In spite of the threat of an ill-tempered storm named Irene, it’s good to welcome 25-pound stripers (and some larger) back to our playground. And not far from their whereabouts are bluefish nearly that big! Black sea bass continue to please, and I find myself staring in disbelief at two words that I never thought I’d see in the same sentence again – flounder and Maine. Apparently even Downeast is not immune to this fantastic year for winter flounder.
The bad news this week is that the forecast of a possible hurricane has postponed the 7th annual “Help Hook The Cure” striped bass derby that was supposed to take place this Saturday the 27th and has been rescheduled for September 10th. All is not dour as far as this news is concerned since odds are that the fishing will be better.
South Shore
Those flounder just won’t quit on the south shore! Bob Pronk of Green Harbor B&T is moving flats of seaworms at a breakneck pace. “The first can outside the harbor” is hot according to Bob as has been Duxbury Beach. They are still catching stripers with regularity of Burkes Beach and Rexhame Beach but a better bet for bass might be up north just a bit. The Scituate and Cohasset area has awakened from its slumber and suddenly there’s no problem finding stripers from 20 pounds up to even 35 pounds. Something was bound to sniff out all those herring and mackerel that have taken up residence here in the south shore. The best part is that the bite has often been close to shore in water as shallow as four to ten feet. Look for your linesiders by Peggotty Beach, Cedar Point and the Glades. Trollers pulling mackerel and deep divers are being similarly rewarded near Minot’s Ledge. When I asked about fluke, Peter from Belsan’s offered up a 20-inch specimen that inhaled a chunk of bait intended for stripers.
Greater Boston
I’m afraid we’ve become obsessed with those black sea bass! Thursday morning Zach Silbert, Captain Jason Colby and I caught about 20 of these black beauties, including 9 fish over the minimum 14”. To catch something that is considered a “southern species” while within view of Georges Island, Long Island and Peddocks Island is an absolute rush. Impromptu diet inspections revealed that these black sea bass love crabs and small lobster (no wonder they taste so good) and while we were catching plenty with clams we decided to challenge ourselves and try artificials. While browsing the aisles of Monahan Marine in Weymouth, I stumbled upon the Shimano Lucanus, a lure that I previously had shown little love for. But with black sea bass on the brain I viewed it with a renewed perspective and I couldn’t help but think that this “bug” looks like some weird crustacean concoction. Not all plans work so well, but the Lucanus is a black sea bass crusher. But don’t drag it along the bottom or you’ll be making expensive donations to Boston Harbor’s already diverse bottom. Instead “squid” this thing! Squidding is best accomplished while drifting and with a conventional real and involves free-spooling a jig to the bottom and immediately popping it off the bottom, cranking 4 or 5 turns and then repeating the process. The key is to not let your offering sit on the bottom but to quickly rock it off upon impact. What you are trying to accomplish is to drop a tasty tidbit in front of the fish and then snatch it away, often this will cause a reflex strike. It takes some coordination between thumbing the spool, punching the release button/lever and cranking the handle but once you’ve got it down this is one of the most effective ways to catch fish that are near the bottom.
Captain Colby’s eel-slithering spots off Hull have finally started giving up fish to 30 pounds come dark. Daytime anglers will do better jigging up mackerel off Point Allerton and live-lining them by Harding’s Ledge, Boston Light, Sunken Ledge and Hypocrite Channel; there has been a brace of big bass taken this way lately. Rick Newcomb of Fore River Bait and Tackle reminded me that not all is confined to the boat brigade, however. Anglers soaking mackerel and boaters trolling Cape Cod spinners and sea worms well upstream of the Weymouth Back and Fore Rivers as far up as Watson’s Park have been catching keeper striped bass.
North Shore
The rocky promontories of the North Shore are not places to take lightly during a significant storm such as Irene, but I have spent years surfcasting this turf and can tell you that historically, things get explosive as soon as it is safe enough to venture out there. Tuesday night I saw acres of very small bait so tightly balled up that it had me believing it was peanut bunker. In the teeth of those predicted combers bass should be pounding those baitfish.
