By Alan Desbonnet
Bunker have been reported in the upper Narragansett Bay area, according to reports coming in to Quaker Lane Bait & Tackle in North Kingstown. And with the reports of bunker come reports of several striped bass in the bay surpassing the 20-pound mark. These early-spring jumbos were taken by anglers fishing eels at night off Beavertail Point. There have also been a few reports of striped bass in the 10- to 12-pound range taken along the south shore beaches. Inland fishing remains good, with trout newly restocked, though heavy rains early this week have made things difficult for anglers.
Brian Mitchell with a beautiful 11-pound Quabbin Reservoir laker, caught trolling a shiner about 20 feet down on lead line.
Do you have a current great catch photo? Email it to
us and you might just see it in the fishing report.
Send photos to kevin@onthewater.com, and
be sure to include the angler's name and the size of fish.
Tony at Wildwood Outfitters in Wakefield relayed some disheartening news: this is the shop’s final week open for business, and they will be spending the next few days packing up and winding down. Another sorry passing. Stop by and wish them luck in the future, whatever they do, if you get a chance.
The East Wall has emerged as the leader of the pack this week, based on the report from Maridee Bait & Tackle in Narragansett. There have been reports of 30- and 33-inch striped bass taken from the East Wall, both on chartreuse Cocahoes. Plenty of smaller bass are being found there, too. Mary reported that Narrow River is very productive at the moment, but mainly for school bass. Several anglers have picked up blackfish bait and headed out, but no reports have come back to the shop.
Steve at River & Rip Tide Angler in Coventry said that anglers are having a field day in fresh waters, with the Wood and Fall river systems finishing particularly well. Black Quills and March Browns are topping the mayfly hatch list at the moment, providing action on and under the surface. Evenings are ruled by a mix of black and tan caddisflies, which are really getting the trout going. The recent rains have brought water levels up to normal, and conditions are excellent at present.
In the salt, there have been great reports from all over the south shore, salt ponds and Narragansett Bay. Most of the striped bass are schoolie-sized, and they have purportedly been showing marked interest in "Ray's Fly" patterns. Ohio Ledge and Greenwich Cove have been particularly productive. Although no big fish have been reported, a friend Steve was fishing with on Tuesday hooked into a 25-pounder while working a surface plug in Point Judith Pond. Also, the shop will be holding an open house from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, May 17.
According to Ronnie at Breachway Bait & Tackle in Charlestown, the shop has heard reports of good fluke catches off Green Hill Pond, with Capt. Steve doing well (he was actually out on another fluking trip when I called) using squid. There are school bass in the pond, but no worm hatch has been reported this week, probably due to the heavy rains over the weekend. One angler has been taking striped bass to 32 inches on eels fishing in the back end of the pond during broad daylight. Ronnie also reported that anglers are still taking cod south of Block Island, and that some big tautog are coming to hook during the cod excursions.
The heavy rains over last weekend put a damper on things, according to Archie at Mike’s Bait & Tackle in Voluntown. Panfish and pike have been fishing well in all the usual ponds throughout the area, but nothing big has come into the shop over the past week. Archie also reported that the largemouth bass and calico bass are on the spawning beds.
Capt. Jack Balint at The Fish Connection in Preston said that several large schools of bunker are in the Thames River; they’re showing up in various places between Montville and the I-95 bridge. Some bigger striped bass are reported to be underneath the bunker. Big striped bass are still being taken at the Greenville Dam, though the action is slowing some. School bass are scattered throughout the river system, but you’ll find that the lower sections are more productive. Capt. Balint also heard reports that the first bluefish of the season have been taken in the Thames River in close proximity to the bunker schools. Trout fishing continues to be excellent, albeit a bit slower due to the recent influx of rainfall. The Shetucket and Yantic river systems have been the most productive, according to what Capt. Balint has heard from anglers. The Gardner Lake boat launch is now open, and there’s been some good fishing for trout and walleye in that waterbody.
