Fall Run Table Is Set, Ready to Go Off!

All the factors are in place for a fine fall run with bait aplenty and dipping water temperatures, but there’s one determinate that many are finding lacking and it is a big one – there’s a scarcity of stripers. Plymouth notwithstanding, those roving surface shows that so typify late September are eerily missing. You can still catch, you just have to be prepared with a backup plan.

If consistency is your goal then your forecast may be a black and blue one, and I’m not just referring to the gridiron slugfest this weekend between the Pats and the Ravens. The best bite is probably courtesy of bluefish and black sea bass, the latter of which just may define the season of 2012 more than any other fish.

Massachusetts South Shore Fishing Report

If you’ve been cruising for stripers and blues throughout the expanse of Plymouth/Kingston/Duxbury, your reality has been typical for this time of the year: there are surface feeds and aggressively feeding stripers and blues. Stay put if you want the good times to roll because this perception is not widely held farther north. Dave from The Fisherman’s Outfitter in Plymouth said that the blitzes are courtesy of smaller bait such as peanut bunker so you should be packing smaller wares such as swim shads, Kastmasters, smaller swimmers and poppers and Dave’s all-time favorite – 2 ounce chrome Krocodiles. For bigger fish, keep your eyes peeled for pogies or toss an occasional Sabiki rig out there; you may catch a hickory shad, which is a superb big bass bait if there ever was one. Check out the “turnaround” at the tip of Long Beach, Priscilla Beach, and the stretch from the Cordage Channel to Bug Light and in through Powder Point Bridge. High Pine Ledge is always a high-percentage spot off Duxbury Beach for the tube-and-worm trollers as well as the shore chunkers.

Pete from Belsan Bait in Scituate told me that it has been a solid year for a taciturn group of tautog hunters and now is the time that these fish will reappear inshore. Look for rockpiles off Peggotty Beach, Cedar Point, Fourth Cliff, Egypt Beach and Black Rock Beach. If you’re flummoxed by the prospect of having to get a bucket of green crabs, modern tog fishermen are switching to bucktail jigs, such as those designed by Tidaltails Jig’z, which are specifically made for tautog, and you may opt for a crab substitute such as Gulp peeler crabs, which some have found very effective.

On the striper front, the surface activity of last week is missing. A better bet may be to target the North River as herring fry tumble into the sea and stripers are sure to be waiting. Eels under cover of darkness worked along this same stretch may catch the best cows in the area. The rock wall off Peggotty Beach is another promising perch from which to launch eels as is the cobbled rock within casting distance of Egypt Beach. Spike a surf rod off Humarock Beach and shoot a clam “sandwich” toward the stripers, which should be groveling among the sand for quahogs.

Greater Boston Harbor Fishing Report

Laurel from Hull B&T said that early-riser surf fishermen targeting the stretch from Point Allerton out along Nantasket Beach and through Gunrock Beach are finding occasional surface feeds as bass bust-up peanut bunker. Swim shads are working as are smaller Slug-Gos rigged with tandem hooks; just take plenty of spare baits with you as there are plenty of bluefish out there. Eels at night are effective as well, especially from Hull Gut and West Gut. The black sea bass bite throughout Hull remains nothing short of extraordinary as anglers are tallying 50-plus fish outings! Squid will work but jigging a “squid” – another name for a jig or jigging spoon – during a drift is at least as effective and a lot more fun.

How hot is the late September smelt bite? The Shrimp King himself, Rick from Fore River B&T, has been summoned by his subjects to once again wade among the estuaries of Quincy and (weather permitting) he’ll have on hand live/fresh grass shrimp this weekend. Last year was the best smelt season and years and if you’re considering trying this, be forewarned – it is addictive! Likely locations are Nut Island along with the piers of Hull. Hingham Harbor is worth a shot also.

Pete Santini of Fishing FINatics is also touting the fantastic black sea bass fishing in the George’s Island area. If you are planning on chasing down surface activity you may be disappointed if you don’t have another option on hand. The tube-and-worm is a solid plan B; troll a red or black Santini or comparable high-quality tube among the inner islands such as Grape, Bumpkin, Thompson and Spectacle Islands. Great and Little Faun Bars are good alternatives as are Seal Harbor and the Five Sisters off Winthrop. Nicky Frasso has been loading up on linesiders up to 46 inches long by snagging pogies in Winthrop Harbor and drifting them just uptide of the schools of bait. Invariably the bigger bass will be sulking away from the snagging crew and be staging by nearby rockpiles and depth contours. Those fish will occasionally make feeding sorties and then retreat back to the sanctuary and you’ll do better where they are holding.

