CTFishTalk.com: Winchester Lake 07/28 - Connecticut Lake Reports ( CT Lake Reports ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

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

I've been really, really busy, lately. However, I haven't been too busy to go fishing, even though I've been to busy to write about fishing. I have photos from five trips, but I'll start with the most recent one.

After fishing all day for the first time ever at Colebrook River Lake and having dinner at The New Boston Inn in Standisfield, MA, mep21 (aka Mark) and I decided to fish some more at Winchester Lake, because there was a little bit of sunlight left. Of course, the sky was completely overcast all day, but the clouds were still lit up bright enough for us to see. Very Happy

When we got to the boat launch, there were only a couple of trucks in the parking lot and only one had a boat trailer. We got on the water in The Other Woman, Too at about 6:40 pm. The air was cool, but not cold. Mark and I both decided to leave our rain gear in my Jeep, even though the dark clouds threatened rain. The wind was blowing out of the south, but the water was perfectly calm at the ramp on the south end of the lake, Our plan was to drift with the wind through the stumps in the middle of the lake. After we launched at the ramp, we motored up to where the stumps begin and let the wind take us. I made Mark take the front deck and run the trolling motor as needed, which wasn't much. The surface water temperature was 76 degrees, which is much cooler than I've seen anywhere in the last two weeks. In the dim, fading light, we could see down into the water only a foot or so. The wind was more blustery than we thought and ended up pushing us along at up to one mile per hour. Mark decided to throw a black and blue jig he got in a Mystery Tackle Box that came packaged with a blue craw trailer, while I stuck with the same drop shot Berkley Gulp! Minnow that I threw all day at Colebrook. I usually drop shot 2-1/2 inch Gulp! Minnows, but we had used up all of mine at Colebrook. Luckily, Mark had a package of three inchers that he had gotten in the tackle pool from last May's kayak fishing tourney at Moodus Reservoir. Although we had used most of them at Colebrook, there were still several left in the bag. I set a goal for myself to catch four different species of fish and called my shot; I said that I would catch a sunny, a yellow perch, a rock bass and a largemouth bass. As we began drifting through the stumps in 11-1/2 feet of water, neither of us got any action, other than some little nibbles on my minnow. When we were 2/3 of the way up the lake, Mark snagged his jig on one of the stumps. At 6:54 pm, as he motored us over to it, I finally got a bite and boated the first fish:

Sunny!

We continued our drift up into the shallower stumps on the north end of the lake. At 7:13 pm, I got another bite:

Rocky!

And at 7:17 pm, I got another:

Okay, so it was a dink, but the largemouth bass was the third species of fish that I had caught! Very Happy

Mark finally got fed up with the absolutely nothing he was getting with his jig, so he tied on a drop shot, too. It wasn't long before he got a bite and reeled a small chain pickerel up to the boat before it shook itself off. When we reached the stumps in the far north end of the cove that are in only four feet of water, we decided to motor back down to the south end to get out of the wind. At that point, a tiny sprinkle of rain began to fall. When we passed the small island that's across from the ramp off of the east shore, we began throwing our drop shot minnows, again. We each got a bite or two, but lost the fish. At 8:06 pm, after Mark caught a deep snag with his drop shot in 15 feet of water, I got a bite on mine directly underneath the boat:

A brown bullhead?!?! Surprised

It wasn't the yellow perch that I expected, but it was a decent size, well, for a brown bullhead, at least, and was the fourth species of fish that I had caught. Whoo Hoo! Very Happy

As a light rain began to fall from scattered, fast moving clouds, we caught a glimpse of some sunlight to the west:

We got off of the water at 8:30 pm, after having been reminded that a day of fishing on the water, even when you're not catching much of anything, is always a terrific day.
_________________
Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!

bass tracker · Joined: 17 May 2012 Posts: 84

Nice report (s) Phil, two lakes in one day huh? Good job guys, lots of different fish caught, way to spread it around.
Mark you must be worn out after having fished Moodus Saturday too.

