Back on Dry, Solid Land

Feels good to be home! Long day!

Back on Dry, Solid Land
Today started with a 3:45am wake up and on the road by 4:20.

Today's trip was to the Quabbin Reservoir, the largest body of water in Massachusetts by over 10X the next nearest sized lake. The Reservoir is just too enormous for small boats so Kayaks (Watchtower, I will take a pic of my rigged kayak next river trip!), canoes, and small boats under 10 feet are not allowed. Luckily the Reservoir is operated by the state and they rent 14 foot aluminum boats with a 20hp motor and a huge tank of gas for $45 for the whole day! What a deal!

As it is deep summer time and and the lake trout, salmon, and rainbows are all so deep as to be almost not catch able the reservoir was almost empty. I like that a lot! Plenty of room.

We saw Turkeys, Bald Eagles, Deer, and Martens on the islands. Great wildlife. Loons everywhere as well. But it is about the fishing.

Fishing was a little tough today due to heavy winds. On a lake this size the wind really gets channeled hard and not even 50 pounds between two anchors can keep a boat in place! Luckily I have developed drift fishing techniques for deep water smallmouth bass over the years which worked well today regardless of the wind.

I am feeling a bit wobbly and still feel like I am moving with the waves so I will make this short. I was able to locate some great fish (with help of the new Eagle 350c color fish sonar) and the wife and I had one of our better days even with the wind issues. We caught 25 fish between us and the wife, as usual, got the biggest which means I HAVE to go see the Twilight film "Eclipse" this weekend! Dang smallmouths!

Here is a good one I got early on, about 3 pounds:


The wife's first fish:

Not bad!

I got this guy and he was really long but did not feel too heavy. He fought heavy though!:

Great coloration.

My best of the day, a football shaped fatty over 4 pounds and he was a mean jumper! He got aerial 4 times. It was probably a female as the females are bigger, but whatever:

Nice fish!

We had lunch out of the wind in a quiet cove, but of course I saw some movement and it was a largemouth bass chasing shiners near shore so I had to catch him:

Besides the obvious difference (mouth size!) large and small mouth bass are very differently colored, as you can see.

Fish of the day? The wife's easy 5 pound plus bruiser brought up from 18 feet deep on a great rocky dropoff I found. Caught on a black 5 inch wacky rigged senko:

Monster smallie!

Do not be alarmed at the blood from the fish, the wife hooked him in the lower jaw near the tongue and that area will bleed a bit for a minute but with no damage long term to the fish (they have done studies).

A great day but I am tired out. Working anchors, tying hooks and rigs, fighting the wind, and driving the boat. It's like real work only fun!

Added:
An autumn overview of the Quabbin which shows the size and the beauty of the place:

Wow.

Have a good night.