Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine Fishing Report 6-1-2012

Mackerel Mayhem for Keeper Stripers

It’s no mystery why the mid-Atlantic moniker for our beloved striped bass is rockfish; from the South Shore to Southern Maine the crags have become hot as molten larva with rivers beginning to take a backseat to the crunchy stuff.  A live mackerel continues to be the ticket to fast fishy action and their numbers show no sign of abating. This is a good thing because this most prized baitfish will soon serve a dual purpose as pelagics will be in many angler’s sights beginning June 1st.

South Shore

Dining by the Plymouth Public Pier is not recommended for the striped bass obsessed, so says Dave from TFO. Most evenings result in explosive surface activity as linesiders do a little dining of their own on small slim-profiled forage. Not surprisingly, RonZs, Bill Hurley’s, Hogy’s and Slug-Gos are what are on the menu for fish up to 35 inches long. Elsewhere in the vast stretch from Plymouth Harbor out into Duxbury Bay, pop-up surface feeds are occurring consistently as fish are taken on Tsunami and Storm swim shads as well as soft plastic jerk baits. A metal alternative is Krocodiles in chrome/blue.

Mackerel are not a tough find according to Pete from Belsan’s in Scituate but if you’re live-lining them on site, you may be wondering where the stripers are. The answer may be as close as the nearest structure. That structure may take the form of a ledge, white-washed shoreline or prominent depth break. The rocks are especially loaded with linesiders because now is the season when lobsters shed their shells and bass are rooting out the soft-shelled treat but a live mackerel is a hard snack to pass up. Anglers are hooking up at the boulder field by Fourth Cliff at the mouth of the North River, Smith Rocks, Minot’s Ledge, Egypt Beach, The Glades and countless locations where white water rules all the way to Hull.

Many are pumped because June 1st signals the beginning of the bluefin tuna season for permitted anglers in the General, Charter/Headboat and Angling categories. A livewell full of mackerel or even harbor pollock will put you in splendid shape should you choose to steam out to Stellwagen to chase Charlie and the gang. Showing up at first light will give you an edge – at the edge. Tuna will chase cephalopods in deep water at night (anyone who has ever taken a canyon trip will attest to that) but they begin to gather at contour lines just before dusk when they rush the shoals of banks such as Stellwagen and set their sights on baitfish and sand eels.  Live line or troll mackerel or your favorite artificials along the eastern edge of Stellwagen just as the sun begins to rise and you’ll do better than blindly roaming around looking for busting fish or diving birds.

The Scituate area rivals Boston Harbor for big blackback bragging rights. Last year the largest flounder in the DMF’s Saltwater Fishing Derby was a 5-5 taken in Scituate Harbor and the previous year a 4-12 was relegated to runner-up status by a 5-9 taken by yours truly. Look for that 4-pound or more barrier to be broken soon if not here then in Quincy Bay/Boston Harbor.

Greater Boston

Rick from Fore River B&T in Quincy said that anglers are having no problem jigging up plenty of mackerel between Graves Light and Martin’s Ledge. Tossing a frisky mackerel up against the base of Graves or among the wash of the outer islands should pay handsome dividends. Also try trolling mackerel off Point Allerton or well inshore by Veezie Rocks or Jacknife Ledge. Rick suggests Cape Cod Spinners/seaworms as a trolling alternative to live mackerel. Likely shore linesiders spots are Hull Gut, the shoreline by the Hull High School as well as Avalon Beach in the Fore River. Watson Park has also been fishing well.

The BG Buoy remains one of the better bets for a cooler full of mackerel. But there might be a yellow-eyed presence the next time you’re out there (bluefish!)  – anglers are beginning to get bitten off! Liveline the mackerel among Quarantine Rocks, Deer Island, Faun Bar, the Amelia Earhart Dam or below the Rutherford Avenue Bridge by the mouth of the Charles River. Don’t neglect the edges of the North and South Channels these are like bait highways and stripers course them looking to ambush forage. Another nearby location to live line mackerel is the Lynn Harbor shipping lanes, especially by the Nahant Causeway.

Captain Colby and crew have been finding limits of flounder not to be a problem and they’ve been doing well at Hospital Shoals. A recent excursion found them in close proximity to a veritable boat show. Once the clam chum slick took hold the charters on board began to bail blackbacks. One of the patrons noticed that the other fishermen were doing a lot of fishing but not much catching, it always comes down to the chum! Nicky Frasso and First Mate Mike Wescott have been drifting by Rainsford Island and picking up a number of black sea bass as well as big flounder.  This looks as if it is going to be a solid year for sea bass in Boston environs.

