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Author:
PECo
Date:
Jun 07, 2011
Subject:
Otis Reservoir 06/07
Message:
I had thought that metalfish (aka Ian) and TurtleKiss (aka Kira) were camping in Bigelow Hollow State Park next to Breakneck Pond last night, so I thought about hiking up there this morning. Luckily, however, Daryl (aka Daryl) told me that they were actually camping in Massachusetts' Tolland State Forest next to Otis Reservoir. After I loaded El Habaņero (aka my Hurricane Santee 116 Sport) onto my Saab and charged up my dead car battery (I left my keys in the ignition last night and killed it :oops: ), I headed up there to use my Massachusetts fishing license for the first time: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x02I6B_K0AE[/youtube] I arrived at the boat launch ramp at 10:30 am and parked next to Daryl's car in the lot. There's a $5.00 fee to launch a boat. There was a slight north breeze and full sun, and it was already starting to get hot. After I launched, I paddled to a laydown across from the ramp and threw a wacky rigged five inch black/blue flake Senko at it. Through the stained but clear water, I saw a 14 inch largemouth bass completely ignore the Senko. So I decided to tie a fluorocarbon leader onto my braided line and go with a drop shot for the rest of the day. Thanks, Pete! :D I paddled 3/4 of a mile up the shore to Ian and Kira's campsite at the north end of the point. Ian, Kira and Daryl were all on the shore, taking a break. After waiting for Daryl and Ian to board Daryl's boat, MOBD (aka My Other Brother Daryl), and Kira to board her boat, Dinghbat, we headed further around the point toward the shallows in the south end of Southwest Bay which, strangely enough, is in the middle of the west side of the reservoir. I stopped to throw my drop shot in eight feet of water off of the beach on the northwest shore of the point. I had a 2-1/2 inch Gulp minnow on the hook. On my second or third cast, I hooked up with a decent smallmouth bass. It jumped out of the water three times, catching three feet of air on one of its leaps. It wasn't huge, but gave me one of the best fights that I've had from a fish all year: [img:b439870ef0]http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/4054/img0544cg.jpg[/img:b439870ef0] It was 15 inches long and weighed one pound, six ounces. Several casts later, I landed a 12 inch smallie and then a couple of big sunnies: [img:b439870ef0]http://img861.imageshack.us/img861/2917/img0550z.jpg[/img:b439870ef0] By this time, the north-northwest breeze had risen to a steady 10 miles per hour wind and I was having a lot of trouble holding my position in the water. I started working my way along the shore toward the shallows where Daryl and Ian had gone, when I passed Kira, who was doing a little shore fishing: [img:b439870ef0]http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/2538/img0551cropped.jpg[/img:b439870ef0] [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvGwX6PtuRw[/youtube] Well, it was actually more like swim fishing. :shock: I caught up with MOBD, but didn't see any fish in the shallows. So I paddled back out to the beach, but missed a few hooksets, probably because I had tied my dropshot hook with the point facing down. :? I tied on a Texas rigged 10 inch swirlytail worm, and set the hook on and landed a 10 inch smallie. After that, I ventured around in the vicinity of the north end of the point. The water in the reservoir is clear down to 10 feet in some parts, stained but clear in some parts and cloudy, almost milky, in some parts. I tried throwing a big Mepps Aglia bucktail inline spinnerbait and a four inch green pumpkin/red flake wacky Senko dropshot, but didn't land anything else before Daryl and I started heading back to the ramp at 4:00 pm. We were off the water by 4:30 pm. While we were loading our gear into our cars, Daryl heard something digging in the dirt next to the ramp and actually caught a mole: [img:b439870ef0]http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/1411/img0553f.jpg[/img:b439870ef0] [img:b439870ef0]http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/1461/img0554xj.jpg[/img:b439870ef0] Weird, huh? Anyway, I'm sure that I'll head back up to Otis Reservoir soon, but with The Other Woman (aka my Hobie Pro Angler). There's a lot of reservoir left to explore. The Southeast Bay, in particular, looks interesting to me. In case you ever drive out to Otis Reservoir and take Alan Road, you should be aware that parts of it are in really rough shape. I tore off another piece of my Saab's undercarriage while driving way too fast up a washed out section of the road: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpkZPrfmOcQ[/youtube] On my way home, I also noticed that gate to the boat launch at Colebrook River Lake off of Route 8 is still closed.
Author:
MarkO
Date:
Jun 07, 2011
Subject:
Re: Otis Reservoir 06/07
Message:
[quote:73bdc0ab4a="PECo"] So I paddled back out to the beach, but missed a few hooksets, probably because I had tied my dropshot hook with the point facing down.[/quote:73bdc0ab4a] PECo, that is an easy fix. Remove the dropshot weight, take the tag end and run it back through the eye of the hook and it should turn it barb end up. If not, take the tag back out then run through the opposite end of the eye. Where were you guys eight years ago before I had kids? Great report!
Author:
PECo
Date:
Jun 07, 2011
Message:
Thanks, MarkO! This was only the second time that I've spent a good amount of time fishing a dropshot. I think that a fish finder would have helped a lot.
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