New England - New England Freshwater Fishing Reports

On June 22 I shore-fished Lake Mattawa in Orange, Massachusetts, very close to Quabbin Reservoir’s Gate 31. Every now and then I hit Mattawa, sometimes targeting trout, other times pursuing bass. This latest outing was for bass, both largemouth and smallmouth. Unfortunately, weather had been chilly for mid-June—cloudy, damp, and breezy with highs struggling to make the 60s—and more of the same greeted me the morning of June 22. Because of the unseasonably cool conditions I really did not expect to do as well as I had during my first-ever shore-fishing session at Mattawa back on June 15, 2019, when a Rapala twitched on top produced 14 largies up to 14 inches and a 20-inch chain pickerel. That morning had been warm, calm, muggy, and buggy—perfect for bass-fishing. The chilly weather prevailing the morning of June 22 was not nearly as promising. Around 4:30 a.m. I arrived at the lake’s west end where the public launch ramp is situated and started my outing by casting an Original Floating Rapala. On my third pitch a small fish struck, but I lost it a few moments later. For the next hour or so I made many more deliveries with the Rapala but experienced just one additional hit, that from a 10-inch crappie. Shortly after the calico bit, an 11-inch smallmouth grabbed the balsa plug off the surface. That was the last bite on the Rapala. I then switched to a 5-inch, wacky-rigged Junebug Yum Dinger and added three largemouths, the longest measuring 15 inches, to the morning’s score. I also tried a Bobby Garland Baby Shad on my crappie-rod outfit, but the tiny jig kept snagging on bottom rocks. I don’t think I missed anything with the crappie-rod outfit, though. The only panfish I saw were microscopic bluegills, and not very many. Perhaps the most exciting moment occurred around 7:00 o’clock when a big trout swam past me. It looked at least 4 pounds, but I couldn’t tell if it was a rainbow, brookie, or brown. I was surprised to see such a large trout in the warm shallows a long way from deeper, colder water. I ended fishing at 7:30 a.m., but before heading home I got to talk with another angler who informed me that Lake Mattawa had received 17 big broodstock browns back in early April. Maybe the trout I observed was one of those.