Quabbin Opener 2024
Crestliner2008 reply :
Due to the cold spring and ice up lasting into the beginning of this month, the Quabbin didn't open until this past weekend. Two weeks late! And this weekend was bad, weather-wise, with rain, cold temps and wind. Monday was the most decent day, which is when my fishing partner & I decided to start our Q season this year.
Walt & I hit the water between 8:30 am, until we pulled off at 2:00 pm, in search of one species - the lake trout. I know, many folks do not have a fondness for this species (most preferring to target smallmouth bass and salmon), but we do. They fight and bulldog and twist to the very end. Great fun on light spinning tackle. We launched a little after 8 am this morning, out of Gate #31. stiff breezes and cool temps were the rule of the day. The parking lot was filled and we had to wait in a line of about 3 other rigs putting in, when we arrived.
Walt had the first fish of the day before 8:30 am. A very nice smallmouth bass. Unfortunately, while trying not to get a hook in his hand, the bass freed itself before I could get a picture. A very promising start of the day! We lost about 1/2 doz. lakers, from about 45', during the morning and early afternoon. But before we show you our catches, here's what we were greeted with for scenery:
Doesn't get much better than this. And we had a low fly over by a bald eagle. (Just wish I had a better camera to capture it with.) The loons however, never fail to entertain:
Here are some shot of the lakers we did mange to boat, starting off with a couple of Walt's fish:
And here are couple of my cookie-cutter lakers:
BTW, for you blade bait aficionados, this fish destroyed my 5/8 oz. "Cicada" blade bait ($4.49/ea!). Bent the blade, bent the rear double hook and we never were able to find the front hook! I would not recommend them for such tough fish as lake trout. Our "el cheapo" Barlows blades (at $1.50/ea.) performed much better. JMO!
And our "fish of the day"; I managed this bad boy around 1 pm today. Really taxed the 10# test PowerPro with an 8# test fluoro leader on a med-light spinning rig. But it did the job. Probably one of my all-time best:
Also picked up one small smallmouth bass to round out our day:
And there I am, in full regalia; sun hat and sun gloves. No more cutting hunks of meat off my body for cancer. I've learned my lesson....life is way too short!
A great start of the 2014 season for us today. The rest of the week is not shaping out too good, weather-wise, but we'll see. Hope some you got out to enjoy it all.
Dwight Hottle reply :
Nice report & photos. My first trip out on lake erie resulted in a few lake trout. They are always a welcome suprise.
A-Jay reply :
Congrats on a Sweet first trip.
Nice job
A-Jay
je1946 reply :
Way to go Cresty, looks like you guys had a great day regardless of species. You ever run into any Crappie, I hear they have some gd ones. I've fished the Q for many yrs and have caught many different species but never any Crappie.
Crestliner2008 reply :
je1946 - Yes, I've taken some nice crappie up there. Takes some doing to keep track of them though as it's a big reservoir. We've had our best luck just north of the "Pass" in depths down to 45'. Some decent perch down there too. 
I've been fishing the Q since the early 80's.
Janderson45 reply :
Sweet! I've only fished the Quabbin once, strange beast she is. I'm more used to fishing shallower and more stained or muddy water that we have out here in eastern MA... nothing quite like the ultra clear and deep water. Needless to say the Quabbin smoked me, we got the skunk!
Crestliner2008 reply :
On 5/1/2014 at 2:29 AM, Janderson45 said:Sweet! I've only fished the Quabbin once, strange beast she is. I'm more used to fishing shallower and more stained or muddy water that we have out here in eastern MA... nothing quite like the ultra clear and deep water. Needless to say the Quabbin smoked me, we got the skunk!
No doubt about it, you have to put in your time on this body of water to make her give up decent fish on a regular basis. Right now is prime shallow water fishing for smallies and lakers. When the water temps get above 60, the lakers move back down deep. The smallies follow them shortly after that. I'm not much of a salmon fisherman though, Have caught most of my salmon while fishing off-shore structures for smallmouths.
Mike2841 reply :
Awesome fish. Never fished the quabbin before, but it's on my list this year along with wachusett
InfamousBG reply :
I have fished the Quabbin for many years. Great body of water. Looking to be out there next Friday 5/16 & Saturday 5/17 if anyone wants to join me.
InfamousBG reply :
How has the fishing been out here this week? Any reports?
Crestliner2008 reply :
The lakers are still up shallow. The smallies will be shallow as well. Problem with the shallies is that most will be smaller bucks. The larger females will be just off the spawning flats, awaiting a temp spike to set them on the beds. I don't fish for salmon, so I couldn't tell you!
InfamousBG reply :
On 5/15/2014 at 7:07 PM, Crestliner2008 said:The lakers are still up shallow. The smallies will be shallow as well. Problem with the shallies is that most will be smaller bucks. The larger females will be just off the spawning flats, awaiting a temp spike to set them on the beds. I don't fish for salmon, so I couldn't tell you!
Great news. Thanks for the report.
InfamousBG reply :
Did pretty well today at the Quabbin. Caught a bunch of smallmouth bass. Did not catch one lake trout. We fished for hours for lake trout and did not see or get one bite. Fished between 15-30 feet. Went up even more shallow and still no lakers. Plenty of smallmouth though. They love the Rapala X-Rap Hot Steel.
InfamousBG reply :
Hitting up the Quabbin Tuesday 5/27 if anyone wants to join me. Smallmouth and hitting like crazy. I will probably be there between 6-7am. Let me know if you can make it.
jaystraw reply :
On 5/24/2014 at 11:58 PM, InfamousBG said:Hitting up the Quabbin Tuesday 5/27 if anyone wants to join me. Smallmouth and hitting like crazy. I will probably be there between 6-7am. Let me know if you can make it.
