Fishing near Shirley in Middlesex County, MA

3.54 Rating based on 239 Reviews
  • Most Caught Species: Largemouth Bass, Chain Pickerel, Yellow Perch, Bluegill, Smallmouth Bass, Rainbow Trout
  • # of fishing spots within 25 miles: 181
  • # of reports within 25 miles: 996
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  • Discuss Shirley area fishing in our Massachusetts Fishing Forum

Shirley Fishing Photos

Massive Rainbow near Shirley

Massive Rainbow

Might not be exactly right
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Squannacook River, Groton near Shirley

Squannacook River, Groton

Squannacook River Conservation Area in West Groton, MA. WE hiked in from Townsend Rd.
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Shirley fishing photo 2

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4Lber I caught near Shirley

4Lber I caught

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Incredible set of pads.  near Shirley

Incredible set of pads.

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Top Fishing Spots near Shirley

Plow Shop Pond
Plow Shop Pond

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School House Pond
School House Pond

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# Reviews:
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Grove Pond
Grove Pond

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# Reviews:
Views: 1643

Upper Flannagan Pond
Upper Flannagan Pond

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Balch Pond
Balch Pond

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# Reviews:
Views: 1724

Hickory Hills Lake
Hickory Hills Lake

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# Reviews:
Views: 3659

Shirley Area Fish Species

Recent Shirley Fishing Reports

Groton Trout New years eve Fishing Report Dec 31, 2011

Groton Trout New years eve

Groton, Ma assorted creeks -

Me and cousin went up to Groton and started at the Squannacook. After about 20 mins my cousin had 1 rainbow and I had nothing. We then walked down the...

Avg. Rating: 4
# Reviews: 3 Views:
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Created by: congar15
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Squannacook River Weekend Fishing Report Jun 05, 2011

Squannacook River Weekend

Squannacook River in Groton, MA -

Tasha and I spent a great weekend fishing the Squannacook River in Groton for Brookies and Rainbows. The weather was perfect and the fish were on the ...

Avg. Rating: 4
# Reviews: 2 Views:
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Created by: shanek78
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Morning in the rain w/ Rokibass Fishing Report Aug 22, 2010

Morning in the rain w/ Rokibass

Lunenburg -

Hit a new spot up today with Rokibass.We new it was gonna be a fairly tough bite with the rain coming fast,but it beats the house anyday.It was going ...

Avg. Rating: 3
# Reviews: 4 Views:
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Created by: bam
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Lake Shirley Fishing Report Apr 09, 2009

Lake Shirley

Lake Shirley, Lunenburg, Shirley Ma. -

Looking for Larry's Grandpa!...

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Created by: monkeys31
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Squannacook River, W. Groton MA Fishing Report Apr 23, 2011

Squannacook River, W. Groton MA

Squannacook River, W. Groton, MA -

Went out early on a drizzly Saturday morning to go after trout on the Squannacook. There's a great spot right off the road with two single-space p...

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Created by: acuteangler
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Shirley Res 7/2015 Fishing Report Aug 23, 2015

Shirley Res 7/2015

Shirley Reservior -

Four -five 1 -2.5 lbs bass on Red Crankbait and red Squarebill plug. Run the Squarebill on top of the eel grass.

4.5 lb in red Senko off of do...

Avg. Rating: 5
# Reviews: 3 Views:
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Created by: jacko
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Baits and Tackle used near Shirley

Check Prices

  • Try rubber worms and I like Topwaters
  • plastics
  • Look for the ramp, it a little one!
  • fished meal worms, night crawlers off the bottom
  • 1.5 KVD Crankbait, Yamamoto 4.5 inch Pumpkin Grub, Spinnerbait, Swim Baits, Rubber Worms.
  • Green with gold belly swim bait.
  • Goliath size perch
  • Shinners

    Big Ones
  • Big ass shiners
  • Jitterbugs (black)