BT

Wanna Fish · Joined: 30 Jan 2012 Posts: 662 Location: Earth I Think

Excellent Phil! You should be publishing for a Outdoor Magazine.
_________________
Don't hold your farts in! They travel up your spine to your brain and thats where shitty ideas come from.

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

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

Wanna Fish · Joined: 30 Jan 2012 Posts: 662 Location: Earth I Think

11.85 Months and I'll be retired. I'll be looking for a fishing partner.LOL You should submit a few articles to Field and Stream magazine.
_________________
Don't hold your farts in! They travel up your spine to your brain and thats where shitty ideas come from.

sbehuniak09 · Joined: 10 Jul 2012 Posts: 229 Location: Seymour, CT

Nice job! Those were my minnows Mark got. Glad they were of some use.
_________________
The fishing was good; it was the catching that was bad. ~A.K. Best

avidangler · Joined: 08 Jan 2013 Posts: 469 Location: Forestville

Busy,busy,busy. You covered some serious water. Sounds like a very fun day.
_________________
...Randy...

Leeway and elbow room.There's plenty of water to fish!

avidanglingadventures.blogspot.com

"If we concentrated on the really important stuff in life,there'd be a shortage of fishing poles."

mep21 · Joined: 01 Mar 2011 Posts: 65 Location: West Hartford, CT

I think I fished a good 18-20 hours this weekend between Moodus on Saturday and Colebrook/Winchester on Sunday. I'll admit I was pretty tired by the time I got home Sunday night, but I'd still be out there now if I didn't have to work during the week Very Happy

Thanks again for the minnows Stephan. They were a lifesaver for us.

Scorpio · Joined: 24 Jul 2013 Posts: 73

Nice report! Just joined the forum and I love the stories and photos. I was just down the road at Park Pond at the same time with my son. I hope to meet up and introduce myself to you guys.

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

Scorpio · Joined: 24 Jul 2013 Posts: 73

Well, I had to crank out some yard work to keep the wife at bay so we got out in our canoe at around 3pm. I had fished it only twice before (I'm just getting back into the fishing scene since my shoulder won't let me golf) so this time was again mostly about exploration, looking for good bass habitat and getting a read from the pond. At first we checked out the deepest part and threw spinner/buzz/crankbaits just to see what was popping. Grabbed a little 1 pounder but that's it. Then we focused on the NE shore, hitting the beds and laydowns. There are tons of laydowns on that side. We were both throwing a Lunker City blue/black Ozmo the whole time. We worked our way down that shore and we both hit our share of smaller largemouths. There was plenty of activity and I did boat two a little bigger than the others (photo)but nothing that got my pulse pounding. I've read that the sub-2 pounders are the typical fare at Park but I've got the feeling there are some lunkers in there. Fished the shore all the way back to the boat launch in between some raindrops and got out just about 8:30pm. I really love both Park and Winchester. It’s beautiful, no crazy boater and I always come away catching fish. It seems every spot along the entire pond's shore is good bass holding habitat so I'm going to keep trying for that elusive big guy. Isn't that part of the fun? I hope this summary is informative enough. I'm not a big time, experience angler like you all but I'll do my best to not bore you guys.

Scorpio · Joined: 24 Jul 2013 Posts: 73

Sorry guys, I just realized I probably should have made a new thread. Embarassed

mep21 · Joined: 01 Mar 2011 Posts: 65 Location: West Hartford, CT

No problem. Nice write up though. You'll find some users on this site write very detailed reports like Phil and others post sparingly if at all. I appreciate anyone who takes the time to let me know what worked and what didn't!

Scorpio · Joined: 24 Jul 2013 Posts: 73

Thanks mep. I'll do my best to contribute. Hope you guys don't mind a canoe at your next yak tourney/get-together if you have one. I'm looking forward to meeting you all.