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SANTUIT POND PAGE 2
2011- The winter ice moved a lot of tree branches . In March I had my new Lowrance Structure scan and was able to find a lot of these branches away from the shoreline. I was using jigs and ultravibe speed craws to catch a majority of the fish. I tried jerk baits and ratltraps but they didn’t catch the fish as they did in the past. The grass was almost non-existent.
During the spring, the herring came into the pond and it was a switch to crankbaits and spinnerbaits. The grass didn’t grow as in the past. I could not find any real heavy growth except in the North end. When the water temp. Reached 65, I started throwing frogs under the trees. I put on some braid and was surprised at the strikes I had.
I stayed away from the pond from July to October- the town was publishing warnings about the algae and water quality. I waited until the water temperature dipped into the 50’s. Then we had the cold spell and it went down into the 40’s. I was still doing well with a crankbait and spinnerbait around the edges of the grass until that dip!! I’m now just throwing senko’s or jigs around the edge of the pond. In the late part of the afternoon when the sun has been “baking” a nice shoreline, I’ve found the cover too be the place to be.
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2013- Santuit remains to be open during the winter, you just have to pick and choose your days. The fish have not done, or have bitten the way they did in the past, that is, in Jan, Feb I could catch them on jerk baits and ratltraps. Not so this year. Tubes, hair jigs, and creature baits did the best. Find the wood !!!!!!!!! Not necessarily around the shore line- some braches have blown around, especially when the ice was present. The fish were also more towards the “middle of the pond” this year. Look at the “hot spot map” and find the “yellow house” and draw a line from the house to the ramp and the point with the “red dock” ( which is the first dock on the point, no longer red) That will give you an area where a lot of fish were caught. This was the case in March when Cranbog hogs tournament was held. Ted and I lost two fish out there at the boat, both around 3 lbs. I caught the big bass of the tournament (pictured above). April The Rod Jockeys held their first tournament here for the year. Russ was really good and caught them off shore, this is when the ratltrap finally kicked in. I caught my fish around the wood cover, with a speed craw. The key was to go real slow, the water was in the 50’s but it was still cold!!!!!!!!! Vern beat me out with his senko, by a few ounces. |
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2014– Santuit has a big change in the amount of and species of “grass” in the pond. The fish are more scattered because of this and where once you “banged” the shoreline and the trees, the bass have also moved out away from the banks and into these grass beds. Up until around July you can still catch them with spinnerbaits, crankbaits- moving baits- but in July, August and part of September, I found the grass to thick to fish with those baits. Chatterbaits were really working at a time when the bass were very aggressive. The bait was ripped through the grass and the bass would hit it on the fall. The Rod Jockey tournament held in March was very tough. Ted and I had 4 fish, but they were scattered and it was a different lure for each bass. The water is getting much clearer than it was 3-4 years ago. The aerators and the grass have made a big difference. The fish are healthy and still abundant- you have to work a little because they aren’t just on the bank now.
2015- It wasn’t until April that I was able to fish Santuit this year. Senkos were the choice early for me, but I didn’t get back to Santuit until June. The grass was established by then and I would fish the swim jig and some swim baits through and around the grass. I had a ball, because this was the first time I really stayed with these baits and had success. I still haven’t used the chatterbait much, but others really do well here. The RJ’s had back to back tournaments here in July and August. It was night and day- June was unbelievable. Big fish and big bags were brought in by everyone. I saw Jeff lose a great big fish that cost him the tournament !!! I thought I had the big fish with a 4.88lber on a spinnerbait, but Ted beat me with a 5.2 lber. Ian won the tournament in the back of Ted’s boat with 15 lbs. Jigs were really working— anything that looked like a crawfish. The sun wasn’t up in the early morning, so I went to a spinnerbait– otherwise it was a jig. August was hot and the weeds were really thick and the bit just was off. Vern did well with his senko and caught some good fish an won, but too many of us stuck with the same “pattern” back in July and didn’t do well !!! I got back to Santuit in Nov. Dec and found the fish on jerk baits and square bills. The grass was beginning to thin out and the water temp was 50-55. Too heavy a weight put your lure into the grass and no bites, so I went to moving baits. Ted and I caught our last largemouth of the year here.
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2016-2017 Santuit Pond’s grass was established and the fish were all over the pond. You no longer could just run down the banks to catch fish. The water was color was slightly stained in the summer and clear the rest of the season. I was fishing mostly with Chad from the University of Nebraska, who was here playing in the Cape Cod League. Whacky rigged senko’s were his “go to” bait. He showed me some new techniques and not to be afraid of using big exposed hooks in the clear water. We also fished different areas of the pond, and during a Rod Jockey tournament, it paid off, because the fish were there. There were definitive grass lines in the area near the dam, and the fish would hold on the edge. Shallow running crankbaits, senkos, and swim jigs were very effective. I went back to using worms, since I haven’t used them in a long time. I tried using 10 inch ones, and found during the summer into the fall, the fish bit very well. In the summer of 2017, the area received 7 inches of rain. Just after this Santuit was green with algae, more so than years past. I fished a tournament in November and the surface had a thick coating of algae and it got all over the boat, rods, reels and line. My hand was green after reeling in the lure. The fish were white !!! Vern and I caught them and had 17 lbs. They were holding on wood and what grass was left. Hopefully after this winter, the alga will be dead and the grass restored.
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