Estabrooks Finds Them on Mashpee

Avid kicked off our 2012 season with a visit to Mashpee-Wakeby, the first time we've been on this body of water. Mashpee has been giving up some really nice fish this spring and summer, and expectations were high heading into the event.

The day started off overcast with a light rain and temperatures in the upper 60s. Although the forecast was for a chance of showers and thunderstorms during the morning, at least the temperature was expected to remain warm and the wind calm — both blessings for this time of year. As it turned out the rain fell harder and harder as the morning went on before it finally abated at about noon. By weigh-in the skies were blue and the sun was shining. Water temps remained steady from the previous few weeks at 72 degrees.

As for the fish, there were surprisingly few caught given the conditions but those that were were very respectable. Wade and Paul caught the day's only limits and just 22 fish were caught among the 16 participants. The fish seemed scattered and at varying depths, with most largemouth coming shallow at less than 10 feet. Most smallmouth were slightly deeper, between 10 and 16 feet. Eleven of each species were recorded at the scales. With so few fish caught it's difficult to say there was an established pattern, though anglers reported catching fish on senkos, dropshotting, spinnerbaits and assorted plastics.

Wade’s mixed limit was good enough for first place, weighing in at 12.84 pounds. In second was Roger with a sack of 4 smallmouth at 10.53 pounds. Paul Carvalho rounded out the top three with his mixed limit of 9.52 pounds. Bob Pickering claimed the day’s lunker award with a hefty 4.37 pound largemouth.

Our next contest is at Webster Lake on October 22. This is about the latest we’ve ever fished in a season (one date on Ashumet was Oct 28!) so it should be interesting to figure out where the fish will be. Stay tuned!