CTFishTalk.com: Hopeville Pond 07/30 - Connecticut Lake Reports ( CT Lake Reports ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

PECo · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT

I finally fished some water to the east of Hartford. I drove down to Hopeville Pond State Park with The Other Woman and met up with Flipper (aka Damian). He promised to show me how to catch northern pike. I'll let him tell you about that, but I will say that he showed me how to fish for northern pike. Shocked

I got on the water at 5:45 AM. I think I was the first one on the pond. I tried my best to not wake the tent campers near the boat launch ramp. It was cool and there was mist on the water. It really felt like an early Spring morning:

I started throwing a Texas-rigged Zoom finesse worm with a bobber stopper and 1/8 oz tungsten bullet weight at cover on the shoreline. The first fish I landed was a 16 inch chain pickerel that I snag-hooked when I felt it hit the lure and tried to set the hook. I got about an inch of fish flesh on the hook about five inches behind its nose. Ouch! But I think it survived OK. I switched to my usual wacky-rigged 5 inch pumpkin/red flake Senkos and caught my first largemouth bass on the pond. It was 15 inches, 1 lb 14 oz:

I ended up catching the one chain pickerel, 7 largemouth bass and one calico bass. Here are all of the largemouth bass that I caught:

15 inches, 1 lb 14 oz
13 inches
16 inches, 2 lbs
14 inches
12 inches
16 inches, 1 lb 10 oz Skinny fish!
11 inches

I caught all of the largemouth bass on wacky-rigged 5 inch pumpkin/red flake Senkos or wacky-rigged 5 inch watermelon/red flake Dingers. The calico bass hit a little white spinner bait:

I met up with Flipper right after I landed the first 16 inch largemouth bass, probably around 6:30 AM. He was anchored in a cove with a couple of live bluegill already on hooks and swimming around underneath a couple of bobbers. Here he is in northern pike fishing position:

Like I said, I'll let him fill in the northern pike fishing details, but we later fished for largemouth bass all the way to the dam on the northern end of the pond. Today, at least, the largemouth bass preferred wacky worms to spinner baits. Guess which of us was fishing which bait. . . Cool

Thanks, again, Damian, for a good time. I hope the rest of your time on the water this weekend is a little more, um, productive. Very Happy

_________________
Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!

DirtyDawg10 · Joined: 27 May 2009 Posts: 2238 Location: Granby, CT

Wow!! Harsh report...lol

TurtleKiss · Joined: 09 Mar 2010 Posts: 1200 Location: central CT

No pike at Bantam yesterday either. I think they took the day off.
_________________
Kira

*~ "Not everything about fishing is noble, reasonable and sane..." -Henry Middleton ~*

maverick2402 · Joined: 23 Apr 2009 Posts: 33

do they charge a fee to launch a canoe in Hopeville?

PECo · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT

maverick2402

I'm not sure. I wasn't charged, but I got there so early, around 5:20 AM, that there weren't any park personnel on duty. Plus, it was Friday. I didn't see anything about fees on the DEP's webpage for the boat launch:

http://www.ct.gov/dep/cwp/view.asp?a=2686&q=383996&depNAV_GID=1620

However, the webpage for the park says that there is a weekend/holiday admission fee for the park itself:

http://www.ct.gov/dep/cwp/view.asp?a=2716&q=325218&depNav_GID=1650

Phil
_________________
Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!

PECo · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT

Kira

Where'd you launch? You should post a Lake Report. I'd love to hear about it.

Phil
_________________
Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!

TurtleKiss · Joined: 09 Mar 2010 Posts: 1200 Location: central CT

PECo · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT

No hassles at the formerly public Bantam Lake boat launch? Have they changed the "Residents Only" signage?
_________________
Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!

TurtleKiss · Joined: 09 Mar 2010 Posts: 1200 Location: central CT

Flipper · Joined: 21 May 2010 Posts: 347 Location: Enfield

That is some very usefull info Kira. That's good enough for me to try my luck w/ Johnny Law Bantam style! I absolutely love fishing that lake and have not been for a long time. That makes 2 on the list - Winchester & Bantam that I've got to hit soon. I'm gonna give Hopeville a break for a while. I think the fish have caught on to my method, as I've been fishing it heavy along w/ some locals. We're all using the same set up in a small cove and the fishing seems to be getting slower and slower. Sad

Yeah, thanks for the encouragement Phil. Sorry I couldn't show you a fish that day but I did manage 1 the next morning. Full report to come when I get the pics straight.
_________________
Go big or go home!

PECo · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT

Hey, Damian, I'm glad that you got some action after Friday. Regarding Bantam Lake, TurtleKiss (aka Kira) told me that the lake level is extremely low right now.

Kira and I hit Burr Pond with my daughter, today (well, yesterday, 08/02), and spent some time speaking with one of the DEP guys who was on duty at the park. He told us that Colebrook River Lake (aka Colebrook Reservoir) holds some nice northern pike. It's a U. S. Army Corps of Engineers lake:

http://www.nae.usace.army.mil/recreati/crl/crlhome.htm

Let me know if you ever want to check it out. Winchester Lake, too.
_________________
Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!

SkeeterRon · Joined: 01 Jun 2007 Posts: 1173 Location: Newington, CT

Peco,

You always post the best reports.

Thanks
_________________
Sleep...Eat...Fish!!!!! Then do it all over again.

PECo · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT

Now get back to work! Very Happy

_________________
Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!

TurtleKiss · Joined: 09 Mar 2010 Posts: 1200 Location: central CT

Flipper...I'd give Bantam a week or 2 to recover before you venture out there. You can see the old water line on the docks and boulders, and it's between 1-2.5 ft low depending where you look. My first time there, so I'm no expert on what's considered normal, but we couldn't get anywhere near the shore or weedline without hitting rocks. Bantam was "chemically treated for invasive weeds" on July 27th...not sure if that's somehow related...but it looks like they did that and a drawdown.

Will someone please organize a night bass party at Winchester? It would be nice if a group of us could wreck our props together.
_________________
Kira

*~ "Not everything about fishing is noble, reasonable and sane..." -Henry Middleton ~*