Lake Winnipesaukee has been our annual summer vacation desination for the past 6 years. Winnipesaukee is the largest lake in New Hampshire and is a very popular desination as it's only a 2 hour drive from Boston. My first impression of the lake reminded of the Muskokas from my native Ontario. The lake is dotted with an impressive collection of cottages. Some are small and inviting and others are massive bordering on the adsurbed. During the summer months, especially on weekends the lake is a very busy place as boats and jet skis fill the air with noise and waves. But during the weekdays, surprisingly the lake can be very quiet and peaceful.
Due to its popularity, many cottage owners have started to rent out their places to people like us. With the exception of one, we've had a great time with our stays. One in particular that stood out was the one we rented on Bear Island this year. Initially, I wasn't thrilled because that meant being stuck on an island as I tend to be the type that likes to be on the go at a moment's notice. There would be no early morning trips to the White Mountains for photos or hiking. I was given the riot act by my girlfriend about not harassing her uncle and cousin who happened by the only ones that owned boats. I was resigned to the fact that I would be stuck on the island. So that I meant I would primarily be fishing. In past years, I really didn't fish, because I didn't have the proper gear as all of my gear is for specifically for steelhead. Plus I had no idea if I had access to a boat, canoe, or kayak.
This summer I bought an ultralight rod and reel as I wanted to fish the local rivers during the summer. But so far this summer we've been a drought and many of them are barely registering a flow. Prior to our trip I reasearched where we were staying I noticed we were in a cove. I downloaded a depth chart app and noticed the island was perfect habitat for smallmouth bass. The cabin we were renting from allowed us the use of their Hobie kayaks. The next step was making an big online order. I went to my go to store Fishusa in Erie, Pennsylvania for supplies. I ordered hooks and sinkers specifically for drop shoting and jig heads for tubes and minnow patterns. I ordered a bunch of plastic baits like Roboworms, gulp minnows, flatworms, and tubes.
Two weeks we later we arrive at the boat dock and it's blistering hot. The entire Northeast is locked in massive heatwave. The weather for the week is to be in the upper 80s and with the humidity it will feel even hotter. It's a quick 20 minutes to the cabin and we enter the cove. There's a large girl's summer camp and a collection of smaller cottages. Our cottage is located at the end of the cove. It's a large A frame cottage that looks relatively new. We immediately crank the AC and get unpacked. Due to the sweltering heat we all decide to head out on the boats and go for a swim. I set the alarm for 5:00am before heading to bed.
The ultrlight setup I had would be perfect for this type of fishery as I wasn't expecting to tangle with any monsters. The rod I bought was a 7' Dobyns and the reel was a Shimano Sedona 1000 with 6# braid. I packed the gear on the kayak and shoved off the beach. The air was slightly humid as I paddled out into the cove. In the distance I could see the 2 loons that have been hanging out since yesterday. One my favorites sounds is hearing the wails of the loon in the dark. But with the roaring of the AC, there's no way to hear them. I paddle past the markers and I can see at least 10' down. There's large rocks scattered about and I continue to paddle farther out. I downloaded an app prior to the trip that gave me a precise GPS location and I was directly over 20' of water. According to the map, there's a steep drop off that ran along the island for at least 1/4 of a mile.
I've drop shotted for bass and walleye numerous times on Lake Erie and done very well with this method. For my drop shot setup I use 5' flouro leader and #1 Gamakatsu drop shot hook. I left a 2' tag and use a 1/4oz egg sinker. Since I didn't have a fish finder, I had no idea if the fish would be suspended so I would have to make the adjustments.
I pulled out an oxblood 4" roboworm and placed it on the hook. I casted out and waited for the line to go slack. Once I started reeling in slowly, I could feel the egg sinker popping along the rock bottom. I tend not to jig, but once in a while I'll flick the tip of the rod to entice a strike. If there's a little wind, I'll just drift along and let the action of the bait do its job. Immediately I could feel something hitting the worm and the culprit was most likely rock bass. I would set the hook and nothing. I continued to work along the dropoff and then I felt a solid hit and I set the hook. Instantly I knew it was a smallmouth bass as it stubbornly hung on the bottom. Using an ultralight it felt larger and the fish was strong enough to pull line off the reel. Due to the clear water, I could see the fish shimmer as I reeled it up. Once it got to the surface it peeled off a nice leap from the water. I wasn't a big fish, probably around a couple pounds. It was a nice start to the morning.
