Fishing 2025

[JimG.]

4/25/25-Rye Lake

Skiing lasted longer for me than I anticipated, mostly due to March scheduling issues and some bad car luck. I could not get out fishing until late April. Steve had been out 2 times previous to Friday and caught nothing. I was optimistic that we would have a good day. And that turned out to be the case. Steve boated 5 smallmouths and I boated 4, all in the same size range, the smallest fish about 1 1/2 pounds and the bigger ones about 2 1/2. A few might have been juvenile females but the majority were nest protecting males. Water was cold and the fish were not hitting hard, so we lost quite a few as well. It was great to get out fishing again!




Pics are of each of our first fish of the season, Steve's on the 2 1/2 pound side and mine on the 1 1/2 pound side of the size range. Fun day as usual.

 

[JimG.]

5/1-Rye Lake

Remarkably similar weather to our visit last Friday. Similar wind speeds but wind direction was from the east which meant a cool breeze off the ocean. Fish were in the same spots too. I caught 6 smallmouths and Steve 3. Most of them were over 2lbs. The big difference today was that I started the day using a black Yamamoto 5" senko and Steve was using a sinking Rapala plug. Last week all the luck was on plugs, but after I caught 3 fish on the worm Steve saw the light and switched over. He immediately started catching fish after that. Fish were a bit more aggressive today.




That is not Alfred E. Neuman. Steve is getting some implants next week.

 

[JimG.]

5/15-Bog Brook

May is the month to get to Bog Brook for smallmouths. Once the middle of June arrives they become almost impossible to catch without live bait. The ones in BB are well known for being very picky as well. We caught a few good sized largemouths early on but nothing really big. And no smallmouths to be seen. And then halfway into the day the smallies suddenly turned on. Caught a few nice ones from there on all on the worm.



These were the two biggest fish of the day, the first two smallies we boated, both caught in the same spot and both hooked at roughly the same time, mine first by about 30 seconds. What a fight! Multiple jumps and tail walks by both fish. Both released alive and well. Great day.

 

[JimG.]

5/18-East Branch Reservoir

The EB is just south of Bog Brook and weather conditions were similar to BB this past Thursday so we figured fishing would be good. Turned out to be my son James' best fishing day ever. I caught a bunch of 12" or smaller largemouths and James was cleaning up all the big fish.




I was happy to see James so stoked about his good fishing luck. At our last fishing spot of the day, I finally boated a big smallmouth at the little island. The icing on the cake!

 

[JimG.]

5/25-East Branch Reservoir

Conditions were similar to a week ago. So was the fishing. Aside from an almost total lack of smallmouth action (I hooked the only one we saw all day, not huge about 15") the fishing action was very good. Lots of smaller largemouths mixed in with a few that were in the 15-16" size range. Nothing huge. Fun day.




James has figured out how to think like a fish. Another very good day for him.

 

[ThatGuy]

I miss being able to fish with my dad. Those are some nice bass

 

[ThatGuy]

Got this carp a few days ago

 

[JimG.]

I miss being able to fish with my dad. Those are some nice bass

I love fishing with my boys. And James is my youngest so the feeling is even more intense.

I get more joy out of seeing him catch fish than any I put in the boat.

 

[JimG.]

View attachment 66376
Got this carp a few days ago

Wondering what baits you use to catch carp. There are plenty of german carp in the reservoirs we fish, big ones over 25lbs. I've boated a few, all by accident or because I spotted them lounging along shore and managed to snag one. I've never tried to actually fish for them.

 

[ThatGuy]

Wondering what baits you use to catch carp. There are plenty of german carp in the reservoirs we fish, big ones over 25lbs. I've boated a few, all by accident or because I spotted them lounging along shore and managed to snag one. I've never tried to actually fish for them.

Use a few circle hooks on the same line and load them up with corn, bread, and power bait. Should get one on that.