Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine Fishing Report 8-23-2012

Late Summer’s Bait Turning On the Bass and Bluefish Bite

The pendulum is beginning to swing the other way. Shorter days and cooler nights are dropping water temperatures and increasing fish activity. Hull has been heavenly the past week for anglers but laborious for the staff of a local bait and tackle shop where they have been weighing striped bass at a breakneck pace. Big blues are making short work of live pogies and lightweight tackle.

Some of the bigger news comes courtesy of smaller fish such as school tuna (relatively smaller!) and one of the most appreciated baitfish that swims – peanut bunker.

South Shore Massachusetts Fishing Report
Pete from Belsan’s in Scituate confirmed suspicions that peanut bunker have arrived. Peanuts have been observed at the mouth of the North River and possibly Scituate Harbor. Few baitfish incite frenzies in the Northeast such as these baby bunker, so not surprisingly there has been some blitzing as bass and blues bust up this bait. Early morning feeds are the norm, and they are erupting randomly between the Second Cliff and Cohasset. The Glades has been good for nighttime eel excursions. The bass are nice up to 40 inches and the blues nearly that big and a lot more numerous. Along with the size of the blues, there are so many it seems as if there is no escaping them. For a consistent bite, opt for the tube and worm – orange for blues and red for bass. There’s encouraging news on the groundfish front, cod (remember them?) in the 5- to 7-pound category have moved inshore in 70-80 feet of water. And the smelt bite continues in Scituate Harbor with the epicenter being the Harbormaster float.

Bob from Green Harbor B&T told me that a mass of school tuna are clobbering sand eels between the Southwest Corner of Stellwagen and Race Point off Provincetown. Some anglers have recorded 9-fish outings! Numerous techniques are working, but the hottest baits are soft-plastic stickbaits; they’re catching them by dead-sticking, trolling, casting and attaching the lures to bars. For bass, the beaches are fishing best. Hot spots have been Duxbury Beach, Rexhame Beach, Berks Beach and off the Bryant Rock Jetty. The Plymouth/Kingston/Duxbury stretch has pogies, herring, bass and blues; all of which are most active in the early a.m.

Greater Boston Fishing Report
Lisa from Fore River B&T has been haggard from weighing in fish that anglers have been catching on pogies from Hull. The Gut has been especially good with plenty of mid-30-pound stripers. Some of the blues are bruiser 30-inch-plus tackle-twisters. They are still catching “exotics” such as scup, black sea bass and even fluke from Nut Island Pier through West Gut and out to Hull Gut. Set up a nice drift with pieces of squid for the former, jigs bounced on the bottom for the black sea bass and pink Gulp Swimming Mullet for the latter.

Pogies and their pursuers can also be found in the Town River, Hingham Harbor, Wollaston Beach, the mouth of the Weymouth Back River, the mouth of the Mystic River and nomadically from the middle harbor out to the North Channel. River herring fry are beginning to tumble from natal watersheds such as the Neponset, Weymouth Back River, Charles River and Mystic, look for surface activity when slim-profiled wares will work best. And there have even been sightings of peanut bunker in Lynn Harbor. When those baby pogies are present swim shads become one of the better baits. We are certainly not lacking in bait in these parts. Through all the vagaries of finding bait and trying to match the forage, anglers such as Dave Panarello and good buddy Carl Vining are catching plenty of fish trolling a red tube and worm.

It’s not too late to participate in the 8th Annual Help Hook The Cure Derby which has become one of the most celebrated tournaments around. Top prize is a cool $1000.00, but the prerogative is that the proceeds help fund the fight to cure Parkinson’s Disease.  This event take place Saturday, August 25th and you can sign up at the Elks Lodge in Winthrop.

North Shore Massachusetts Fishing Report
Pogy schools are present off Nahant and in Salem Harbor, and odds are good that blues and bass will not be far from this bait. Dave Flaherty from Nahant has been picking off 36-inch stripers with olive Stripersniper pencil poppers. They’re still catching squid in the Salem/Beverly area and some of the bigger striped bass are falling for fresh squid, often from the same piers and docks where the squid are.

Jimmy from Fin and Feather in Essex said the rocky shoreline of the North Shore has picked up some with slightly cooler water temperatures. He told me of shore sharpie Steve Pappows, who was tormented by tail-slapping cows that looked to be all of 40 pounds plus that were just out of casting range. Finally one of Steve’s wooden plugs was inhaled but the 38-inch striper was about 10 inches short of expectations. There’s a decent bass and blue bite at first light on backshore of Gloucester as well as the rocky promontories of Rockport.  There are still squid in Gloucester Harbor as well as big blues and mixed sizes of bass.

Martha of Surfland said that the lower tides have been the most productive off the jetties at the mouth of the Merrimack River. First light from the ocean front has been turning into a sprint as anglers try to keep up with fast-moving flocks of birds and schools of feeding blues and bass. A more sedentary but still successful way to fish is to soak sandworms from the Parker River Wildlife Reservation; currently Parking lots 1-3 are open. But, the biggest bass of all in these parts are falling for eels at night that are being fished just off the beach from boats.

New Hampshire and Southern Maine Fishing Report
Fred from Suds ‘N Soda in Greenland, New Hampshire was stoked about the presence of pogies in Great Bay but there isn’t always something big enough to make a meal out of bunker in the bay. A better bet is to chunk or live line the pogies in the Piscataqua River. There are mid-teen blues in the mix and anglers are trolling them up with Rapala CD18s along the banks of the Piscataqua River and out to the 2KR Buoy. An unusual treat is the black sea bass that are belting small Zingamajigs while drifting throughout the river. An alternative is the Hampton River where black sea bass have also been caught. You’ll find squid at Pepperell Cove in Kittery, Maine as well as off the bridges and piers of Newcastle.

Zach from Saco Bay Tackle told me that the toothies are dominating fishing action from blues inshore to sharks offshore. ‘Gator blues up to 17 pounds are slamming topwater lures at the Boneyard and throughout the Scarborough area. For stripers chunk bait is best off Pine Point and the Camp Ellis Jetty. The best action had been during the morning low tides and evening high tides. Sandworms are consistent cow catchers from the beaches; just make sure you rig up with a slip-sinker rig. Sharks from blue dogs to makos to threshers are falling for bluefish fillets at Tantas and Trinidad.

Best Bets For the Weekend
The big news has to be the school tuna that are gorging on sand eels from Stellwagen into Cape Cod Bay; these fish have a hard time resisting soft-plastic stickbaits, which are effective sand eel imitators. Big bluefish aren’t hard to come by in the Scituate area, troll some toothies up with an orange tube just off the shoreline. Some keeper cod in about 70 feet of water make for good ground fishing. Closer to The Hub, Hull has been hot as long as a live pogy is on the line and some of these bass are over 30 pounds. Don’t discount river mouths as tumbling herring fry attract stripers. Squid are still present on the North Shore from Salem through Gloucester with big bass hanging off the eastern shore of Gloucester. Pogies in Great Bay are great news from the Granite State and a live-lined one in the Piscataqua River should be productive. Southern Maine has some of the bigger blues just outside of Saco Bay and some sharks off Tantas that would gladly make a meal out of one.