Report; 4/13/19

At first I thought it was Friday, the 13th.! That would have been the ONLY excuse we could have come up with for today's poor showing. Neither Walt, nor I, can remember the last time we skunked out! Well, today was first skunk in our memory of the last several seasons.

Today was suppose to be a stellar day too, weather wise. Rain was going to end around day break, with rising temps into the 70's and plentiful sunshine. There I go again.....believing the weather folks! The rain didn't end until nearly 10 am. The breeze picked up as well and when we launched around 11 am, the air was in the 50's and the water temp was 51 degrees.

This was also our first trip on the Oxbow section of the Ct. River system. Usually a very reliable producer for us. Not today. We tossed straight tails, curly tails, tubes, marabou Road Runners and plain marabou jigs. The water lever is still pretty high and heavily stained - and yes, cold. We cast'd, drifted and cast'd some more. Wind was pretty steady, so we really didn't need to use the side pulling motor today.

Most of the day the sonar screen showed nada. Bare bottom, no bait or fish. Here are shots of the rare occasions when I did mark some fish:

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Encountering these situations, we drifted one jig just off the bottom (in the rod holder) and cast our second rod. No takes at all. Very disappointing performance for us. We pulled off around 2 pm. It was still great being out on the water and seeing some neat birds. A red tail hawk and a couple of eagles. Here's the eagle eyeballing us and laughing:

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Oh well.....! Next week suppose to have numerous rainy days, which is becoming the norm as of late. Hopefully, in the not too distant future, we'll be able to get out there again....with better results. Hope some of you were able to get out....and I'm sure you did better than we did! LOL! :)

Getting skunked sure is a bummer but the deck was kinda stacked against you, don't you think? Doesn't matter, you guys were out there working the kinks out of the equipment and getting ready for the Q. When does that open up for you?

Too bad on the skunk. Good report though. If it makes you feel any better it was a very similar situation for me yesterday also. Drove an hour south to find some open water. 39 degree water temp. Fished for four hours in the morning. Not a bite between 3 of us.

The Quabbin opens next weekend on the 20th.. We won't be there opening day, with Easter and all. Besides, opening day there is crazy! Cars & boats are lined up for almost a mile to get in. Way too stressful in my opinion. Walt doesn't mind, but that's just not my cup of tea.

Sorry to hear you didn't do better franklin fisher. But you folks are dealing with a lot colder condition than we were. Regardless, great time to spend outdoors with fine fishing partners.