[PECo]

I hope that everyone got to get out onto the water yesterday. DirtyDawg10 (aka Derek), Fishface (aka Tim) and I got to enjoy the calm before the storm on Lake McDonough (aka Compensating Reservoir). I had planned to meet Derek at the boat launch ramp on the north end of the west shore at 10:00 am, but ran late because I thoroughly washed off La Calabaza and El Habañero before I put them onto my Saab's roof rack. I wanted to be prepared if the MDC decided to do an aquatic nuisance species inspection at the ramp. By the way, they didn't. Here's a link to the MDC's Boating Regulations for the lake:

http://www.themdc.com/Boating_Fishing_rules_regu_lake.shtml

Tim was stuck at his office for a while, but Derek and I launched before 10:30 am. The air was warm and the sun was glaring. It actually felt a little bit hot out there at times. There was little to no wind, which was the case all day. We also saw very little boat traffic all day. The only annoying boaters there were the kids that work for the MDC. They would motor around the lake for no apparent reason at speeds in excess of the 10 mile per hour posted maximum speed from time to time. I wanted to check out the cove on the far northwest side of the lake, so we rigged up for trolling and headed in that direction. However, Derek couldn't resist stopping to throw a wacky rigged five inch Senko at the shore along the way, so I soon lost sight of him as I left him in my wake. I made it all the way into the cove without any hits on the Brown Trout patterned Rapala Original Floater F09 and silver F07 that I had tied on, so I soon tied on a wacky Senko of my own. The shoreline on the east side of the cove was very shallow and I didn't even see a fish in the clear water. Derek, on the other hand, had boated a smallmouth bass with the wacky Senko and had spent some time unsuccessfully trying to get a big smallie that kept staring at him to bite. My streak of having to mess with my tackle continued, as I managed to snag the front carry handle of El Habañero with a Rapala on one setup and then tangled everything with the wacky Senko on the other setup. I had to ground myself on some rocks to sort out that mess. After I got going again, I paddled to the north shore of the cove and spotted some rustling in a tall tree near the shore. After staring at it for a couple of minutes, I realized that an adult black bear was foraging for something in the tree! I got a good look at its huge head as it climbed down the tree. It worked itself down the shore and into another tree. Although I could no longer see it, it was really going at it. I called the MDC to report the sighting and location of the bear but, quite frankly, it seemed to me that the woman who answered the phone didn't care about the safety of the people who were nearby on the shore, either at the beach or on the trails that run around the lake. Derek finally paddled up to me, but when I began talking with him, the bear must have heard me and disappeared. That was the first bear I've seen in Connecticut since I moved here six years ago. Derek and I found a creek that empties into the lake on the far north end of the cove and paddled into it. Although we could see a lot of small fish in the clear water, we didn't have any success getting any of them to bite. We worked our way up the narrow, boulder strewn, shady creek. I was throwing a wacky Senko on my setup that was spooled with six pound test Trilene monofilament when I got a good hit as I dragged it down the creek. It was a really nice fish that pulled and pulled like a river fish always does. When I finally got it to the boat, I saw it was a largemouth bass that probably weighed about three pounds, but I had trouble controlling and lipping it with the super stretchy mono, and it managed to spit the hook as it soaked me with a big splash of its tail. Sonofab*!@# After that, I tied a wacky Senko on my other setup that was spooled with braided line. I paddled up the creek as far as I could go:



I tried throwing the wacky Senko at the base of the falls and actually felt a nibble. After a few casts, I got a bite and reeled in one of my favorite kinds of fish, a f#@%*~g rock bass:



I drifted back down the creek and threw the wacky Senko at some bushes that overhung the creekbank and got a good hit. When I first spotted the fish in the clear water, I thought that it was a small northern pike, but it turned out to be a chain pickerel:



I couldn't believe that I was at Lake McDonough and the first two fish I boated were a rock bass and a chain pickerel. Go figure. As we exited the creek and reentered the shallow cove, we saw a lot of fish leaping from the water. We figured they were feeding on the dragonflies that kept dipping down onto the water as they appeared to be mating:



It wasn't long before I got a hit on the wacky Senko and finally boated a 15 inch, 1-3/4 pound largemouth:



Tim paddled up to us just before 12:30 am. He had boated a rock bass with a trolled Rainbow Trout patterned F09 along the way and it wasn't long before he got a largemouth of his own with a wacky Senko:



I got another keeper largemouth and another rock bass before I boated a leopard patterned 13 inch smallie:



On the way out of the cove, I noticed this buoy:



I'm not sure whether the buoy was intended to keep us away from the nearby beach or the northwest cove. They couldn't have meant to keep us out of the cove, could they? We paddled into the main body of the lake and worked our way down the west shore to the second island. The shallow shoreline had very few laydowns and held even fewer fish. As I recall, I got a small largemouth from under the shade of an overhanging tree and Tim pulled up a smallie off of a rocky point. Derek had to take off at about 4:00 pm, so we headed across the lake to the east shore. The east shore had a couple of reed beds and was steeper in places. I pulled a small largemouth out of one of the reed beds with a wacky Senko:



Tim and I went with Derek back to the ramp, but we weren't ready to leave. After Derek took off, Tim and I paddled up to the upper dam, where we spotted this buoy:



No fishing? Really? However, Tim still got a couple of smallies and I boated another small largemouth nearby:



