[PECo]

I fished the Middle Pond of the Congamond Lakes with DirtyDawg10 (aka Derek). When we arrived at the South Ramp on Berkshire Avenue, there were scattered clouds, the air temperature was already in the mid to upper 70s and there was a gentle south wind. We launched in The Other Woman, Too at 7:15 am. I'd rather fish from the back of the boat than mess around with the trolling motor, so I let Derek take the front seat. The water temperature was 78.4 degrees and it was clear down at least six feet. There were plenty of lily pads and weeds in the water, but there was also quite a bit of bright green slime weed in spots. Immediately after we launched and before I could even finish getting a couple of setups out of the rod locker, Derek spotted a decent largemouth bass next to the lily pads in the shallow water next to the ramp. At 7:21 am, he threw a Zoom Horny Toad on a Stanley Double Take Hook at it, got a bite and set the hook on it. I grabbed the net and helped him boat a nice 18 inch long, two pound, 10 ounce largemouth bass:



Derek moved us around the cove in the southwest corner as he familiarized himself with the foot pedal for the trolling motor. Yeap, we missed a lot (most ) of the spots in the cove. When we reached the marina, Derek threw his Horny Toad to the corner of the first dock and I threw a wacky rigged Green Pumpkin with Red Flake five inch Senko right into the same spot. When the Senko hit the bottom, it was picked up by a nice two-plus pound largemouth bass. As I reeled it in to the boat, Derek offered to net it for me, but I said that I'd just haul it in. It must have been just skin hooked on the inside of its mouth, because the hook pulled free as soon as I got it up to the gunwale. Losing the fish didn't bother me, because it was definitely a little bit smaller than Derek's, but I've decided that if I were to ever fish a tourney and hook into a two-plus pound fish, I'd use a net every time. It wasn't until 7:47 am that I put a largemouth bass in the boat:



We caught a few more small largemouth bass in the marina, before Derek pulled out a new baitcasting setup and tried to throw a Horny Toad with it without first adjusting the brakes on the reel. When the Horny Toad hit the water 40 feet away from the boat, he got a huge backlash. He spent the next 40 minutes trying unsuccessfully to clear the birdsnest from the reel. Meanwhile, I took the front seat and threw a Bullfrog Zoom Horny Toad over the lily pads on the southeast shore of the lake. I got only one small hit on it, so I pulled out my wacky Senko and tossed it into the open water between the lily pad bed and the shore:



Rocky! After Derek finally gave up on trying to clear the birdsnest from his new reel, he re-took the front seat and joined me throwing a Horny Toad over the pads. We got nothing. We rounded the point and began working our way up the east shore. Although we caught a few short largemouth bass with wacky Senkos, we didn't get anything else. And neither did the fishermen we passed in a few other boats. It was actually really helpful to touch base with them, because one was pitching a jig into the docks along the shore with nothing to show for it, one was throwing a crankbait with only a short to show for it and another was throwing a drop shot worm in 10 to 12 feet of water with only a bunch of shorts to show for it, so I just stuck with my wacky Senko. When we got within 1,000 feet of the Babbs Beach Recreation Area, which is halfway up the east shore of the lake, I decided to try fishing deeper with a drop shot wacky Senko. However, Derek steers a trolling motor like a drunken sailor , so I ended up throwing it in only 4-1/2 feet of water. However, as the wind blew us up the shore and I dragged it over the weeds, I felt a few taps on it. I reeled it in and threw it back to the same spot, so I could drag it through the same area, again, and got a bite. I felt the weight of the fish immediately and yelled for Derek to grab the net. After boating only shorts and another rock bass for two hours, the 19 inch long, 3-1/4 pound largemouth bass felt like a monster of a fish:



Whoo Hoo! Derek tied on a drop shot with a Pumpkin (Orange) with large Black Flake four inch Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits Flat Tail Worm. At first, he got a lot of panfish-type nibbles on it, but then he got a real bite and boated a 16 inch, two pound largemouth bass at 11:14 am:



Man, this drop shot thing rocks! We drifted up the shore with the south wind until we reached the beach and then Derek motored us back down the shore, but in slightly deeper water. At 12:09 pm, I got a hit and set the hook on, what the heck?!?!, is that a rainbow trout? :



I released the rainbow trout, thinking it was a fluke that I had hooked it. But only five minutes later, Derek got one, too. And 14 minutes later, he proved that we had found a school of really stupid trout:



