Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine Fishing Report 8-2-2012

Scup invade Boston Harbor and Big Stripers hit New Hampshire

While last weeks catch of a slab red drum in Buzzards Bay led to bouts of wishful dreaming for Boston anglers, the black sea bass, fluke and even scup that are tearing it up in these parts are helping mitigate any “South of the Border” envy! The downside of all these warm water species is that the veritable bathtub that is attracting them is leading to bouts of inactivity from striped bass. Not surprisingly those that are catching are fishing with bait and making withdrawals from their sleep bank,

South Shore

            The big news according to Pete from Belsan’s in Scituate is an invasion of 60 to 70-pound tuna that are whacking everything from squid bars to live bait to soft plastic stick baits. The SW corner of Stellwagen has been especially hot but there have been fish taken from Peaked Hill Bar as well. Eels at night are one of the more consistent ways of duping those slumbering summertime stripers.  Good places for this are the confluence of the Beaver Dam Brook and White Horse Beach, the Eel River and the Town River, all of which are in Plymouth. Almost anywhere a river or harbor drains into a bay is a potential eel hot spot at night such as Green Harbor, the South River, the North River, Cedar Point and off the beach wall off Peggotty Beach and Black Rock Beach in Cohasset. But all is not lost for the diurnal set, most mornings in Scituate and much of the south shore feature striped bass blitzes on sea herring and some of these fish are respectable 36-inch specimens. Fluke continue to please in Duxbury as well as the mouth of the North River and in Green Harbor, black sea bass figure into the mix here as well.

Bob Pronk from Green Harbor Bait and Tackle reiterated the terrific tuna bite but he also told me that fish are actively feeding on the surface and guys are getting them with top water lures such as Shimano’s dynamic duo: the Waxwing and Orca. The dusk to dawn brigade is busting bass from Rexhame and Burkes beaches with chunk and eels. Just maybe the most surprising news of all is the appearance of smelt by the Harbormaster Shack in Scituate Harbor. And this is not an aberration as they have returned to Boston as well.

Greater Boston

            It takes a determined scup to chew through a clam gob big enough to cover a 7/0 Octopus hook but that is just what Captain Jason Colby is finding in the Quincy/Hull area as he is fishing for striped bass. And some of these scup are 1 ¾-pound slabs! Mix in goodly portions of black sea bass that are falling for Spro Bucktails, Crippled Herrings, Lucanus’ as well as clams. And with reports of fluke falling for bucktails tipped with Gulp. Cut bait and Gulp! Swimming Mullet on jig heads in the Revere/Lynn area it’s enough to make you question your GPS.

There is surface activity but most of it is the work of bluefish that are averaging between 3 and 5-pounds. These ferocious little choppers can be found throughout the West Gut and Hull Gut and are bursting with 4-inch sea herring and are great sport on light tackle. Look for these blues all the way up into Nahant. If you know what to look for you’ll have no problem finding a few pogies to snag and they are in the usual places such as the mouth of the Weymouth Back River, Wollaston Beach, Boston’s “middle harbor” and the North Channel. Don’t be afraid to venture out as far as Green Island in your pogy quest, these active fish move around. The problem is finding bass big and active enough to chase down the pogies. For oddities I enlisted some news from Fore River Bait and Tackle proprietor Rick Newcomb and I was not disappointed. Squid are still plentiful off Nut Island, Castle Island and off the Hull Piers, especially at night but some are finding them when the sun’s up. And while practically no one is fishing for them there are winter flounder holding out among the outer islands such as Green, Little Calf, Big Calf and the Brewsters. And for what just might be the strangest news, anglers are already targeting and catching smelt in the Weymouth Back River.

North Shore

Dave Flaherty of Nahant lost what would have been his best bass of the year, a fish that looked a scale or two south of the 50-inch mark, when he just may have put too much boots to the brute. Knowing that his Shimano Saragossa 8000, 65-pound Power Pro and beefy Lamglass Triflex were up to most any tug of war, he gave the cow no quarter as it dug in below his rocky promontory. Something had to give and it was the fish’s maw as the beefed up hooks on his white fast sinking Magic Swimmer tore loose. Monsters such as this can only be brought to hand when they have tired; a task that is easier said then done when fishing among a minefield of ledge and boulders.

