CTFishTalk.com: Bearing it all (Lake McD 7/25) - Connecticut Lake Reports ( CT Lake Reports ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

NWDarkcloud · Joined: 23 Apr 2012 Posts: 474

Well Jjay and myself felt Wensday would be a good day so off to Lake McDonough we went seeing (jason) had never been there before. Hit the lanch at 10am when they opened up

Another fine day weather wise little windy weather man said lite 5-10 mph lite breeze so it was 15 + hard blow of course dam near white caps on the open lake 10 minutes in 1st fish of the day salute to Peco (rockie) on a drop-shot.

jason rapala / drop-shot his way around the lake not a nibble on Braided line. I tryed for a while with spiderwire braid and my 12lb xt mono nada. So I tryed a experiment learned from my trip week before to Cedar Lake and tied a 12 in. leader of ultra thin 12lb onto my drop-shot casted to a lay down and branched up so I slow dragged it out from under a tree CRAP!!! it wasnt a branch it was a decent 14in smallie I never set the hook so only saw it long enough for it to flip me the fin and run off.
Two three cast later same rig...

couple cast after that another same size Jason still not a nibble. Bye now 1/2 the day had gone bye time for munchies we started to pull up in the shade line when I looked over my shoulder saw something out in the lake (what the hell is that?) we had to go in for a closer look.......

Thats right a black bear out for a swim across the lake we closed in just enough to watch him and followed the beasty all the way to the far side Jason got a nice vidio of him as he exited the water and make a fast run for the tree line and vanished into the brush. Well after that it was back to the shade and munchie while Jason retied a leader onto his drop-shot rig like mine was set up and ........

it was hit and miss with the new rigs for most the day both of us getting a couple more. Jasons best fish of the day came at around 6:30 decent 15-18 inch bass pic didnt come out good to dark so see I followed it up with a nice smallie

of course the bite got good just as closeing time came around Jason tagging 1-2 more while I did a fast clean up and stow of the gear and it was off to the take out

Another GREAT DAY....... Thanks to Jason for a enjoyable time out
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Redneckangler · Joined: 05 May 2012 Posts: 851 Location: Meriden, CT

Nice trip. Hope you're motoring along ok. The black bear was really cool.
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Michael · Joined: 28 Jan 2012 Posts: 3823 Location: Bridgeport

Nice job guys! Great pics of the bear.

PECo · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT

Wow! Now I really, really regret that I wasn't able to meet you guys out there. The first black bear that I spotted in Connecticut was in the northwest cove of Lake McDonough. They must be fairly common out there.
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SeaDog1 · Joined: 21 Dec 2009 Posts: 2629

Hi Phil,

Yeap! We have a lot of black bears all around Winsted.
Had one cross my and my neighbors property twice this year.

SeaDog1

Zach0208 · Joined: 10 Jun 2012 Posts: 75

Nice report. I have never seen a black bear in Connecticut, must go there some time, with a really heavy tackle Cool

by the way, what worm do you use for drop-shot?

Bluegill Terminator · Joined: 03 May 2007 Posts: 538 Location: Plainville

I came within 20yds of a black bear and her cubs when deer hunting in Nepaug in 2010! I thought the cubs where turkeys but wasn't sure so I got a little closer to get a better look because I was inside the pines tree there. All of the sudden these turkeys climb up the tree not fly but climb. Then I see this big black outline inside the pine trees. Then she came out a little and I saw her face! Never been so scared in my life. Only had my iron sight 12 gauge so I quickly back tracked my steps, luckily it was down a hill so I could get away quickly. It was something I'll never forget though. I tell this story to all my friends just like John Candy does in "The Great Outdoors" when he came face to face with the grizzly Laughing

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NWDarkcloud · Joined: 23 Apr 2012 Posts: 474

I was useing a natural color zoom finess with a curly tail and some realy small slugo rip-off body style 1.5- 2 in size. Jason was on the 4 inch dingers watermellon / red I beleave. From what the Dep guyz said when we hit the launch that bear lives in the woods off Goosegreen la. west side of the lake and is spoted pretty regularly In the area
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jjbassfishn · Joined: 17 Jun 2012 Posts: 209 Location: Northwestern CT.

Thanks for the report,

We spend a lot of time on McD, But only saw the bear once so far. It was on the far shoreline in one of the coves.

Hopefully we'll be out there this Sunday depending on the weather. The largemouth action has been somewhat slow lately, So we'll hit the main lake with dropshots for some brown fish(smallies) for the most part. But we'll aslo hit the grass flats near the channels with some Carolina rigs and some crankbaits.
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NorthEastFisherman · Joined: 27 May 2012 Posts: 582

If you said you were in maine i wouldve believed you! Awesome looking place!
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hila2006 · Joined: 22 Jul 2011 Posts: 582 Location: Ellington

Very awesome day Bob and Jason that bear was cool. We've had a few deer lately around the cove here at Beseck, love the wildlife!! Beats the city for sure LOL.

J8851 · Joined: 19 Apr 2012 Posts: 13

woulda been a nice time to have my bow! ....... kidding kidding! That must have been pretty neat to see.

JJay · Joined: 23 Sep 2011 Posts: 113 Location: Farmington, CT

Thanls for another great day out on the water - was my first live encounter with a black bear that wasn't in a cage (@zoo). The bear encounter definately made up for the slow day of fishing - We did manage quite a few decent ones later in the evening. We should continue the leader experiment at another lake and see if your theory holds up.

pikePERSUADER1 · Joined: 07 Dec 2010 Posts: 521

I gotta get out more, thats awesome! Cool

ps, alot of (tournament guys) use 6-8 lb.flouro leaders, 3-6 feet long attached to 15lb braid, or just 6-8lb flouro mainline, stealth is the key in clear water, in dirtier water it may not matter too much, so you guys are def. on to something experimenting with leader materials! go lite! -Dan Cool