North Shore

This is shaping up to be a super year for squid. They’re catching copious amounts of cephalopods in Quincy and according to Noel of Bridge Street Bait they’re putting plenty of them in buckets in from the Beverly Pier and Salem Willows Piers. Joey from the Fisherman’s Outfitter in Gloucester had a similar report about the Gloucester State Fish Pier. Yo-Zuri squid jigs are the standard when it comes to calamari and most shops stock them. Night time is best and a nearby light source is essential.

You can catch among the Essex, Ipswich, Annisquam and Merrimack rivers but tight to the rocks is harbor pollock and mackerel while the draw of the rivers – river herring – is beginning to wane. A couple of good harbor pollock copy cats are the bronze Yo-Zuri Mag Minnow and the rainbow trout Sebile Magic Swimmer.  If you’re a ‘yaker, shore guy or small boat owner and the rivers are more convenient for you then shift your presentation from herring look-alikes toward slim-profiled sand eel imitators which are beginning to be the striper’s primary riparian sustenance.

I’ve been hearing good things about Brace’s Cove, Niles Beach as well as Ipswich Bay. The stretch around Hammond’s Castle has been hot. Mackerel are pretty easy to find by The Groaner just outside of Gloucester Harbor. Live lining those mackerel in the harbor among ledge has been yielding plenty of stripers from 28 to 35 inches. Nat has been killing the bass with Fin-S-Fish, Shimano Waxwings and a new lure that Shimano is ready to unleash on the fishing public this summer. I’ve been hearing about this hot new artificial from a number of shops who have been trying them out prior to general release and from all accounts it looks like a tuna and striper slayer. As for the name, here’s a hint: its namesake is the top predator of the sea, a “killer” so formidable that even the Great White Shark fears it. That’s right, Orca!

Kay from Surfland said that Surfland has been getting a significant run on big plugs as there has been a significant slug of large linesiders feasting on river herring at the Lawrence Dam. The dam bite will be tenuous as temps rise and herring fall back. The mouth of the Merrimack continues to please during the last stages of the outgoing tide into the initial phases of the flood. Bust out blitzes occasionally pop-up on Plum Island Beach while worm and clam soakers are scoring fish from parking lot 1 of the Parker River Wildlife Reservation. And finally Joppa Flats is jumping. The kayak crowd is doing especially well at night while trolling the tube and worm, tossing Slug-Go type baits and slithering eels.

New Hampshire and Southern Maine

Fred from Suds ‘N Soda said that the primary focus has shifted from the tributaries of Great Bay more toward the bay itself and the Piscatagua River. Shore and boat anglers have been able to jig up mackerel and live-line them for stripers at Newcastle  Commons and the 1B Bridge. Surfcasters are taking stripers from Wallis Sands State Park with chunk mackerel and clam. Jamie from Dover Marine suggests that anglers jig up mackerel by the 2KR Buoy at the mouth of the Piscatagua River and drift them along the river. Some anglers employ a three-way system to present the mackerel while others opt for an egg sinker/ barrel swivel, it all comes down to individual preference.

The groundfishing remains good on Jeffrey’s Ledge especially on haddock with the sweet depth being about 185 feet. Clams with chartreuse or pink teasers are working best. Strangely, cod are showing in deeper water than their more silvery cousins, in this case about 220 feet.

Garon from Saco Bay told me that the rivers are piping hot for striped bass, especially Pine Point and the Saco River. An awful lot of nice 35-inch fish are present and live mackerel is once again the key to the catching. The fishing up there is nothing if not convenient as the mackerel are held up against the Saco Bay jetty and anglers are catching the bait and the striped bass on site – how can you beat that? Tuna are jumping as if intending to be a harbinger of things to come. The groundfishing has game on Tantas and the fingers of Jeffrey’s Ledge. Sixteen ounce jigs are working best with a sliver of clam on the teasers.

Best Bets

Top off your live well with mackerel or pollock and see if you can’t catch that first tuna of the year, reports are that there is a good class of spinning-sized schoolie bluefin crashing sand eels, mackerel and herring off Stellwagen Bank. More toward inshore nighttime is the right time for stripers by the Plymouth Public Pier; roving blitzes make the bay better for the daytime brigade. In Scituate and Boston Harbor, liveline a mackerel up against the white water of Minot’s Light or Graves Light. That coveted 4-pound winter flounder mark is ready to be cracked and odds are that it’ll happen in Scituate Harbor or maybe Hospital Shoals.

Chum them up with a sack or pot full of clams. On the north shore bass are beginning to congregate among the crags of Manchester Harbor, the ledge of Gloucester Harbor and probably the rocky beaches of Rockport.  A live pollock or similarly bedecked artificial should fool these fish. In New Hampshire try jigging up mackerel by the 2KR can and drifting them along the edges of the river bank in the Piscatagua River. If Maine is more to your liking, you can’t beat catching mackerel from the jetty of the Saco River and finding willing 30-inch plus bass waiting to make a meal out of them.