It’s hard to think of an indigenous saltwater species of fish that won’t be targeted this weekend. From tuna to tautog, the odds are great that all will be biting. Who could ask for more? Save great weather and another fishing day thrown in there and of course we have those too!
While it’s tempting to overload on all things striper, the fantastic flounder fishing should not be overlooked. It seems as if the largest fish in the area are lurking in the South Shore; in fact Pete of Belsan’s in Scituate has weighed in a number of 4-pounders and one monster of 5-pounds, 4-ounces! Likely haunts for flounder on the South Shore are Browns Bank, Clarks Island, Duxbury Beach, Peggotty Beach, Scituate Harbor and Cohasset Harbor.
If you really want to score that personal best flounder, you have to fish differently than your grandfather did. Your best bet for bait is to tote along seaworms and clams. If you use a top and bottom rig than clump a clam on the bottom hook and slip a seaworm on top. To avoid tangling and current spin never put the heavier bait on the top hook. The seaworm will result in more fish, but those true “phonebooks” will go for the clam.
Chum like crazy and above all you have to use the right hook. Being a life-long fan of the flounder, I’ve been searching for the right hook for years and I believe I finally found it! This past Saturday a gang of us jumped aboard the Captain Jason Colby’s Little Sister to compete in the Second Annual Zobo Flounder Fishing Tournament. To cut to the chase – I won. But more importantly was what I learned. Since we were targeting larger fish, I tied up leaders of larger wide gap hooks than I had ever used before for flounder. The model I opted for was the red Mustad Wide Gap Croaker 1/0. When I first told the skipper of my choice, he winced a little and commented that it might be too big, even though “keepers” for us this year have been for the most part 15-inch-plus fish.
From a hook-up efficiency and conservational standpoint, I’ve never used a flounder hook that was such a winner. I seldom missed a strike and can’t recall a better hookup ratio even with fish as small as 10 inches, but more importantly, of the approximately 30 fish that I landed only one fish – the prize winning 21 inch flounder – was deeply hooked. Flounder are notorious for inhaling the entire hook but something about the design of this hook dramatically limits this problem. I derived a tremendous amount of satisfaction knowing that the fish I released were going to survive!
With mackerel aplenty, one of the most effective methods is to drop a few in the livewell and head up into a river in search of bass that are chasing river herring. The mackerel shouldn’t be too hard to obtain on the South Shore as good numbers are popping up everywhere from The Gurnet to Green Harbor and all the way north to The Glades. Once you get a load of mackerel fish a few at the Eel River and Town River in Plymouth. The macks should also get whacked by linesiders in the South, North, Weir, Weymouth Fore and Weymouth Back Rivers as well. In all probability, just about any river you find should fish well now with a live mackerel.
Stripers are also falling for live mackerel in Duxbury Bay and sea herring have drawn mixed sizes of stripers throughout the Plymouth waterfront from the public pier out to the boat ramp.
What Pete of Belsan’s in Scituate is longing for is a repeat of the legendary “Memorial Day Massacre” of a few years ago. A perfect storm of events occurred back then when a push of bait and big bass clogged the coastline between Plymouth Bay and Boston Harbor. Hundreds of boats and thousands of anglers took part in the spectacular fishing as stripers from 25 to 35 pounds slammed sea herring and mackerel and seemed intent on hitting everything tossed their way. Just maybe, lightning will strike twice!
Closer to the Hub there is no shortage of mackerel from the ledges off Hull through Graves Light and out to Nahant. Captain Mike Bousaleh of Ave Maria Charters told me that he’s finding more sea herring mixed in with the mackerel than he’s seen in years. Should this bait move into the harbor which I’m hoping will occur this weekend, then Beantown anglers will be treated to amazing early season blitzes. Rick of Fore River Bait and Tackle reminded me that there are few times of the year when large stripers are as readily accessible to shore fisherman and it all comes down to river herring. Cast for cows in the Weir River as well as the Weymouth Fore and Weymouth Back rivers. Rick is wild about a couple of new Strike Pro plugs that are doing a bang-up job on the bass, one of which is the Strike Pro Bonehead that has a unique jointed system made out of a “bike chain” which gives it unrivaled moves.
On Thursday Pete Santini of Fishing FINatics did some pre-holiday scouting and found bass in the 15-pound bracket willing to take mackerel at Ram’s Head as well as Deer Island. Captain Russ Burgess of the midnight brigade tallied a dozen linesiders up to 38 inches long while trolling big Danny plugs throughout the inner harbor. With the news of mackerel, Russ is betting that far bigger fish will be on the hunt for mackerel by the outer islands come dusk.
Cows up to 35 pounds were crushing mackerel off Egg Rock the other day but appear to have moved north. Derek Springer of First Light Anglers told me that there have been massive surface feeds in Gloucester from Blyman Bridge to the railroad bridge, the forage appears to be slim-profiled and only about 3” long; the shop is carrying Point Jude Tins that are similarly shaped and they are cleaning up. The rivers are all hot: the Exeter, Ipswich, Parker, Annisquam, the Little River, the combination of river herring and striped bass is making for stellar action. Joppa Flats is jumping also. The Ebb Tide is best, especially two hours after high until slack.
Chad from Dover Marine said that Salmon Falls is the place to be in Great Bay. And the daytime is fishing at least as well as from dusk to dawn. The 10-inch bunker Storm Kickin’ Minnow has become Chad’s top lure since it’s a dead ringer for a river herring in size and action. The Piscataqua River is holding fish as well which leads some to suspect that mackerel may be present. Groundfishing is good on both Stellwagen and Jeffrey’s but it has moved to a deep water game where numbers of fish are less but there’s more of a mixture and the fish are larger.
It all comes down to the river herring according to Pete from Saco Bay. And the formula remains the same as the rest of our region with the outgoing tide the most effective in the Saco River, Scarborough Marsh and Mousam River. Soft plastic swim baits such as the Storm and Tsunami shads are all effective. Both the hard and soft Sebile Magic Swimmers are also consistent. Fly fisherman are doing especially well with blue/white Deceivers in the Mousam. Bigger fish have joined the slot-sized specimens with the top fish so far being a 38-incher.
Best Bets for the Weekend
Just in time for the Memorial Day Holiday the mackerel mob have appeared. Look for this striper candy by The Gurnet off Plymouth, the green can at Green Harbor and out to Minot’s Light. Stripers should be on site, but if not cruise upstream into the North River. For flounder stir up some mud in Scituate, Hull, Quincy and Boston Harbor. Farther north, keep your eyes peeled for super surface feeds in Gloucester and a nighttime bite on the outgoing tide in Joppa Flats, Great Bay and the Saco and Mousam Rivers in Maine.
where are all of the fish