Live Bait (Other) Check Prices

  • Bobber & Shiner.
  • used live nightcrawlers and Power bait
    Yellow
    Sherbert
  • Big Shinner
  • Perch work the best or Big Shinners
  • Shinners
  • Pike shinners, again
  • Yellow Perch
  • Big Shinners
    Castmasters
  • White suckers
  • Big Kiva

Creature Check Prices

  • all 6 Pickerel were btween 16in and 10in, 4 on Creature Bait, and 2 on Jerkbait
  • My 2 Bass were:
    14in 1lb 2oz
    12.5in 13oz
  • Creature baits and senkos around docks.
  • More creature baits, around fallen timber and brush.
  • Orange Pumpkin Yama creature... my go-to soft plastic
  • Mixed it up every half hour, the Hog was caught on a pumpkin creature with black flake, but both the black with red flake and watermelon with black flake were effective.
  • Jigs, Shakyheads with worms or jig trailers, creature baits

Tube Check Prices

  • june bug tube
  • pumpkin seed tube
  • minitube flourescent
  • Chartreuse pepper flack tube
  • salt and pepper purple flake tube
  • June Bug tube
  • june bug tubes
  • purple smoke tube
    salt and pepper flake tube
    june bug tube
  • white tube
  • 10" on a tube
    10-1/2" on inline spinner
    14-1/2" 1lb 5oz on inline spinner

Minnow Check Prices

  • actually it was a pumkinseed i had caught there, it got away and the bass bit the hook
  • Shine on and dropped.
  • Medium shiner
  • on bottom rigs and bobbers
  • Kivas
    Shinners
  • fish med-heavy shiners on bottom, rig with 1/2oz non-lead egg sinker, 18" fluorocarbon leader to size 2-4 hook.
  • Not sure exactly what kind of bait fish it was, since I found it wriggling at the water's edge - my guess is a shiner or shad.
  • pike shinners, 5 to 7 inches long
  • We used live Arkansas Shiners with Bobbers
  • Large minnow with a rattling bobber, size 1 hook

Topwater Bait Check Prices

  • Zara Spook Baby Bass
  • Though I have caught a few bass on various lures here so far, topwaters seem to be the most productive by far. It makes sense when you think about. Go down to Fairhaven on a summer night and just try and count the splashes on the surface. I lost count somewhere around 20.
  • Zmkanpop frog elite w/ chart belly rigged w/ a 4/0 Gami
  • 3 inch floating Blue & White Rappala
  • Popper
  • frogs, spinners, and buzz bait
  • Jitterbug
  • Frog themed Hedon mini torpedo
  • Rapala Skitter Walk - SW8 Brown Frog
  • Black jitter bug.

Lizard Check Prices

  • Lizard on a 1/8 oz Round Head jig
  • 6 inch Zoom watermelon rigged mini carolina w/ 1/4 oz tube weight
  • Berkley 5" Power Lizard - Green Pumpkin
  • 8" Pumpkinseed
  • Zoom Lizards and creature baits. Texas rigged or on a shaky head jig.

Jerk Bait Check Prices

  • 4.5in Slug-go - Arkansas Shad
  • bullet weights are my favorite. punch right into the lilly pads or vegetation laying down in front of you.
  • I've used Rapalas and Carolina-rigged rubber worms, but Yamamotos easily outfished them 2:! in this pond and the surrounding
  • 4.5in Slug-go - Rainbow Trout
  • 4.5in Slug-go - Alewife
  • 4.5in Slug-go - Tennessee Shad
  • Two 1lb Pickerel
  • 4.5in Slug-go - Tennessee Shad
  • Sluggo

Spinnerbait / Buzzbait Check Prices

  • red
  • strike king 3/8 oz spinner
  • Green with one blade. 1/2 oz.
  • 3/8 oz black with tandem willow silver blades.
  • Spinnerbait
  • 1/2 oz. chartreuse shad rocket
  • Spinner
    Blue-fox
    Yellow
  • tandem colorado firetiger spinnerbait
  • I also caught a Calico Bass at this site as well.
  • Spinner green bleeder

