Bigger Bass Chasing Pogies

Fluke Showing Up Inshore

The expression “the thrill of the chase” doesn’t quite cut it when it comes to fishing. But that’s just what many anglers are doing as brief bass flare-ups cause reflexive races to what may look like the promised land but in reality is simply small schools of stripers buzzing from school to school of baitfish. A better bet may be to jig up some of the ubiquitous mackerel and drift among nearby structure. But if “keepers” aren’t good enough than for you the MVB – most valuable baitfish – is the pogy.

 

Massachusetts South Shore Fishing Report

It’s not unusual for there to be surface activity from Plymouth to Duxbury Bay, but if you conclude that there really aren’t many bass/blues fueling the frenzy than it’s time to retool. Scan Duxbury Bay for pogies, they are probably there but it may take some doing to find them and more than a few exploratory casts before you’re weighted treble gains purchase in a pogy. If there aren’t any playmates on the scene interested in the bait, try chunking the head section – leave plenty of juicy entrails intact – and drop a chunk where you find the pogies or seek nearby depth breaks at the Cowyard or Clarks Island. Odds are that the biggest bass in the bunch are not far from the pogies.

Duxbury Bay is also the place you want to be for fluke. For all practical purposes for toothy flounder consistency year in and year out Duxbury Bay is the northern range for these fish. On an outgoing tide pepper the draining cuts in the flats with bucktail jigs with a strip of mackerel skin.

Bob Pronk from Green Harbor B&T told me that there’s a fluke bite that a few tight-lipped anglers are enjoying at the “narrows” entrance to the harbor. For bass, Pete from Belsan’s suggests you target the Cohasset area with either mackerel or the omnipresent harbor pollock. Try East Shag Rock, Hogshead Rock, Black Rock and Governors Island. Scituate holds promise too, especially the mouth of the North River, where they’re catching fluke also, as well as the south side of Peggotty Beach near the beach wall.

Greater Boston Fishing Report

From Hull past Boston Light, into the North Channel and into Broad Sound, the harbor twinkles with dipping, diving, searching birds that quite often come up with lunch. Sporadically, surface feeds will pop up, but at the present time anglers are having little to show for following the activity. It appears to be a case of almost too much bait and not enough bass. But mackerel are still easy to find, especially by Boston Light and Nahant.

Fill up with the macks and then drop and drift a few by Shag Rocks or Brewster Spit at higher tides or the North Channel. Most are drifting the macks weightless or with an egg sinker, barrel swivel, leader and hook. In my opinion a far more effective way is to employ a three-way rig such as what is commonly used with eels while drifting. A simple three-way rig begins with a barrel swivel connecting your main line to the rig line. Take a 20-inch piece of 50-pound monofilament and after tying to the swivel, tie a double surgeon loop halfway down the line, which will be for your hook and leader. At the tag end of your double surgeon loop, tie a single surgeon loop – this will be your sinker loop. The single surgeon will give way before the double so should your sinker snag, you will only lose a little lead rather than the whole rig. Tie 5 or 6 feet of 50-pound fluorocarbon leader to a 6/0 Octopus hook and end it with a loop that you will attach to the double dropper loop. The advantage of this rig over the egg sinker method is that you can easily change sinkers to match conditions and you can periodically feel the bottom with the sinker, knowing that the bait is just above in the strike zone. Strive to position the bait just a few feet above the bottom, familiarize your self with drift lines and target the downtide sections of humps or rockpiles or channel edges… this is where the stripers will be waiting in ambush.

Most of the fish causing all the ruckus are 30-inch linesiders, but there have been 25-pounders caught by those determined to find the pogies and chunk them from Deer Island Light to Faun Bar and the North Channel.

If groundfishing is your game, then give flounder fishing a go as it is almost certainly in its final stages before the last mass of fish moves off into deep water. Last call is Green Island, Little Calf and Big Calf Islands, the Brewster Islands and Point Allerton. The last wave of flounder is not code for small fish either; just this past Tuesday Captain Jason Colby lifted a 4-3 fatty flattie over the gunwale of the Little Sister. Rick Newcomb of Fore River in Quincy told me of keeper cod have been caught by the B-Buoy. But for bigger game, check out the grab bag of groundfish that has invaded the eastern side of Stellwagen Bank where powerful pollock, market-sized cod fish and trap-jawed wolffish are making their presence felt at depths of over 220 feet.

