June 16, 2011

As if gift-wrapped just in time for Father’s Day, there’s that most wondrous of events on the water right now – the blitz. Blitzes, feeds, whatever you want to call them, schools of sea herring and mackerel are the catalyst for calling in those cows and if you set sail early before the fleet puts the fish down, you should be in the thick of busting striped bass. Another option that dad might appreciate is what is probably the most family friendly fish around – flounder.  Far be it for us to merely tease you, read on and we’ll tell you how you can put that patriarch of the clan or even that special uncle into blackbacks, bass and more this weekend.

On Tuesday in the teeth of the onshore wind that made June feel more like October, I was heating up big time as I watched a rolling mass of bass, birds and brit herring tearing up the surface from Long Island to Peddocks Island and well into Quincy Bay. While it was distracting, Captain Jason Colby, James Warmsley and I remained focused on finding flounder, and three hours later the mission was accomplished as we boated limits of fish up to 3 pounds, 3 ounces. Jason showed me a vital indicator that we were fishing in the right place as he pulled anchor and found his Danforth caked with mud that was crawling with invertebrates, which are lunch for flounder. Find living, writhing mud in 10 to 25 feet of water not too far from boulders or ledges and in the path of current, and chances are you’ll find flounder. And as always, don’t forget to chum!

South Shore

Bass are blitzing throughout Plymouth Bay and through Duxbury Bay as they chase young-of-the-year sea herring throughout this immense bay system. Incoming tide is often best here as green water floods structure such as Crippled Rock and Billington Ledge. I used to fish this place with great success with my friend Captain Charlie Lemieux and we used to croak them with sparsely tied bucktail jigs as light as ¼-ounce. Yellow and white were always favorites; the light weight allows for a slow drop rate that keeps the lure in the field of vision of the bass for as long as possible. One thing we did quite effectively was procure pollock and mackerel just outside of The Gurnet and cruise back into the bay to dead-stick the bait off Charlie’s “Cats Cradle” center console while we were casting. Usually the best fish of the day would fall for the bait.

I’m hearing some murmurs of menhaden just now showing up, thank goodness. And there’s a good possibility that there’s a few fluke now in Duxbury Bay as well. It might be time to drift a spin-and-glow rig with a squid strip on an ebbing tide among the “guzzles” of the bay. High Pine Ledge, while fraught with lobster pots, is also a fluke favorite.

Pete of Belsan’s in Scituate told me that the best bass are still being taken on mackerel, but some are also catching them on pollock. There’s a productive drift from the mouth of the North River out to the last green can. Fish pushing 40 pounds are inhaling mackerel around Flat Ledge which extends from the “21” Can to Minot’s Ledge and varies in depth between 60 and 110 feet with the some of the fish rising to the bait from 90 feet of water! Those catching cows are fixing a rubbercore sinker on the line to get the bait into the sweet zone.

Shore guys are doing best live-lining pollock from The Glades as well as the rockpile off Egypt Beach. I’ve been doing a little bit of this myself lately and I’m convinced that it is your best opportunity for knocking off a big bass from rocky shorelines at this time of the year during daylight hours. Take two rods, one with a Sabiki to jig up the bait and a stout conventional for live-lining. You don’t need a specialty stick – your cod rod will do quite nicely because casting is usually not an issue as both bass and bait are usually close.  I wholeheartedly endorse 50-pound monofilament for this sort of fishing. Braid will not stand up to the pounding of a rolling surf and barnacle-covered ledge. A great hook for live-lining pollock is the Mustad all around 8/0, and snap on an un-weighted quarter-size Styrofoam float. Immediate transfer of the pollock to the meat stick is imperative to keep it frisky; you want that pollock to be occasionally sinking the float just under the surface. When you see the float pick-up speed as if hooked up to submarine, count to five and set that hook. For those that love “crossing the eyes” on the hook-set, this is the fishing for you! One more tip: I find hooking the pollock under the break between the two dorsal fins is the best place. Early mornings among rocky shorelines, especially on an incoming tide is best for bait and bass.

