Fishing Reports Central > Bass Fishing Reports | Menu
Last | Next

Author:
MikeOkay
Date:
Jun 27, 2012
Subject:
lake mcdonough 6/27
Message:
Lately I've been trying to check out a couple of the lakes around Torrington that I keep hearing about. After work today I tried to hit up West Hill Lake, but there didn't seem to be any shore access at all. But before heading back to my neck of the woods I remembered driving by Lake McDonough back in the winter when I was going out to Barkhampsted for work. Got to the lake around 6:30 and there was nothing happening at all. The sun was beating down hard and blinding me, and I wasn't getting any bites at all. I was fan casting from shore and probably covered a good 50 yards through a few different parking spots on the side of the road. Finally, right around 7:30 when the sun got nice and low, right above the tree line, the bite really picked up. I'm thinking I found a pretty sweet Smallie spot judging by what I could see of the underwater structure. I was killing em on wacky rigged strike kings, shiny silver and white. Senkos and Yums weren't really producing for me, neither were various brand tubes or lizards. Tried jigs for a while, nothing happened with them, couldn't get anything on a husky jerk either. Tried top waters for a good while once the sun went down, but not even a bite on my yellow perch jitterbug or shad colored Yozuri popper. Tried all of the hard baits on my second pole, while the first just kept up with the plastics. The Strike King worms hold up really nicely too. I got 3 smallies on the same one. It was crazy, I got another hit after the third fish, and the worm ripped all the way in half. I re-rigged the short stub of worm that was left, and managed to get a pretty decent sized bluegill off of it, lol. Compared to the small number of casts I'm used to getting with the branded Senkos, the value really seemed to be there with the strike kings. Ended up pulling in 6 bass total, which is a pretty good day in my book. I haven't spent much time in lakes that hold smallies, so I ended up with a new PB at only 2.75 lbs. And I swear, every time I pulled in the fish I was expecting to find a 4-5 lb LMB on the end of it. Those smallies fight like hell. The bluefish of fresh water. There were a couple smaller LMB mixed in as well, a 1 lb and a 2.2 lb. Overall, really great day on this lake. I'll be hitting it up again some day after work. Sucks that it's 20 mins in the opposite direction from home, but oh well. That smallie fight is worth it. Here's the only pic I got of the day. Wanted to double check some identification sites to make sure I was getting smallies and not just blinded by the sun (then the dark) and pulling in cookie cutter LMBs. Crappy pic, sorry. The red eyes on this one were super bright and cool looking. [img:fc2b4e90bb]http://i.imgur.com/LSHYI.jpg[/img:fc2b4e90bb]
Author:
NWDarkcloud
Date:
Jun 27, 2012
Message:
nice job
Author:
rxpxtx
Date:
Jun 27, 2012
Message:
That sounds like it was fun Mike. I never target smalls, so when I get one I'm always thinking huge LMB. They fight like hell. Not to tell you your business , but do you have frogs? I can not believe my topwater action these last two years since frogs became my go to bait. I was a solid jitterbug thrower after the sunset. 4" soft frogs with 4/0 wide gap screw lock. I hate those double frog hooks. They tear up the frog too quickly. Some days they hit em in the blazing sun.
Last | Next
Home | Topics | Menu