Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine Fishing Report 5-17-2012

If you have bass on the brain, the rivers remain red hot and mackerel are still magic for boaters. Finally the sand spike cadre is getting their fix from Plymouth to Portsmouth. Those in search for a groundfish game are finding fine flounder fishing, occasional cod love inshore and definitely a spike in deepwater catches of cod and their cousins. For an unusual kick, there’s even a few tautog cooperating at an estuary near you.

If you read my column in this month’s issue, you may have been surprised and just maybe skeptical at the probability of consistently catching tautog north of the Cape. In fact, a tackle rep friend of mine asked me if I bumped my head and then commented, “Blackfish in Boston, come on!” I love a challenge, but I love tautog from the shore in these parts even more. So, in one of my favorite marshes in the Greater Boston area, I soaked some seaworms and within a half-hour came fast to a tautog. It was about 4 ½ pounds; as small as I ever find in these parts. My fishing window was a short one as I tutored a friend on the finer points of tog fishing and adopted the coaching rather than catching role. I was counting on the infectious grin that comes from an angler’s first encounter with these hard-charging fish and I wasn’t disappointed. I was a little dismayed that the fish were uncharacteristically small until I saw two lovesick tautog of about 7 to 8 pounds apiece roll on the surface a few feet from where we stood, totally enraptured in each other. “No wonder the bigger fish aren’t biting,” I told my friend. Regardless, they are here and if you can pull yourself away from all things striper, you can find tautog too because the next two weeks will be the best time of the year to find them. Most long-term bait shop owners can steer you toward places where they are occasionally caught. I am convinced the “occasional” part is only so because so few fish for them.  While I took the tog with seaworms (I was fishing for flounder too), you’ll fare better with green crabs.

Massachusetts South Shore Fishing Report

“More mackerel than in 10 years” is how Pete from Belsan’s in Scituate described things on the south shore. Generally the stripers have not been with the mackerel, but that will change when big breeders arrive. As for when that might happen, maybe next tide! However, if you dropped a diamond jig, Butterfly Jig or Crippled Herring below the schools of macks, you may catch yourself a keeper cod. A better bet for bass would be to troll or lob the mackerel into white water in either the North/South rivers or among the multitude of rock formations that dot this area. Pete Belsan recommends Cowan Rocks, Smith Rocks, Sunken Ledge and among The Glades. Anywhere along the North River from the mouth to Bridge Street is promising. Flounder fortunes are on the upswing as flatties have been taken from Peggotty Beach, Humarock Beach and Scituate Harbor.

The fishing in Plymouth is comparable to Scituate according to Dave from TFO in Plymouth. Blitzes pop up sporadically with bass exploding on sea herring and mackerel.  Shore slingers are chunking mackerel from Long Beach, “the rock” and are catching fish up to 40 inches long. Boat guys should top off the livewell with mackerel just outside of The Gurnet and troll close to The Gurnet or High Pines Ledge.

Greater Boston Fishing Report

There was a recent ribbon of mayhem that stretched from Long Island through Thompson Island, and if you were into it, you caught stripers in the mid-30-inch range. But don’t fret if you missed it, the harbor should have a few encores this weekend. As a possible prelude, Russ Eastman of Monahan Marine in Weymouth jigged up some mackerel off Point Allerton and took them for a boat ride to the Shag ledge, where the macks didn’t last long thanks to stripers up to 25 pounds. Most are talking about exceptionally healthy river herring runs with bluebacks mixing in with the alewives in the Weymouth Back, the Charles and Mystic rivers. And of course, where you find the prey, you will most likely find predators. For those who prefer the night shift, Captain Russ Burgess trolled up six linesiders recently between 34 inches and 38 inches on black deep-diving Danny plugs. Look for moving water and rockpiles in 15 to 25 feet. It’s a schoolie-fest in the Saugus River by the Spuds Restaurant. Dave Panarello clobbered fish up to 25 inches on swim shads there recently.

The flounder fishing this weekend should be nothing short of fantastic. I’ve heard from a number of friends and it seems as if everyone is tallying limits of fish. The biggest blackback that I know of so far was taken by DeepWater Blues band member Mike McCusker aboard Captain Jason Colby’s Little Sister. I’m hoping that fish gets topped this Saturday as I am participating in the third annual Boston Harbor Flounder Fishing Tournament. You too can join-up at Pete Santini’s Fishing FINatics in Everett. The dynamic duo of Nick Frasso and Mike Wescott, who have also enlisted in the derby, took 32 fat flatties last weekend between Governor’s Flats and Deer Island Flats.

