First Quabbin Report; 8/16/20

This marks the first time Walt & I have been out on the Quabbin this year! The weather forecast was suppose to be cloudy with a "slight chance" of showers later in the afternoon. Air temp was 62 degrees with the water at 76 degrees. Winds were between about 3 to 6 mph at most throughout the morning.

We got off the ramp by about 7:30 am and set up our drift pattern over the main body basin. We no longer have a trolling motor with which to side pull. It crapped out on us this spring, so we had to make due with wind drifting. Not our favorite, but a decent presentation over deep, suspended crappie. This is what the day started out looking like:

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We started hitting 'em about 5 minutes into our first drift. Marked a lot of bait fish and fish suspending, as we suspected they would be. This is not a great picture, but it'll give you an idea of what we were frequently over:

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We presented paddletails, straight tails and Road Runners today and the fish were cooperating. However, about an hour into our morning, it started to rain......which increased in intensity and duration throughout the morning. I hate fishing in the rain! We endured as long as we could, becoming soaked by the time we pulled off a little after 10 am. We didn't do too bad though, with 28 fish caught & released. All crappie except for 2 bluegill. Here are a couple of the fish we caught. Nothing big, but great fun UL gear:

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The good news is that the boat and equipment performed well for a first time out and we're hoping to be at it again soon. I know we've lost a good portion of this season, but we'll try to make up for it. :rolleyes:

Hope some of you got out and stretched a few lines. God Bless America!

I am not a fan of fishing in the rain either. Aside from that it looks like it was a good trip.

All right, you guys got out again finally! Really nice to get one of your "Q" reports. :ThumbsUp :ThumbsUp Bummer that it had to rain on you, though, and even bigger bummer that your trolling motor died but it looks like you made a trip out of it regardless. Like FF and you guys, I don't like fishing in the rain either so I guess it's unanimous for us NE guys. Hopefully you'll get out again real soon to catch up on all the time you got robbed of; will you be replacing the TM this year or put it off until next year? Hopefully you'll get a replacement sooner rather than later so the rest of your trips this year are more to your liking.
Hope to see another "Q" report soon.

Really good to see you all reporting again!
I too don’t like fishing in the rain.



Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

Thanks guys! Appreciate the support. And no....it doesn't look likely that we'll get a replacement TM this season. That puts our "side pulling" presentation on hold. But maybe next year, depending on what's going on with the economy. We fished for years with just drifting and casting. The only reason we went to side pulling was because our arms can't take the constant casting anymore. And it is truly one of the greatest presentation techniques for deep water, suspended crappie, in my opinion anyway. :)

Thanks for sharing, I don’t mind rain fishing as long as it is light rain. It’s an absolute no go with my wife so needless to say I never need the rain gear that’s stowed under the seat. LOL.