Jimmy from Fin and Feather in Essex suggests that anglers pound Crane’s Beach as well as the mouth’s of the Essex and Ipswich Rivers where bass are binging on sea herring, sand eels and YOY river herring some of which are beginning to run the gauntlet out to sea. Micah Dean sand eels which are cigar-shaped top water wooden plugs are the rage on the North Shore and imitate a host of slim-profiled forage which are the most prevalent bait fish and you’ll find them in many a surf sleuths plug bag. Gloucester Harbor is still the place to be for squid and they are still catching them in Beverly and Salem as well. If Plum Island is your place, Kay from Surfland suggests that for blues and bass fish the mouth of the Merrimack River at low tide and on higher tides the ocean front of Plum Island Beach. But for the biggest bass of the bunch, you should be tossing eels either by surf or skiff.

Capt. Tom from the Yankee Fleet has been having consistent success on their 1 and2 day overnight trips that are putting anglers on  Cashes ledge and Fippennies 60 miles East of Gloucester. The last 1 day overnight trip left Sunday at 8 pm and started fishing around 330 am, double headers of hefty pollock and haddock greeted anglers with the morning sun. The cod were a little finicky, but the ones that were caught were very good size, with the pool winner being just over 30 pounds. The bite lasted right through the last couple of drifts where they found a good school of haddock to finish off another solid trip. With a handful of Atlantic Halibut up to 55 pounds already taken on these Yankee Fleet trips this year, the hopeful encounter with this rare flatfish was replaced with tired arms and a cooler full of a sampling of the Gulf of Maine’s tastiest fillets.

New Hampshire and Southern Maine

            Would you like a black sea bass fix north of the border? The Hampton River is where you’ll want to be as guys are even taking them from the shore! But for a better bite shove off with a boat and bounce the bottom with bucktail jigs, swim shads and jigging spoons. Jamie from Dover Marine told me of a 51-inch striper that swallowed a mackerel head at the mouth of the Piscatagua River. You should still be able to scratch together a tide’s worth of mackerel by the 2KR Can but with the occasional sortie of bluefish, the bait is skittish and less reliable. Smaller blues are causing surface commotion in Great Bay as they cruise upstream looking for silversides and juvenile herring. Squid remain present in solid numbers throughout the harbors from New Hampshire through Maine.

Nick from Saco Bay Tackle told me that mackerel can be found but they are a bit scattered thanks to the ominous presence of bluefish. Chumming can make the difference between a live well full of macks and no bait. Start your search for mackerel by Ram Island and also check nearby Wood and Monument Islands. Anglers tossing live macks among the wash of the islands and occasionally the jetties of Saco Bay are finding bass. For surf rats, the beaches are best for cut bait, clams and eels; super surf sand can be found at Pine Point, Biddeford Pool and Old Orchard beaches. For a shot at a shark, whether it is a blue, porbeagle or mako, live line a bluefish over by Tantas Ledge. A bonus is that you could catch tuna out here so make sure you have your pelagic permit. Jeffrey’s Ledge is fishing well for cod, haddock, cusk and red fish.

Best Bets

            If you have the gear and the permit, set sail for the SW Corner of Stellwagen, the bluefin bite is blistering for school tuna. Closer to shore, first light on the South Shore is a striped bass/sea herring show as surface displays lead to exciting top water action from Plymouth to Cohasset. Small blues are giving chase to sea herring throughout Boston Harbor and make for exciting surface feeds. Chum up some striped bass off Hull, Rainsford Island, Long Island and Deer Island and see if you can’t catch some black sea bass and even scup. For those that crave calamari, try jigging up squid from piers on the North Shore from Salem through Gloucester. And across state lines a live or chunk mackerel at the mouth of the Piscatagua River or in Saco Bay could be just the thing to punch your cow ticket.