Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine Fishing Report 3-15-2012

This is one time when the weather forecast and this fishing forecast both run contrary to the calendar. With sweet temps predicted for the weekend as well as the foreseeable future, if your friends get out and you don’t, you may wind up as green with envy as Saint Paddy Day’s beer. And with accounts of striped bass, flounder, cod and mackerel, this March not only feels like May, it fishes like it.

Holdover striped bass are stirring. With estuarial and river water temps bumping toward the unseasonably warm figure of 50 degrees, now is the time to begin searching for layover linesiders that frequent most of our river systems and, in some cases, harbors. I spoke to Dave from The Fisherman’s Outfitter in Plymouth and he suspects that those stripers that lie in the hot water discharge of the Pilgrim Power Plant all winter long could be on the move and may be intercepted among the “guzzles” that drain from the mudflats of Plymouth/Kingston and Duxbury Harbors. With sunny, warm weather predicted and a mid-morning high tide wetting a line in late morning/early afternoon could be productive.

Plymouth shore is nothing if not accessible and there are plenty of places to fish such as at the Nelson Street Recreation Area and Stephen’s Field. Last year was a good one for flounder, and I would not be surprised if someone picked off a spawning blackback flounder from these same areas. Bay side on an ebbing tide is also promising from the Powder Point Bridge off Duxbury. Pete from Belsan’s has told me in the past that there have been a few holdover stripers scratched from the Scituate area as well; I would focus along the North River from Bridge Street to Mary’s Boat Livery.

The Weir River in Hingham harbors holdover stripers: a likely looking spot is off the Rte. 3 Bridge or at the narrow section that drains from the Weir at World’s End. These fish can be duped by seaworms as well as soft plastics. My buddy Rick Holebrook who, when he’s not “trolling” the Cape Cod Canal, kick’s holdover bass butt in the Boston area, has been doing really well with Storm Swim Shads in chartreuse shiner. That color is a killer. I’ve had some luck with Bill Hurley’s Mouse Tail. I would not be surprised if stripers cruised throughout the Weymouth Fore and Back rivers. And fish are being caught at the Neponset, Charles and Mystic rivers. Well upstream at the effluence where the Upper Mystic Lake joins the Aberjona River, they are catching some serious numbers of largemouth bass and pickerel on oversized shiners.  Downsize your shiners or slowly crank chartreuse Roadrunners and you’ll catch crappie.

For the flounder faithful, you might want to soak seaworms or clams at the mouth of Black Creek at Wollaston Beach. All those Quincy Bay flounder spawn somewhere. The mouth of the Neponset is also a good bet for blackbacks as is the Sugar Bowl in South Boston. The Belle Isle Bridge in East Boston/Winthrop is worth a go as are the stretch from the Lynn Pier out along the extensive wharf area in Lynn Harbor out to the Lynn Heritage State Park. On the North Shore you might be able to find some flatties or holdover stripers at the mouth of the Danver’s River; the Beverly Pier is a nice spot to launch a cast. Joey from The Fisherman’s Outfitter confirmed a run on Sabiki rigs for anglers who have found mackerel in Gloucester harbor in March! If mackerel are there, can they be far from Hull, Graves Light or Nahant?

Speaking of Hull, Russ from Monahan Marine in Weymouth told me of a cool cod catch from one of his customers. This guy took two keeper cod off Hull Gut. He wasn’t there to fool around: knowing that most shops’ clams this time of the year have been sitting long enough to be petrified, he obtained fresh seaworms and nailed two nice cod! Russ and a pal pulled a 4-3 brown trout out of South Pond on a shiner; the fish are cruising now on the surface.

Joey recommends the Gloucester State Pier as well as the Granite Pier in Rockport for those springtime macks. Holdover stripers have been taken in the past from Little River in Gloucester, and you may tug in a flounder or two from behind the Nichols candy store. Joey told me a favorite for flounder fishermen has always been near Ten Pound Island.

There has been some rumbling about flounder from Plum Island area so I went right to the source – Surfland. While Kay could not confirm catches of flounder yet, if she had to “best bet” a spot it would be off the Little Neck Pier. There you go, chum up some fish on the upcoming outgoing tides and maybe rejoice in that first flounder of the year in March!

Not all is salty, however! Most if not all of the regions of Masswildlife have received some trout from the hatcheries by now. Eddie of B&A in West Boylston told me he saw some terrific 14-inch bows taken on PowerBait from Comet the other day. Bigger news still is that the Stillwater River has shaken off winter’s icy grip and is now free and clear. And odds are that there is fish swimming in that basin big enough to scare you.

New Hampshire and Southern Maine Fishing Report

While there is not much news from the Granite State for those hardwater junkies who just can’t quit the habit, have I got a getaway for you! Reports get no fresher than this. Thursday afternoon I spoke with Dylan of Dag’s who was sweating up a storm on Moosehead Lake when we spoke. And it wasn’t because it was so warm either, it was from drilling through 18 inches of ice. Having just lost a nice salmon at hole side, he told me that his bunch landed a togue, some nice salmon and were in the process of pounding the bottom with dead smelt for cusk. Odds are that if you’re pining for that one last ice fishing excursion, this just may be it!

Best Bets

Trout have been stocked throughout the Commonwealth; peruse Masswildlife’s website Friday for a complete list. But if you’d rather seek potentially far bigger game send a spoon into the Stillwater Basin. Toss out a swim shad in Plymouth Harbor on an outgoing tide or soak some seaworms and see if you can’t tempt a holdover striper or flounder. Closer to the Hub there should be stripers awakening in the Weir River, Charles River, Mystic River and Saugus River. Farther north, mackerel are already causing a stir in Gloucester Harbor. Plus if you bottom bounce seaworms from Little Neck Pier you may catch a Plum Island flounder.  However, if March to you still means ice fishing, there’s 18 inches of the hard stuff along with cusk, togue and salmon on Moosehead Lake.