Small Pond In Stoughton MA - 06/02/2019

[Smallie_Stalker]

Well, after a L-O-O-O-O-N-G while I managed to get some time in on the water. 

Went out with my BIL in his small car-topper to a small pond in Stoughton MA that he ran across by accident one day. Neither one of us know the name - sorry about that. There was no ramp but there was room to launch even if you were trailering a boat. The pond was relatively small in size.

Conditions:

Air temp: low 60's
Sky: Mostly sunny with occasional clouds
Wind: Mild gusts off and on
Water temp: Unknown
Water clarity: Lightly stained
Cover/Structure: Mostly lily pads with some cattails around various shoreline areas

We had planned to be on the water at first light but that didn't pan out and we got a very late start - around 12:30 PM. The sun was already high in the sky and when we first got there it was bluebird skies and no wind for about the first hour. The lily pads were surprisingly thick for this time of year.

We didn't have any electronics so each time we moved to a new area I spent a good part of my time fan casting a heavy T-rig so I could get a feel for the bottom and any cover/structure below the surface.

The pond turned out to be mostly shallow (4-6 ft. max. depth) except for the eastern corner which actually went to about 12 feet. My BIL has his anchor rope marked off in 1 foot increments so we were able to get fairly accurate depth readings.

The actual fishing was not very exciting except for the one over 4 lbs I managed to boat.................... too bad it was was a Northern.    While we did catch a decent number of fish in the 6 hours we stayed the bass we caught were all dinks and not worth measuring. Most of them came out of the pads and were caught on T-rigged plastics although a few of them fell to a lipless crankbait I threw in the lanes and pockets in the pads. My casting accuracy was terrible due to the long time since I last fished so I got hung a lot. Thanks to the braided line I was able to rip most of them free but I did lose a few of the ones that were snagged deeper where I had to cut my braid and tie a new one on.    re

For about the last 1/2 hour I broke out the ultra-light rig I brought and caught some decent sized gills and crappie out of those same pads.

I'm not sure if the lack of bigger bass was due to the population of Northerns, overfishing, or if we just didn't figure out where they were or how to get them to bite. We definitely intend on going back to this pond and getting to know it better. 

[Mike Cork]

Thanks for a great report. Sometimes these kind of ponds can be real gems

[Bud Kennedy]

Smallie, we had a number of ponds like that around Northboro and Westboro that I used to frequent oh so many years ago.  It was a nice way to take the edge off after work.  fish were not large but there was a lot of em that loved those cuprit red shad worms with the ribbon tail.  I am sure it was a lot of fun for you since it had been so long.

[Capt. BassinLou]

  ... Great seeing a report coming from you Smallie!!  Appreciate you sharing your outing. I'm sure you will stick em next time!!