New Shore Access, Charles River Dedham
New shore spot on the Charles in Dedham
The town put in a new canoe/kayak launch behind the Dedham Parks and Rec department. After getting skunked striper fishing, I stopped in for a guaranteed catch. I was looking for white catfish and bullheads.
Before I could rig up pole number 2, pole 1's line was stripped and it was about to fly off into the river.
It fought like a big catfish at first, but it was a huge eel. It had to be near 5 pounds.
After about an hour fishing, I caught 5 eels and 4 bullheads. 4 of the eels were about 3 pounds or more, and one was about a pound.
2 bullheads were under a pound, and 2 were about 2.5 pounds.
The eels were thick and VERY aggressive. Does anyone know why? I didn't catch more than 5 in the Charles all last summer, and they were all under 1 pound. They must be heading to or from the ocean. I can't imagine any fish under a pound sharing the river with these guys. There is also no way this little bend in the river could sustain such a massive population of these guys. I even switched up to 5/0 saltwater hooks, but it didn't help. I called it a night after my fifth time getting slimed.
I will certainly head back to this spot later in the summer. It hasn't had much fishing pressure as the area was just cleared out last fall. Loads of swamp/marsh land around this bend. I've also caught plenty of good cats, carp, bass, and picks from the shore just a little ways away, both up and down the river.
*Good spot to drop a kayak or canoe into too.
No white catfish yet :(.