Peter from Fin and Feather in Essex said that he has some solid sources that have been hooking big bass in Maine and sometimes a late summer blow will cause a school to break away and end up livening up Cape Ann. Another phenomenon could be the inshore arrival of off-shore stripers that tend to be huge as they gorge on scads of sand eels and herring from areas such as Stellwagen Bank and the Isle of Shoals. It often takes a big storm to bring those babies in. As soon as conditions warrant, check out Bass Rocks off Atlantic Ave. in Gloucester and Halibut Point in Rockport. Anglers have taken big fish from this big surf by punching 3-ounce blue/chrome Kastmasters, Hopkins spoons and other types of tin as well as bucktail jigs. This is not the place for a plug when it is this rough. Once the maelstrom settles down a bit plugs will have their moments.
Even without the possibility of the boost of additional bass, the Essex side of Cranes Beach has been productive in large part due to the surge in sand eels. Peter from Fin and Feather told me that the shop’s own Jimmy turns some wicked needlefish and slider plugs that work really well on bass binging on sand eels.
Mike from Surfland has been having no problems catching stripers from the open beach of Plum Island. Nightime is the rightime and Mike’s favorite lure is the Daiwa SP Minnow in the “color that keeps selling out”; try as I may I couldn’t pry which color that was out of him! Parking Lot 3 of the Parker River Wildlife Reservation has been good for those playing the blues. Most dawns will find the bluefish blitzing around 100-yards from the shore, so you had better have a far casting surf stick and an offering that will reach way out there. Successful anglers have been hooking up with Robert’s Rangers, Surface Tensions, Charlie Graves Tin Squids and various other types of casting tins as well as bucktail jigs.
New Hampshire and Southern Maine
According to Jamie from Dover Marine, the stripers are more likely to be found in Great Bay and the rocky shorelines of Hampton Beach and Rye Beach while bluefish tear through bait in the Piscataqua River. Troll a tube and worm along the channel edges of the bay for bass. For bigger fish, you may need leadcore to get that tube down a bit but familiarize yourself with some of the numerous rockpiles the dot the New Hampshire coastline and troll the tube as close to the rocks as you can, the bass should be there. Chad who often works alongside Jamie in the shop took a 90” bluefin the other day on a live mackerel not far from the Isle of Shoals, anglers chasing “Charlie” are encountering big stripers beyond state waters and it is hoped that these big bass will make “landfall” soon.
In my time of writing this forecast, I’ve never heard of a flounder taken in Maine, other than Pepperell Cove in Kittery that is, until now. Pete from Saco told me of an angler that had a flounder epiphany thanks to a sea gull. At Pine Point, a fisherman startled a gull which took off with a flounder in it bill of about 10 inches! Can’t you practically smell the smoke rising from this guy’s head? Soon this angler began limiting out on winter flounder. Which begs the question, where else are there flounder in Maine? One place you may want to look for stripers is Biddeford Pool which has become a veritable classroom for UNE students who have been taking a respite from their studies and are finding the striper fishing from the beach exhilarating. Mackerel chunks and clams are hot baits along the beaches including Goose Fare Brook especially half-way through the incoming tide in the evening. Eel casters are doing well among tidal flats and some swear by an ebbing tide as the water drains from and exposes mudflats. If blues are on your mind, check out the area around Wood Island where choppers terrorize mackerel schools.
Best Bet
Before the blow kicks in, look for big bass in very shallow water from Scituate to The Glades, and once the suds settle I would not be surprised if big blues with big bass don’t sniff out the resident pogies in Duxbury Bay. Flounder should remain active in Green Harbor as they have been since the spring, but if your area code is north of the border, it might behoove you to drift some seaworms along Biddeford Pool in Maine. The inner Boston Harbor should settle down relatively soon after Irene bids us a fond farewell. Maybe those bigger bass along the outer islands will come closer to Wollaston and Winthrop as rollers bring them within vicinity of inshore herring schools. In New Hampshire look for linesiders in the channel edges of Great Bay and off the rocky outcroppings off the beaches, and up in Maine watch out for those college kids clamming from Biddeford Pool, they just might take you to school.