Quabbin Reservoir

• The hit was light, just a little tug. However, once the hook caught her upper lip, the reaction was typical smallmouth bass — dives, jumps, and strong evasive runs at the boat and away from it. Within a minute or so, she was into the net and in the boat.
  
• The color of perfect toast with a splash of gold glitter, the 3-pound-plus female was iridescent in the late-morning sunshine, her clean white belly and distinctive red eyes adding highlights that guaranteed a standout memory. She was the first of about 18 or so smallmouths that came aboard Friday to be admired for a few seconds and sent back to the deep, clear waters of Quabbin Reservoir, barb-less and circle hooks ensuring they would be there for future others.
• It was a once-a-year day for my second trip to the Quabbin. Bright sunshine and 70-degree air brought the water temperatures up to an average of about 52 degrees. Some of the reservoir’s biggest smallmouths were moving shallow, and they were hungry, but selective. Roger Pyzocha of Ludlow was my guide for the day; he was also my guide last July during my first outing at the Quabbin.
• Although stunning and ruggedly beautiful, with mountainous islands rising from the water, the Quabbin can be an intimidating place to fish for a newcomer. It is 18 miles long with 181 miles of shoreline and 60 islands. There are broad expanses of water that easily turn to a white-capped chop, even on the nicest of days. There is very little comfortable shallow-water fishing available at the Quabbin. Water depths range from about 15 feet to more than 90 feet, and it is gin-clear down to about 25 feet, so you are visually aware of the treacherous possibilities.
• The Quabbin is one of the largest man-made public water supplies in the United States, and one of the largest unfiltered water supplies in the world. The reservoir was created in the 1930s by the construction of two huge earthen dams and the flooding of four towns. It is fed by the three branches of the Swift River and by the Ware River. When full, as it was on Friday, the reservoir holds 412 billion gallons.
• Despite its intimidating features, the Quabbin lures anglers from throughout Massachusetts. It is the state’s largest fishable body of water, holding 27 species of fish, with 17 of those species of interest to anglers. The Quabbin is the place to fish if you want to experience catching the largest of most species available in our state. Shore and boat fishing are permitted in certain areas, and it is possible to rent boats at three gates.
• Pyzocha said it has taken him nearly 20 years to learn the Quabbin.
• “I covered a little bit of water at a time,” he said. “At first, I didn’t stray too far from the boat launch area. But eventually, I moved further and further out.”
• Pyzocha said Friday that he initially kept a log book and made notes on the good fishing areas. However, he now fishes the reservoir so often, the good spots are committed to memory.
• The 54-year-old Pyzocha was elected to the National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame in Wisconsin as a legendary guide — one of few in New England to achieve that status — and he was named the state’s first Angler of the Year in 2002 because of his ability to catch the largest of several different species. He has participated in the state’s Freshwater Sportfishing Awards program for more than 30 years, earning more than 300 pins, several of which are gold pins for the largest of a species. Pyzocha fishes throughout the state, but prefers to fish the Quabbin and the Connecticut River. He holds the state record for carp at 44 pounds 2 ounces, caught in the Connecticut River.
• On Friday, Pyzocha and I met at 10 a.m. at the boat launch at gate 31 in New Salem. The parking lot was nearly full. However, once on the water, we saw few boats — one of the advantages of the reservoir’s size. Additionally, we headed for smallmouth territory, while trout and salmon are the preferred quarry of a majority of those who fish the Quabbin.
• My first fish of the day — a small largemouth bass — came from a shallow, brushy area off the east shore of the island nearest the boat launch. The first smallmouth, described above, came from of the reservoir’s numerous sunken gravel islands on the west side of the reservoir near the Prescott Peninsula. The largemouth was caught on a watermelon-gold-black Senko, whacky hooked, while the smallmouth picked up a Berkley bubble-up smelt-colored grub. A second 3-pound smallmouth took a crawfish-colored tube on a jig head fished slowly from shore into the drop-offs around Mount Russ.
• At 2:30 p.m., we headed across the reservoir toward the eastern shore to a spot that was good to us in July. We found 55-degree water on the lee side of an island. Our first clue of what was to come was a bronze-back fining himself partially out of the water on a shallow gravel shelf. None of the 15 smallmouth I caught over the next 90 minutes weighed less than 2 pounds; at least six weighed nearly 4 pounds. There was one largemouth in the mix. All came on a whacky-hooked four-inch Senko, most on the watermelon-gold-black color.
• Meanwhile, Pyzocha was as good as a guide should be, never taking a cast into my spot. Instead, he threw away from the hot spot, catching a variety of species, such as a lake trout and a pickerel.
• The Quabbin’s status as the principal drinking water supply for 2.5 million state residents in 47 communities dictates the regulations for recreational use of the reservoir by anglers and others. For more information, visit the Quabbin Visitor Center at Winsor Dam in Belchertown or call (413) 323-7221.