Massachusetts New Hampshire Maine Fishing Forecast 9-15-2011

The theme for this week’s forecast could almost be: “find the pogies, find the big bass!” Rest assured if the beloved bunker is in your bailiwick, provided that you’re baiting up with them, then the fishing will be just fine. Fortunately we will steer you toward the schools to up your odds. Of course life is more than obsessing over the stripers, and with that there’s fantastic groundfishing just off our coast.

It’s easy to get caught up in striper fever, but if you haven’t taken in a groundfishing extravaganza in a while, you ought to reconsider. On Wednesday, a bunch of us set sail out of Scituate aboard the Elizabeth Marie for Stellwagen and beyond, hoping for a gadoid grab bag. And considering that the take was cod, haddock, pollock, blue hake and cusk, I’d say that that box was check marked. After filling up a cooler full of goodies we than tussled with a bunch of blue sharks and hoped the whole while that a mako would decide to crash the party as one did two day’s prior aboard Captain Rob Greene’s trusty ride. The hot depth was around 250 feet and the fish bit best on small Shankas teasers kept taught with dark red SeaWolfe Norwegians. If you have been swept up with the striper sweepstakes, consider this cool diversion. Groundfishing for a host of species is better than it’s been in years. Don’t worry about those stripers, they’ll still be there when you come back.

South Shore

Dave from the Fishermen’s Outfitter in Plymouth told me that the pogy numbers have increased in the Duxbury area and the bass and blues have a bead on them. Blitzes are not always apparent, but should you snag a pogy, unless you quickly crank it in the odds aren’t good you’ll get it back to the boat in one piece, if at all. Long Beach is fishing well for those casting clams, in fact mid-forty inch fish have fallen this way. Boaters should be trolling swimming plugs near the power plant for bluefish and the tube and worm by Warren Cove for striped bass.

Pete from Belsan’s wasn’t sure which he was more stoked about, the swell striper fishing or the sweet smelt bite. Last week was pretty good for the little silver streakers in Scituate Harbor, but recent participants have used the phrase “crushed them” to describe the action. All those mackerel are keeping the South Shore cow count high. Thirty-pound stripers are not out of the question provided you find and live-line the macks, which is not much of a problem now. Recent hot spots for macks and stripers have been Fourth Cliff, Minot Ledge and The Glades.

Greater Boston

The problem with the pogy is that if you’re on them this time of the year, you’re no doubt enjoying a banner day. But should you be a bay away or on the other side of a harbor island oblivious to the mayhem that is occurring a few hundred yards away, then you are most likely doing little more than going for a boat ride. On Wednesday Boston Harbor erupted with bass up to 45 inches and alligator blues wreaking havoc on the pogies. And there were only three boats on them! The very next day, the harbor was whisper quiet while Captain Russ Burgess and his pal Mark were slaying mid-40-inch bass that were mixed in with big blues on pogies at Dorchester Bay. Shove off early, keep a good pair of binoculars at the ready and scan the surface for those pogies. Birds won’t give them away and often you won’t even see any sign of blitzing as the slaughter takes place from below.

A good backup plan is to jig up some mackerel, which should not be too difficult if you jiggle your Sabiki off Ultonia Ledge, Thieves Ledge and most anywhere outside of the outer harbor islands to Graves Light. Russ’s friend Mark has had a couple of good days, on Wednesday he live-lined macks off Revere Beach for similarly sized stripers.

Now is definitely the time for surfcasters to stalk their favorite beaches. I would not wade the wash without a mackerel-colored pencil popper, spook and Danny plug in my bag. Chunking and clamming are solid options as well from Nantasket Beach, Nut Island, Wollaston Beach, Castle Island and through Winthrop and Revere beaches.

My friend Nick Frasso would like to thank all 210 who participated last Saturday in the Seventh Annual “Help Hook The Cure” derby, almost $12,000 dollars were raised and this will be donated toward finding a cure for Parkinson’s disease.

North Shore

The prize winning 40-pound fish for the previously mentioned derby, which was caught by Steve Malatesta of Lynn, fell for a live mackerel off Egg Rock. Not far away from Steve, Joe Holey was doing pretty good as well. Joe and a pal spotted scattering mackerel and after jigging up a bunch were soon onto nice stripers and big bluefish. After emptying a full live well, they were left with only a few chomped up “mackerel cigars” but decided to fish them anyway. Joe dropped one of the chunks down toward bottom and “wham” was soon rewarded with his personal best striper – all 48 inches and 44 pounds of it! I saw the photo, it was one nice fish! To make the day all the more surreal, a lobsterman approached the guys and told them that earlier he saw a tuna busting on a bluefish in the middle of the mackerel school right off Nahant!

Jimmy from Fin and Feather in Essex told me that mackerel are still fairly easy to catch from Gloucester and Rockport. There are occasions that bass will be on the bait, but other times it’s best to live line or troll the mackerel off the rocks on the backside of Gloucester as well as at Andrews Point and Halibut Point. Farther north Cranes Beach has been good for the parrot-colored pencil poppers that Jimmy hand-turns on is own, a variety of which you can find in the shop.

Kay from Surfland said that if you find the blue water, you’ll find the bass. Due to recent deluges, the Merrimack River still flows muddy, but on incoming tide, cool, oxygenated blue water will refresh the river and stripers will ride in with the current. The beach fronts can best be described as erratic as a few fish are caught and then there are lapses until the next wave of stripers cruises past, it’s seems as if there really aren’t that many fish around at the moment and the resident linesiders that are here are keeping on the move.

New Hampshire and Southern Maine

According to Jamie from Dover Marine, the best bass fishing of the season is taking place now and few are fishing for them. Sounds like one heck of an invite to me. Great Bay is placid yet productive for schoolies on the tube and worm, but the larger linesiders are shoaling right now outside of the rivers in preparation for the eventual migration. A better bet is to jig up some mackerel by the Isle of Shoals or the mouth of the Piscataqua River and “bump troll” them along the coastline from 9 to 20 feet of water. A ¾-ounce rubber core sinker or keel sinker above the mackerel will keep it in the strike zone and you’ll occasionally want to shift your motor out of gear when you spot a depression and let the mackerel sink down a bit. From Seabrook to York Beach you should find willing bass that will pounce on those mackerel. Beach casters are picking up fish as well with clams and chunk mackerel.

Peter from Saco Bay said that the sharpies are floating seaworms off beaches and catching 40-inch plus bass this way. The time of day is less important than the tide which is best midway through the flood to high tide. Likely linesider locations are Old Orchard and Kennebunk beaches. Fishermen are still getting bitten-off so there must be bluefish still present. Mackerel are still available outside of Saco Bay with chumming helping in the catch count. A closure in commercial herring fishing has resulted in more herring as well as a reduction in mackerel bycatch loses, so bait and gamefish are plentiful all the way up to Portland. You’ll find no shortage of sharks on the deepwater side of Tantas’ Ledge, with most of the apex predators being blues but a few makos mixing it up as well.

Best Bets

For those looking for that special striper, snag up a few pogies from Duxbury Bay, Dorchester Bay or the middle of Boston Harbor. The lucky few who have been in on this tell me that the hardest part is reeling in the pogy before it is annihilated by a bass or blue. Stellwagen is nothing if not fun for a mixture of deep water denizens from cod to hake to haddock, just make sure you crank those fish in quickly before the shark pack “fillets” the fish for you. On the North Shore, live mackerel is still the key among the crags of Cape Ann and Cranes Beach is promising for pencil poppers. Farther north the bass may have left the rivers but there is no shortage of stripers off the New Hampshire or Maine coastlines. All that is really lacking is a few good anglers!