It was 5:30 pm and we had to be off the water by 7:30 pm at the latest, so we decided to try drop shotting in the main body of the lake for the last couple of hours. I put a 2-1/2 inch Gulp Minnow on the hook and began working my way south. The first fish that I got on the drop shot was a green sunfish. Shortly after, I got a pumpkinseed and a black crappie:




I was actually pretty excited about boating the crappie, and Tim and I each swapped out our drop shot for a 1/16 ounce round jighead with a chartreuse two inch curlytail grub. We threw them at schools of surface feeding fish that rose all around us. I got several more crappies, but they were all on the small side, around 9 inches long. For some reason, all that Tim could boat with the grub were sunnies. For the last 30 minutes, I headed back to the east shore to look for more largemouth, while Tim kept after the crappies with the grub. To his credit, he finally boated a couple of them. I got one more short largemouth near the shore and Tim got another smallie before we headed off of the water at 7:15 pm. All told, I boated two rock bass, a chain pickerel, a dozen largemouth bass, one smallmouth bass, a green sunfish, a pumpkinseed, two redear sunfish and six black crappie. But Lake McDonough is too big of a lake to spend only one day there. I'm sure that I'll be back. Before Labor Day, right?
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Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!

[DirtyDawg10]

It was a beautiful day and a very nice Lake. I need to spend more time there next year as it's only a 15min drive from my house. As Phil said we started out heading west into the cove. I stopped at a couple of points along the way that stuck out into the lake. I threw my wacky senko out and let it fall down the steep slope at the shoreline. It seems like a majority of the shoreline has a steep slope to it at that lake. Anyway, as I dragged my senko down the slope I picked up a keeper smallie in about 6 to 8 ft of water.


I rounded the point and spotted another bass that was just sitting in the water. I threw a senko at it and it didn't want anything to do with it. I tried a silver crankbait, a frog and a popper but it wouldn't hit anything. So I paddled over to it and tried to grab it with my hand thinking it might be dying...it backed off. So I dropped a senko literally right on its head and it just backed away. If I had a net I could have scooped it right up. It appeared to be a 2.5 to 3lber. Here's a pic.


Just then Phil let me know that he saw a bear so I paddled over to him and saw the bear trying to shake something out of a tree. Phil spoke and that was the last we saw of the bear. We worked our way over to the creek and I ended up with another keeper smallie that was cruising the flats off the creek looking for bugs on the surface.


I caught a small LMB in the creek channel just off some grass and another small one just outside of the creek where the fish were jumping for dragonflies...but the second one jumped clear of the water by a couple of feet and spit the hook.


We made our way around the south side of the NW cove and I boated my last fish of the day which was a small LMB off some rock outcroppings.


We made it back to the main body of the lake and I didn't end up with any other fish. I had a few follows from small bass on my silver crankbait but the fish never bit it all day. They only ate the senkos. I had a nice size 20" to 22" what looked like a pike follow my senko back to my boat and just sat there. I threw the crankbait and dragged it past its face but it wanted nothing to do with it. The funny thing is that the angler's guide doesn't talk about CPs or Pike being in McDonough.

I saw another nice size bass cruising parallel with the shoreline looking up the slope for falling food. I threw a senko at it but I lost sight of the fish and it didn't bite. The fish are there but I was having a tough time landing any big ones. I will be trying the dropshot next time now that we got a chance to explore a bit during this outing.

[Fishface]

It was a great day on the water, it's always nice to fish with you guys.

Tim

[hoppy]

glad you guys made the trip. I have never fished that back cove before. Shallow?
i have fished up to that buoy a few times but never into the cove. I would highly reccomend you check out the main lake next time. The southern dam area can be killer. Great report and pics once again. I envy you guys for being able to fish so much. Your wifes must be very understanding!!

[DirtyDawg10]

Yeah...that cove area was pretty shallow. I would guess that it averaged about 4ft or so. There were a few deep spots but still not very deep. I'd say the deepest part was the creek channel. I think that cove would be the place to smoke 'em during the spawn but I'll have to find out. I will definitely check out the main lake next time. Thanks for the info. Wish I had more time that day.

[PECo]

The bottom in some of the dead end coves along the shoreline that we got to explore looked like the surface of the moon with all of the beds on it. But I think that I'd rather figure out how to catch them in the depths during the Summer than pull them off of beds during the spawn. I have the time to catch enough fish without doing that, I guess.
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[flippy]

Phil, Floro line and Xtra long casts always produces for me there, whether its a tube, hair jig, even carolina rigging,,

[asianfisher]

Very very nice plac to get out and fish and site see. Glad ya'll got into alot of fish they are in there. There is a lot of big fish in there.... Havent been there yet this year i wish they would let us ice fish the place....

[PECo]

Otis Reservoir. I'm gonna buy a Jeep so I can get up that goat path of a road.
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Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!

[slim2043]

[DirtyDawg10]

[Hookset7073]

Can't fish McDonnough shallow!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Fish. Every. Day.

[TT]

I'm not a bass fisherman but while trolling for trout in the southern half of McD down 30' and lower I pick up many largies and smallies in the 3lb. range. They hit copper and silver flutter spoons and also frozen bait.

[PECo]

Thanks, TT. I don't know why I never fish with a spoon. That's all that I used when I was a kid. Which was only last week, of course.
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Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!

[TurtleKiss]

Phil, just take Rte 8 to Otis next time...it's completely driveable.
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Kira

*~ "Not everything about fishing is noble, reasonable and sane..." -Henry Middleton ~*