ROD TEEHAN

John Chrisant and I fished Goose Pond in Lee/Tyringham, Massachusetts, the morning of July 15. We were on the water at 3:00 a.m., at which time air temperature was already 69 degrees, remarkably warm for a summer night in the Berkshire Hills. Ordinarily JC and I fish the south side of the pond first, but this time we elected to work a weed-and-rock stretch on the north side instead. That proved a good move. Lots of largemouths were around, and we enjoyed quite a few hits on topwater lures including a Crazy Crawler, Jitterbug, and Zara Puppy. At first in the pitch black of deep night we missed many strikes—most likely from small bass with poor aim—but as daybreak approached and the sky slowly brightened, the bass became more accurate and hook-ups more frequent. Most of the bass were typical Goose Pond largies ranging in size from dinks to 16-inchers. One was a good but rather lightweight fish, a 21-incher scaling only 4 pounds, 7 ounces. It walloped a Jitterbug just as it was light enough to see the spectacular strike. As expected, hits on top petered out as the morning brightened prompting John and me to switch to offering 5-inch wacky-rigged Yum Dingers on the bottom. The Dingers performed admirably, enticing numerous largemouths to 17 inches. By 9:30 a.m. John and I were hot and tired, so we ended the session. In total we logged twenty largemouths (including dinks), three smallmouths to 14.5 inches, and three pencil pickerel. Goose Pond produced the bulk of the catch. Upper Goose Pond contributed several fish. On the way home we drove to Laurel Lake (also in Lee) and found the ramp and parking lot still closed for maintenance. Readers may recall that John and I wanted to fish Laurel Lake June 28, but the ramp and parking lot were blocked that day too.

On July 8 John Chrisant and I fished Quabbin Reservoir out of Gate 31 in New Salem, Massachusetts. Weather was ideal for summertime bass fishing: partly cloudy, hot and humid, with a light southwest breeze. We were hoping for a spectacular session with early summer largemouths. Unfortunately, as has been the case in recent years, our favorite largemouth bass spots failed to produce. We did catch five largies, but they were dinks and small, thin scorables. Smallmouths, thankfully, showed up in good numbers. Our outing began with a nice bronzie at our first stop: a 19-incher weighing 3 pounds, 5 ounces that ate a wacky-rigged Yum Dinger delivered to submerged rocks in about ten feet of water. But after that, action slowed, and for a good part of the morning fishing was a grind. By 10:30 a.m. JC and I had boated just eight smallmouths, the 19-incher being the only one longer than 14 inches. Then as the day grew hotter and more humid, fishing heated up. By 1:00 p.m. packs of prowling young smallies ranging in size from dinks to 14-inchers were in close to shore especially in rocky deep-water coves and around sunfish spawning beds. And the littlejaws were hungry and aggressive. A 5-inch wacky-rigged Yum Dinger cast anywhere near them was grabbed almost immediately, usually by the biggest in the bunch. While working our way back to the ramp later in the afternoon, we stopped at a gravelly shoal we had named Loon Island. There we found nicer smallies—two 17-inchers and a 17.5-incher—along the first drop-off into deeper water. Each fell for a wacky-rigged Dinger. By the time we pulled the boat at 4:30 p.m. John and I had unhooked twenty-five smallmouths plus the five largemouths. Back at the ramp we talked with Craig, one of the attendants, who fishes for salmon, lakers, and rainbows at Quabbin. On his last trip he marked lots of fish but caught just two lakers. The fish are there, he said, but getting them to strike has not been easy. Anglers at Quabbin’s Gate 43, however, are catching rainbows “like crazy.” Gate 43, located in Hardwick, was stocked with rainbow trout July 2.