Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine Fishing Report 6-28-2012

The threat of an imminent storm shrouded much of the past week but there’s another one brewing on the horizon. This “storm” is far sweeter and consists of an offshore eddy that is spinning our way awash in tuna and enraged by makos. For those with more low key longings that have been wondering just where the blitzes have been, they are back courtesy of a slug of sea herring that are swarming our coast, but if you have bigger bass on the brain you should be preoccupied with another baitfish that is now residing – pogies!

South Shore
While some tuna are being caught, the average Charlie chaser would hardly describe the fishing as “wicked”. But according to Bob Pronk from Green Harbor B&T that could change quickly.  A long term friend and pilot who has made a passion of scouting the seas for pelagics has observed an eddy of fertile gulf stream water that has spun off and is heading our way carrying with it bluefin and a certain shark that would gladly make a meal out of one. If you’ve been out and about with lackluster results on Stellwagen bank take heed your fortune may be about to take a turn for the better. Meanwhile the bait bounty continues and according to Bob you can find mackerel anywhere from 4 miles off the coast to 30 miles out and it is bound to be a combustible mix when those charging tuna meet all that bait!

Berks Beach continues to be hot for both beach casters and boaters fishing with live or chunk mackerel or wielding Waxwings, SP Minnows and Magic Swimmers. As is the case with most every tackle shop owner I’ve spoken to Bob is awaiting the fist order and the first unleashing of Shimano’s new Orca on the striper and tuna populations. If you’re looking for a preview of this highly anticipated plug, you’ll see it as soon as you open the cover of July’s issue of OTW! Pete from Belsan’s in Scituate said that while still plentiful it appears that mackerel are mixing in with harbor pollock as the preferred forage of striped bass. Both baits work well anywhere from the first navigation buoy just outside of Scituate Harbor out to Sunken Ledge. When pollock are numerous we’ve done very well with the bronze Yo-Zuri Mag Minnow and Mag Darter, the color is a dead ringer for the little pollock.

Remarkably flounder are still hanging in there even though water temps are edging out of their comfort zone; you’ll find plentiful flatties in Green Harbor, Scituate Harbor and Cohasset Harbor. The fluke word is also beginning to be mumbled, you can get the toothy version of our flounder off the mouth of the North River, High Pine Ledge and especially Duxbury Bay. The latter will fish best on an outgoing tide and you’ll do best fishing the “guzzles”, which are cuts in the flats which drain into channels, it’s at those confluences where I’ve scored my personal best fluke.

Greater Boston

Some have been wishing for blitzes but others who crave cows couldn’t care less. Here’s a tail of two types of logic played out in Boston Harbor over the weekend. Rick and Gina Paone received word of a slug of the most valuable bait fish that swims in these parts and just maybe the most valuable baitfish of all – the beloved bunker or as we “wicked awesome” Bostonians like to call them – pogies. The couple cruised out to the last known pogy sighting, Revere Beach, and witnessed a boat show as fishermen chased other fishermen who were chasing wheeling birds. The birds were after bass that were busting sea herring. That’s all good sport but most often the bigger bass are not part of the mayhem, especially when there are pogies around. Rick slapped on the Costas, paid close attention to his chart plotter and soon spotted what they were after – pogies. So while the rest of the fleet gave chase, the husband and wife team gave lessons to large linesiders up to 35 pounds! All fish were released except for the 35-pounder which was fatally spent from the fight. Ironically the source of the information about the pogies succumbed to blitz fever and strayed from the pogies. Later he regaled about how much fun “those keepers” were that he caught among the flotilla of boats that were creating all the commotion. Before I recounted the Rick/Gina story to him, I asked him to sit down first! It’s official, the game changer bait –  pogies – are here and your first priority until October should be to at least give a cursory look for that penultimate striper candy. If you find the pogies, the biggest bass around will be with them.

However, if you cannot resist the blitz, be aware that recent surface feeds have occurred by Hull Harbor, Rainsford Island, the North Channel, Revere Beach and Lynn Harbor. As always your best bet is to be out there at first light, that’s not at the dock just as the sun begins to radiate but on the water and looking at that time. As for bluefish, they are merely flash in the pan travelers with no consistency to speak of.

For the flounder faithful that are mothballing their corn beads, Zobo Rigs, Mustad Wide Gaps and Escas and calling it quits (including some illustrious charter captains I know) because the calendar is telling them it’s over,  I can categorically tell you to forget it – the fishing remains fantastic. There was once a time when we caught flounder all summer long, while it’s impossible to predict what will happen next month, but right now at the cusp of June/July we are experiencing some of the finer flounder fishing I have ever heard of! I could go on but I believe last Sunday crystallizes the current state of affairs when Captain Jason Colby of Little Sister Charters put a patron on a 4.4 and 5.5 winter flounder in the span of 5 minutes! And there have been numerous other recent 4-pounders. Stop looking deep for winter flounder, these fish are in less than 15 feet of water. Look for varied bottom with rock, kelp, muscle beds and mud and chances are you’ll find flounder and just maybe your own 5-pounder, they are there! And the reason the fish are still here is as close as the mud you’ll pull up on your anchor, chances are it’ll be squirming with invertebrates which to a flounder is like a pogy is to a striper. And we have seen more tautog in the Quincy/Hull area then any of us can recall.