Boston Harbor

For artificial aficionados who shy away from bait fishing, there are options that work exceedingly well. Russ Eastman of Monahan Marine in Weymouth was recently out by Boston Light and awash in mackerel and busting bass. Uncharacteristically the action was not hot for the livies, perhaps because the stripers were sated. Russ snapped on a few select artificials and began catching bass with a higher frequency than the bait brigade. The two killer lures were the suspending Sebile Stick Shadd in ghostescent color and Rapala X-Rap Magnums in silver-blue-mackerel. The retrieve that worked was an initial ripping motion followed by a pause and than a sub-surface walk-the-dog cadence. Try this method all around the outer islands, especially the Brewsters.

The nocturnal gang has been doing pretty well also in Boston Harbor. Recently Captain Russ Burgess had buddies Rick McLaughlin and Matt Freeman aboard his boat and the results were as lopsided as the contest between Bruins goalie Tim Thomas and Vancouver’s Roberto Luongo in game seven of the Stanley Cup series. Although Russ and Rick are nothing if not accomplished anglers, all they could do was watch in awe as Matt caught fish after fish up to 25 pounds on Danny plugs. One of Matt’s tricks that might have tipped the odds in his favor is he was fishing a fading-blue Esca bioluminescent attractant ahead of his blue Danny.

There are dozens of rips throughout the outer and inner harbor and most will fish best in an outgoing tide. Know how low your Danny plug dives and make sure you are occasionally bumping bottom. And constantly feel for weed.  Nighttime cows will not chase bait very far, it has to be in front of their noses and most of the action will take place within 20 feet of water.

North Shore

Nahant through the Beverly/Salem area has been hot one tide and cold the next. Captain Roger Brousseau of Midnight Charters took a 40-pound striper on an umbrella rig on Wednesday off Egg Rock. On this day, this place was bedlam. Roger does exceedingly well with umbrella rigs and he trolls the rig high in the water column with straight monofilament. This is another area where both surf guys and the boat crew should look for pollock if they can’t find mackerel and slowly troll the bait in the wash of structure. Be careful, but you will fare best if you can present the bait in the whitewater, as close to structure as you dare, where the bass will be looking to ambush prey. It is amazing the difference only a few feet can make. If you’re looking for a plug that is a pollock knock-off, try both sizes of the bronze Yo-Zuri Mag Minnow. It is the most effective lure I’ve ever used when bass are feeding on pollock.

The First Light Anglers folks told me of frequent “feeds” throughout the North Shore and the principle quarry is sand eels, very small sea herring and mackerel. The mouths of the rivers are good and fly-fishermen are arguably doing the best because their Clousers and Deceivers so closely match the slim-profiled bait. Some of those fly guys, the New England Saltwater Flyrodders, have donated $600 to the FLA sea-run program.

Productive patterns are blue/white and grey/white. Misery and Bakers islands have been the scenes of some impressive bass blitzes. Nat Moody mentioned the Rapala X-Rap as a hot lure when the bass are chasing mackerel. When talking to the tuna-obsessed of First Light Anglers the talk soon turns to tuna. Nat told me that the prevalent classes of fish right now are 75” to 77” fish and 80” to 82” bruisers. Better news might be that there are a few mid-50” “keeper” school tuna in the mix. These fish are flashing between the backside of the Cape, off Peaked Hill Bar and throughout Stellwagen Bank. The battery of baits that are taking tuna such as Squid Bars, live mackerel, soft-plastic stickbaits and X-Raps. Since those X-Raps keep coming up, I asked how the lure can withstand the wallop of a tuna. Mr. Moody removes the middle hook, upgrades the split rings to Owner Hyper Wire and swaps out the OEM hooks for Owner 5X 4/0.

The Plum Island area is waking up considerably with some 30-pound stripers making people’s days. Kayakers are doing very well in Joppa Flats, especially on black Slug-Gos come dark. Both the Parker and Merrimack rivers are fishing well, especially on an outgoing tide with live mackerel by day and eels at night.

I met top-rod angler Joe Holey Junior recently and he told me that he was fishing next to a crew that was crushing the cows off Plum Island beach on, off all things, the lowly seaworm. As Joe scrolled through his battery of lures he could not find anything that compared. Rather than remain a purist reeking of skunk, Joe buzzed over to Surfland, picked up some seaworms and was soon no longer a spectator to the catching.

