Oxbow ,North hampton,MA

[Crazy-Joe]

Went there today,6' of ice.nice weather SLOW fishing.A couple small Pike ,Bass .Yellow Perch.Jigged up a ton of small Bluegills.After took a trip to Quaboug Pond in North Brookfield,MA to  check ice conditions,NOT SAFE YET! Any father info on western ma pond is helpful.My first post,awesome web sight.I'll let you know what I know when I know!!! LOL

[Massfisher]

there was a guy fishing there on thursday and the ice was plenty safe when i went to check it around 400 this afternoon you just cant get on at the boat ramp because the lake level dropped then rose with the rain and the ice split by the boat ramp but by the small pull off where there is sand by the beach the ice is plenty safe

what part of the state are you from or what town i am from west brookfield



also if you go to the state part there is a lot more info about are area in massachusetts

[big big rdg]

Look under the MA section for better reports.

[Crazy-Joe]

I'm from Granby,Ma.Next time I'll post in the Ma column.I just found out about the sight,and that was my first post.Going to Twin Ponds in about 1/2 hour .I'll tell you how it was when I get back today.

[nemachuck]

Spent the 16th (Friday) and 17th (Saturday) down at on the Oxbow with my buddy.  All totaled from the two days was 45 largemouths, 2 good sized perch, 1 pickerel, 1 pike (27in).  Too many fish mention jigging. Bass mostly were between 10-13in and had 3 or 4 between 17-18 in range.  Bass were real healthy and looked like a footballs.  So looks like they are eating well. Saw only three pike taken including ours and the largest being 31in. Catching this many bass is typical with early ice here.  Next weekend it will be shot for the rest of the year.  The bass will shutdown and it will be back to old ox"slow"  Place already looks like swiss cheese!!!! 

Finally got and reason why pike fishing severely decrease from two years ago.  We were getting at least 7 to 8 pike a day two years ago and had a high of 15 pike one day.  Then last year and so far the start of this year u were lucky to catch one.  Talked to guy down there, and he said a bunch of pike in the spring of '04 got caught in some swamps after the water dropped really fast.  He said he saved 20 to 30 of them..... many in the 10 to 15lbs range.  But he said that was in a small area and couldn't imagine how many others were left stranded.  So let hope that they come back in the new few years.

[musky-man]

yea if anyone catchs a pike at the bow handle carefully and let go quickly, we need to get that place back running to its full potential

[Anima1z]

This year on open water was the best year for me at the Ox, each trip (4 or 5 can't remember) minimum of 4 pike and I did not catch anything less then 5-6lbs.  Lost a lot of them right at the boat hook falling out..  The biggest was 9-10lbs, all were released.  I need a bigger net, I originally went out for small mouth and kept catching the pike so I started going for them but they were too long to fit in my "trout net".  Caught them all on spinnerbaits.  I am hoping the ice will produce just as well. 

[Muskie Matt]

I can't say I've seen any REAL drop in the pike catch in the last few years BUT I do know that some of the people fishing from shore by the bridge (autobon society entrance) keep EVERYTHING!  It is really up to us to keep some of these people in check.  Call the EPO's and report violations.  Get their plate #.  If we don't do anything about it now we will see more and more of the places we fish get plunked dry.