Winter flounder are still biting well in the Niantic River, according to Lou at Hillyer’s Bait &Tackle in Waterford. Some flounder are now being taken along the beaches, indicating that the fish are on the move to deeper waters for the summer season. Striped bass are plentiful at the mouths of the Connecticut and Niantic rivers, although they’re mostly school bass. Lou expects the bigger fish to arrive within the next seven to ten days. Lou also commented that even though blackfish season is now closed, it ended with a bang; many nice fish were landed in its final days.
Capt. Morgan at Capt. Morgan’s Bait & Tackle in Madison reported that many anglers have been focusing on fresh water over the past few days because of persistent easterly winds, and these anglers have been doing well overall. Largemouth bass are in the shallows and behaving very aggressively, so fishing for this species is getting pretty hot. Trout fishing continues to be excellent despite the rainfall over the weekend.
In the salt, Capt. Morgan reported lots of school bass in the mouth of the Connecticut River as well as along the shore, and a few bluefish are patrolling area reefs. Bunker are moving into Eastern Long Island Sound, but so far big striped bass have not been reported under them. Flounder fishing continues to be good in the coves and along the banks of channels for anglers using soft baits and chum.
Flounder fishing remains good in the western end of Long Island Sound, according to Chris at Stratford Bait & Tackle. But although they are around and willing to bite, it has been difficult getting bait down below the dense schools of school bass. A few slightly larger striped bass have been taken on worms, but nothing has been taken yet on chunk bait. For fresh water, Chris reported that high water has slowed the action a bit in the rivers and streams, but ponds and lakes continue to fish well. On Sunday, an 8-pound brown trout was taken in the Saugatuck Reservoir on a Kastmaster, so things can’t be too bad.
Chris at Westport Outfitters in Norwalk agreed that the trout fishing is still very good despite the recent slowdown due to rainfall. The one exception was the Housatonic River, which was pretty much unfishable early in the week. Hatches are occurring on all the local streams and rivers, though they are too diverse and numerous to cover here. Chris did note that the Hendrickson hatch on the Farmington River is good overall.
For saltwater fishing, the Housatonic River is still producing striped bass, but things are breaking up rapidly as the weather warms. There’s lots of bait around, with bunker being reported in several spots, and a few striped bass to 20 pounds have been taken from Greenwich Harbor in the past few days. Chris thinks this could be the start of a run of larger stripers coming to the area.
John at Valley Angler in Danbury reported some very good fishing on Candlewood Lake. A recent tournament saw several 4 ½-pound smallmouth bass taken, and a whopping 3 ¼-pound crappie! Early in the week, John marked a school of fish bunched up 10 feet deep and chasing alewives. After successfully catching a couple, he was pleased to see that they were brown trout to 6 pounds. According to John, more large brown trout have been taken this season than in the past few years. Prior to the big rainfall over the weekend, 9,000 trout had been stocked into the Housatonic River, so we can expect to find plenty of trout scattered throughout the river system once things calm down some. The Farmington River is fishing well, and the Hendricksons are coming off pretty good there, but if you really want to fish one of the most awesome Hendrickson hatches in recent times, get over to the West Branch of the Delaware River – just be prepared to find LOTS of company when you get there!
Best Bets for the Weekend
Assuming that there’s no heavy rainfall this weekend, expect the rivers and streams to have returned to fishable levels, and the fishing should be good in the waters that have been stocked recently. Given the big influx of water early in the week, be prepared to so some hunting, as the fish will no doubt be spread around. Bass and panfish are on the spawning beds and will be aggressive to offerings made to them, but be considerate and let them “do their thing” so that we’ll ensure a good crop of fish next year. The flounder seem to be moving out, so don’t delay or you may lose out. School bass are biting all along the coast, and bigger stripers are now showing sporadically in Narragansett Bay, along the south shore of Rhode Island and in Western Long Island Sound.
