Report; 10/17/18

Well, it was not only predicted to be the best day of the week (warmest anyway), but today was my 45 wedding anniversary to boot! Can't imagine how Jan has put up with me for all these years? You know how I remember this date so well? Oct. 17th. is the opening of the bird hunting season here in MA. And naturally, as a true romanticist, what did I do? Went fishing of course. lol

Anyway, Walt & I launched this morning on a local pond around 8:40 am. Air temp was 36 degrees. And the water topped out at 56. No ice - yet. :rolleyes:

The day warmed up a bit, but I wasn't nearly dressed warm enough, which is why we pulled off at 11:30 am. One of our shortest fishing ventures. Here's a couple of shots of what the day looked like, with a stiff 5 - 10 mph breeze:

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Fall is upon us and getting prettier with each passing day. We did see an osprey being attacked by some crows, but too far away for a decent picture. And there were some huge flocks of Canada geese lining up on the shorelines. A sure sign of winter's approach.

Using the small boat (12') with the newly fabricated faux transom to enable us to side pull with the TM, we didn't do too bad. Surprisingly, most fish were taken deep - over 24' - 29' of water. We side pulled 1/8 oz. ball heads with straight tails mainly, moving along at about .8 mph. Here's what one screen shot looked like - hold onto your hats!

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Yep.....that's fish! With each pass we'd get 2 or 3 crappie. We ended our trip with 25 fish; 7 bluegill and even one bullhead, with the rest being crappie. No significant sizes, but great fun on UL rigs using 2# test line. Here are some shots of some of these fish:

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And here's Walt's bullhead, caught on a jig, side pulling over 28' of water!

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Incredible. We tried pulling jigs at from .6 to 1.0 mph. Between .7 and .8 proved most productive for us today. Wish I'd have been dressed warmer. I look like an Eskimo, but not bundled up well enough. Next time I'll do better. Great day to be on the water regardless. Winter is knocking on our door. We just pray it holds off for a bit longer!

Great story, great pics, thank you so much for sharing.

Great post. Bundling up is the name of the game around here also. Smaller fish maybe but sounds like great action.

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