CTFishTalk.com: Bantam Lake 08/26 - Connecticut Lake Reports ( CT Lake Reports ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

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

Phish (aka Jed) and I decided to check out Bantam Lake from the formerly public boat launch on Jed's Ranger Reata fish & ski. I know what you really want to know, so FYI: 1) Around 6:15 AM, we were the only ones in sight; 2) The "Residents Only" sign at the entrance to the launch has been removed, although unofficially, apparently, because enough of the sign remained for me to tell what it had been; and 3) We did NOT get ticketed. Oh, here's another thing: 4) We were followed around every time we were at the launch by this very lonely duck:

It was a beautiful early morning. Although the humidity was a little high (i.e., over 80 percent), the air temperature was 68 degrees and there was a light WNW wind. There were only isolated clouds and we could see the nearly full moon. As the sun rose we got full sun. However, throughout the day, the winds rose and fell and changed direction several times, and the cloud cover came and went. All in all, it was a beautiful day. The water temperature was 68 to 69 degrees and clear down to about 3 feet. It was stained in parts and pea green in parts. The bottom was weedy in parts and rocky in parts.

After we launched, we headed to the mouth of the Bantam River on the north end of the lake. There's a floating barrier boom protecting part of the shoreline there and we decided to try for some northern pike. The pads were accessible from about 2-1/2 feet of water. The only other boat we saw on the lake was a ski boat with a few guys skiing a slalom course adjacent to where we wanted to fish. However, the wake from their boat wasn't too bad. Jed and I both threw various topwater baits. I stuck mostly with a black buzzbait and Jed went with a black Spro frog. As we worked our way along the N shore from the barrier to the E shore, other than one blowup without a hookset on Jed's frog in the middle of the pads, we got nothing.

We decided to fish a little deeper for bass, off a point on the W shore that dropped from about 12 to about 18 feet. I went with a 3/4 ounce brown and green football jig, while Jed tried a drop shot. Other than some tugs on Jed's drop shot, we got nothing.

We headed over to some rocky shallows off the E shore to the S of the N bay, again to look for some bass. We each tried various baits, but mostly crankbaits. After a hookless tug on his crankbait, on his next cast, Jed finally hooked up with a fish. It hit like a freight train and turned out to be a 26 inch 3 pound 10 ounce northern pike:

It was a pretty fish. And frisky, too:

Yes, we too find it hard to believe that the pike was under 4 pounds. I, on the other hand, caught only a little rock bass on a diving crank bait that I had been dragging over the rocks on the bottom.

The wind kept rising and shifted a little bit more to the W, so we decided to get alee of it and headed to the cove in the SW corner of the lake. We pitched various swim baits at docks and the shoreline, and got nothing. As we worked our way around the cove, we spoke with a guy fishing from the shore who said he had caught only a small northern pike. But after we passed by him, we saw him pull in another small pike.

Meanwhile, Jed and I decided to abandon the swimbaits. I switched to wacky-rigged 5 inch Senkos, while Jed tried various finesse soft plastics (e.g., Texas-rigged Senkos, superflukes and brush hogs). On my very first cast with my favorite watermelon/red flake Senko, I caught a little 8 inch largemouth bass underneath a swim platform. A short while later, I pitched a purple/emerald flake Senko at a mooring buoy and caught a 14 inch keeper largemouth bass. The wind shifted to the N to blow directly down into the cove as we worked our way around and out of it. Jed threw his brush hog over and around a submerged tree off a rock wall on the W shore and got nothing. He asked, "Now why wouldn't there be a bass in there?" I pitched my Senko next to the tree and got a nibble, but told Jed it felt like just a little fish. However, my next cast landed smack on top of the tree and a fish came up out of the tree and slammed it as soon as it hit the water. I tried to jerk the fish out of the tree before it could dive down, but it mananged to wrap itself around one of the top branches. I held the fish there while Jed maneuvered the boat over the tree and leaned over the side of the boat with both hands to free it. It was a monster largemouth bass:

Nah, I'm only kidding. Very Happy

It was just a decent 18 inch 2 pound 10 ounce fish:

We had to run shortly after 12 PM. After waiting for a couple to load two jet skis onto their trailer, we loaded the boat onto the trailer and transferred our gear from the boat to the truck. Then we took off, but only after saying goodbye to the duck:

A lesson I learned after spending the vast majority of the day throwing everything but wacky-rigged Senkos is that I throw wacky-rigged Senkos for a reason - Wacky-rigged Senkos always catch fish!

Hey, Jed, thanks for another great day out on the water on your one bedroom addition, ahem, boat.
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weekend angler · Joined: 09 Sep 2009 Posts: 112 Location: trumbull

let me say that the pic of the pike wiggling is a pretty cool pic , nice job fellas
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Phish · Joined: 22 Aug 2008 Posts: 454 Location: West Hartford

Thanks for the company, Phil! Great report. You didn't miss much, my friend. We had a fun day out there. I'd love to have a day where we catch more than a few, but I'm not complaining.