Jump to your Report CT & RI CC & Islands MA, NH & ME
• Coastal Marine Text Forecasts by Zone
• Maine Harbors Tides & Weather FoR Maine to Rhode Island
• Tides Online - Tide Information for Connecticut
Get the Fishing Forecast sent to your Email
By Jenny Tribble
Cape anglers, your time has come! After what seemed to many like a season that just wouldn’t get started, the migratory striped bass have finally arrived to our shores, and area anglers are coalescing along the coastline to meet them head-on. According to many bait shops in the area, the fish are “packed” in Buzzards Bay to gorge on masses of baitfish, providing exciting sport for boat and shore anglers alike. These are mostly sub-keeper-sized fish, but in the last week, 28-plus-inchers have become increasingly common. Indeed, from this point on until mid-June, the chances of catching some really big stripers only improve.
Eight-year-old Zack Kunow caught this 20-pound April striper in Raritan Bay, NJ, the only striper caught among loads of bluefish. These fish have had some time to swim and should be heading into New England waters.
Do you have a current great catch photo? Email it to
us and you might just see it in the fishing report.
Send photos to kevin@onthewater.com, and
be sure to include the angler's name and the size of fish.
Although Ray at Fairhaven Bait and Tackle has been catching good-sized bass for a few weeks now, the past couple days have been a whole new story of consistent angling for keepers. The vast bulk of fish are still in the 20- to 30-inch range, but bigger fish are no longer a rarity. The best fishing seems to be inshore – in marshes, estuaries, bays and flats – but these areas also hold the largest number of schoolies, and it might be a bit more difficult culling through them to find the keepers.
Ray and a friend targeted some mud flats in Fairhaven Wednesday evening with white and orange topwater plugs, producing one 34-incher and a couple of 28- to 30-inchers – in addition to a couple bluefish. Yes, bluefish have arrived right on the heels of the stripers, and specimens in the 8- to 10-pound range are already showing up in Buzzards Bay. Good places to try your luck for both stripers and blues are Little Bay, anywhere along Sconticut Neck Road, the mouth of the Mattapoisett and Weweantic rivers, and Marion Harbor.
The likely explanation for the early arrival of these voracious feeders is the prevalence of bait in the area, which is a common scene throughout the Cape. Pogies have been reported in the New Bedford/Fairhaven waters, and landed striped bass have been coughing up plenty of squid and silversides.
Tautog fishing also continues to be good in the Buzzards Bay area, although the commercial fishery shut down a few days ago. Anglers should be targeting any kind of rocky/structure bottom with green crabs and clams. For boat fishermen, Ray said Cleveland Ledge and Yankee Wreck have been solid choices lately, but any rock pile will do; one 10-pounder was landed this week off Yankee Wreck. Shorebound anglers will find similar success off the hurricane barrier dike in New Bedford and Fort Tabor. Mike at M&D’s in Wareham also suggested the shore by the Agawam River and the beaches farther down, as well as Neds Point in Mattapoisett and Little Harbor in Wareham. All these locations are rocky and warm, making for ideal tautog habitat as they prepare to spawn.
Stan at Red Top in Buzzards Bay relayed a substantively identical fishing report: the striped bass have arrived in points farther north this week, and now the bay is “packed” with migratory striped bass, a good number of them keeper-sized. It’s difficult to pinpoint specific locations in Buzzards Bay, although Stan has produced keepers off Pocasset and Monument Beach. Anglers have also landed the first keepers out of the Cape Cod Canal, but don’t expect Canal anglers to get specific on locations. The days between mid-May and early June are bass-fishing nirvana for shore-fishermen, but boat fishermen are reaping their rewards as well. Choice baits at the moment are big soft-plastic lures, such as Hogys, Tsunami swim shads and Storm swim shads.
Bruce at Canal Bait and Tackle added that a school of bigger fish were reported in the Canal Wednesday night, and the bass are now moving through its entire expanse. The shop’s first keeper of the year, a 29 ½-incher, was landed next to the Stone Church, and a few additional bass up to 31 inches have been reported. These fish are in hot pursuit of herring, and successful anglers have been mimicking this baitfish with rubber shads and Bombers.