Joe Holey is a name I will never forget or maybe I should say Holey Joe is! This is just another example of that small-world thing. It was October of the first year that they opened Deer Island to the public, I believe it was 2002, my pal Rick Holebrook and I were casting for bass and blues from the jetty and the fish were just beyond reach. The boaters, however, seemed to be having a real good time. One boater who sensed our frustration and actually cared yelled out to us, “Hey, wanna catch fish?” If there ever was a rhetorical question that was it. Soon, this Good Samaritan was beaching his boat, taking us aboard and almost swamping his center console Parker in the process as he took about a three-foot comber over the transom. I looked at my buddy as if to say, “Who does this?” Obviously few would, and I would soon discover that the skipper of this boat, Joe Holey Senior or Holey Joe as he is often referred to, was no regular Joe but one classy guy with a huge heart. We caught fish and more importantly a reloaded faith in humanity. Joe Holey Junior told me that he will salute his dad this Father’s day for among other things, always taking the time to take him fishing. I can sure see why!

New Hampshire and Maine

Chad from Dover Marine in New Hampshire told me that he took a pilgrimage to Joppa Flats to test out his “pool tested” augmentations to the black Slug-Go, and even though he fished the less desirable flooding tide, he did really well. In fact he even out-fished live eels! He’s tandem-hooking the baits and placing weights throughout the cavity of the stick bait to make it sink horizontally in the water and be more user friendly in deeper/moving water. Chad said that he will gladly show any customers how to make this deadly alteration. Closer to home, live mackerel are the key to striper action in the Piscataqua River from the General Sullivan Bridge to the mouth. Anglers are also doing quite well off the jetties of Rye and Hampton Harbors with live mackerel that they are procuring on site. After having recommended the Mustad Wide Gap Croaker hook for flounder, Chad took my advice and upgraded to a similar hook. He opted for the 1/0 Gamakatsu version, which he prefers because he feels it’s a little smaller, and he had a similar positive experience as he deeply hooked far less fish, a big concern when releasing sub-legal fish, yet had a higher hook up ratio.

Peter from Saco Bay said that an evening/incoming tide is fishing well at Camp Ellis and by the Saco River Dam. Sabiki rigs appear to have sprouted wings as the push of mackerel has them flying off the shelves of the shop. They’re amped about the new line of rigs and jigs they are stocking from OTI. Lure launchers will fare well with Lonely Angler poppers at the inlet of Goosefair Brook at sunrise. Peter advises those that are looking for a relaxing way to spend a great Father’s Day, take a box of seaworms, a cooler full of goodies, spike your rod, have a few laughs and just see if you don’t catch some stripers. Check out sandy bottom stretches in Kennebunk and give the Royal River a go. White Slug-Gos and Whip-it Eels are really working in the Royal River with fish up to 42” long.

The sweet fishing spot behind the mill in the Saco is now posted “No Trespassing” due to slobs leaving trash behind. To preserve special places, make it a point to pick up after yourself and others. On the Bunny Clark the fishing has been excellent with most cod sub-legal but keepers there for the persistent. There’s plenty of pollock, however. Bevo fly teasers are gaining favor, especially in red/white and green. They’re jamming those gadoids on Butterfly Jigs and Cod Bombs at the Scantums and Jeffrey’s Ledge.

Best Bets

You don’t have to be dad to have a special day this weekend. You can thank the great fishing for that one, but it wouldn’t hurt to invite yours or someone else near-and-dear to you along. Push off from Plymouth Harbor early enough to beat the crowds and you just may be in the teeth of a full-blown blitz as bass chase herring. Live mackerel are still your best option at the mouth of the North River or farther off Cohasset by Flat Ledge. No bait, no problem! Rip Sebile Stick Shadds, Rapala X-Raps or Yo-Zuri Mag Minnows through the white water of the outer harbor islands or among the foam along the craggy coastline up to Cape Ann. For a relaxing day any father would appreciate, drift a seaworm through Hampton or Rye Harbors or tempt a nice striper with a live mackerel as you meander along with the current of the Piscataqua River. Poppers and seaworms are responsible for bass up to 42” in southern Maine and fishermen are catching plenty of cod and their kin off Jeffreys Ledge. Regardless of the quarry or your fishing fortune, I hope you have a fun-filled Father’s Day!