CTFishTalk.com: Mudge and Hatch - Connecticut Bass Fishing Reports ( CT Bass Fishing Reports ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

Scorpio · Joined: 24 Jul 2013 Posts: 73

Went camping with my middle son this weekend and fished Mudge Pond in Sharon and Hatch Pond in Kent. Never been to either pond so we knew it was going to be an adventure. In the interest of not being too long winded, I will say that the over-riding report would be SLOW. Both ponds have some big fish but the bite was pretty tough considering the bright sun and cloudless skies, the hot temps and the massive amount of vegetation in these ponds. I was amazed at how thick the veggies were in both places. The fish were almost exclusively holding in the cabbage. At one point at Hatch yesterday, we canoed directly across the pond to try our luck at the west side and in the process, did not see one fish on the fishfinder until we reached the outside edge on the other side. I admit I'm not an accomplished angler as so many of you are but frankly, I didn't know what to do. If it weren't for our topwater Booyah pad crashers, we may not have caught anything. We were forced to start late on Saturday and didn't get to Mudge until the afternoon. I quickly got a huge pickerel on a drop shot using a Lunker City Ribster (sorry, no pic of that one and my son has the others on his phone). Then a whole lot of nothing until we made our way to the west bank and realized that topwater was the way to go. My son got two nice LM's (a 3 and a 3.5) but he still had 3 other huge hits that they spit right out. Both fish he boated had to be pulled up from the veggies by paddling over to the spot and literally pulling them up by hand to get them out of the thick stuff they swam straight down into. Crazy! Dad, on the other hand, got zilch. I was pretty frustrated at 4, yes, 4 massive hits and 4, yes, 4 misses. I've caught a bunch on that frog and never had 4 consecutive misses. Anyway, Sunday at Hatch was not a lot different. A couple of hits and misses on the Booyah early then we decided to try Texas rigged creature baits but the veggies were unfishable (unless we were doing something very wrong). I got a 1.5er on an unweighted green speckled soft plastic fluke then another on the Booyah frog. We were off Hatch at about 2:30 and left wondering if it was just typical of the tough late summer bite or if we should consider taking up photography while canoeing instead of fishing. Any comments (please be nice) or advice would be greatly appreciated since my oldest son wants his camping/fishing time with dad this coming Labor Day weekend.

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

Nice going.My grandfather tells me stories about those two places.He used to catch some big bass out of Hatch.I guess Indian lake on the CT/NY border is an awesome place for bass but I think the launch is on the NY side.Ct license is good for the whole place.It's like colebrook and congamond regulations.
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...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."

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

This time of year is when topwater is more productive towards evening and sunset. During the middle of the day when it's sunny and warm, most fish are deeper in weeds.

AfternoonFisher · Joined: 17 Feb 2012 Posts: 96 Location: Torrington, CT

I've heard the jig is the ticket at Hatch, and most of the fish are small there, so choose small lures. I've fished Mudge and done well fishing plastic worms Texas and Drop Shot.
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PB LMB: 4lb 13oz
PB Pickeral: 6lb 8oz