Tautog also have moved into the Canal, and flounder are still in residence. Mackerel have also been moving in and out of the Canal with the tides, feeding on sand eels. Cod and haddock fishing out on Stellwagen Bank continues to flourish, although it’s proving difficult to pinpoint the bigger codfish down, making expeditions without definite coordinates tricky. In past weeks, reports indicated that the east side of the Bank was fishing best, near deeper waters. Bruce added that anywhere from Wood End to the Bank will produce smaller cod, but you have to go really far out toward the east side to get the bigger schools.
The migrating striped bass have moved up toward Falmouth and the Woods Hole area in the past few days, according to Dave at Falmouth Bait and Tackle. One shore angler landed a 30-inch, 12 ½-pound bass by fishing near Nobska Point, securing him Falmouth Bait’s “first striper of the year” prize. Nobska’s rocky terrain is also prime hunting ground for tautog, and plenty of catches approaching the 12-pound mark have been reported here, so hitting the rocks with green crabs in addition to your swim shads is a good idea.
More stripers are arriving to the Falmouth-area shores with each passing day, commented John at Eastman’s, mostly larger schoolies in the 24- to 30-inch range covered in sea lice. Catches of keeper-sized fish are becoming more consistent, whether casting soft-plastic baits, fly-fishing or chunking bait. Several anglers were lucky enough to be on Bournes Pond a few days ago when a worm hatch occurred, giving them firsthand experience at one of the most exciting spring striper events. Oregon Way in Cotuit has been a recent hot spot, a keeper-sized striper was landed at South Cape Beach, and stripers have also been stalking the herring that school up off the beaches and then run through the Trunk River in Falmouth. There are plenty of fish scattered throughout the bays, salt ponds and rivers, but they’re on the move, so John warns that they won’t remain in the same spots. Now that the water temperature is approaching the key low 50-degree range, fishing this weekend ought to be excellent.
From Larry’s Bait and Tackle on Martha’s Vineyard: Fish are at the Big Bridge, which usually means they are all around the island! The southeast end of the island continues to fish slowly; most of the ponds are still strictly holdover schoolie territory. There have also been reports of 22- to 28-inch fish coming from the mid-south side, and one shop patron landed a 29-incher and a 30-incher on the south side. Vineyard anglers are sticking to the 4- to 4 ½-inch rubber swim shads and 1 ½-ounce Joppa Jigs. Finally, tautog are still being reported on the north shore, and cod, sea perch and a few straggling haddock have been landed on the south side of Nomans Island.
Vineyard reports also confirm that the massive amount of baitfish isn’t limited to the Cape; there’s an unbelievable amount around the island, too! The mackerel have appeared, contributing to the smorgasbord already in residence, which includes alewives, silversides, sand eels, blueback herring, and bunker. Yes, the bunker have are already been spotted in Vineyard waters, promising a fantastic striper season ahead!
Reports from the Hook Up in Orleans, however, indicate that the striped bass fracas hasn’t yet reached the shores of the Lower Cape. There continue to be plenty of holdovers in the usual rivers and keeper flounder in Cape Cod Bay, but no word of schools of migratory bass or anything of size. Garrett at the Goose Hummock in Orleans heard word of a 30-incher caught off Hardings Beach on chunk bait, but nothing else. Fortunately, he too commented on the massive aggregation of baitfish, so anxious anglers should rest assured that the predatory fish will be in the area shortly, primed to eat.
Bob at Riverview in South Yarmouth added that Cape Cod Bay is loaded with mackerel and herring, although the squid have not been in their usual spots. In fact, disappointment over this year’s squid run was a common thread among all the tackle shops and pretty much everyone I’ve spoken to in the past week or two. Squidding ventures have been lackluster at best, and some of the squid boats have already quit going out. OTW’s Andy Nabreski braved last Saturday’s snotty weather for a squidding trip on The Patriot, but even our resident fishaholic was only able to raise 15 or 20. East winds all week and big new moon times have taken most of the blame, and if that’s true, the squidding should come on in a big way in the next week. And if the squid show up, expect big bluefish to be right behind them.
Hyannis Bay and Lewis Bay are loaded with pogies, another fantastic sign for the season ahead, and Bob spent all Wednesday night snagging them to use as bait. The holdover bass in the Bass River have been moving farther upriver to Follins Pond, and anglers have been doing well to them with topwaters and pencil poppers.
