If you’ve toed the suds or cruised the coast recently, you might have noticed something missing, namely other anglers. More often than not in October a few fruitless days combined with a nip in the air (this weekend notwithstanding!) signals time to mothball the gear as well as angling aspirations, but there’s no shortage of fish and for many species it is time for them to feed like gluttons.
South Shore
“Cod are in close!” said Pete from Belsan’s when we spoke. Bright red rock cod beauties have quietly slipped inshore undetected by most except for a few South Shore sharpies that just couldn’t keep a lid on their enthusiasm. I would drop a candy apple red SeaWolfe Norwegian anywhere you spot ledge or a wreck or a gaggle of lobster pots from 3 to 8 miles out in 50 to 100 feet of water. The sight of the old H-Buoy has been good for cod in the past and for closer spots try off the Gurnet, High Pine Ledge, Minot Ledge and the 21 Can. Mr. Belsan recommends giving the smattering or rocks off Egypt Beach a shot for cod.
Those drifting eels at the mouth of the North River from dawn to dusk are landing low 30-pound bass. An alternative is to jig up a few mackerel or drop down to Duxbury and snag some of the numerous pogies and drift these from the confluence of the North and South Rivers out to the New Inlet Buoy. Bring plenty of bait since the South Shore has been swamped by snapper blues of 3 to 4 pounds. And while you are in Duxbury, see if there are any predators lurking under the schools there. If you can’t find the bait, try a tube and worm by Warren Cove.
Greater Boston
Rick from Fore River told me that anglers are torn between the red hot smelt bite and the striped bass that show no signs of quitting. Considering that one of Rick’s patrons recently hooked a 53-inch moby on a live pogy in President Roads, I’m leaning toward the linesiders at the moment. It might take some work to get the pogies, but I assure you the effort is worth it. A case in point is what happened to Pete Santini of Fishing FINatics in Everett. A recent washing-machine Boston Harbor was not inclined to give up pogy whereabouts, but Pete did manage to snag one lonely fish. While the urge to liveline this bass and blue candy was strong, Peter resisted the impulse and decided to chunk it by Castle Island. The result: two 30-pound stripers! Speaking of Castle Island, the ideally situated pier has been hot virtually all season long. Chunk up almost anything from mackerel to herring to pogies and odds are good that you’ll slam at least a few bruiser bluefish and just maybe a keeper striper or two.
Another option is the always steady tube and worm. Troll the inner islands such as Bumpkin, Grape, Thompson and Spectacle and you should be able to scratch together a few bass. Shore and boat fisherman should check out Webb State Park as well as Jackknife Ledge and Wessagussett Beach. On most nights you’ll find at least a few anglers at Nut Island; there has to be some catching there to keep the choir happy.
Take it from Ricky Paone, the trickiest part of catching smelt right now is trying to reel the little fish in before some striper makes a meal out of it. It is beginning to look worthy of a YouTube skit. Rick, his better half, Gina, and sometimes his dad, who is allowed to fish with them because he brings the bait, will scan the lit dock in Winthrop looking for seven stripes of trouble. When the coast appears to be clear, they lower a grass shrimp, invariably hook a smelt and as if shot from a cannon stripers of various sizes will converge on the hooked fish either tearing it from the line or breaking the light line completely. Not everyone is dreading the departure of the striped bass!
You can catch smelt and play keep away from stripers at the A Street Pier in Hull, the Hull Public Pier and the Pemberton Pier. Pemberton gets scant attention from smelt stalwarts but Captain Jason Colby told me that back in the pre-river herring moratorium days he would often jig up smelt here while looking for bluebacks. You can also get your smelt off Hewitts Cove, in the Fore River and the Summer Street Bridge. I suspect you would find smelt along most marinas between Chartlestown and East Boston as well. Another place we used to catch smelt was between the Schraffts Candy Complex and the Amelia Earhart Dam. Incidentally, one of the consummate cow catchers in the Greater Boston area – Dave Panarella – who seems to never take a break yet remains energized, is finding plenty of stripers that will wallop the tube and worm on the saltwater side of the Amelia Earhart Dam.
