[PECo]

I decided to check out Lake Basile, which is another one of my local spots, so I hauled The Other Woman down the Rails to Trails path to the lake this morning:




It was a beautifully sunny, warm day, with just a slight breeze from the south. The water was a little murky. I could see the bottom clearly only about three feet down. While I was on the water from 10:45 am to 2:00 pm, the water temperature rose from 57-1/2 degrees to 62-1/2 degrees. And the bite picked up from nothing to a little something with the rise in temperature. I began the day by throwing a four inch white curlytail grub on a 3/16 ounce round shakeyhead jighead and a wacky rigged five inch green pumpkin/red flake Senko mostly at the shore, but also toward the middle of the pond. Although I spotted the occasional panfish or small largemouth bass in the shallows, I didn't get any hits on either of the bigger lures, so I downsized and began throwing a 2-1/2 inch pearl silver Gulp! Minnow on a 1/16 ounce round jighead. At one point, I twitched it across the head of a large yellow perch that I saw sitting on the bottom and it was completely ignored. After 45 minutes of nothing, I decided to fish the laydowns on the west shore of the lake. It took only a few casts before I got a hit on the little jig and boated my first fish:



It was just a six inch largemouth bass, but it was a start. I got three more six to 11 inch long largemouth bass before I finally boated a keeper, which was all of 13 inches long:



I kept catching small largemouth bass as I made my way around the shallows on the north end of the lake, but also got a small black crappie. I headed down the west shore and I picked up a few more small largemouth bass. The warming water really changed the bite. In the colder morning water, I couldn't get anything to bite in the same spots. I ended up catching a baker's dozen of largemouth bass, but a dozen of them were only six to 11 inches long. When I was almost ready to get off of the water, I decided to try deadsticking the small jig in the deeper water on the south end of the lake. To my surprise, I caught two more black crappie, an 11 incher and this 13 incher:



I didn't mark a single fish on my finder, but most of the lake is less than three feet deep. I'm pretty sure that I spotted a 15 inch largemouth bass in the water, so I'm hopeful that the fishing will be good there this Summer. I really needed that after my disappointment at Nod Brook WMA, yesterday.

Happy first day of Spring, everybody!
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[DirtyDawg10]

Nice job! Never knew there were crappie in there.

[madkey]

Phil, another great report!
Can you go fish the Thames for me and let me know whats goin on
Rich
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I"ve got to be smarter than a fish!

[hila2006]

Another good outing for you Phil, where the heck is Lake Basile? Looks like a decent little spot.

[Jake65]

is this lake open to the public? I might head out there this weekend.

[PECo]

Yes, Lake Basile is in Simsbury and is open to the public, although most of it is surrounded by private land. However, the Famington Canal Heritage Trail runs along its southwest shore. There's a public parking area for the trail at the end of Lordship Road. You could park there and head south down the paved trail. The lake would be on your right about 1/4 mile down the trail.
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[pikePERSUADER1]

i need to get a travel rod and case so i can mt. bike in to some spots like that! looks like a nice place!

[PECo]

Yeah, Dan, it was last year's spot for dozens of small largemouth bass. The biggest two that I got were each two pounds, five ounces. The only bigger one that I saw was a five pound, nine ouncer that mep21 (aka Mark) caught. But I got well over 100 bass outta there last year.

Oh, and the Congamond Lakes are just a short bike ride up the trail.
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Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!