Bass Still Biting in Southern Maine
Bluefin Bite Red Hot
October is the antidote to “casting by committee,” which many diehard anglers are subjected to in the heat of the summer. And while there may not be much “heat” regarding air temperatures, water temperatures remain unseasonably warm and there is still a bass bite as far north as Southern Maine. Plus tuna are on a tear from the Northwest Corner of Stellwagen to Peaked Hill Bar. So top off the tank or slip on the waders; you should find feeding fish and few other fishermen.
South Shore Massachusetts Fishing Report
“We wait all year for this!” was how Dave from The Fisherman Outfitter in Plymouth described the bite on the South Shore. Bass, some which top 40 inches, are bingeing on peanut bunker and herring throughout the expanse of Plymouth/Kingston and Duxbury. Odds are good that if you put in your time, you are not about to get a skunking! Hot spots have been Long Beach, the boat ramp breakwater, White Horse Beach and Duxbury Beach. Choice lures are the Rapala X-Rap and Dave’s new squeeze, the Shimano Orca.
Bob from Green Harbor B&T told me that a patron of his didn’t even have to leave the Green Harbor dock as bass were busting up on peanut bunker. Four-inch swim shads and 1-ounce Kastmasters are making a killing on these fish. Almost clandestinely, cod have made a minor comeback inshore as the few that are fishing for them are finding respectable action over interesting structure in about 50 feet of water.
The biggest news of all on the South Shore is literally the biggest because it involves tuna; Peaked Hill Bar has received an influx of 50-inch-size tuna that are being taken on sand eel imitators such as Shankas, RonZs and Bill Hurleys. This is a recent, very, very active situation. There are also northern halfbeaks present, which would make trolling swimming plugs such as X-Raps, Gag’s Mambo Minnows and Sebile Koolie Minnows a safe bet.
Pete from Belsan echoed the good cod action just offshore. Brown bombers from 5 to 10 pounds are being taken on jigs from the 100-foot contour line, which includes Flat Ledge, Scarlet Ledge and Stone Ledge. For stripers it is schoolies by day and cows come dark for serpent slingers. The eel gang is swapping all-nighters for the prospect of one big fish, but they’re catching them up to 48 inches! Toss eels by Fourth Cliff, Egypt Beach, Cedar Point, The Glades and Minot. The smelt season this year is already dramatically better than in past years as the bite in Scituate Harbor rages on. Grab a Sabiki rig, a box of seaworms or a gill of grass shrimp and hit the floats by the harbormaster shack.
Greater Boston Harbor Fishing Report
Russ Eastman of Monahan Marine has been encouraging his patrons to “snap ‘chutes,” which is code for jigging parachute jigs, and they have been doing very well on nice stripers from Georges Island, Point Allerton and Hull Gut. Ideally this method is practiced with wire line, but these guys are employing braid to bounce 2- to 3-ounce bucktail jigs tipped with sea rind and finding that they can jig up bottom-hugging bass. Russ also said that the black sea bass bite continues at Hull Gut and West Gut. Who would have ever thought anglers in Boston Harbor would be catching black sea bass into October?
Groundfishing has not been tops on the list for many anglers as of late, but if more caught the way Russ and Captain Rob Green of Elizabeth Marie Sportfishing Charters did they might change their mind. Just east of Stellwagen Bank the crew jigged into a mother lode of cod up to 25 pounds and haddock up to 10! The key for the haddock was to allow the jig and teaser to lie on the bottom where invariably a haddock would delicately bump the offering. You have to pay rapt attention to detect the strike but the reward is a haddock for the cooler.
Rick from Fore River told me of a mackerel massacre off Nut Island Pier recently where buckets of these greenback speedsters were caught. Bass hounds in the group took to live-lining mackerel and promptly hooked stripers up to 25 pounds! There seems to be a resurgence of squid off the pier as well and the night crew is even taking smelt. Some slob stripers are being taken with chunk bait and clam below the Fore River Bridge. Other smelt hotspots are the Hull Public Pier, Hingham Harbor and Hewitt’s Cove. Smelt have also invaded Winthrop Harbor, and I suspect the Summer Street Bridge as well as the Charlestown Marina.
Pogy numbers in the harbor are dipping; a good backup plan is to three-way eels through West Gut, Hull Gut, Black Rock Channel, Long Island, Spectacle Island and Faun Bar. Shore guys should be slinging eels at dark by World’s End, by Broad Cove in Hingham Harbor, the mouth of the Weymouth Back River, the Neponset River and the Mystic River. If you’re planning on hitting these places after dark, I recommend you pal up with someone for safety’s sake.
North Shore Massachusetts Fishing Report
Joe Holey and his dad have been jigging up honest-to-goodness baby bonito off the East Point of Nahant. On the heels of similar reports from Salem, this season is one for the books. Big bass that were belting bunker in Lynn Harbor have been supplanted by schoolies as the pogies have moved on. This is an area where a nighttime outing of casting and drifting eels into the navigational channel of Lynn Harbor could pay off handsomely. Guys pitching eels off Fisherman’s Beach in Swampscott have had a good bass bite for weeks. Keep an eye on this place for mackerel; in the past when they’ve appeared in October they’ve drawn the bass in with them.