Farther down the Cape, Paul at Eastman’s concurred that there’s not much action right now, aside from flounder in the bay. Bottom-fishermen have been doing well in the southeast corner of the bay in the area of the Target Ship, racking up a dozen or so per outing.
The delay in the saltwater action on the Lower Cape is more than compensated for by the excellent freshwater fishing, however. Trout are still around in all the stocked ponds, but the season has changed perceptibly, and this is now primarily a freshwater bass game. Garrett at the Goose Hummock has been “fishing his brains out with smallmouths” for a few weeks now, accruing huge numbers of fish from neighborhood ponds. Garrett was quick to explain, however, that he releases 99.9 percent of his catches, unless his mom requests some trout for the table. The smaller, structure-filled kettle ponds throughout the region are your best bets for bass action right now, and Garrett recommends using: 1.) a 3/8-ounce Booyah HD spinnerbait dressed in gold and silver willow blades and a chartreuse skirt and 2.) a 4-inch Yamamoto Senko in watermelon, black and red. Dragging a ¼-ounce pig n’ jig with an Uncle Josh pork rind through milfoil and rocks has also been a great technique for bass.
Dan at the Hook Up was on vacation last week at Shawme-Crowell State Park, giving him the opportunity to land approximately 100 trout in three days from Peters, Spectacle and Flax ponds on the Upper Cape. With some of the Hook Up crew, Dan then moved their worm-and-shiner arsenal to Nickerson State Park in Brewster, where they also tempted some good-sized largemouths and a couple 5-pound smallies to hook.
With all the saltwater hype in the Buzzards Bay area, Peters Pond in Sandwich nevertheless received much praise this week for its trout, salmon, bass and perch bite. Hoxie Pond in Sandwich and Big Cliff Pond in Brewster were also noted as being particularly productive.
Best Bets for the Weekend
We’ve waited patiently through six months of winter for the bass to arrive, so don’t let a little rain this weekend keep you from getting out there! Bass will be arriving in waves in Buzzards Bay and along the south-facing beaches. Shore fishermen will be in their element for the next few weeks, so check out some of the likely spots around the Upper Cape such as the Falmouth beaches, South Cape Beach, Monument Beach, and any of the various rivermouths, inlets, estuaries and harbors.
Jump to your Report CT & RI CC & Islands MA, NH & ME
• Coastal Marine Text Forecasts by Zone
• Maine Harbors Tides & Weather FoR Maine to Rhode Island
• Tides Online - Tide Information for Connecticut
Get the Fishing Forecast sent to your Email
By Ron Powers
If you were tormented by those summery-feeling days at the middle of the week, convinced that stripers were slipping into town as you whiled away the workweek – then you were right! They’ve made it all the way up to Cape Ann, and there was even a 32-inch pilgrim linesider taken north of Boston. The greatly anticipated striper (and fisherman) favorite, the Atlantic mackerel, has also arrived, bring with it a whole host of new opportunities. Cod are hitting well from Race Point all the way to Whaleback Humps, and one outing produced over two-dozen fatty flatties just outside of Boston Harbor. And in the sweetwater, there’s good news from Wachusett and Quabbin reservoirs and even the Charles River.
Six-year-old Eric Booth caught this big largemouth from the shore of China Lake in Maine. Eric held onto the rod, and Eric's father held onto him!
Do you have a current great catch photo? Email it to
us and you might just see it in the fishing report.
Send photos to kevin@onthewater.com, and
be sure to include the angler's name and the size of fish.
Having been teased for the longest time about the amazing crappie fishing in the Charles River by Willy Goldsmith, I decided to finally take him up on his invitation. I halfway expected to catch a few puny “calicoes,” but I never imagined that we would take more than 50 fish in a two-hour period. Some of these fish were 1-plus-pound slabs that hit Roadrunners and Beetle Spins with abandon. Topping off the crappie craziness was a smattering of largemouth bass and white perch, all in the view of the Boston skyline. The Charles River is truly an urban gem!
