Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine Fishing Report 11-1-2012

Still Some Stripers, Other Options Post-Sandy

While Sandy wrought significant wind, rain and destruction, it also reduced most fishing to a standstill. But last weekend was truly the calm before the storm as tautog, smelt, cod and stripers fed as if they knew something seismic was on the way. The combination of a post-storm and a November calendar may spell the final chapter of the striped bass season for 2012, but maybe not? However, for tautog, smelt and sweetwater gamesters it is just the beginning.

South Shore Massachusetts Fishing Report
Now that the washing machine of Westport is subsiding, we will be left with superb tautog fishing. Last Saturday I set sail for some rockpiles in the southwest sector of Buzzards Bay with Captain Jason Colby and his Little Sister center console and along with a few friends we crushed those crab-crushers. While we didn’t get any double-digit trophies, it is hard to argue with 7 to 9 pounders. We’ve been evolving from conventional two-dropper loop, two-hook, gangly, heavy sinker bottom-snaggers into streamlined jiggers and it’s doubtful we’ll ever look back. We’re employing the Tidal Tail Jig’z and downsizing to ¾ ounces and still tending bottom in near 30-foot depths. It’s all in the bean-shape and slim profiled hook in the jig. Using minimal gear, light yet sturdy spinning tackle, and having the capability of working the offering in every nook and cranny changes the whole dynamic of what was once a fishery that changed little for generations. I even caught a respectable tog at the end of a 40-yard cast and all the while we didn’t lose one jig! The blackfish bite is on; catch those white chins off Westport while you can!

Dave from TFO in Plymouth told me prior to Sandy, surfcasters slinging eels into the channel off Long Beach were getting some nice stripers. Aim towards Duxbury as you stand on the tip of Long Beach and you should be able to hit the channel. The weekend featured a nice bass blitz off Duxbury Beach with fish as big as 30-pounds figuring into the mix. Pete from Belsan’s in Scituate said that an angler working eels at the mouth of the North River pre-storm took a 42-pound striper at dark. There was good cod fishing inshore just prior but as of November 1st, cod fishing in the GOM is prohibited but Russ Eastman of Monahan Marine told me that the haddock and pollock in 250-300 feet of water just east of the Middlebank at the Rockpile are a good consolation prize.

Greater Boston
Little has been said about linesider love in the Hub as of late, but I’ve got friends that are determined to catch that November striper. Eels are becoming a tough find but if you can obtain a few, you should still find stripers in local estuaries and marshes. Construction on the locks at the Charles River has dramatically reduced the boat traffic coming and going throughout the Charles so there may be more than the usual stripers hanging in the warm discharge just north of the Longfellow Bridge on the Cambridge side of the river. There’s probably a few smelt foraging for spearing and grass shrimp by docks near the locks. Another smelt spot worth trying is off the Summer Street Bridge in South Boston or wherever you can squeeze in access along the reserve channel. Pete Santini of Fishing FINatics in Everett told me that On The Water contributing writer Willy Goldsmith who has been picking away at the smelt in South Boston.

According to Rick of Fore River B&T in Quincy there has also been a pretty good smelt bite from the Town River, Hewitt’s Cove and Marina Bay. The Marina Bay smelt success was supported by my friend Russ Burgess who has witnessed more anglers than usual plucking the little fish from the public pier. If you’re new to the sport, swing in Fore River; they’ve got the gear, the bait and the knowledge. There was a really good inshore cod bite as close as Graves Light last week but as of November 1st, things get a lot more complicated. You can still catch cod in the Boston area, but they have to be a minimum of 24” long and there’s a 74-pound limit per vessel per day. But if you cherry pick a good day, you may find them as close as President Roads or even from the shore off Hull Gut, Nut Island and Castle Island.

North Shore Fishing Report
I served a dual role this week for my friends who own shops in the North Shore, for some my call served as a wake-up service and others a good laugh as I sheepishly asked for a report. Noel from Darts in Salem suspects that smelt are probably more numerous among inshore dockage such as the Beverly Public Pier, the dock next to the McDonald’s in Beverly and Pickering and Wharf in Salem. In spite of balmy weather last weekend fishermen were in short supply in the Salem area; the same could not be said for ghosts, goblins, zombies and other things that went bump in the night.

Joey from The Fisherman’s Outfitter in Gloucester has still been giving it a go, pre-storm and post-storm but he has had little to show for his efforts. He did see a few squid darting around chasing peanut bunker and spearing, however, and there are mackerel in Gloucester Harbor. A buddy of Joey’s did get into a pre-storm schoolie bite off one of the beaches of Magnolia on poppers. Joey feels that once the full moon dims squid and smelt should become more numerous again.

New Hampshire and Southern Maine Fishing Report
Tim from Suds ‘N Soda told me that right now business is skewed toward the soda and almost non-existent regarding the suds. He did feel that there could be smelt and possibly mackerel off the dockage in Rye and Hampton. You may also intercept a mackerel or two from the jetty at the mouth of Hampton Harbor.
Ken from Saco Bay Tackle Company told me that Sandy provided many a beachgoer a hen clam dinner as the roiled beaches coughed up plenty of quahogs. Mackerel and herring just offshore at Tantas and Jeffreys resulted in a big bluefin and groundfish bite prior to the storm and he suspects that once seas subside it should return to normal. Farther north usually it is now that the first smelt and mackerel are taken off the piers of Portland.

Freshwater Fishing Report
Eddie of B&A in West Boylston told me that the increased flow has resulted in more salmon cruising from Wachusett Reservoir and into the tributaries. Some are cherishing this special fish and releasing the landlockeds to spawn and repopulate the reservoir. Among the deep holes of the Boylston side, guys are bouncing ¾ to 1-ounce spoons on the bottom and landing lakers up to 4 pounds. The lake trout are often sporting spawning hues this time of the year and are quite colorful. Shiner soakers are still into a nice smallmouth bass bite off the Gate 30 side of the reservoir.
Closer to the coast, the increased herring forage base is resulting in bigger black bass in the Mystic River watershed. The effluence of the Aberjona River and the Upper Mystic has been good with shiners taking hawg bass with one account of someone catching an 8-pounder. Jig and pig pitchers are doing well by boat as they work humps and depth edges.

Fishing Forecast
If you’ve pulled your boat and it’s at the ready on a trailer, you may want to consider taking a cruise down to Westport; Captain Jason Colby of Little Sister Charters has been on a tautog tear in that section of Buzzards Bay. Prior to the storm there were stripers still in Duxbury and Scituate and odds are that there are more than just stragglers present. Pete Belsan still has eels in stock and you could do worse than working a few at the mouth of the North River and off the tip of Long Beach in Plymouth. Smelt are the name of the game in the Hub from Hewitt’s Cove to the Summer Street Bridge and on the north shore up through Salem. Cod should be cruising among President Roads next to Deer Island. Up north it is hoped that there’s a post-storm tuna and groundfish bite off Tantas and Jeffreys and the intrepid are already hatching plans to set sail to find out. And for sweetwater that would rival a bag full of Halloween goodies, check out the smallie and laker action at Wachusett Reservoir.