Mystic River, Medford, MA Fishing Report

Morning At The Mystic

After catching a crappie last weekend, there's only one species left on my list for this year: Catching a keeper smallmouth. Having seen some nice trips to Mystic River, and seeing some smallmouth being caught, I decided to make a quick trip over there this morning in the hopes of completing the list.

I got there a little after 6, only to find a couple of old-timers fishing for carp in the first spot I wanted to check out. But there was room to stand a bit down the bank, with access to an edge of lilypads. Good enough to start. The weather was already hot, but still plenty of shade and the occasional breeze.

After 30 minutes of being harassed by sunfish, I get a bite and set the hook. It feels like a nice fish, but nothing spectacular. That is, until she gets close enough to see me. I get a glimpse just as she takes off, and for a moment it looks like a carp! I manage to keep her out of the pads, but she refuses to surrender and make another 3-4 good runs, squeeling drag and all. I finally manage to get her up and to the bank, and it's a nice-looking largemouth bass. Good length, and broad shoulders. I lip her and get her on land, then call over the old guys carp fishing so one of them can take a picture. We get the camera sorted out, and I go to wet my other hand to hold under her belly. As I do, my grip slips just a little, and she realizes it and bucks wildly. My grip slips, and she goes back in the water! For a second, she sits shallow, dazed, and I go to grab her but she manages to swim off... No picture. No weight. F&#$... She was easily as big as the 4-pounder I got a few weeks back, but I'll never know for sure if she was indeed a personal best.

After a few minutes of fuming, and another few minutes of letting the adrenaline wear off, I go back to fishing. Just as I do, one of the old guys hook into a decent carp. It's quite the sight to see even a run of the mill carp making a run for it.

I abandon my spot to go check out some more spots, and end up fishing my way down the other side of the river. There's a nice stretch of weedbeds, which looks like just the ticket as the sun has come up at this point. I see a few nice fish cruising here and there, but they're not interested. I briefly hook into a decent fish, but the slack in the line from the current keeps me from getting a good hookset. Before I can reel down and set again, the fish comes up and shakes its head and my worm goes flying.

I carry on for a while, and it gets to be around 9am. The sun is now out full force, and I am hot as hell. I'm still fishing a senko along the weedbeds, when I see a nice largemouth come out and eyeing my senko as it drops. She turns away towards the weeds, but refocuses when I jerk the wacky rigged worm a couple times. A couple more jerks, and she comes over in a hurry and slurps it. This time, there's no slack and it's a good hookset.

What looked like a decent keeper from afar turns out to have a lot of fight in it. She makes several good, drag-peeling runs, and I struggle to keep her out of the weeds. 10 pound test and a medium rod means weeds equals a lost fish. I get control, and let her tire out in the shallower water between me and the weeds, and bring her in. It's a very nice fish, although not the same size as the previous one. I get her ashore and, lesson learned, take a couple of pictures. As I'm trying to get the scale sorted out, she flops madly and once again I lose my grip. WTF! She goes into the water, but it's too shallow and she's too knackered to take off and I manage to re-lip her and bring her in. The scale settles at 3lb 9oz, a very very nice consolation prize for not getting the big one on the scale. Comparing the two fish, the first one easily tops 4 lbs, probably in the 4 1/2 lb range (I want to say 5, but fish always seem bigger when you think back, and it makes no real difference. It was probably somewhere in between =).

I end up packing up around 10.20, without catching anything else. It was an awesome outing, but I need to go home and work on my Vulcan Lip Grip a little, apparently. It sucks to lose the fish when you want to wet your hands to protect it, but I'd rather see a fish back in the water safely for someone else to catch than getting the picture.

Sadly, the smallmouth were nowhere to be seen and I'll have to wait for that. The river didn't really look too suitable for them, so maybe they moved to somewhere a little cooler. At least there's still some time left!

• Added By: michaelk on 08/22/09 08:03 AM
• Location: Mystic River, Medford, MA
• Report Date: 8/22/2009
• # of Hotspots: 1
• # of Photos: 2
• # of Fish Caught: 2
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