Earlier in the week, Willy informed me that he took the pool prize aboard the Yankee captains charter out of Gloucester with a 15-pounder. The bite, albeit mostly shorts, was at the NW Corner of Stellwagen. Willy found that the haddock and smaller cod were hoodwinked by bait and teasers, while bigger fish would only take the jigs. The swarms of sand eels remain strong and have now been joined by mackerel as well.
Cliff from The Fisherman’s Outfitter said that you don’t have to make the haul out to the bank to get your mackerel fix; in fact, they have moved in to the Gurnet. Stripers are still being taken in Plymouth Bay, with the high-teen fish being joined by low-20-inch specimens. The herring runs are loaded with alewives, and the mackerel seem to be playing a game of hopscotch, as sources have reported them coming ever closer. Bob Pronk even heard of macks as close as the “green” can in Green Harbor. In addition, guys are taking linesiders off the jetties at the entrance of the harbor, with the southern breakwater being the most productive.
Flatfish fans are finding blackbacks willing to take sea worms at the same jetties and over at the harbor bell. A few bass have been landed off Berts Beach in Marshfield and the first elbow of the South River. Rich Flannery of Ocean Runner charters out of Green Harbor has found quite the cod and haddock honey-hole on the bank. According to him, drifting is the preferred method to find these gadoids. The first pogies of the year have made an appearance in Duxbury Bay, and many anglers are hoping that cows will sniff them out in short order.
Pete of Belsan Bait in Scituate confirmed that the mob of mackerel moved in as early as last Friday. Hot locations for them are halfway between Cohassett and the “21” Can (about three miles out), and about a mile northeast of the “SA” Buoy, located at the mouth of the North River. Schoolie bass are hitting well off Damons Point in the North River, but there are a few seals that put the freeze on the feed when they are around. Bass have also shown up at Cedar Point, and the Herring River is giving up some fish. Finally, Max Carpman took some flounder about 13 inches long from Scituate Harbor.
Russ Eastman of Monahan Marine in Weymouth told me that his cousin Wally had a heck of a time the other night catching hornpout from the Quaboag River. Some of the ‘pout were 16 inches long and walloped the worms aggressively. If you’ve never soaked worms at night for bullheads, you ought to give it a try; you’ll find that the owls won’t be the only thing hooting it up!
Russ and friends have been catching nice browns on shiners out of Quacumquasit Pond. The fish are dark and colorful, but none have surpassed 4 pounds yet. The fish are holding in 50 to 60 feet of water and lurking under redfin shiners. Although Russ got beaten up trying to get to the Bank during Sunday’s bluster, a buddy of his cinched up 325-gram Butterfly jigs on Tuesday and found the northern edge of Stellwagen to be chock-full of 32- to 36-inch steakers. Flounder in solid numbers have moved inshore by Georges Island and Hospital Shoals.
For a mixed bag of cod and flounder, Ronnie Hidalgo of Sportsmen’s Den recommends chumming with clams at Toddy Rocks just off Hull. The 30-foot depths here feature mussel beds and proximity to deep water, both of which attract both blackbacks and brown bombers. While Ronnie hasn’t heard about stripers at Wollaston Beach yet, I’d be surprised if you couldn’t bag a few bass with white bucktails on the ebbing tide from Blacks Creek. Expect mackerel to invade Ultonia Ledge, Martins Ledge, Three and One-Half Fathoms and Graves Light any day now, and squid will soon follow.
Pete Santini had a frenetic flounder outing off Faun Bar on Wednesday. Pete and pals pulled up 25 plate-sized flatfish using Zobo Rigs and sea worms. A good catch of cod was also taken between Faun Bar and President Roads. Bigger brown bombers can be found among the bumps by the B-Buoy. The best news in the region comes courtesy of Brian Scolaro, who took a 32-inch linesider at Point of Pines on Tuesday using a sea worm.