Joey from The Fisherman’s Outfitter in Gloucester told me that the backshore of Gloucester has been giving up some beauties to those that are putting the time in as opposed to “drive-by” bird watchers. Good Harbor Beach has also been good with preferred bait swim shads and casting tin. Gloucester Harbor has a few smelt and a lot of squid, some of which have grown to 16 inches! The effluence where the “warm pots” of the beach inlet drain into the beach is a good place to drift an eel. Look for an outgoing tide and bridge abutments in the Little and Annisquam rivers and most likely you’ll find a good place to drift eels for stripers. A red hot bite is taking place on the Northwest Corner of Stellwagen for giant tuna; the preferred bite is on ballyhoo although some are opting for mackerel, whiting or sea herring when acquiring ballyhoo is impractical.
Mike from Surfland told me that while “big” bass are in short supply in the Plum Island area, there are plenty of schoolies with the occasional mid-teen striper thrown in the mix to make things interesting. The “eel at night” theme is working in Newburyport as well, but first light along the Parker River Wildlife Reservation is effective also. The bite is a fast one and usually is over by mid-morning. Seaworms and clams are working well as are 1-ounce Kastmasters and Kastmaster XLs, which match available forage of peanut bunker, sand eels and silversides.
Southern New Hampshire and Maine Fishing Report
Jamie from Dover Marine said that Great Bay and the Piscataqua River have grown quiet but guys trolling and working the beaches are still landing linesiders. Again, eels are magic and rocky locations along Hampton Beach and by Odiorne Point are fishing best. Some are making the trek to freshwater destinations in Pittsburg along the Connecticut River where they are connecting with all manner of trout. Farther south along the “setbacks” of the Connecticut River you could connect with a pike or even a walleye.
“Over?” exclaimed an indignant Pete from Saco Bay Tackle Company, “Not even close,” he replied when we spoke. With water temps a balmy 59 degrees and bait aplenty there is no need for the stripers to depart and the bite is still on. Anglers tossing lures by day and soaking bait by night along the beaches such as Old Orchard, Biddeford Pool, Higgins and York Beach are catching slot-sized stripers or better. If you head out there, hopefully you don’t mind going it alone since there are few fishing now. Sebago Lake is hopping for landlocked salmon right now with streamers and spoons accounting for most of the fish; seek the mouths of tributaries where the salmon stage in preparation for spawning.
Fishing Forecast
Plymouth rules if you’re looking for a Bay State bass bite. Shore guys should hoof it along Ellis Harbor, White Horse Beach, and Long Beach or off the breakwater at the boat ramp. Boaters should be packing binoculars and look for feeds by Maryann Rocks, Manomet, outside of the power plant and out through Duxbury Bay. Match the peanut bunker hatch with Krocodiles, Kastmasters and swim shads. Toss a few larger lures in there such as Shimano Orcas or Rapala X-Raps in case mackerel make a showing and the bass turn their attention on them.
The tuna bite is terrific from the Northwest Corner of Stellwagen out to Peaked Hill Bar, fresh ballyhoo is THE bait if you can get it but a live mackerel is a nice consolation bait. Effective artificials are trolling swimmers and soft-plastic stickbaits.
In Boston, parachute jigs with sea rind are unheralded yet effective for deep-staging bass from George’s Island out to Point Allerton. Surf fishermen should consider jigging up some mackerel off Nut Island either for fun or as swell striper bait.
On the North Shore the backshore of Gloucester is rewarding the relentless with hard-won stripers, while the Parker River Wildlife Reservation offers repose and results for those who want to “spike” a rod in the sand and toss out a lump of clams and just maybe relax. Beyond the border, Odiorne Point in New Hampshire has been awesome with eels at night and don’t even think about asking Peter from Saco if it is over yet; he’ll tell you in no uncertain terms that they are still catching bass in Southern Maine.
How long does one think that the striper will keep biting???, and when does the boats stop running out of NH. Please comment.
i don’t think they’ve even begun my friend.
Man, I’m workin hard guys. I’ll typically spend an hour+ checking tides, wind, water temp, most reported bait, and obviously recently reported hotspots, moon phases..etc. Spent 2 1/2 hrs with some fat snakes on the webb park side of the back river tonight. Waded out for the dropping tide.. Nada, not a swirl, a pass, a tap….sigh. No life, dead. I’m a solo surfcaster, geared up and as we all know I’m at the point we’re I’m really getting discouraged.
Try hitting the beaches off plymouth or the Canal.!!!
Rob, you are hardly the only one finding the fall run to be more like a stumble. The eel on an outgong tide at a river mouth is a solid maneuver, but I’d look for a bridge fairly close to low tide, the pillings of which will break the current and harbor ambushing stripers. Rather than fish on the bridge, stand on the bank, cast in front of it and let the current sweep the serpent into the striper’s line of sight. It is important to have the eel relatively close to the bottom, stripers will usually not travel far for an eel. A selection of rubber core sinkers helps, but there is that fine line between close to the bottom and snagged on it. Only experience teaches. Good luck!
The stripers are still out there. They have been in small tight schools and pushing bait close to shore. Sooner or later, they will be at your feet. And just as quickly, they will be gone.