Frog Bait Check Prices

  • Ribbit frog
  • Frogs, Jigs and texas rigged creatures did the damage
  • Cast a rubber from rigged weedless into cover and retrieve using a methodical twitching to simulate a frog swimming. When frog reached end of cover let sink for a couple of seconds before continuing twitching retrieve.
  • Ribbit Frog pulled slowly across the service.
  • yellow paddle tail frog. we saw a break in the water and knew there was a good fish. hit it a few times till he got him to take it.
  • 11" Bass in Senko at Dudley
    1lber on Frog at Heard
  • White Boyah Pad Crasher. I hopped it in with jerks.
  • Swimming the frog through the pads

Streamer Check Prices

  • Chart/White clouser

Stick Bait Check Prices

  • gary yamamoto senko black with silver flakes.
  • X-Rap
  • 5" Yamamoto green
    1/4 oz Crankbait
  • Trolling main channel
  • Jerkbait
  • Jerkbait
    1st was 13in 1lb
    2nd was 12in 11oz
    3rd was 11.5in 10oz
  • All morning chain pickerel were hitting my plastic lures, but not taking any hooks. One did manage to bite my power worm in just the right spot however, and gave a nice fight. After that I threw a newly acquired Rapala Husky Jerk around, and got an even nicer pickerel in return! If anyone wants that lure, it's still there, stuck in a tree branch.
  • Rapala, golden, 4" sinking
  • Jerk Bait
  • Jerk Bait
    1st Calico was 8in
    2nd was 10in
    3rd was 9in

In-Line Spinner Check Prices

  • Size 1 Mepps Agila, Silver blade
  • Asortment of spinners.
  • Try casting farther out with a small spinner for pickerel
  • Aglia spinner with bronze body, silver flash
  • Aglia spinner, bronze body, silver flash
  • Gold Vibrafox #2
  • Caught many fish here over the years on many different baits but the spinners seem to work best
  • Silver / Black Roostertail
  • Blue Fox Inline Minow
  • White Rooster Tail

Dry Fly Check Prices

Terrestrial Check Prices

Worm Check Prices

  • Red Senko took it on the fall on the fall
  • 6" Yamamoto Senko black/pink worm
  • Sadly my only Bass of the day, and it was to small
  • Orange was the color of the day
  • purple and pink rubber worm, pumkinseed rubber worm
  • "pumkinseed" 7inch rubber worm
  • Zoom (Xoom) Rubber worm
  • senko
  • 5" Gary Yamamoto Pumpkin (Orange) pro senko, fished split shot.
  • gary yattamotto seko black siver flake

Plastic Swimbait Check Prices

  • Black worm with bright yellow tail
  • yum 5" monny minnows white
  • Zoom - Watermelon Seed Fishies - "Bass love 'em"
  • lake fork live magic shad in watermelon pearl
  • Strike King KVD Paddle Tail Swimbait - Silver belly, blue back with glitter specks.
  • Rubber Crawdads, Carolina rigged. The kids switched over to use live bait (night crawlers) about halfway through the trip.
  • 4 1/2" Shadalicous Sexy Shad &
    Bluegill Bandit 100 Crankbait
  • Hopefully this strikeKing jointed swimbait catches me something other than bass this
    season
  • Dark Senkos wacky

Hard Baits Check Prices

  • 1 on BBZ-1 Shad floating swimbat, Wicked Perch color.
    1 on 1/2 oz black Strike King Bi-Buzz.

Soft Baits Check Prices

  • Senko and Dropshot
  • Dropshot
  • My Best 5:
    Two 2lbers
    1-1/2lber
    1-1/4lber
    1lber
  • Drop Shot
  • pitching into the pads with a craw
  • Jigs, Worms, Cranks
    Chuck had 3 Keepers, and I had 1.
    Many shorts caught
  • Shaky Head
  • one 1/2lb and one 1lb Largemouth
  • .
  • Worms, Jigs, and 1 on topwater early