Two sources confirmed the presence of brightly colored bass in Gloucester. Joey from The Fisherman’s Outfitter in “Fishtown” has recently been catching schoolies from the Annisquam River behind the Nichols Candy Shop. Steve Papows has been getting them there, too. Time seems incidental; the most important is being a sunny afternoon fading into dusk. Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnows and poppers are doing the trick, and strangely enough, guys are also having success casting Shimano Butterfly jigs. These babies are launched completely across the river and then retrieved just before they plunge into the mud. The bass are all over them. But there’s nothing close to rivaling a keeper – yet!
Kay from Surfland told me that the first migrant bass have just appeared at the mouth of the Merrimack River. The fish are taking white bucktail jigs topped with sea rind as well as swim shads. Shad shenanigans rage at West Newbury, and many anglers are pursing them as far upstream as the Lawrence Dam.
Kyle of Suds ‘N Soda said that flounder fishing is quite good off the coast of the Granite State. The faithful are finding them off Rye Harbor, Pierce Island in Portsmouth and the piers off Kittery, Maine. Whaleback Humps by the Isles of Shoals is a perennial cod lair and is just starting to wake up. Better crop of cod are being caught almost daily. For a freshwater fix, head over to Winnipesauke. There, the landlocked salmon are socking Guide Special trolling spoons in orange with black spots.
All those alewives surging in the Saco River and Scarborough Marsh in Southern Maine are awaking dormant striped bass, according to Craig Bergeron from Saco Bay Tackle. Jeffreys Ledge is giving up haddock, market cod and redfish. The best location seems to be over at by the Fingers section of Jeffreys.
And as far as fresh water in the Bay State goes, things are still spectacular in Quabbin and Wachusett. In the Quabbin, a flurry of 5-pound salmon from Gate 31 fell for streamers on the surface right around dawn. These same fish can be found come late morning two or three colors of leadcore down. There is a strong rumor of an 8-pound, 3-ounce salmon taken by a fisherman who weighed the fish on a hand-held scale. He then promptly ate the fish without registering the fish at an official weigh station. The buzz on this fish has been so strong that the MassWildlife folks have been snooping around for evidence of the fish. Bass are shoaling among rocky outcroppings, islands and bars, and they are taking spinnerbaits and soft-plastic jerk baits. These are occasionally taking ultra-aggressive landlockeds as well.
Warm-water species continue to steal the show at Wachusett. This time, a pig of a pickerel weighing 5 pounds, 3 ounces was taken by Rich Johnson near the Oakdale Bridge. Some much nicer smallmouth bass are hitting shiners and hair jigs; a 4-pound, 11-ouncer bested by Mike Morin Jr. at Gate 22 was the best fish of the week. I have a hunch that a few hog largemouths will be caught over the next week from the Thomas Basin up to Route 140 and by the cellar holes off Route 110.
King-sized crappie are still hitting, as are white perch from the Stone Church to the Stillwater Basin. Salmon fever has also gripped Wachusett locals, and they are making the trek to cash in on this world-class fishery. Both Carl Hewitt and Steve Koenig brought 4-pounders into B&A in West Boylston recently. I’m not sure about Steve, but I know that Carl’s fish came from the Gate 8 section and was caught on a trolling spoon like a Mooselook Wobbler or a Thomas Speedy Shiner. And for those more into the fight than the glamour, one 17-pound carp inhaled a shiner fished on top at Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester.
Best Bets for the Weekend
I hope you’re ready, because the stripers certainly are! The recent 32-incher is proof that not all the bass are schoolies, and the flounder bite is fine in Scituate Harbor, Boston Harbor and off Portsmouth and Hampton. Mackerel off the Gurnet, Scituate and Cohasset will usher in bigger migrant bass and large cod. In addition, there are shad in the Indian Head and Merrimack rivers. And for something different right around The Hub, toss a Roadrunner into the Charles and experience crazy crappie fishing that even those good ‘ole boys down south would envy.
Jump to your Report CT & RI CC & Islands MA, NH & ME
• Coastal Marine Text Forecasts by Zone
• Maine Harbors Tides & Weather FoR Maine to Rhode Island
• Tides Online - Tide Information for Connecticut
Get the Fishing Forecast sent to your Email
|
