PowderBeard

6 minutes ago, Typhoon Tip said:

wow, that must be really old then.  

I will never have the gray experience sadly. Started shaving my head in my mid-20s. 

6 minutes ago, WinterWolf said:

Ahh nice, I didn’t look very close so I didn’t realize they had snow coming tonight.  Ok let’s go!

1 minute ago, WinterWolf said:

Where in Maine are you PowderBeard?

We are just north of Gray. 

Loving the move to Maine thus far. Wouldn't mind a snow on my birthday, don't think it has happened previously. 

When we sold out house we decided to rent our new house in Maine months before we planned to move because utilities were included. And it's an amazing house with a big garage. I imagine come April if we re-new the rent will be jumping up big time. We are very respectful about our usage though and take care of our landlord's responsibilities (landscaping, snow removal) in trying to be good tenants and hopefully it will not be too much of an increase. There are smaller and older homes around us with nothing included $600-800 more per month. Just insane. We would like to hold-off buying for another year but shall see. 

Seeing the pics and reports reminded me of living in RI for March 2010. I doubt anything will ever come close to that flooding event in RI. That was awful. Governor Carcieri calling is a "once in a 500 year event." A week straight of gridlock on major roads and highways because of closed roads, running pumps and shop-vacs for days on end without sleep. That was from two 6"+ events in a week span if I remember correctly.  

Well fishing in Maine is....incredible. Cracked a few largies over 6 lbs already, and it's some fun fishing. Not staring at electronics in 30-50' for smallies. Which is fun but got old after a season.

I think I "over-corrected" in terms of boats. Went from out 16' with a 20hp Merc to this beast. Saw the posting from a gentleman far Downeast, couldn't believe it but was real but hopped in the truck and was worth a 5 hour drive to see. Ended up driving it home that night after a test drive. A mint 19+' Javelin, barn/boathouse kept with a new powerhead on the motor. One of the few bass rigs ever made under 20' that took a 225HP motor. 

Does it ever rain in NNE? Since we moved up to Maine I think I've seen water fall from the sky once. 

9 hours ago, radarman said:

The rare southerly breeze at Quabbin this evening.  Felt weird.

I always thought Quabbin translated is "wind from every f'n direction" lol

9 hours ago, DavisStraight said:

There's been some chilly mornings, I don't put on the heat but put on a sweatshirt when I get out of bed.

Of course I move out of the swamp and it's finally cool down there. 

20 hours ago, fz583 said:

Holy smokes! I fished Quabbin yesterday for 8.5 hours, first time, between the two of us we got 3 smallies all on spinnerbaits, threw jigs, jerkbaits, senko's,  biggest about 2.5 lbs. Was tough fishing yesterday but still fun. Congrats.

Yea this is definitely the toughest spring I have seen at the Quabbin. There were almost 200 boats out last Sunday and hardly saw any fish pics posted on the Quabbin FB forum. Smallies on spinnerbaits are super fun! 

On 5/2/2022 at 6:31 PM, tunafish said:

@PowderBeard  Welcome (or soon to be) to the area!

It's a bit further south than where you're at, but Highland Lake on the Westbrook/Windham/Falmouth line is a goldmine for small and largemouth.  The only motor boats on there are from waterfront properties.  The only public boat launch is on the south side of the pond, but even then it's blocked so you have to carry in your non-motorized vessel.  I'm out there in my canoe a bunch in the summer as it's the closest freshwater spot to me, be happy to take you out when you're settled in.

Thanks! I'm ready for Maine after my last few weeks fishing in Mass are ending better than I could have dreamed of.  Yesterday this one tied the mark of 7lbs 1oz for one of, if not the biggest, to come out the Quabbin. She was long, lean, and just under 25". Ate a heavy football jig in 15'. Thought I was on a rock, so I popped it, and then it took off like a striper. Jumped about 60' out and thought it was a solid 5 pounder. When she got closer to the boat I couldn't believe it. Swam away to drop her eggs later this month.

2 hours ago, HIPPYVALLEY said:

Wow, that’s surprising. I’d like love to see a chart for inland because the wind has been constant the last three weeks.

Seriously, the wind has been so bad lucky to get out on the Quabbin 2 days a week. Constant 2-3 footers. Definitely the worst out there since I moved up here. 

On 4/4/2022 at 2:05 PM, powderfreak said:

Yeah he’s been around! 

Did he get his pass back or is he doing the Bobby Valentine?

16 hours ago, NW_of_GYX said:

welcome to the area. Don't sleep on Crescent lake. Some good trout and salmon fishing on the fly in this area if you're into that too.

Thanks! I saw some tournament results from Crescent and was really impressed. I plan on being there often given it is so close. 