North Shore
Most bait and tackle shops on the North Shore are looking for a few good anglers that still want to catch fish because many have given up the game! Tuesday evening found about a dozen folks over at Red Rock in Lynn that were awfully glad they were still players as the action was intense. Bait was the key as the roiled surf reduced stripers to scent-hunting predators. When the surf turns ugly, clams, seaworms and cut bait will usually outfish other offerings such as artificials and even eels. This is a great time to remember the lowly seaworm. One of the better surf fishermen I’ve ever known, even during the despair of the striper-moratorium days, used to catch bass of almost fifty pounds used seaworms, but with a twist. He would slide on an egg sinker above a barrel swivel. At the end of 18 inches of 40-pound monofilament (this was pre-fluorocarbon) he would slip on an oval orange float and snell a 5/0 bait holder hook. On the hook he would thread a Berkley Power Worm. To this he hooked a seaworm and he would cast it into the surf and slowly drag it along the bottom. Many an evening he would be the only angler catching the cows!
There have been bass “blowups” off Swampscott and Marblehead with some of the bigger bass in our region taking mackerel and the tube and worm by day as well as eels at night. In fact Joe Holey, who scribes the fishing report for the Lynn Item, told me of a buddy of his that was crushing them in his kayak in Swampscott Harbor. The last I saw of Joe he was launching pencil poppers toward busting bass off Nahant Beach, all the while trying to avoid being swallowed up by “Hawaii 5-0” rollers. In between gulps of seawater, he murmured something about forgetting his dry top!
Nat Moody of First Light Anglers told me that there are still plenty of fish off Plum Island with bass and blue numbers varying greatly between tides. Kay from Surfland recommends “bait, bait and more bait” as the best bet between the Merrimack and throughout the Parker River Wildlife Reservation. “Lonely anglers” tossing eels into ebbing tides at the mouth of North Shore rivers such as the Essex, Ipswich and Little are finding striped bass to be their only company. While I haven’t heard of any word of activity off Gloucester and Rockport, the fact that they’re still finding fish in New Hampshire tells me that there has to be cows among the crags.
New Hampshire and Southern Maine
Just when you thought it was over in the Granite State comes word from Jamie of Dover Marine that the bass bite is back – big time! A number of 30-pound stripers have been taken within the last few days from York Beach as well as the Piscataqua River. This is not surprising considering how warm the ocean temperatures still are. Those yearning to fish York should consider chunk bait or clams.
If you have a boat at the ready there are still mackerel out toward the Isle of Shoals; jig some up and let them lose in the Piscataqua River and see if you don’t super-size your stripers. Richard Wolfe from SeaWolfe tackle in New Hampshire emailed me an account of a trip to Jeffrey’s on Saturday that had me envious. Hake, cod, haddock, cusk and pollock resulted in all hands on deck full for the duration of the trip. A tuna was hooked and lost and a swarm of blue sharks added drama to hooked fish. There was even an unidentified, grey shark that looked all off 15-feet long that at one time snatched three fish in a row from angler’s lines.
According to Marco from Saco, water temperatures remain unseasonably warm and with the projected three or four day stretch coming up of warm days it should stay that way. This means bass and bait will say put in the Saco River. Shake out the swim shads in the still of the morning. The cod and haddock bite has been good on the northern edge of Jeffrey’s but the gale force winds have kept most at bay. Tuna can be seen chasing mackerel and halfbeaks near Tantas and Nubble. Don’t put that rod away yet, we have some ways to go. A sweet alternative may be the sea run brown trout fisheries in the Mousam and Ogunquit Rivers, flies and artificials that imitate forage such as minnows and shrimp are the best offerings.
Best Bets
Sling an eel along the South or North Rivers on an outgoing tide, that next 30-pounder could be yours! Look for pogies in Duxbury, Wollaston and Boston Harbor; the bass should not be far behind. Another option is the tube and worm along the islands of the harbor and the mouths of North Shore Rivers such as the Essex and Ipswich. In New Hampshire the groundish bite is great by Jeffreys Ledge and there are still stripers from the Piscataqua River to Saco Bay, Maine. With temperatures expected to climb near 80 degrees and for many a three-day weekend in the works, this could be the grand finale of the saltwater season – don’t miss a minute of it!