If all is quiet on the eastern front, frequent the river mouths from dusk to dawn, especially two hours either way of low tide. Rivers with healthy herring runs will be full of fry and Zoom Flukes, Fin-S Fish, small Slug-Gos, Hogys and Shankas lures should make a killing. Fresh from the inspiration of the recent On The Water story about needlefish, I took the plunge and have been catching fish with a blurple Tsunami needlefish. Nothing big yet, but I now have confidence in this one-time mystifying lure and I know bigger bass will come. Of course, eels will also work well in these environments.

North Shore Massachusetts Fishing Report

Noel from Darts Bridge Street B&T in Salem said that daybreak usually features brief blitzes at river mouths as 30-inch linesiders pound river herring fry. Some of the hotter locations have been at the mouth of the North River as well as Collins Cove. Smelt should be foraging off the Pickering Wharf floats, the Beverly Pier and off the float behind the Bowling Alley in Bass River. One angler who has made frequent trips to Vineyard Sound and knows little tuna when he sees them swears that he is taking false albacore by Newcombs Ledge! One might scoff it off as baloney, but the guy keeps buying the swimming plugs and slim-profiled tin that these fish love! In a year where scup have been common in Boston Harbor and they’ve taken trigger fish well into the North Shore and black sea bass in New Hampshire, I suppose even that is possible.

Peanut bunker and slightly larger versions frequent the crags of the North Shore occasionally resulting in bass and blue blow-ups. While the fishing can be quite good, what is lacking is consistency. Recent success, according to Jimmy from Fin and Feather, has taken place off Brace’s Cove, Straitsmouth Island, Long Beach, Cape Hedge Beach and the backshore of Gloucester. Anglers targeting the dropping tide where the Ipswich River drains into Cranes Beach have been taking fish with eels and slim-profiled offerings.

Schoolies have been by and large absent from most reports but they seem to have invaded the Surfland area, according to Liz. The beachfront of Plum Island has been good, but the better bite has been for the beach buggy brigade which is combing the shore of the Parker River Wildlife Reservation. Clams and sandworms are working best with Sandy Point the hottest place. Mackerel have reemerged and I would not be surprised if this most relished bait brought in bigger bass. There are hordes of hungry snapper blues around which make great fun for the kiddies as they are hitting nearly everything tossed in front of them. But not all is small in Newburyport, an angler tossing eels in the wash at night beached bass of 14, 29 and 34 pounds recently.

New Hampshire and Southern Maine Fishing Report

Jason of Suds ‘N Soda said that schoolie stripers and small blues are swarming throughout Great Bay, especially at the mouths of tributaries, crashing on small baitfish. Mackerel have returned between the mouth of the Piscataqua River and White Island. Bluefish can often be found on site but the bass fishing is better when live lining the mackerel throughout the Piscataqua River. Surf fishermen are catching stripers while casting clams and mackerel chunks off Wallis Sands.

Jamie from Dover Marine had a banner day on black sea bass last weekend as he could barely keep the little buggers of squid that he drifted throughout the Piscataqua River. Other than that, the big news is big pollock with double-headers of 20-pound dynamos striking almost any jig dropped in front of them from Old Scantum to Jeffreys Ledge; the key according to Jamie is to find rockpiles, where there should be prey and predators.

Ken from Saco Bay Tackle Company told me that Saco River has once again become hot as river herring fry are migrating from their nursery into the sea and are being greeted by striped bass. Anglers are doing well by targeting them with Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnows. Higgins Beach remains good with sand worms a good choice for bait fishermen while artificial aficionados are catching stripers with jig head/shad bodies. Tuna have gone on a tear with 75” to 85” fish predominant with the occasional football thrown in there as well. You can chase Charlie along Casco Bay and Richmond Island.

 

Fishing Forecast for the Weekend

If you want surface spectacles, Plymouth Bay is the place to be as it has been one of the few places that are “feeling” like late September. Blitzes rule here and mixed-sized stripers and blues can be taken on swim shads, tin as well as bigger fish on pogies and shad. A few discreet anglers are targeting tautog among rockpiles in the Scituate and Cohasset areas. Hull remains hot for black sea bass, but if big blues are more to your liking then troll a deep-diving plug from Point Allerton out to the outer harbor islands. Should you find pogies in the hub, seek bigger bass lurking just outside of bait by nearby structure. On the North Shore, Plum Island has kicked in with schoolies and snappers off the Parker River Wildlife Reservation by day and bigger bass falling for eels at night. In New Hampshire, Great Bay is pretty good as schoolie bass and small blues tear through herring and silversides at the confluences of tributaries. And the striper game rages on in Saco Bay Maine as baby herring tumble into a hungry sea of striped bass by the jetty and Higgin’s Beach.