I wish I was not working that dayo or I'd be there. I live in Peterborough, so the Quabbin is not too bad aof a drive. I've never fished it because they won't allow my 90hp Nitro on it, and I have not gotten the courage to rent one of thier boats.
Maybe some Friday in the next few weeks if you plan on going again. I'd love to check it out.
By the way,I just saw that one of your favorite lakes is Newfound. Mine as well.
InfamousBG reply :
On 5/27/2014 at 7:03 AM, jaystraw said:I wish I was not working that dayo or I'd be there. I live in Peterborough, so the Quabbin is not too bad aof a drive. I've never fished it because they won't allow my 90hp Nitro on it, and I have not gotten the courage to rent one of thier boats.
Maybe some Friday in the next few weeks if you plan on going again. I'd love to check it out.
By the way,I just saw that one of your favorite lakes is Newfound. Mine as well.
I actually rent their boats all the time. They are not that bad. Have caught a ton of smallmouth from those little boats. I have a Nitro as well with a 125 on it. It is a pain bringing a bigger boat when you have to be on the trolling motor the whole time. With their boats I use a drift sock, use the anchor and troll.
Ya I love Newfound. Grew up there my whole life. My parents sold our cottage last year. Such a bummer. I learned how to fish on that lake.
jaystraw reply :
I was wondering if I could bring the Nitro and just use the trolling motor. Does seems like a big waterbody to have to deal with that.
Can you bring a trolling motor and attach it to thier boat? I have a trolling motor that I use on my canoe that I could easily attach to it if it was allowed.
I was gonna head to Newfound soon...spawn has got to be getting going there now.
InfamousBG reply :
On 5/29/2014 at 4:11 AM, jaystraw said:I was wondering if I could bring the Nitro and just use the trolling motor. Does seems like a big waterbody to have to deal with that.
Can you bring a trolling motor and attach it to thier boat? I have a trolling motor that I use on my canoe that I could easily attach to it if it was allowed.
I was gonna head to Newfound soon...spawn has got to be getting going there now.
Yes you can bring your own trolling motor and use it with their boats.
coltondel reply :
Will there be alot of people on a wednesday should i get there early even on a week day??
FirstnameLastname reply :
Haven't been in a while, gotta go this year. Nice fish by the way. I've been spending my time around the scantic river and hamilton resevoir. Anybody else fish those spots?
InfamousBG reply :
Probably going to hit up the Quabbin Sunday if I can. Rent one of their boats. The smallmouth should be right off the banks.
Crestliner2008 reply :
I was there yesterday and we did pretty well. The smallies are off the banks now and setting up on their summer structures.
We even got into some nice LM well off-shore:
You should alright with either the drop shot and/or floating a Senko. Good Luck!
InfamousBG reply :
If you guys dont mind me asking how deep down were the fish?
Crestliner2008 reply :
On 6/21/2014 at 3:39 AM, InfamousBG said:If you guys dont mind me asking how deep down were the fish?
The smallies were down around 30'. We got the largemouths a little shallower. None were relating to bait balls, which is peculiar. But you have to find deep water structures with weeds.
InfamousBG reply :
On 6/21/2014 at 7:09 AM, Crestliner2008 said:The smallies were down around 30'. We got the largemouths a little shallower. None were relating to bait balls, which is peculiar. But you have to find deep water structures with weeds.
30' already? Wow I am surprised. I guess the drop shot is coming out early. I thought I would not have to use it till early to mid July.
Crestliner2008 reply :
I fish the drop shot from ice out to ice up.
InfamousBG reply :
On 6/21/2014 at 4:26 PM, Crestliner2008 said:I fish the drop shot from ice out to ice up.
Oh I am the same way but as I type this it is pretty cool out. When you think about it we have actually only had a few weeks of really warm weather. Nights have still been cool as the same with mornings. I thought many fish would still stay shallow in the morning until the sun came out then move to about 10-15 feet off of drops. I did not think they would be at 30' already.
YungAngler reply :
Was there on Wednesday. Smallies were close to shore, but def in deeper water. We drifted with the wind about 20 feet from shore and caught some very nice fish. Not great #'s, but the quality was amazing. Catch of the day belonged to my buddy - 4.5 pound SM. Biggest one I've seen this year. Drop shot is helpful, but any weighted plastic rig should work. We caught em on T-rigged worms and craws, and some topwater early AM.
InfamousBG reply :
On 6/21/2014 at 11:27 PM, BaBaBooey said:
Was there on Wednesday. Smallies were close to shore, but def in deeper water. We drifted with the wind about 20 feet from shore and caught some very nice fish. Not great #'s, but the quality was amazing. Catch of the day belonged to my buddy - 4.5 pound SM. Biggest one I've seen this year. Drop shot is helpful, but any weighted plastic rig should work. We caught em on T-rigged worms and craws, and some topwater early AM.
I'll be heading back next week before the bass head deeper for the summer. What an amazing place to fish. A Massachusetts treasure for sure.
Awesome to here this man. Ya I am headed out early tomorrow morning with a buddy. I have a good spot with a nice drop for smallmouth that usually works well.
InfamousBG reply :
All fish were caught between 5-7 feet of water on a weight less senko or a tube with a 1/8 oz weight. Amazing day!!!!!!!!!!!! Did not drop shot once. Pulled in about 10 fish. Missed one that jumped off in front of the boat by my buddy that must have been over 4 lbs.
YungAngler reply :
Great fish man!! I crushed it again there yesterday. 8 SM over 4 pounds, including 2 that hit 5. Only one 2 LM caught the rest were SM monsters. Here are some pics. Can't say enough good things about this body of water. My only negative, it's a 2 hour haul for me, but well worth it.
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