100th Trout of the Year

Caught trout number 100. I never thought I'd reach this number. I did blow off striper fishing. Not to reach 100 but because the trout fishing last week and week before was so good in the fly fishing only pond I was fishing at. After saying yesterday the fishing slowed down, I went back to Whitings Pond. The trout were stacked up in a deep hole I caught 7 in less than an hour. Fittingly they were all rainbows.

Here is a quick breakdown

Types of trout

92 rainbows

4 tigers

3 browns

1 brookie

Caught from 5 different lakes

Ways they were caught

Roostertail 10

Powerbait 37

Spoon 3

Casting Bubble/ Fly 21

Fly Fishing 27

Unknown 2

Caught the most out of Falls Pond 44

I hope everyone has a happy and safe Memorial Day weekend. I will see you on the other side of it.

Nick

Powerbait- PowerGREAT

This post pains me to write. I've said before that using powerbait is my least favorite way to catch trout. If I had my way trout would only hit flies on either a fly rod or spinning rod with a casting bubble. Catching a trout on flies even in a put and take fishery makes you feel like you caught a wild fish no different than a largemouth or striped bass. Catching a trout on powerbait makes you remember the fish you just caught was in a hatchery living on corn meal and vitamins a couple of weeks ago.

That said, I would rather catch fish than not catch fish. If catching fish means using powerbait, then so be it. Usually I use one rod with powerbait on the bottom and I cast lures with the other rod. Occasionally, the lures will catch more trout than the powerbait, but not often. I will usually start the lure rod with casting bubble/ fly. I will always catch more species with this set up, but usually less trout.

So I am giving credit where it is due ( this is painful) and saying that in general powerbait may be the best trout catching thing out there. This includes live bait such as worms and shiners. The problem with worms is they sit on the bottom. Powerbait floats. If you use the powerbait with an egg sinker and an 18 inch leader, it floats off the bottom and above early spring weeds. This makes it deadly for trout cruising along the bottom. I believe it also easily outfishes shiners for trout. Trout brought up in a hatchery never hunted before, so given the choice of chasing a shiner or eating a pellet that smells a lot like what they are used too, its a no brainer.

The main negative to powerbait is- a trout is almost certainly going to swallow the hook. If you do not plan on keeping ( eating) what you catch it is a terrible idea to use it. Almost every trout I have hooked using powerbait has been gut hooked. If I plan on keeping some fish for the table I will use powerbait. Once I have reached my limit ( 3 trout in Mass, 5 in Rhode Island- although I never keep 5) I put the powerbait rod away. If I still feel like fishing, I will use the lure rod and let go everything else I catch. So I beg you not to use powerbait unless you plan on eating the fish. There is no reason to kill anything if it is only going to waste. No matter if you are holding the rod feeling for a bite or standing next to it, if the trout wants to inhale it, you won't be able to stop it. It may be interesting to experiment with a circle hook, however since most of the hook is covered, it may be a moot point. Can't hurt to try.

There are many types of powerbait out there. There is paste you mold around the hook. There's power eggs, which are molded to the size of salmon eggs. There are also nuggets. These are cylinder shaped baits about 1/2 an inch. For the record, I use the chartreuse power nuggets. I have hits almost every time I use them. I see no need to clutter my box with other flavors/ colors.

An example of how effective the power nuggetts are was this morning. I went down to Falls Pond. As usually I set up one rod with power nuggets. With the other I was using an olive hares ear below my casting bubble. Within one hour I caught three trout on the powerbait. At that point I hadn't a hit on the fly. All three fish were gut hooked so all three will become fish tacos in my near future. I put the three trout in the car and I put the powerbait away. I did not want to go over my limit and kill anymore fish. I kept fishing the fly and was determined to either catch fish with it or strike out swinging. I wasn't changing to a different lure.

After I put the other rod away, fishing got really good on the fly in the next 90 minutes I managed 5 fish. ONLY ONE WAS A TROUT. I caught 3 sunfish a calico bass and one trout about 12 inches long. So I caught more fish on the fly. If specifically fishing for trout however, powerbait won 3-1. and I put it away after an hour. I am sure I would have caught more trout if I didn't put it away.I had a lot more hits on the fly than I caught, the wind picked up. It was a cross breeze so setting the hook was a challenge. I do not think I had any other trout hits. A trout will hit a fly like a rocket, where as a sunfish hits the same as it hits a worm ,it feels like a sharp nibble.

The morale of the story, if you are looking for trout this weekend, put some powerbait on and watch your rod.

Little Ol' White Perch

Went fishing in the rain last night for an hour before the Celtics game. I went to Falls Pond in search of a possible trout. I used powerbait on one rod and casting bubble/wooly bugger on the other. I managed a trout on the powerbait. It was about a 13 inch rainbow.On the wooly bugger I caught a yellow perch and a white perch. It goes to show how effective dragging a fly behind a casting bubble can be. I've caught trout, both types of perch, largemouth bass, crappie, and sunfish with this method. It was my first white perch of the year.

