It’s no understatement to say that the flatfishing is fantastic, and there are even reports of barndoor-sized members of the genus snatching various gadoids right from the lines of anglers. No matter how you view them, as a light-tackle favorite or as candy for cod and stripers, you’ll be pleased that the mackerel are here! The striper march continues onward as anglers from Scituate to Scarborough Marsh, Maine are all getting into the action.
Pete from Belsan’s in Scituate told me that big macks in the 1 ½-pound bracket are within 2 miles of the shoreline from Scituate through Cohasset. Not surprisingly this has resulted in a significant windfall for both striper sleuths and the cod cadre. Some are taking the mackerel well upstream of the North River, as far as Norwell, and catching upper-30-inch cows for their efforts. While the bass may be there for the bluebacks and alewives, they just can’t pass up a mackerel. Combined with the arrival of schools of sea herring, cod are now cruising as close to the coast as they have all season long. There might be no better time for you to drop a jig or soak some clams by Stone Ledge, Minots Light or as close as Farnham Rock and see if you can’t scratch up a few keeper cod.
The nighttime gang is doing at least as well tossing 10 ½-inch bubblegum Shankas toward boiling bass that are busting on river herring in the North and South Rivers. Peter Belsan and Shankas creator, Rob Green, have been tinkering and have found that when the lure is paired to a 7/0 Gamakatsu EWG Monster wide gap hook, the stickbait has unbelievable action.
Stellwagen continues to sizzle, but some anglers are getting the table turned on them as a slug of halibut appears to have moved onto the bank and are snatching the fish right from the lines of anglers. There have been a few of these relics landed but naturally most anglers are ill-prepared and have little to show for their efforts but a goodly dose of frustration and tattered terminal tackle. Now might be a good time to send down a mackerel, whiting, sea herring or small pollock and see what you can scrounge up.
For a more manageable flatfish, how about those winter flounder? The blackback bite is definitely on. Flounder King Captain Jason Colby of Little Sister Charters has been limiting out with fish up to 3 pounds by mid-morning. The key is to chum, chum and chum some more! You don’t have to be fussy with the goo, clams will do just fine. The biggest blackback so far is a 4-pound, 10-ounce “phonebook” that was taken aboard Captain Roger Brousseau’s Midnight Charter. While Roger and Jason are good friends, they do partake of a friendly season-long competition to see which skipper boats the biggest blackback, and Jason is vowing to top that fish soon. In fact it just might happen this Saturday as Pete Santini hosts the Second Annual Zobo Flounder Fishing Tournament. The Little Sister, along with yours truly and crew, is in it and while we threw down the gauntlet to Captain Brousseau, he declined. The aim is true for this derby since much of the proceeds are donating to fight the form of cancer that took local legend Shinertown Johnny from us. I hope to see you at the post derby fete.
Don’t be surprised if while you’re targeting flounder in the harbor, you happen into a few cod. My friend Nicky Frasso and first mate Mike Wescott were crushing cod, including a few keepers as they drifted seaworms along Deer Island flats the other day. They even had a few doubles!
Mackerel are cruising from Hull to Egg Rock off Nahant. I would not be surprised if some corker cows are not lurking underneath those schools of mackerel right now. In concert with the arrival of macks, the close-to-shore cod bite has lit up as the heat is on from Graves Light through Swampscott.
Farther north, Captain Yukes from First Light Anglers is catching his share of bass up into the mid-30-inch range among the Essex and Ipswich Rivers. The fish are in tight schools and when one angler hooks up, nearby surfcasters begin doubling over. What has been really luring in the linesiders is the small and medium-sized Shimano Waxwing lures. Last year I heard the buzz about this lure from the bluefin brigade, but Pete says it’s just as effective with stripers. The key is a steady, quick retrieve; the stripers will give you a huge hint when you’re doing it right. Liz from Surfland in Newburyport told me that the last two hours on the ebb and the first two on the flood all along the mouth of the Merrimack is when it’s best for bass. They are starting to get mid-30-inch fish also. Some fish have been busting right off Plum Island Beach providing wild surface action. What is working according to Liz is seaworms off the suds and the Bill Hurley glass eel. Shad hounds are finding them all along the Merrimack up to the Lawrence Dam.
Jason from Suds ‘N Soda in Greenland told me that while the Lamprey River had been big on bass, the other tributaries of Great Bay have also heated up. The Oyster and Salmon Falls Rivers all have stripers and even some shad. The modus operandi of live herring for bait, especially on a flooding, nighttime tide continues to be the best method for the stripers. Some are beginning to encounter stripers in the Piscataqua River as well and there’s talk of the first mackerel of the year beginning to gather by the 2KR Can. I’m sure that if you can jig up a few macks and drift along the Piscataqua you’d find some real bruisers.
Farther out on Jeffreys Ledge, cod sizes are improving with a number of 20- to 30-pound specimens adding spice to the catch. There’s even word of a 70-pound behemoth that was taken. The Scantums are also producing fish with some colorful redfish being taken also.
According to Ken from Saco Bay Tackle in Maine, high tide and into the ebb is the time to be in the Saco River for slot-sized (20- to 26-inch) stripers that are walloping Sebile Magic Swimmers, Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnows and sandworms. Of course not all is salty in Maine. Marty Brown just happened to be in the shop reloading for stellar salmon and trout fishing in the Rangeley Lakes when we spoke. More than a few of these fish are over 20 inches long and there’s quite a mixture of browns, brookies, bows and landlocked salmon. The best bite is early and spoons, such as the Speedy Shiner and DB Smelt are doing the damage.
Best Bets For the Weekend
With the arrival of mackerel, your best bass of the season could be imminent. Drop a Sabiki rig from Scituate up to Swampscott and if you don’t find stripers prowling around the school, top off your livewell and head upstream as far as you can go into most any river you find and you will find some of the biggest bass around. Those same rivers will give up nice fish come sunset for big soft-plastic stick baits. The Essex, the Ipswich and the Merrimack all have striper swarms. The cod fishing is still consistently good from Stellwagen to Jeffreys Ledge, and while the biggest cod might be lurking on Jeffreys, far bigger beasts such as halibut are as fond for the cod on Stellwagen as the fishermen are. North of the border, all the tributaries of Great Bay have stripers as do the estuaries of Southern Maine. Best baits are herring in the former and sandworms in the latter.