Over the next couple of hours I caught a variety of smallmouth and rock bass ranging from 6" to several 16" fish. The roboworms were a big hit with the fish. But I was getting concerned that I was losing them. I brought along some nightcrawlers and whatever was down there robbed me blind. So started using other plastic baits and I immediately noticed a drop off in takes. Then I heard the blaring of trumpet from the camp nearby. It was loud enough to startle me as it continued to blare. I watched on bunch of kids stumble out their respective cabins as it meant it was time for breakfast. I also heeded the call and returned to the cottage for coffee and breakfast. I was satisfied with the morning outing and tomorrow I would fish another spot.
Over the course of the week, the weather was a little fickle. We had several thunderstorms roll through overnight. The wind in the morning would pick up and trying to stay in one spot was extremely difficult. Most of the time I would just use my drop shot rig and drift along. As long as I made contact with rocks I was hitting fish. But once I stopped feeling rocks and noticing the sinker dragging through weeds I would have to move. Over the week, I exhausted my supply of roboworms and had to resort to flatworms and minnows. That meant I started hitting more rock bass and compared to smallmouth they were nothing more than dead weight. The one surprise of the morning was when I was drifting, my rod got slammed hard. I wasn't sure what to make of it and my first thought it must be a very large smallmouth. But, it didn't fight like smallmouth. It turned out to be a decent sized largemouth bass. The day before a couple guys were casting spinner baits, which I thought was amusing, because there were no weeds in the cove. I watched them cast into 6 feet of clear water with little cover for fish. They saw me hitting fish and asked what I was using. I told them I was drop shotting plastic baits off the dropoff. They didn't take my advice and continue to cast to no avail.
When drop shotting started fizzling out, I would use a tube jig setup and they started smashing them. The best color was anything in green or pumpkin. One morning I tried to get out the hump in the lake, but I had to paddle pretty far out. The app showed the tip of the hump was at 16' and it dropped off to 35'. If it wasn't for the wind and chop, I'm pretty sure I would have hooked into some decent fish. I tried fishing it but it turned out to be a disaster because I couldn't effectively fish it because the wind kept blowing me off it. Since the lake is very large, it's extremely difficult to fish from a kayak, unless your kayak is fully tricked out like the ones I saw at the boat ramp with the built in electric motors. But I would reluctant to head out in the big water, especailly during the weekends and dealing with heavy boat traffic. I was more than content to fish around the cove as I didn't see any other anglers other than the two guys I saw previously. That was something I've noticed over the years on the lake was I rarely saw people fishing whenever we went out on a boat ride.
Winnipesaukee also has a great land locked Atlantic salmon and lake trout fishery. There's plenty of deep water that holds them. It also has a great warm water fishery as there's plenty of weedy bays that hold largemouth bass and northern pike. Sadly, there's no walleye in the lake and it's doubtful the state would even consider stocking them. Despite its huge size, I thought it was a relatively easy lake to fish if you had a map. Because of numerous islands, you don't really need to go out too far. But since I using a kayak, I was pretty well limited to a small section of Bear Island. If I had a boat, I probably wore my shoulders out catching fish.
Overall it was a fun of week of fishing, even though it was way too hot fish during the daytime. The heat pretty well sucked the energy out everyone as most of us resorted to napping in the afternoon. We didn't do any hikes because that meant hiking up with gallons of water and most of us most likely drop dead from heat exhaustion. The last day at the cabin, we all decided chill and relax. Saturday morning we said our goodbyes made the long drive back to Ohio and I commented thankfully this would be last long trip. Almost 11 hours later, we finally made it home dead.
