CTFishTalk.com: Mansfield Hollow - 5/5 - Connecticut Lake Reports ( CT Lake Reports ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

SAP284 · Joined: 07 Jun 2011 Posts: 655 Location: Central, CT

Hit Mansfield from 9am-2pm today. It started to rain in spurts today, and was super cloudy. I really thought that it was supposed to be sunny but guess not. Water temp was in the upper 50's and air temp was about 60ish or so.

Threw several Rapalas today from 4"-5" and a red Strike King crankbait. I landed a bunch of panfish which was really annoying. A total of 7 Yellow Perch, 4 Sunfish, and a Pickerel. My girlfriend landed two fish, a yellow perch, and a nice size LMB. It was 18.5 inches and 3lb on the nose. I was very surprised how long it was, and also pretty jealous because she had the lunker of the day.

My little 12" pickerel was the highlight of mine. You can probably see the tail was bleeding, that's because when I was bringing it in the boat, it was thrashing so hard that the bottom part of the crankbait hooked its tail. So I had to unhook it from a U...

The water was also low enough where I could squeeze through the tunnel and hit the lower part of the Reservoir. That's where both the LMB and Pickerel were hit in about 5-7 FOW.
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Steve

slim2043 · Joined: 11 Apr 2011 Posts: 446 Location: Plainville CT

Nice Report!

Real long tail section on that bass. Surprised it didn't weigh more this time of year.
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Never give up!

DirtyDawg10 · Joined: 27 May 2009 Posts: 2238 Location: Granby, CT

Nice! That pickerel almost looks like a hybrid pike/pickerel

Michael · Joined: 28 Jan 2012 Posts: 3823 Location: Bridgeport

Was it the Strike King or larger Rapalas that worked? I'm sure that 10cm Husky Jerk worked again for you. 10cm X-Rap and 11cm Original Floater or Jointed would have done it too.

Good point DD. I couldn't tell if it was either a pike or pickerel.

SAP284 · Joined: 07 Jun 2011 Posts: 655 Location: Central, CT

Thanks! I was thinking that about the pickerel too but I wasn't sure. They have Pike there so it's possible for sure.

Hey Michael - the Strike Kings kept getting me Sunfish and perch. The Rapalas did the good deeds today. The husky jerk is what my gf was using and she caught that bass on. The pickerel was on a suspending one that was a bit bigger. I have some jointed ones but I haven't used them, and I also have some floaters. For some reason the Strike King to me had a little too much action, which I didn't like for some reason. The Rapalas seem to work better Smile

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Steve

Michael · Joined: 28 Jan 2012 Posts: 3823 Location: Bridgeport

Some aggressive jerking with a 5 second pause and a few light twitches with a Husky Jerk or X-Rap can get the bass and pickerel to hit. The light twitches gets the fish even more mad by just seeing the tail of the lure wagging in front of them.

hila2006 · Joined: 22 Jul 2011 Posts: 582 Location: Ellington

Does look like a hybrid pike/pic. They say it happens sometimes. Good pics though.

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

Here's a Lake Champlain hybrid:

And here's my daughter and Captain Mickey Maynard with an even better one:

They have the size of a northern pike with the fight of a chain pickerel. And they're the prettier than either. Very Happy

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Michael · Joined: 28 Jan 2012 Posts: 3823 Location: Bridgeport

Size of a pike to go with the fight of a pickerel is something I'd go crazy for!

I love that aggressiveness of a chain pickerel and could imagine feeling that fight to go with the size of a pike!