On the morning of August 31 from 6:00 a.m. until 8:00 a.m. I wade-fished Lake Mattawa in Orange, Massachusetts. The last time I had been there was June 12, and I did not do well: one small largemouth landed and one other lost, both on an Original Floating Rapala on top. I also had a few very light bumps on a Rapala in the dark at the pipe located at the corner of Holtshire Road and Lake Mattawa Road. I was hoping to do much better this trip. Weather was lovely (60 degrees, partly cloudy, and calm), and I went directly to the culvert to see if any trout were in the water flowing into the lake. It did not take long to find out. Casting a gold Original Floating Rapala, I hooked a brown within minutes. Unfortunately, I lost it when it jumped. Not long after, I pinned and landed another brownie—a gorgeous specimen decked out in dark brown and orange spawning colors and measuring 14 inches. Then the trout hits stopped. But the action did not. In the next hour or so I picked up a 14-inch chain pickerel and three largemouth bass taping 10, 15, and 16 inches. The pickerel and the longest largie hit the Rapala twitched on the surface out front of the pipe; the other two largemouths ate a 5-inch, wacky-rigged green pumpkin Yum Dinger in the small bay in the lake’s northwest corner. I also missed three hits on the Rapala retrieved beneath the surface in the vicinity of the pipe giving me a total of nine strikes. Not bad for two hours of fishing from shore. First chance I get, I shall return.