 

North Shore Fishing Report

From Nahant to Halibut Point, every time you venture out keep on the lookout for pogies. It seems as if the cooler, deeper water of the North Shore has held more energetic and larger linesiders than currently are in Boston and points south. Things have been lively in Nahant Harbor, Lynn Beach, Salem Harbor, Ipswich Bay and Plum Island. Finally, some of the anglers here are regularly discussing fish of 40 inches or more and we can thank the pogies for the good news. Bob from Elm Street Bait and Tackle told me that anglers are scoring stripers by catching mackerel at the mouth of the Merrimack and then drifting or trolling the macks by Salisbury Beach. Jimmy from Fin and Feather in Essex said that the sand eels are what’s for dinner for bass groveling in the sand at the mouth of the Ipswich and Essex Rivers.

For a more consistent bite from potentially much larger fish, seek out the rocks that define Manchester Harbor, the east side of Gloucester and Rockport. Some are hugging the 180-foot contour line, trolling deep-diver plugs for tuna and ending up with non-stop bluefish action. Check out the Parker River for pogies; in the past when numbers have been up, here’s a place where they would gather.

Squid continue to be taken from the Beverly Pier, Salem Willows and most any lit dock or pier from Nahant through Gloucester and there are uncommon numbers of black sea bass as well.

New Hampshire and Southern Maine

When I weighed in that I felt the groundfishing was hotter on Stellwagen than off the coast of New Hampshire, Jamie from Dover Marine made me eat my words. He has been croaking a smorgasbord of codfish and their kin. But it often takes some searching to find the bite. Recently as close as Old Scantum, Jamie took a charter group out and put them into nonstop pollock as well as limits of cod up to 35” long. The next trip resulted in an equally impressive haul, but they had to steam out to The Curl to find the fish. The hot jig has been the tried and trusty diamond jigs with an orange teaser.

Squid insanity continues in the Granite State. According to Jamie it is similar to the Bay State, wherever you find a lit pier, dock or bridge from New Castle to Portsmouth to Newington, odds are you’ll be able to jig up some squid. Specific spots are Prescott Park and Pierce Island, the 1B Bridge and the Coast Guard Station. Bass are cruising for cephalopods and mackerel throughout the estuaries of the Piscataqua River. The bad news is that few big fish appear to be swimming near the New Hampshire coast; it could be that they are stuck on the North Shore hounding the pogy schools. Some are hoping that a slug of this striper candy moves into Great Bay as was the case a few years ago when hordes of pogies resulted in some of the better bass fishing in memory in New Hampshire.

Zach from Saco Bay Tackle Company told me that the name of the game is live mackerel, and if you have this bait source the stripers will be easy pickings. You can get macks off the jetty of Saco Bay as well as Biddeford Pool. Some are having shore success for fish over 30” long while boaters are boasting about a bass bite by Monument and Richmond Islands. There are some monster mackerel out there, and on a light rod they are a blast to catch. These big macks make fine tuna bait and some are turning the big mackerel into giant bluefin tuna just off the Maine coast where the occasional porbeagle shark also calls home.

Best Bets For the Weekend

If you’re looking for big bass, you have to keep alert for pogies. Toss a head chunk into the wash by Saquish Rip in Duxbury or the depth edges of Duxbuy Bay. There’s also improved fluke fishing there as well as at the mouth of the North River. Farther north, 4-pound flounder are hanging at the edge of Boston Harbor by the outer islands; catch a flattie now before they slip offshore where they will remain until next spring. Snag a few pogies off Wollaston Beach or by Deer Island and chunk up a cow by the North Channel or Bob’s Bass Triangle. Pogy pandemonium is also taking place off Nahant, off Salem, in Ipswich Bay and by Plum Island. If a live pogy does not deliver the hits, chunk one up and cast it into the wash off Manchester Harbor, Bass Rocks, Folly Cove and of Halibut Point. In the Granite State, they’re enjoying the culinary splendor of fresh calamari as squid are being taken at night from lit piers and docks from Rye Harbor up to Kittery. Down Maine, mackerel remain pure magic whether it is for striped bass or the big bluefin that are mixing it up with porbeagle sharks in the Gulf of Maine.