Shore fishing Puffer Pond

Last Sunday morning my wife and kids went to Puffer Pond and fished from the floating fishing access platform.

We had a great time, but didn't catch anything.

We were using gulp maggots (as live bait is not allowed).

I would really like my son and wife to catch something (as neither have ever caught a fish).

Does anyone have some good suggestion for easy to use lures and bait that work well at puffer pond?

I grew up fishing with live bait, so I'm out of my depth.

We are happy fishing for anything, panfish, bass, catfish, trout, or pickerel.

Also, would the water be considered low visibility, so I should uses bright colored and rattle lures?

Thanks,
Patrick

I've never been down to Puffer, but spinnerbaits have proven to be to a no-brainer bait for me. Doesn't seem to matter what lake/pond/river, they always produce. The first time I took my wife fishing, I gave her a spinnerbait on a push button rod and she just about outfished me!

volume4130, thank you for the tip. That's what I've been reading. Do you have any particular favorites? What colors do you generally use?

Cheers,
Patrick

Get a #2 mepps aglia. You can't go wrong with that.

Thanks sf22nd for letting me know about the Mepps Agila #2. I'll run to Natick Outdoor Store at lunch, and pick up a couple.

volume4130, thank you for the tip. That's what I've been reading. Do you have any particular favorites? What colors do you generally use?

Cheers,
Patrick

Depends on the conditions. My best producer is a white/chartreuse body and skirt with a gold willow leaf and a small silver colorado blade. When its raining I have a black/gray body and skirt lure with double gold willow leaf blades that kills it. All white has been producing lately for me too.

When you're choosing blades, base it on the conditions. Mucky/stained water use colorado blades because they vibrate more and fish will be attracted to that because they can't see as well. In clearer water, try a willow leaf because they give off more flash. I like silver spoons when its sunny and gold blades in the cloudy/rainy weather.

One of the easiest and most effective baits are Senko's a rubber worm made by Garry yokamoto not sure about spelling of last name Japanese guy texas rig em.Use pause retrieve method or twitch pause retrieve sounds more complicated then it is but very simple and deadly for bass!

havw to agree senkos easist way to fish. cast out watch ur slack line for when it hits botom the line will start coming towards you. then reel in slack till u feel bait give a quick pop stright up let it fall to the bottom again. u will feel the fish tug a lil give it couple seconds to take it slam the hook home and u will cath bass/pickeral. me personally been trying to get fish on spiner baits for a mont now cant get any. one pickeral. tried diferetn colors wieghts and so forth goten fish to follow it but cant get to bite

Past couple years I have had more success with wacky style rigging my plastic worms than anything else. Just hook it right in the middle, throw it out, give it a couple movements on the way down, some movement while on the bottom, reel in 5-10 ft and start it all over. If you use a lighter line you can feel the fish bite it a few times. If your line starts moving set the hook, but if you can feel them just hitting it over and over, give it a few seconds then set. That usually means they are in the process of take down the whole worm and you want to make sure the hook is in there.

me personally been trying to get fish on spiner baits for a mont now cant get any. one pickeral. tried diferetn colors wieghts and so forth goten fish to follow it but cant get to bite

Try different retrieves sometimes too. If you reel it in at a normal steady speed, they don't run too deep, and the fish could be lower in the water column. Try a slow roll or a yo-yo type retrieve and it will cover more water and different depths. If the fish are real aggressive you can burn it back fast and hold your rod tip high and it almost works like a buzz bait.

Yesterday I picked up a #2 Mepps Aguila and a #1 Mepps Aguila. My wife caught 2 Black Crappie on it, and I caught 1. Then we lost it and we caught one fish each on a spoon that I had previously got fouled in.

My wife was tickled pink to catch her first fish and we had a great time.

Thank you everyone.

And another thanks. My wife and I went to the Lexington reservoir today. She caught a large bluegill on a chartreuse spinner, and I caught a small largemouth on a silver and chartreuse spoon.