On 4/18/2022 at 7:31 AM, MVOyster said:

Headed to Quabbin this week, may rent a boat at Gate 8 or may just fish from shore … this week last year I caught a #5.4lb, 25.5” Landlocked Salmon (State pin!) from the shore there, and several Smallmouth to 19” … one of my favorite places in New England

Very nice! The lakers and salmon are super shallow right now. Lakers are eating any and everything. I went out for an hour on Monday just to test out the boat and grabbed four lakers between 16-24" casting towards shore on blade baits.

23 hours ago, tamarack said:

An hour farther north puts the Belgrades in play, if pike are the object.  State record 31-pounder came thru the ice on North Pond, though it was 25+ years ago.  I did see a 20-pounder on that pond's ice about 10 years back.  My biggest there is a bit over 8 pounds, fun on my light tackle.

Yes, love North Pond. Seen some big pike follow my baits in and caught a lot of big fish there. Was amazed to find big smallies under docks and lily pads in 1-2' of water, not something you see often. One of the best parts was this old 5+ dinosaur while my buddy walked across the street to get us all ice cream.  

My dad and I got on a pretty fun pattern up there, just cast to any sail boat on a mooring in 4-6' of water and there would be multiple fish under it. @MBRI

On 4/15/2022 at 7:44 AM, DavisStraight said:

Are you buying a house up there? Tons of good lakes up there to fish, I spend a lot of time in Maine since my sister lives there, might move up there myself when I near retirement.

 

We are renting the first year until we decide where we want to live. Found a nice house with heat included so we jumped on it. 

11 hours ago, mreaves said:

Pretty soon it will be Sebago season for you instead of Quabbin. 

I haven't enjoyed Sebago the few times I have been, lots of traffic and stunted bass. Crescent and Crystal Lakes are within about 10 minutes of our new place but I plan on spending a lot of time on Thompson and Long Lakes, probably the Androscroggin for pike as well. 

Only got out once last week and got a couple small 1-2lbs largies on the blade bait. Boat is now tied to the trailer for Quabbin season. Put about 10-12 hours in sanding and repainting.

22 hours ago, Angus said:

Right now, life science stock options seem to be leading the charge but I always wonder about the % down payment on these homes - are the banks allowing a higher % of income to be directed to mortgage - or is it just folks with lots of home equity moving up? I pay no attention to this stuff given I'm want to downsize in 2024 and will probably leave the area.

For all the offers on our house last week it was lower down payments (5% whereas we put down 10%) and the buyer having to put in 10-20k towards making up the difference in appraisal and sale price.   

23 hours ago, Spanks45 said:

Housing market still out of control here.  Neighbor put his house on the market, 25 showings booked in the first few hours. First showing/offer came in 65 grand over asking

Seriously it is insanity. Listed our house last Wednesday, open house Sunday with over 80 people and 15 private showings Sunday-Monday. Had multiple offers well above asking (which was 40% above what we paid for it 3 years ago) with no contingencies/inspections by Tuesday. Moving up to Gray, ME for June 1st.  

32 minutes ago, Chrisrotary12 said:

Anybody venture out yet? Anybody have a link for water temps around here?

Was out Friday on a local river. Tons of dace, a couple bass on jerkbaits, water was 42-46*. Have a few buddies that have been hitting the CT River in Mass and southern VT. Water had been 38-41*, they have been getting lots of big catfish (8-15lbs) on blades/spoons over deep holes.

6 minutes ago, NorEastermass128 said:

$97 for WTI Crude 22 hours later. Let’s keep this up and then we can drop average gas prices back below $4/gallon. 

Several places around here are already below $4. I actually took the chip out of my truck to enable the V4/AFM system and average an extra 5-6 MPG, worth it to just check the oil level more regularly.  

14 minutes ago, ORH_wxman said:

Yeah quabbin isn’t big enough. You can get some low level very light snow from quabbin if conditions are perfect but it’s really rare. You only see it out in western ORH county and it’s basically flurries or stray flakes. 
 

I don’t know where the streamers came from. I guess lake Champlain could’ve done it on NW or NNW wind and it somehow get reinvigorated because of the upper level support. It was weird but they definitely acted like LES streamers and the snow was similar to what I’d see out in Ithaca off lake Cayuga. 
 

They did make for a good wintry scene last night. 

NWS Gray has made FB posts in the past about Sebago enhancing snow which is about 30k acres, the Quabbin is larger than Sebago. That said the shape of Sebago seems to be more favorable. 

Quabbin effect, love it. We got over 3-4", more than Berkshire East got that is for sure. 

Pounding sleet and snow. Whiting up fast. 

@radarman or anyone else heading to Berkshire East tomorrow? I should be there around mid-day.