    My contribution to the limit was a 3-1/2lber

    The rest were 2lbs to 3/4lbs mostly

Roundhead Jig Check Prices

  • first bass caught on a jig as i haven't used them much. spent the day practicing working at it.
  • 5" Kalin grub Rootbeer flake 1/8oz 2/0 leadhead
  • 3" sluggo 1/16 oz #4 hook unpainted BPS leadhead Caught all fish on black and gold flake

Lure (Other) Check Prices

  • senkos
  • Bronze 2-Way spinner hook and a Nightcrawler.
  • Rubber worms frogs,spinners
    All worked
  • Bluegill flash 5 inch super fluke
    Bluegill chatterbait with a watermelon pearl lft swimbait
    1/4 ounce blk/blu booyah baby boo jig with a black yum craw papi
    2 inch baby bass bps grub
  • Blue Fox Vibrax series
  • Koppers livetarget frog
    scumfrog little bigfoot frog
    zoom super fluke
  • Green bigfoot scum frog
    Tan/brown Koppers hollow body frog
    Watermelonseed 5" Zoom super fluke
    Green pumpkin booyah boo jig w/ Rage craw trailer green pumpkin
    bluegill 3/8 oz. chatterbait w/ watermelon red flake swimmin' fluke
  • 4" black and blue yum dinger
  • Dragging a Chatterbait off a lone rock pilling.
  • Florescent Yellow 2-Way spinner hook and a trout worm.

Craw Check Prices

  • Weighted Texas rigged soft craw
  • Gary Yamamoto 3.75" Watermelon with Black Flake Baby Craw on a 1/8 oz Boag Hog Baits ball head jig.
  • crawdads and soft frogs
  • yamamoto watermelon crawdad

Hard Swimbait Check Prices

  • 1 on BBZ-1 Shad floating swimbait, Wicked Perch color

Jigs Check Prices

  • jig n pig
  • Our Limit was :
    My 3.26lbs, 3lber, 1lb 6oz, 1lb 2oz, and Chucks 1lb 5oz

    1lb and under on the rest
  • 11" on Shaky Head
    15-1/2in 1lb 9oz on Jig

Crankbait Check Prices

  • Same details as Bass 1
  • Red in color, mimic swimming crawdad, pop,pop,pop, stop wait, pop,pop,pop, stop wait
  • Same as Bass 1
  • rapala wounded minnow
  • Caught one on a small shiner-type and the other on a bright silver and yellow.
  • kvd 2.5/d-bomb missle baits
  • KVD 1.5 and 2.5
  • Lipless Crankbait and a Plastic Swimbait
  • KVD 1.5 Chartruese/black back
  • strike king sexy shad

Bass Jig Check Prices

  • Strike King KVD Swim Jig in Bluegill with Rage Tail chunk or Chigger Chunk trailer.

    Zoom White Pearl Super Fluke
  • pumpkin
  • brown
  • Crawfish style.
  • Boag Hog black/blue with a blue trailer
  • 3lb 4oz
    A couple 3lbers
    A couple 2-3/4blers
    Half a dozen 2-1/2lbers
    A dozen 2lbers
    ...so many fish! I lost count!
  • rattle jig with uncle josh pork trailer
  • One Keeper at 1lb, and 10 shorts
  • 1st was 1lb 3oz
    2nd was 2lb 5oz
  • black and blue with blue craw trailer

Wet Fly Check Prices

  • Wolly Bugger tied onto spinning tackle, with bobber
  • Wolly Bugger
  • White wooly bugger
  • White Wooly bugger

Soft Swimbait Check Prices

  • Green/silver belly shad. 5/0 hook rigged weedless. Thrown into cover, dragged to the edge of cover and allowed to fall - strike typically occurred while bait was falling.
  • Plain white Swim bait Plastic.
  • Reaction Innovations
    4.5" Little Dipper
  • Berkeley GULP!
  • bk bl 5" senko texas rigged
  • Senko wacky rig and soft plastic swim baits
  • Dropshot 12" leader , 1/4 oz weight, with various 3" baits
  • Frog = 1 lil bump
    White Shad = 2 LMB
  • 4" BkBl senko texas rigged on 3/0 Gami hook
  • 6" berkley havoc sick fish clear natural bream color and painted with garlic cented chartreuse dip n glo to resemble yellow perch.

