Massachusetts New Hampshire Maine Fishing Forecast 7-21-2011

The bait bouillabaisse, particularly in Boston Harbor shows no signs of abating; quite the contrary, the main player – the pogy – just might be arriving in bigger numbers. And all that bait has attracted a toothy presence as “packs” of 3-foot long bluefish have been seen fining on the surface just offshore. There is some minor grumbling about the average size striper in these parts – 33 inches – and if you are stuck on that number it might be wise to head up north for something that will stretch the tape a lot farther.

Of course stretching the tape takes on a whole new dimension when the talk turns to a 106-inch tuna. It looks as if the A-game for bluefin is officially here. Increasingly anglers who are setting sail for the Southwest corner of Stellwagen or Peaked Hill Bar are returning to port with sushi. On Tuesday, Captain Joe D’Orsi of Boston Fish Tales Charters and first mate Mike Scalia bested not one but two tuna to 613 pounds. When I asked the always forthcoming Captain Joe for some tuna tips, he gave me some valuable ones. He alluded to Mike’s awareness and sense of urgency to quickly crank all slack out of the line whenever a fish is on and changes direction, a 2-speed fast retrieve reel helps. You have to keep the heat on these fish to wear them out. But Joe also acknowledged that most tuna are lost at boatside in the final stages of the battle. He’ll often back off the drag a smidgeon just as the fish is within reach.

Joe also searches for marked or busting fish among humps, depth breaks and contour lines on Stellwagen Bank, Cape Cod Bay, Peaked Hill Bar and Highland Light. And for bait:  those pelagics can’t pass up a live pogy. As soon as Captain D’Orsi spots surface action or highlighted fish, out comes the pogy, and usually he won’t even use a balloon.

South Shore
“Thirty-six inch long choppers are gathering just off shore”, said Pete of Belsan’s in Scituate. Should those blues cruise inshore from Stone Ledge and sniff out the bait, the south shore could be explosive soon. Striper sleuths should stick to nocturnal pursuits of bass among the edges of eel grass sod banks in the North and South River. While I’m a big fan of an ebbing tide earlier in the season, when the mercury is rising, cooler green water on an incoming tide will fish best. Eels are always a good bet as are soft stick baits and darter plugs.

Don’t forget to focus on fluke, when we have a steamy summer catch rates of these “lefty” flounder increase north of Cape Cod. They are occasionally encountered at the mouths of the North and South rivers, especially on an outgoing tide as bucktail jigs tipped with squid or soft plastic teasers or typical fluke three-way rigs are bounced along the bottom. Although I’ve done at least as well setting up at a rip line and casting and dragging chubs from the shallows into deeper water. The rig that works for me is an 18-inch leader with a wide gap hook, at the top is a barrel swivel and an egg sinker ahead of that. Once you’ve cast to and caught fluke with a light duty spinning rod, you’ll never view fluke fishing the same again!

A better bet for fluke is Duxbury Bay and according to Bob Pronk of Green Harbor the amount of inquiries he is getting for fluke gear for Duxbury seems to be an indicator of a better than normal year. Surprisingly, Green Harbor is also hot for winter flounder, still! What started off as a lukewarm season for flounder fans has kicked in as of late and is more than making up for things now. You can still scratch up mackerel just outside of the Green Harbor Bell and there are usually stripers not far away.

Greater Boston
It’s hard to knock any striper in the heat of the summer, but some are viewing the common class of low 30-inch fish as humdrum. Unquestionably that size fish are dominating the blitz activity that is out there. But in the midst of those 10- to 15-pound fish, Captain Tom Ciulla of TSea Charters is plucking out 25-pounders. It’s no news flash that bigger fish hunker under smaller stripers and pick off the spoils, but it often takes nerves of steel to allow your wares to sink into the big bass strike zone, especially when the surface is busting up. Captain Tom rotates through a battery of Shimano Butterly Jigs and ignores the surface distractions as he knows that his fortitude will result in larger linesiders. His latest squeeze is a chartreuse Vortex model, and the added heft as opposed to a plug allows for farther casts and a quicker drop where the bigger fish are. Again, it’s not easy to avoid cranking as soon as your offering hits the water as birds and fish bust the surface, but when I’ve been out with Tom it’s usually he who is wearing that “hey this one’s bigger” grin on his face.