After Derek boated his third rainbow trout, I decided to swap out the wacky Senko from my drop shot with an Emerald Pearl 2-1/2 inch Gulp! Minnow. At 12:30 pm, it got me a pumpkinseed:



But only three minutes later, it got me a brown trout, too:



Two minutes later, Derek caught the lunker rainbow trout:



Unfortunately, it floated back up after he released it, so I scooped it up with the net and left it hanging in the water over the side of the boat. One trout does not a meal make, so I tossed my next rainbow trout into the net with it. After 12:45 pm, the trout bite died as the wind rose. By that time, it was blowing from the south-southwest at 10+ miles per hour. It had gotten hot, too. The air temperature was over 80 degrees and the water temperature hit 80.4 degrees. Derek had to get home by 2:00 pm, so we headed back to the South Ramp. When we got there, we saw that an attendant had shown up while we were on the water and I found this on the windshield of my Jeep:



We got off of the water at 1:30 pm. Oh, well, at least I got lunch for my five bucks:



I never would have guessed that our largemouth bass fishing trip would turn into a trout fishing trip, but it did. I had a blast, but think that I'll stick with targeting largemouth bass the next time I go fishing.
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[Michael]

Sounds like an awesome day!

[DirtyDawg10]

It was a great day! I was glad to be able to get out there and catch some decent fish. The trout on the drop shot rigs was a pleasant surprise also but as Phil mentioned the 2lb bass on the drop shot was a lot more fun. Phil, thanks for getting me out there and for letting a drunken sailor pilot the boat for a day...lol.

Just a quick clarification...I was using my 4/0 Trokar mag worm hook for that horny toad.

I ended up with 4LMB (2 keepers and 2 shorts), 4 rainbow trout and 2 rock bass. It is much better fishing Congomond from a bass boat than in the kayaks as I have done in the past. Here's a few pics I have from the day...
Here's one of Phil's lunker largemouth...


Here's one of his rainbow's...


and here's one of the "dinker" for the day coming in at a whopping 7" (on the drop shot)...


I guess Phil's not the only one with a 7" dinker

I'd also like to mention that the birdsnest has been cleared and the reel has been tuned in and tested for the next trip out. Damn that pissed me off that I forgot to set it up before I made my first cast. I told Phil I couldn't do two things at once but I was wrong. Apparently I can drive like a drunken sailor and FU*% up a baitcaster both at the same time

Let's do it again soon!!

[PECo]

I ended up catching seven or eight largemouth bass, two rock bass, one pumpkinseed, two rainbow trout and one brown trout. We weighed only a couple of our largemouth bass, but I think that our five fish bag would have weighed 10-1/2 pounds. And if we had really been keeping track of it, the fish that I didn't let Derek net would have pushed it up to 12 pounds.
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[chud059]

I used to fish congamond a lot when I was younger, from the shore and on a boat... I try to get there at least twice a season, I fish the "beach" area on the left hand side just before the little bridge and the Crab Shack... also, around the other end there is a small parking area under some trees and I wade in the water as deep as I can so I can reach a couple of docks to fish. Sometimes I bring a few shiners, helps increase my chances especially if the lake is active with boaters/jet ski/ swimmers. In my early 20's, didn't fish much, but used to go to Louie B's for beers and prime rib... now they have this big fishing dock and I fished there a couple of times but it usually packed.

[Jeff]

Those trout look skinny. I always like the surprise of reeling up a trout when you are bass fishing.

[anointed130]

I have been to cangomond twice this year with no success. Glad someone was able to get some fish, so did you go undertone causeway, that's where I spotted some pretty large bass when I was there.
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[jjbassfishn]

Nice report. Sounds like a great day with some nice bass. Some of them trout look skinny?
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[PECo]

Yeap, I thought the trout were skinny, too, in addition to being really stupid. They were also delicious, though.

No, we never went through the causeway to the lower pond. Once we located largemouth bass and trout along the east shore of the middle pond, we stayed there. The bottom drops pretty sharply off of that shore, which holds fish there. They can stay on the bottom, but go shallow or deep as needed.
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[Redneckangler]

Great report, as per usual!
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[bass tracker]

Nice job guy's. Phil, how were the weeds? I hear they do a weed kill in that lake.

BT

[PECo]

The weeds aren't bad, at least, not yet. I think that flipping would be the perfect technique for the deeper weedbeds. The patches of bright green slime weed screamed too much nitrates, though.
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