Of course catching a 7 inch white perch is nothing to write home about ( or really to write in a blog) but they have a special meaning for me. When I was a kid my family and I went up to Maine every year for two weeks. We rented a cottage on a nine mile long lake. The lake was loaded with white perch. I spent almost every waking hour of those two weeks chasing them. Toddy Pond in Ellsworth, ME was the first place I ever saw/ caught a white perch. Even now when I catch one, it takes me back to that time, even just for a second.

Changing tactics leads to a good day Fishing

A quote from an old St Croix catalog "There is nothing more annoying than good weather"

Although I have been complaining about the north wind for a couple weeks, you will never here me complain about rainy days. Rainy days mean my favorite spots will be quite lonesome ( in a good way) places to fish. Today in little old North Attleboro, MA it was a rainy day. Although the temperature barely hit 49 degrees, dressed properly, it wasn't to bad. Trout fishing was slow today. The fish were around but they were not particularly aggressive.

I started with the brown Roostertail from a couple days ago on one pole and powerbait nuggets on the other. I didn't have any luck on the Roostertail, so I switched it up with a casting bubble and and a fly ( wooly bugger). Within minutes I caught a 14 inch rainbow. I also managed to catch a 7 inch yellow perch. Both fish were caught within 10 minutes. An important note to the story, the wooly bugger that I caught the trout on was a fly that made myself. This is the first fish I've ever caught on a fly that I made not bought. After that I couldn't buy a bite with the set up. The wind picked up and the water got a little rough. I guessed that with the rough water the trout could not find the fly. So, I switched back to the spinner and picked up another 14 incher.

So you ask, what about the rod with powerbait. well I'm glad you asked. I got 5 hits on that rod. Unfortunately, the trout did not hold on long enough for me to catch them. Twice I was next to the rod when I got a hit. Both times the fish just hit the nugget and bolted without taking it. I have a suprise for the trout next time they do this. I bought some mealworms at the pet store tonight. I am going to tip the hook with them. I doubt any trout will be able to resist a struggling mealworm and nugget. I hope my theory is correct. Only time will tell.

First Trout of the Year

This week has been kind of disappointing for fishing. After catching the carp on March 19 I have gone fishing a couple of times with no luck. I've been baiting up the areas pretty well. The fish just aren't biting.

Yesterday, I thought I'd try some trout fishing. The trout are in many ponds now in Massachusetts. I hit Falls Pond, mostly because it is just a half mile from my house. The main area to fish is on Reservoir Street. There is parking for a couple cars, but enough room for 20 people to fish. I tried my luck yesterday afternoon. Unfortunately, there is a house being built right near the water. The hammers banging and the nailing down of planks was extremely loud. If I were a fish, I'd have been long gone from that area. They must think like me, because I did not get a hit. I then tried the conservation area up Wild Acre Rd. The place I normally would fish was occupied so I tried a small spot a little further up without any luck. Adding to the misery is the north wind that has been here for ten days that won't let up!!

I would prefer to fish for " real" trout, meaning wild unstocked fish. Unfortunately. there are not a lot of wild fish in the area, so I make do with stockies. A poodle can not help that it is not a real dog. It was just born that way. Stocked trout can't help they were born in a hatchery. So I fish for them in the spring as a substitute for wild trout.

Today, I was going to carp fish but thought I'd give the trout another try. I guessed they would be more active,especially with Friday's storm coming. I drove by Reservoir Street, but the carpenters were at the house, so I turned around and drove up Wild Acre Road. The little beach area was unoccupied. I grabbed my two poles and tackle box and headed down the short path.

I baited one pole with powerbait. Let me say right off, using powerbait is my LEAST favorite way to catch trout. It can be an effective bait so I use it one rod, while I cast lures with the other one. I enjoy catching trout on lures and flies a lot more than with powerbait or worms. With the other rod I first tried a fly and casting bubble combo. I didn't have any luck with that. Yesterday I used a spoon for the majority of my time fishing. I didn't get a hit so I didn't go to that again today. Today was overcast so I switched the fly/casting bubble to a 1/8 oz. brown roostertail spinner with a gold blade ( see photo). The wind was blowing so I could not use a smaller spinner and expect to cast it very far.

Long story short. I caught 4 trout today, all on the roostertail. I did not get one hit on the powerbait. I tried 2 different kinds of powerbait, but they would not touch it. All the trout were recently stocked rainbows. All were about 11 inches. I kept two and released two. I will say this about the fish, they were really brightly colored. Sometimes stocked fish are kind of " blah" but these were beautiful. The photos do not do justice to there bright colors.

I only fished about 2 hours, so I'm not complaining. I had one other hit, but he didn't get hooked. The wind was cold, as it kept switching from north to northeast. I was happy to go home and warm up.

I hope this report helps any of you wanting to catch some trout.