The crank that caught the pike was a Strike King Series 3 in Sexy Chrome on a varied retrieve. I was using a 7'6" Diawa Mike Iaconelli cranking rod and 14 pound flourocarbon. Of note here is that the extra-long rod was awesome casting in the wind and helped cover more water. The fish hit in about 7 feet of water probably about 15 yards away from a drop to 18 feet. Man those things are strong. It was only my second pike. I figured it was a 5 pound largie until it surfaced by the boat and saw me. It shot between the bow and the trolling motor and almost pulled the rod out of my hands.

Thanks again, Phil.

Phish · Joined: 22 Aug 2008 Posts: 454 Location: West Hartford

One more note...Phil's fish was a nice, healthy chunk. it was in a perfect spot. Clearly the fish wanted nothing to do with a brush hog because I worked that tree at least 5 casts before Phil did. Just goes to show you that it's worth hitting a spot multiple times with different looks. Weighted brushog on flouro, no. Wacky senko on braid (with flouro leader), yes. probably would've wanted something different 10 minutes later....Anyway, It was fun to get that fish unwrapped and in the boat. Normally I don't grab braid barehanded with a spunky fish on the other end, but what the hell!

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

Nice fish and a great report!!

MarkO · Joined: 12 Nov 2007 Posts: 330

Excellent post and pics!

SeaDog1 · Joined: 21 Dec 2009 Posts: 2629

Hey Phil!

Did you give the duck a name Question

That's a young female Mallard.
Lonely?
NAH! I think she must have a thing for you Rolling Eyes

-> You handsome devil you Exclamation

LOL

TurtleKiss · Joined: 09 Mar 2010 Posts: 1200 Location: central CT

Phil - Your "monster" bass is still pretty nice even without the trick photography. You and I are still 100% pike-free, correct? Most of the pike lakes are too big for my vessel, but lemme know if you ever want to try your luck at Hopeville and I'll gladly meet you there.

Jed - What a lovely pike! I lost 2 jigs & a spinnerbait at Winchster so I grabbed a Series 3 (it just happened to be the first crankbait I could free up that rattled.) Stump ate it on the first cast. It's good to know they work...maybe I'll replace it.
Is there a waiting list for a spot on the back of your boat? I really need to fish from something with a depthfinder that doesn't say it's 99 feet everywhere. Laughing

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Kira

*~ "Not everything about fishing is noble, reasonable and sane..." -Henry Middleton ~*

Flipper · Joined: 21 May 2010 Posts: 347 Location: Enfield

Phil- Next time you go to Bantam, spend some time in the large weedbed right off the launch to the left. Along that weedline is where we used to catch pike when i was going there. There is a hump out a ways to the right of the weedbed that I know holds fish in the summer, too.

Sounds like you have a pike forcefield around your kayak! I am right with you brother. I have been hitting other pike lakes trying to find them without much success. Hit Winchester finally and Mansfield Hollow a couple different times with nothing. That's why I haven't been reporting. I have a ton of pics to post from Hopeville, but haven't had the time to resize, put in gallery, post, etc.

Let me know if you and Kira hit Hopeville and maybe I can meet you guys there. Thinking about hitting Mansfield again on Sunday morning if anybody wants to go. I have a lot of confidence that there are big ones in there (been stocked since 1992) just have to find them.
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Fishface · Joined: 02 Jan 2008 Posts: 308 Location: New Britain

Great job guys nice looking pictures. Phil a detailed report as always.

Tim

Phish · Joined: 22 Aug 2008 Posts: 454 Location: West Hartford

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

Hey, Flipper, I think that northern pike are relatively plentiful in Bantam Lake. Stratos17 has been catching them there. Phish got his when we stopped looking for pike and started looking for bass. There was a guy fishing from shore in the southwest cove who caught two undersized ones while we were within earshot of him.

If I had been in one of my boats, I would have headed up Bantam River to the beaver dam. Then again, it would probably take me 1/2 day to get to the mouth of the river from the boat launch in one of my boats.
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TurtleKiss · Joined: 09 Mar 2010 Posts: 1200 Location: central CT

Jed - I was using mono since it sucked to break my braid the 3 other times (couldn't maneuver to it since my anchor line was tethered to a canoe and a stump.) I almost never use cranks, so I threw it with the expectation that I'd never see it again. Given the conditions, it seemed like a good idea to sacrifice the lures I use the least.
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Kira

*~ "Not everything about fishing is noble, reasonable and sane..." -Henry Middleton ~*

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

Kira

If you ever want to check out Winchester during the day, I'd love to pedal around it in my Hobie. Maybe the next rainy but calm day.

Phil
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TurtleKiss · Joined: 09 Mar 2010 Posts: 1200 Location: central CT