CTFishTalk.com: Candlewood Lake - 11/21 - Connecticut Lake Reports ( CT Lake Reports ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

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

I fished Candlewood Lake with TurtleKiss (aka Kira) from 10:30 am to 4:15 pm. She hadn't been there in a long time and wanted to catch some smallmouth bass. Now, I'm not very knowledgeable about fishing Candlewood, especially at this time of year, but our game plan was to look for smallmouth bass with the fish finder and probably fish deep. We launched The Other Woman, Too at Lattins Cove. As you might expect, the parking lot was packed:

I said to Kira, "Maybe other fishermen know something we don't." Rolling Eyes

The water level was really low and the bottom of the ramp was obscured by leaves floating on the water:

When I backed the boat down the ramp, I heard a screeching noise, like the sound of a license plate dragging on the ground. After I parked my Jeep, I asked Kira what I had hit. It turns out that the floating leaves were held together by ice. Shocked

Despite the ice, the water temperature hovered between 47 and 48 degrees all day. The wind, which had been forecast to blow at up to only five miles per hour, rose up to between five and 10 miles per hour out of the south. Whenever the sun went behind the scattered clouds, it got cccold! We headed to Danbury Bay to fish the rock wall on the west side of the bay. Although we marked fish on the bottom with the fish finder, we could not get them to bite. I drop shotted a 2-1/2 inch Gulp! Minnow, jigged a Silver Buddy blade bait and threw a Gold and Black lipless crankbait, while Kira drop shotted and threw a variety of lures. At noon, after striking out in Danbury Bay, we decided to head north:

We hoped to find some deep structure that held smallies with the fish finder. Although we marked some fish on the bottom, and suspended in and around small bait balls, they wouldn't bite anything that we threw. At about 3:00 pm, we began working our way back down the lake to Lattins Cove. We stopped to fish when we marked fish on the bottom and pursuing bait balls. I decided to try and catch a suspending fish with the lipless crankbait when I finally got a bite. At first, I thought it was a chain pickerel, but when it got closer to the boat, I saw that I had hooked a decent-sized trout:

And a little while later, I hooked another:

We had to leave shortly after that, so we headed back to Lattins Cove and off of the water. I think that the next time I go fishing, I'll stick with trying for stripers, instead of smallies. Wink

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JimiChanga · Joined: 04 Mar 2012 Posts: 195 Location: Meriden

Nice set of brownies. Candlewood is known for (well it used to be anyways) giving up big browns this time of year. Especially in the Squantz luanch area using shiners, in case you're interested.

Congrats you two anyhow!!! Wink

John.

rvolkers · Joined: 23 Oct 2011 Posts: 359

nice report

i would have done exactly what you tried!

i talked to a good friend who fishes up on candlewood this time of year and he told me just yesterday he has been doing good! when i suggested he was fishing humps with drop shots - he said "NO WAY" that if he comes to them he will fish them but he is not out on the water to chase sonar all day! - he fishes the same way all season - drop offs near shore - wood and lay downs and this time of the year rocks near shore with grass or GREEN WEEDS around them! - (LOL) he said he is out to fish and takes what he can get (considers it practice) and i can tell you he catches fish! - (lures of choice for him tubes - spinnerbaits & jerkbaits) again (LOL) nothing i would have tried!

i wish i liked candlewood i live 15 mins away and never go there!

i did hit lilli - it is a bit shallow but we managed some trout and a couple of pike! - I LIKE seeeing the silver trout this time of year hold overs!

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

Nice set of browns Phil!

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

Latins Cove four days earlier. Nice catch Phil.

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Elixir · Joined: 30 May 2011 Posts: 288 Location: Danbury, CT

Water looks yummy Laughing

Glad to hear you caught fish out of there. Give it to Cwood to pull trout on a rattletrap HAHA. Nice fish Very Happy

Cant wait for ice though.
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clinteastwood · Joined: 29 Mar 2012 Posts: 87

I'm glad to see some die hards out there. I'm packed up for the winter and in the woods now, but it's good to see people still out there.

Nickp · Joined: 07 May 2007 Posts: 708

90% of the fish in 10% of the lake applies 10x more this time of year on cwood.

And too people fishing shoreline Rolling Eyes

your not winning a dime in any tournament there this time of year doing that. The weeds have been slimed and brown in the entire lake since late october and youll fish miles of shore before you hook into anything over 2-3lbs.

Its taking 30-33lbs to win 8 fish tournaments right now as usual.

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

The water had that slightly neon green murkiness to it when we were there. That's one of the reasons I didn't keep the trout. Didn't they dump herbicide in there recently? Plus, both trout had malformed dorsal fins. Weird.
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Elixir · Joined: 30 May 2011 Posts: 288 Location: Danbury, CT

CTDavidLamson · Joined: 10 Nov 2013 Posts: 14

Nice catch on the lipless crank! Nice fish Phil!

-Dave