Saunder's Boat Livery

Skip at Saunders Boat Livery, Inc. in Southwick thinks that all three ponds (North, Middle, and South) at Congamond Lakes have been chemically treated to eradicate weeds. Water is discolored in places, weeds are dying, and some dead fish are floating. Also, the bass bite has been a bit tougher, presumably due weed-control measures. However, some nice fish were caught during Thursday evening’s big-bass event. A 4-pound largie finished first in the biggest-bass category, and 10+ pounds netted best-three honors. Besides largemouth bass, Skip is still picking up trout, especially at one well-known deep-water hump in Middle Pond. The hump is also producing smallmouths, largemouths, crappies, big yellow perch, and lunker bluegills.

Skip at Saunders Boat Livery, Inc. in Southwick said that bass fishing at Congamond Lakes remains good and cited Thursday evenings big-bass contest as evidence. Mario won the best-three-bass division with 10+ pounds, and several other contestants did almost as well. Skip did not know who won the big-bass division. Over the weekend of August 8-9 Skip took part in a Bass Federation tournament at Lake Champlain. A fifty-two-year member of the federation captured non-boater honors with 30+-pounds while the winner of the boater category posted a winning aggregate of 40+ pounds. Although the bite proved tough, Skip caught enough largemouths and smallmouths to finish eleventh, leaving him in good stead for the second half of the tourney a month from now. He fooled most of his fish with finesse lures delivered on 6-pound-test to rock and weeds. Such light tackle, Skip believes, helped generate more hits than heavier gear but also hurt him because of lost fish. Among several bass he dropped were two giant smallmouths that came unpinned right at the boat. Alone, those two bronzies would have given him a much higher total weight.