 2012
Subject:
Congamond Lakes 08/09
Message:
DirtyDawg10 (aka Derek) took the day off from work, so we decided to go fishing. He had never fished the Congamond Lakes when they weren't frozen and I had never been there at all, so we arranged to meet at the Massachusetts State Boat Launch in Southwick, which is on the north end of the middle lake, at 8:00 am. I got to the parking lot a little early and found that Massachusetts charges $5.00 to park after launching a boat. :? There were only a few other trailers in the lot. When I launched in The Other Woman at 7:45 am, the air was cool, the sky was misty and there was a light wind out of the south. The surface water temperature was 79 degrees and I could see down about four feet in the slightly murky water. There were weeds under the surface on the bottom everywhere that the depth was less than eight feet. I hung around the ramp until Derek joined me in El Fuego at 8:00 am. Massachusetts fishing regulations apply on the Congamond Lakes and we planned to throw drop shots for most of the day, so we had bismuth and tungsten drop shot weights that comply with Massachusetts' ban on lead sinkers and jigs weighing less than one ounce: http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/recreation/fishing/lead_sinkers_loons.htm We headed down the east shore of the middle lake to the point where it narrows. Along the way, I couldn't resist skipping a wacky rigged light pumpkin five inch Senko underneath a swim platform and caught the first fish when it was picked up by a rock bass. I had to pull rocky out of the onion grass that surrounded the swim platform: [img:e74529ba41]http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/2418/img3208cropped.jpg[/img:e74529ba41] There was a fisherman on a bass boat working the outside weed edge on the leeward (i.e., north) side of the point. As we passed him, we saw him pull a three to 3-1/2 pound largemouth bass off of the bottom. I threw a small white buzzbait over the weeds in the shallows, and the wacky senko and a drop shot Baby Bass four inch Roboworm along the outside weed edge, but got only a few panfish nibbles on the drop shot. Derek didn't have much luck, either, so we headed around the point toward a 20 foot deep hump in 28 feet of water on the bottom of the main body of the middle lake that Derek had seen on a bathymetric chart. Although the hump also appeared on the Navionics chart on my iPhone, I had a lot of trouble finding it. I pedaled over what looked like a soft bottom on my fish finder at 20 feet in 28 feet of water a few times and marked some fish on it, but both of our drop shots got only a small sunny for Derek. I gotta say, fishing that deep in the middle of such a big lake from a kayak got pretty boring pretty fast. :? It was difficult to hold our position in the breeze and we couldn't see where we were fishing. Derek said that it was like fishing for cod on a party boat, but without the bait! :lol: We decided to head down to the shallower water south end of the middle lake, where Derek had been ice fishing before. Along the deeper outside edge of a shallow weedbed, the dropshot got me another rock bass: [img:e74529ba41]http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/5980/img3212cropped.jpg[/img:e74529ba41] But only 10 minutes later, the wacky Senko got me a short largemouth bass: [img:e74529ba41]http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/329/img3213cropped.jpg[/img:e74529ba41] By that time, any mist in the sky had burned off and we were getting cooked by the blazing hot sun. The surface water temperature had also risen to 84 degrees. We decided to head through the culvert on the south end of the middle lake and check out the lower lake: [img:e74529ba41]http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/8002/img3214cropped.jpg[/img:e74529ba41] I was surprised that my fish finder didn't mark any fish in the cool shade of the culvert, which was only about five feet deep and acted like a mini wind tunnel. The wind blowing through it felt terrific. We didn't stray far from the culvert into the lower lake, but the drop shot got me yet another rock bass: [img:e74529ba41]http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/9871/img3216cropped.jpg[/img:e74529ba41] Derek soon headed back up through the culvert to the middle lake. When I followed him, I threw the wacky Senko into the shade of the culvert and got another short largemouth bass: [img:e74529ba41]http://img835.imageshack.us/img835/5999/img3218cropped.jpg[/img:e74529ba41] We headed into a marina on the west side of the south end of the middle lake, and threw lures next to boats and under docks, trying to find fish in the shade. I finally found a keeper largemouth bass underneath the marina's gas pump with the wacky Senko: [img:e74529ba41]http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/9181/img3219cropped.jpg[/img:e74529ba41] Yeap, it was only 12 inches long, but it was still a keeper! 8) After we passed the marina, I saw another boat launch and parking area: [img:e74529ba41]http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/5157/img3220cropped.jpg[/img:e74529ba41] Does anyone know whether that ramp and lot are open to the public? We headed up the west shore and worked any shady areas we could find. We both got a lot of nibbles from small fish, but no bites. It wasn't until we got back up to the point where the middle lake narrows that a wacky green pumpkin/red flake Senko got me another short largemouth bass: [img:e74529ba41]http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/7712/img3221cropped.jpg[/img:e74529ba41] We heard the rumble of thunder way off in the distance to the north and decided to paddle through the culvert on the north end of the middle lake to check out the upper lake. The water was much clearer in the upper lake. The clear water and weed covered bottom reminded me a lot of Ball Pond. Neither Derek nor I got any bites before it was time for us to leave. We headed back to the ramp and got off of the water at 3:00 pm. Although the Congamond Lakes are really nice bodies of water, I'd prefer to go back there on a bigger boat and wouldn't go back there on a weekend. On even a hot Thursday, we could tell that it's a very popular recreational lake. We saw only one waterskier, but there were quite a few boats motoring around and throwing off big wakes. Derek said that he's never seen so many pontoon boats moored along a shoreline before. I'd also try to have the patience to fish only the bottom in deeper water. Although I had a great time out there, it's not good when your best catch came off of a swim platform attached to 20 feet of braided line: [img:e74529ba41]http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/1176/img3222cropped.jpg[/img:e74529ba41] [img:e74529ba41]http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/2346/img3223cropped.jpg[/img:e74529ba41] I can't wait to try it out. 8)
Author:
hoppy
Date:
Aug 10, 2012
Message:
you catch more rockbass then anyone i have ever met. you caught more rockbass in your one trip there then ive caught there in the last five years. you have rock bass juice on your yak or something? you attract rockbass!!!
Author:
PECo
Date:
Aug 10, 2012
Message:
[quote:6639721192="hoppy"]you catch more rockbass then anyone i have ever met. you caught more rockbass in your one trip there then ive caught there in the last five years. you have rock bass juice on your yak or something? you attract rockbass!!![/quote:6639721192] Yeap, Mark, we knew we were fishing too shallow, but fishing deep from a kayak takes more patience than we had, especially since we wanted to check out all three of the lakes. Hot water and full sun sucks for shallow water fishing. All that's in there are short largemouth bass, sunnies and rockies.
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