CTFishTalk.com: Winchester Lake 09/02 - Connecticut Lake Reports ( CT Lake Reports ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

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

I fished Winchester Lake, today. I figured that I'd fish with DirtyDawg10 (aka Derek), who would be paddling El Fuego, but knew that NWDarkcloud (Bob) and JJay (aka Jason) would be there in Bob's boat, and thought that TurtleKiss (aka Kira) would be there in Dinghbat, too. When I launched at the state boat launch ramp in The Other Woman at 7:20 am, Derek, Bob and Jason were already on the water. As for Kira, well, I'll just say that her alarm clock has a "Snooze" button. Rolling Eyes

Whenever I fish Winchester, I almost always head up the west shore and clockwise around the lake. Today, I decided to head up the east shore and counterclockwise around it. I started throwing a small black buzzbait and a wacky rigged green pumpkin/red flake five inch Senko toward the rip rap dam wall as I headed to the east shore from the ramp. The air was wonderfully cool, the sky was totally overcast and there was a slight north breeze. The water was cool, my in hull transducer showed 72 degrees, but it was murky; I could see down only a few feet. The only action I got along the dam wall was a splash from some sunnies that were startled by the wacky Senko. I headed up the shallows along the east shore, but didn't see any fish in the water or any activity on the surface. When I got even with the first cove on the west shore, I saw Derek and the bright red of El Fuego in the cove. I called Derek to ask whether he had gotten an early bite and, unfortunately, he hadn't, so I suggested that we troll some crankbaits up the channel along the east shore. My Perch Rapala Jointed Shad Rap JSR07 snagged up almost immediately Rolling Eyes

and Derek headed up to the little island. I couldn't clear the deep snag and my 15 pound test P-Line Fluoroclear snapped with a loud "CRACK!" I tied on another Perch JSR07 and got a hit from a small fish almost immediately on the fresh lure:

Rocky!

The water soon became to shallow for the Perch JSR07, so I tied on a Perch Rapala Shallow Shad Rap SSR07. To make a long story short, over the next 2-1/2 hours, I boated five more fish of five different species. Shocked

After the rock bass, I got a largemouth bass with the wacky Senko, and the Perch SSR07 got me a yellow perch, a northern pike, a bluegill and a chain pickerel, in that order:

Weird, huh? There was no size to any of the fish, but I sure enjoyed the variety! Laughing

Derek and I worked our way through the shallow stump field in the north cove, but didn't get any action. At that point, Derek had caught only a 21 inch northern pike, a little chain pickerel and a couple of short largemouth bass, so we set a not too ambitious goal of catching a keeper largemouth bass. The air temperature had risen to the low 80s and the few clouds left in the sky wouldn't get in front of the blazing hot sun, so Derek sunscreened up and I took off my wool vest. The water temperature had risen quite a bit, too, to 76 degrees. I got another short largemouth bass at the edge of the lily pads on the west side of the north cove:

But then Derek got a 15 inch, one pound, 11 ounce keeper largemouth bass off of the point of lily pads on the west side of the mouth of the north cove:

While Derek fished the submerged islands in front of the north cove, I headed into the northwest cove. I spent a lot of time in there, but got only two fish, although one was a 12 inch keeper largemouth bass:

While I was in the northwest cove, Derek caught another 15 inch largemouth bass by the submerged islands. As I pedaled out of the northwest cove, I trolled up a yellow perch with the Perch JSR07:

After I met back up with Derek at the submerged islands, we decided to troll down the main body of the lake through the stumps. The water in that area ranges from 10 to 13 feet deep. Almost immediately, the Perch JSR07 got me another 12 inch largemouth bass:

The wind was blowing pretty briskly by then. It was blowing so hard that Derek had to slow down El Fuego with his paddle to keep from moving faster than 1-1/2 miles per hour, which is my ideal trolling speed. We each lost a short largemouth bass off of our Perch Rapalas, but I boated another small yellow perch with the perch JSR07:

After I lost the second Perch JSR07 to another deep snag Mad

, I tied on a Perch Rapala Jointed Shad Rap JSR05, because I didn't have any more Perch JSR07s with me. Rolling Eyes

I was a little too ambitious and trolled a Perch LiveTarget crankbait at the same time as the Perch JSR05. Of course, it snagged on a stump and the line tangled around the lure on another setup I had hanging over the side of the boat. After I untangled everything, the wind blew The Other Woman down the lake, the slack came out of my snagged line and my setup was suddenly yanked overboard. Shocked

If anyone wants to try and snag up a Shimano Clarus 7'2" Worm and Jig spinning rod with a Shimano Sahara 2500 FD spinning reel and a LiveTarget Perch crankbait, send me a PM and I'll tell you the area in which I lost it. Derek and I decided to fish the southwest cove before heading off of the water, and saw Bob and Jason heading back to the ramp as we went onto the cove. We worked the shoreline and beds of lily pads with wacky Senkos, and each boated some short largemouth bass before we got out of there:

I also boated a "just one more" chain pickerel with the Perch JSR05 before I hit the ramp. However, the little slimedart squirted out of my hand after I unhooked it, but before I could get a photo of it. Rolling Eyes

When Derek and I got off of the water at 4:20 pm, the air temperature was 82 degrees, the wind was blowing close to 10 miles per hour out of the north and the water temperature was 77-1/2 degrees. If I were to head back to Winchester before things cools down, I'd plan to fish only the deeper water and I'd bring A LOT of lures! Laughing

In addition to the two Perch JSR07s and the setup with the Perch LiveTarget crankbait, I lost a couple of wacky rigs to deep snags, too. Confused

I'm not too sure how Bob and Jason did, but I'd love to hear about it. Wink

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

Great job as always Phil!