Massachusetts North Shore Fishing Report

Some find the call of the crags to be among fishing’s most exhilarating challenges. If you’re a rock hopper looking for “rock fish” then your time is now. Dave Flaherty of Nahant has been landing fish up to 30 inches long but had a monster somehow, someway, remove the belly hook on his Daiwa Salt Pro Minnow. The SP Minnow has become a standard surf-fishing plug, especially when mackerel are present, but after repeated fish the split rings/hooks can fail. Consider upgrading to stouter stuff; surf the web and you’ll find no shortage of banter about augmenting the SP.  Most nights Red Rock in Lynn is not lacking in anglers or stripers. You can expect similar results throughout the Swampscott, Marblehead area.

“Full Force” was the way Joey from The Fisherman’s Outfitter described the state of striper affairs in the Gloucester area. There are a lot of linesider goings-on at the Little River in Gloucester as well as the Annisquam. Poppers and Slug-Gos are doing the trick. They’re duping bass off the Dogbar Breakwater with chunk mackerel being effective. Seaworms are proving irresistible to flounder from Pavillion Beach as well as Dogbar. Bob from Elm Street B&T in Salisbury told me that there’s a hot surf striped bass bite off the beach for fish into the upper-30-inch range. Clams are working best, but don’t scrimp; those catching consistently are loading up their hooks with a big clump. Mackerel are heavy by the Speckled Apron and Breaking Rock and you’ll find stripers with them.

Surfland weighed in a 32-pounder recently, which is an awfully nice striper from the North Shore this early in the season. Both the beach front and the mouth of the Merrimack River have solid striper action. The beach is fishing best on an incoming tide, while the river is tops during the last 2 hours of the ebb. Kay has been noticing anglers hanging around well after dead low so the bite may be extending into the early stages of the flood. Lures rule, especially this year! Sebile Magic Swimmers, Bill Hurley Mouse Tails and needlefish plugs are accounting for a lot of fish.

New Hampshire and Southern Maine Fishing Report

Jason of Suds ‘N Soda said that in ten years of monitoring these things, he has never seen such an early onslaught of striped bass! With blueback herring mixing it up with the alewives in the tributaries of Great Bay, there is no shortage of forage to keep the stripers in skinny water. Best bets for a bass remain the Dover, Exeter and Newmarket stretches. Prime time is false dawn; in New Hampshire the snagging of river herring is allowed and this bait remains tops. Just beware that the snagging of herring on Wednesday is prohibited.  Jason informed me that some anglers are leaving a mess at sensitive access points in Great Bay. Fishing there is a privilege, not a right and the quickest way to lose this access is to pollute. Pick up after yourself and educate others that don’t seem to get it, in order to avoid a tragedy.

A great pastime for the kids is jigging up a mess of mackerel, and you can find them right off the Rte. 103 Bridge. There’s also schoolies in Pepperell Cove in Kittery, Maine. Jaimie of Dover Marine said that a surge of bigger cod up to 20 pounds has infiltrated 300 feet of water by Jeffrey’s Ledge and their hauling in haddock from only 190 feet of water with clams and chartreuse teasers doing the trick.

Garon from Saco Bay Tackle Company said that stripers are swarming southern Maine estuaries and rivers. Some anglers are jigging up mackerel and trolling them close to the coast, such as in the Saco River, and finding willing stripers some of which are topping 30 inches. The Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnow is an effective ersatz option. There’s a pretty good mixed groundifish bite off Tantas Ledge.

Fishing Forecast

If the South Shore is your stomping ground, then surf rats should lob some casts off Long Beach or at the mouth of the Town River in Plymouth. Boaters keep on the lookout for busting fish throughout Duxbury Bay. In Scituate there is no shortage of mackerel close to shore or stripers in the North River. Closer to the Hub, haul in some mackerel off Hull and toss them among the wash of the Shag or inner harbor islands; those macks will work equally well among the rivers such as the Weymouth Back, the Charles River locks or the “point” of the Amelia Earhart Dam. Flounder remain a strong choice off Peddocks Island, George’s Island and Governor’s Flats. For a different tack, drop a green crab off a bridge straddling an estuary or river and see if you can’t coax a tautog to take it. On the North Shore, the rocks now have stripers big enough to strip you of your hooks if you are not careful. North of the border, the tributaries of Great Bay are harboring an early striper run the likes of which some haven’t seen in ten years! Downeasterners can get their striper due with a live mackerel or Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnow in the Saco River.