Lake Pattern Check Prices

Casting & Trolling Spoon;22 Check Prices

  • Up on the more northern end of things, we hooked into a few Landlocked salmon bites. Mostly smaller guys, but a few just keepers. Dad hit them on a variety of lures, but all mine came in on Little Cleo spoons. Another species crossed off the bucket list!
  • silver spoon
  • 1/8 ounce gold Phoebe

Nightcrawler Check Prices

  • Eagle Claw Trout Spinner with #4 hook and a Dillie worm.
  • plastic worms, live worms, crank bait, spinners
  • Neon green 2-way spinner hook.
  • worms on a bobber is the way to go. cast under trees and near weeds and lilies
  • Neon Yellow 2-Way Spinner Hook
  • Brass 2-Way Spinner Hook.
  • Night crawlers with either a bobber or weights.
  • Just a crawler on a 0/1 baitholder hook, sent to the bottom.
  • Just a crawler on a 0/1 baitholder hook sent to the bottom.
  • Silver/Silver 2-Way Spinner Hook

Lipless Bait Check Prices

  • Greyish, green, red face
  • rattler
  • Live Target Golden Shiner Vibration Trap Lipless Crankbait
  • we both used rattlers all night. first time we have used them for a good length of time and tonight they were working.
  • the bass are waiting for bait fish to emerge from stream and were nailing lipless and regular crankbaits. also caught one on a spinner

Topwater Bait (Popper, Plug) Check Prices

  • Popper

Blade Bait Check Prices

  • Chatterbait
  • chartruce and whit chatter bait
  • Gold PK Lure PK Flutter Fish. Awesome lure.

Grub Check Prices

  • Yamamoto 5" Curly Tail Grub - watermelon with red flakes.
  • Yamamoto 5" Double Curly Tail Grub, Green with Red Flakes
    Also caught on KVD 5" Caffeine Shad Paddle Tail Swimbait
  • 20 in the 6"-8" range were relentless all day!
  • Dropshotting
  • Pink with blue flake Kalin Grub Texas rigged
  • Yamamoto Twin Tail Grub
    Booyah Frog

Flies Check Prices

  • Fished a wooly bugger with a casting bubble

Live Baits Check Prices

  • Dough Ball
  • white rooster tail

Panfish Jig Check Prices

  • Bright yellow, fuzzy and small.
  • 2 inch bps grub on a little jighead.
  • ice jig tipped with tiny plastic grub

Other Check Prices

  • Bread or Meat or anything that Sunfish will eat
  • We had many things on hand, oatmeal, boilies, chick peas, feed corn, birdseed and grits based pack/method mixes, dog food, maple peas...

    In the end most fish were caught on Chick peas, followed by Dat food (strawberry) with one on Simon's pineapple birdseed "cake" boilie.
  • Feed corn and dat food were on the menu. We also tried chick peas, canned corn, luncheon meat, a coupld of pack/dough baits.

    We chummed a mix or bread crumb, hemp meal, pineapple soda and other such ingredients.

  • Dough Ball
  • Corn, White bread, vienna sausage.
  • Oatmeal is the bait of choice from the locals. Simon and I also brought feed corn, boilies, chick peas, a few dough baits and a grits based pack bait.

    all action was from our Dat food boilies ( pineapple and strawberry) and the grits based pack bait. Oatmeal produced one good run, and a few nibbles.

  • Bread Balls and Canned Corn
  • I went with a basic powerbait rig. I Tied a barrel swivel on to the end of my 8 pound mono and added about 2.5-3 feet of 6 pound fluorocarbon leader. Just above the swivel was a small 1/8 ounce steel egg sinker. A baited powerbait hook completed the set up.
  • Just used some more powerbait. I'm thinking next time I may try some mealworms or nightcrawlers. Maybe a few small senkos as well.
  • Velveeta and bread...who knew?

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