Nice girth on the shorty!

NWDarkcloud · Joined: 23 Apr 2012 Posts: 474

As Peco (phil) mentioned Jjay (Jason) and myself took a run upto Winchester Lake Sunday morning to try our luck . the weather was cool and calm little bit cloudy when we hit the launch at 6:00 am DirtyDawg10 ( Derek) had pulled in a few minute before we did and was allready washing lures near the dam. In the few munutes it took us to unstrap the boat others where lineing up on the ramp so we launched fast and took off. Breezes where light and starting to climb as the air warmed so we made a run straight for the deep stumps south end of the lake where x182dan had repored to me he had decent luck the day before sure enough the locator was showing fish all over the place so we jigged .. wacky rigged..drop shot...cranked...and spinnered our way to nada nibble. Jasons phone gave out a text jingle it was Phil at Mc-D's takeing orders very cool offer but we had hit DD on the way and allready had morning munchies covered few minute after that the King of the Rock Bass arrived at the lake with the other woman and I boated the 1st fish of the day

a rocky allmost as if they wanted me to know there king had arrived Laughing

Time went by as we moved our way through the stump feilds we kept pounding the water with everything in the box and still nada so a fast run down the lake to south end started a wind drift up west shore about 1/2 way up the run I got

looks like a picky in the photo but im fairly sure it was a small northern 18+ in wanted to get it back in quick as it had hit the deck a few times so never took the tape out . A fast lunck break in the shade and a look aroud the lake noticed we could see 6-8 boats from where we sat busy day on the water Derek & Phil had moved up the lake to the north end long ago so we made a run up to see how they where doing I looked up the lake to a small red dot growning on the water as I lined my boat up contemplating ramming run Twisted Evil

Derek boated a fish so we pulled up for a cold water chat break and to laughed about the grey squirrel he saw doing the back stroke across the lake that morning. Short break and off we where fishing again

getting pretty late in the day allmost cut-off time and bingo jason takes a hit

not a monster bass but at least it whiped the smell of skunk of the front of the boat that had been growing all day Laughing

he also got a decent bass 1-1.5 range but never took a pick as it had deep hook that took a while to get out and wanted it back in as soon as we could .
We lost a couple more on stumps and weed foul ups Sad

time was up so we waved at Derek & Phil at the south end as we passed and headed for the ramp.

Not a monster total but definatly a Great Day pleanty of laughs lots of freinds thanks to Jason for the company in boat and Phil & Derek for the company on the water
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PECo · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT

That was definitely a chain pickerel, Bob. Wink

Derek would have rescued the squirrel with his net if he hadn't been afraid that it was rabid and would go after his nuts! Laughing

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x182dan · Joined: 19 Mar 2009 Posts: 329 Location: Seymour, CT

Nice job guys. Would have liked to have joined you maybe next time.
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DirtyDawg10 · Joined: 27 May 2009 Posts: 2238 Location: Granby, CT

It was a good day to fish...well then again...every day is a good day to fish. I got to Winchester early...at about 5:40am and before I even found my first fish I found this guy swimming across the widest part of the lake heading West. We were waiting for a big pike to come up and snag it.

As Phil mentioned I thought about netting it but with my sit inside yak I decided I didn't want that thing in my COCKpit.

Not long after...I ended up boating my first fish on the East shore. It was a 21" Pike and was a decent fighter. It dove under the boat a couple of times but it was hooked pretty good in the hard part of the mouth.

I picked up two small largemouth and a small pickerel also on the East shoreline and then Phil and I decided to move into the stumps. I didn't even get a nibble in that area. We started working down the West side near the Northwest cove and I boated a nice 15" largemouth 1lb 11oz

You can see the glow of el fuego on the side of the fish Very Happy

I skipped over the Northwest cove because I didn't have much luck in the shallows that morning so I stayed and fished the weeds on the humps just outside of the cove. I ended up boating two fish off the hump. The first was another 15" largemouth that I didn't weigh because it was 1/2" shorter than the other one and I was sure it was lighter than my first one. I also boated another keeper just at 12"

Phil came out of the Northwest cove and we decided to troll some crankbaits South toward the Southwest cove. I only hooked two things. The first was a small largemouth that jumped and spit the trebles before I boated it and the second was a large stump that I saw. I tried reeling in quick but the wind was blowing me too fast. I hooked the stump deep and decided to break it off before something bad happened. I decided to stop trolling and seek shelter from the wind and chop in the Southwest cove. I ended up boating three more small largemouth in the pads. One of which was about the same size as my bass patterned swimbait that I was throwing hoping to find a bigger pike. Here's a pic of it with a dragonfly that thought it might be real.

All fish ended up being caught on the 5" senko despite all the other lures I tried out. Ended up having a great time.

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

Nice job Derek!

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

Yeap, Derek definitely was the "quality over quantity" guy on that trip.
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JJay · Joined: 23 Sep 2011 Posts: 113 Location: Farmington, CT

Definately another great day out on the water! Great job all around!
Once again, thanks Bob! Nice to see Derek and Phil on the water again!

Did you guys recover Phil's gear?

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

Not yet!

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jjbassfishn · Joined: 17 Jun 2012 Posts: 209 Location: Northwestern CT.

Sounds like you all had a good time and caught a few. Winchester can be stingy!

Peco, Bummer you lost the setup. Hope you get it back.
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Can't catch em sittin on the sofa! Wink