North Shore

For North Shore residents 2012 may go down as the year of the squid, they are the topic of much conversation wherever anglers gather but they are beginning to become indirectly problematic. Chances are that if you find a lit pier, wharf or dock at night you’ll find squid and plenty of them at that. In many cases the squid bite still exists at these places in the day. But problems are arising due to people leaving trash and otherwise making a mess of some of these places. Example 1 is the Beverly Pier which I’ve now heard has been closed by the harbormaster because of such recklessness. Keep it clean and keep it open.

Mackerel have been hot and heavy by the red nuns outside of Nahant from the harbor out to the East Point. Some such as Joe Holey have been jigging up a mess of macks and tossing them into the wash off Egg Rock and catching some very impressive stripers. An alternative to the mackerel are pollock which you should have no problem jigging up close to rocky outcroppings by the shore.

Noel from Bridge Street Bait and Tackle told me that the flounder fishing is fine in Salem and Beverly harbors. And they’ve even been taking a few toothy versions of flounder in Manchester Harbor and maybe Singing Beach. “Hand span estimates” show these fish to be over 20”, just make sure the fluke you keep are 16 ½” minimum. Some sweet looking humphead black sea bass are being caught also in the Beverly area. Water temperatures are now within the comfort zone of these “exotics” and with all the squid around, these fish certainly won’t go hungry. There are also striped bass surface feeds taking place during early mornings between Baker’s Island and Newcomb’s Ledge. Jimmy from Fin and Feather in Essex told me that Crane’s Beach at both dawn and dusk has been featuring a nice top water bite for surf fishermen. Jim’s favorite surface slammer here is the bone Jumpin’ Minnow. There’s surface activity as bass beat up on sea herring and sand eels. Boaters are finding 20-pound linesiders while trolling mackerel. And there are even a few flounder being caught at the mouths of the Essex and Ipswich Rivers.

Joey from the Fishermen’s Outfitter in Gloucester said that the harbor is loaded with squid and the guys jigging up mackerel are pulling up macks that look as if they went through a buzz saw. Provided you can get the macks through the squid you’ll find bass throughout from the inner harbor out to “The Groaner” and especially where there’s structure. Of course, you could always turn the tables on those squid and use them for bait; they don’t call stripers squid hounds for nothing! Shore guys are scoring bass and even the occasional blue with chunk bait off the Dogbar Jetty.

In all the years that Surfland has been in business there has never been a demand for squid jigs, until now! Yes, those cephalopods have invaded the Plum Island area but there are no sure shore spots, the boat guys are having the squid all to themselves. They are scratching together a few flounder at the mouth of the Merrimack but for striped bass action Joppa has been jumping. There had been a first light turn-of-the-tide bite but upcoming night tides will feature a breaking tide and should be more favorable.

New Hampshire and Southern Maine

Chad from Dover Marine told me that the Granite State is hardly immune to squid hysteria. They seem to be most everywhere at the mouth of the Piscatagua River and more often than not there is 28- to 36-inch stripers on them. The shipyard and the General Sullivan Bridge have all been hot and there’s mackerel still out by the 2KR Buoy. Shore stalkers should check out Rye Beach, a friend of Chad’s has been knocking similarly sized stripers dead with the 9-inch new glow Arkansas shiner colored Slug-Gos. Guys are rigging them with tandem hooks. It’s still good in the Great Bay for those trolling the tube-and-worm. And these are all good sized stripers with a non-keeper a rare catch.

Peter from Saco Bay said that fly fishermen flicking the shop’s Sandy’s Deceivers are doing quite well from Higgins Beach, the gut at Hills Beach, Biddeford Pool and the Presumpscot River, most of the fish are schoolies but there are enough larger fish in the mix to keep it interesting. Plug chuckers are scoring fish in these same places with school bus colored Gag’s Grabbers Mambo Minnows, another color that’s working well is the blue/black. Mackerel are still easy pickings by Richmond and Monument Island but be prepared should you troll with them – there’s a toothy force that has suddenly appeared, but they seem to be snappers. For groundfishing Tanta’s is okay but you’ll fare better for both cod and haddock if you haul out to Jeffrey’s Ledge.

Best Bets

On the South Shore, score some mackerel or pollock and live line or troll them by The Gurnet, Saquish Rip, High Pine Ledge, Farnham Rock, and Cedar Point and for a deeper option Sunken Ledge or Davis Ledge. But be careful the farther you steam out since there are spool-dumping tuna that appear to be heading inshore. Flounder fishing remains fantastic, especially in the Hull/Quincy/Boston area and with all that forage-rich mud they are living in this fishery could have legs. For those with bass on the brain be on the lookout for pogies at first light or if you’re pleased with numbers of fish and the excitement of a blitz there are sea herring around which are sure to attract a crowd of both birds and bass. On the North Shore there’s squid aplenty at nearly every lit dock; while striper sleuths should toss topwater lures at Cranes Beach during low light conditions or catch the upcoming breaking night tides at Joppa Flats with eels and Slug-Go type baits. North of the border, I’d jig up some squid in the Piscatagua and live line that calamari to the awaiting linesiders or if you’re a fly fisher flick out a Saco Bay Sandy’s Deceiver to Biddeford Pool bass.