Some are seeing an increase in numbers of pogies throughout Boston Harbor and there have been reports of those “yellow-eyed” choppers fining the surface of the water out by the B Buoy. Should those schools collide with the pogies soon, it could be a game changer as bigger bass will follow the blues in from deeper water to pick off the remains. Nicky Frasso, who has been tirelessly planning for the 7^th Annual “Help Hook The Cure” striped bass derby next month, has been catching bigger cows than most of the crowd by jigging up mackerel between Deer Island and Graves Light and than casting them toward the Five Sisters, the standpipe bars and Seal Harbor.

For a total change, consider some interesting sweetwater options. Literally fifteen minutes from Boston, my friend Pete Santini of Fishing FINatics and I found native brook trout! Looking for a diversion we embarked on a recon mission and searched among some tributaries of streams and brooks throughout some of the more rural settings not far from the Hub. We were hoping for holdovers, but when my line came tight to a yellow bellied, football-fat brook trout we knew we had plucked out a native New Englander. Pete forewarned me that we may find pockets of wild brook trout but actually holding one was an unmitigated hoot. Later I missed two more fish, but unquestionably we’ll be back. Scope out maps, Google some likely looking lairs in sparsely developed well-to-do communities, be respectful of parking and courteous and you may find one of these hidden gems – they’re out there!

North Shore
If you have your sights set on super-sized stripers, head to Salisbury and don’t delay! Bob from Elm Street Bait and Tackle has weighed in a handful of 40-pound plus stripers over the last few days. On Wednesday alone, a youngster dragged in a 48 ½-inch, 44-pound beauty and he brought it into the shop at 9:00 a.m.! Clams on a fish-finder rig are accounting for the damage and Bob feels that the big fish are there because the waters are cooler and there is mackerel still present in big numbers.

There have been some pogy sightings on Joppa Flats according to Mike from Surfland. Larger profiled offerings such as big Striper Sniper pencils or Danny plugs may be the key to make cows commit under low light conditions if pogies take up residence. The jetty at the mouth of the Merrimack River as well as the ocean front has gone off in the wee hours of the morning and a few blues have mixed it up with the bass. Those drifting in the Merrimack with eels and live mackerel are accounting for fish of over 20 pounds. The beach buggy brigade now has reign over the Parker River Wildlife Reservation and you’ll find them sliding stripers onto the sand from dusk to dawn. This gang prefers bait and does quite well with seaworms and clams.

And there have been a few reports of fluke in the region as well. When water temperatures are up, it is not unusual to find those toothy flounder at the mouth of the Merrimack River. Drag a Spro Bucktail jig with a mackerel strip along the bottom and see if you can’t stir up something special.

New Hampshire and Southern Maine
Bigger bass do seem to have migrated toward the refreshing waters up north as there have been 30- to 40-pound fish taken off the New Hampshire coast according to Jamie from Dover Marine. Hot habitat has been the Isle of Shoals, Hampton Shoals and the Piscataqua River. More butterfish are here than in memory and it is keeping the mackerel present with occasional bass and even tuna busting on the bait. There has even been an influx of pogies to Great Bay something that has been sorely missing over the last few years. When the bay has had pogies in the past the fall runs have been spectacular. Groundfishermen should drop a jig by Old Scantum where they are also encountering tuna and shark.

According to Peter from Saco Bay Tackle, if you like the fishing last week in Southern Maine, you’ll be happy this week as little has changed. I would take a hint from the North Shore Massachusetts anglers who have been bagging bruiser bass on clams. Toss some clumps of quahogs form Old Orchard, Ogunquit, Pine Point and Biddeford Pool. And don’t worry if you didn’t rise with owls, the cooler waters of Maine along with the ever present mackerel should hold fish and maybe significant stripers even during the daytime.

The bluefin bite seems to be confined between 10 miles to 20 miles out from Saco Bay. Anglers spotting the busting bluefin are the ones catching them on squid bars and live mackerel. Thresher shark action has been pretty good by Cape Porpoise, Trinidad and the Peaks up by Portland.

Best Bets
If you can make the haul, I’d check out the cow action off Salisbury Beach, although the cooler waters off the beaches of Cape Ann and Plum Island may be just as likely to give up a super-sized striper to a fisherman soaking clams. On the South Shore, keep an eye out for an inshore push from big bluefish or drift a bucktail jig for fluke at Duxbury Bay or the mouth of the North River. Closer to Boston, check your nerves during a blitz and sink a Butterfly jig below the mayhem for bigger stripers. Thirty to Forty-pound bass have been taken off the New Hampshire coast as a live mackerel remains the bait of choice from Hampton Shoals to the 2KR Can to the Isle of Shoals. Cast clams from a southern Maine beach if you want to beat the summer doldrums or for a fish you wouldn’t want to slip in the water with, there are thresher sharks off the offshore ledges of Portland.