Holdover Stripers are Hitting
Golfers have their hole-in-one, pigskin enthusiasts the Hail Mary pass—so what might be the piscatorial parallel? How about two stripers at the same time on the same plug on a late November night? Call me biased but I’d say that feat trumps them all, and it happened last night!
While I wouldn’t call it a full-blown pandemic, many neophytes are succumbing to smelt fever. What’s not to like about a fish that is equal parts perplexing, addictive and fun?
For sweetwater thrills there are big brown trout prowling a water body not far from you—and then there’s the 37 miles of Wachusett shoreline, which may be just what you need after succumbing to too much turkey day indulging.
Massachusetts Fishing Report
Reality seemed to be at odds with the calendar on Wednesday night as “three amigos” were locked in a striper quest that was a scene right out of May or September. With every cast we bristled with anticipation, fully expecting to get a hit, and we weren’t disappointed often. Most stripers were schoolies, but a 30-inch linesider isn’t a bad catch a little more than day before Thanksgiving festivities. Among the catching was much discourse as to what artificials were working. The hot lure shifted between the Yo-Zuri Mag Darter, Daiwa’s SP Minnow and Super Strike needles. It was a scene out of context for the season, but it sure was fun.
Call them holdovers or whatever, but hook a striper now and you’ll be calling yourself fortunate. For some odd reason there seems to be more striped bass than usual hanging around the Hub and surrounding environs than recent years. And I emphasize the surrounding environs part of that statement.
Captain Russ Burgess used to troll a tube-and-worm on the bitterest of winter days while layered and dressed to the point where he had the dexterity of a zombie, but he took 20-pound stripers. Hugging the inner harbor’s wharves and working the shadow line of the Tobin Bridge was the best course.
An angling acquaintance of mine usually records his first striped bass of the season in late March or early April from the Weir River in Hingham; that seems awfully early for a migratory fish. The control factor is bait, and smelt numbers seem to be improving and there should be more flounder fry groveling along the bottom than in recent years. But what biologists feel are more bountiful and may be making a difference is river herring. And they impact an environment for a longer period of time than most realize; in some capacity they never leave and the fry fatten up other species of fish, which in turn become prey for stripers during the off-season.
The Weymouth Back, Neponset, Charles, Mystic, Pines and Saugus rivers all hold-over striped bass to some degree, and if you cherry pick a night and put aside a few hours, this may be the season you crack the cold-weather code. Kay Moulton of Surfland told me of anglers a generation ago catching sizeable striped bass in the Parker River all winter long; could they be there now? And what about Plum Island Sound?
And it doesn’t end at the Massachusetts border either. Kyle Walsh, who used to tend to the tackle counter at Suds ‘N Soda, used to habitually hook stripers while in his shanty searching for smelt when Great Bay would lock up. The guys from Saco Bay Tackle Company tell me of schoolie stripers being taken in late fall on spoons and fly patterns intended for sea run brown trout. Most weather models predict at least a couple of 50 degree days in the near future, and even when colder, nothing insulates more than a linesider on the line.
Smelt Fishing Report
Rick from Fore River B&T told me that dropping water temperatures along with a lack of recent rain has resulted in ideal conditions for catching and maintaining live grass shrimp, which he should have in stock this weekend for smelt enthusiasts. Typical of these fickle beasts, the bite is unpredictable with lights-out action on one tide and zilch the next. Good outings have recently occurred off the piers of Hull, Hingham Harbor, Hewitts Cove and Marina Bay. Again…no guarantees, and it wouldn’t hurt to target a few spots if your first spot is a dud, but guys are getting them. The most shocking smelt news I’ve heard in a while was from a regular of the shop who swore he was getting smelt in the Cape Cod Canal. Could they be making a reappearance in the ditch? It might just be worth dropping a Sabiki rig sweetened with grass shrimp off the fishing piers at the East End, maybe by the Power Plant or the Mass Maritime Academy. There are also a few hardy soles that are scoring cod just off the Hull shoreline.
Massachusetts Freshwater Fishing Report
Rod from Flagg’s Fly and Tackle said that river fishing is the rage in the Connecticut Valley Region. Greenhorns are amazed when they visit the Swift River by the volume of trout they see fining among the pools just downstream of the Quabbin Reservoir. These fish are nothing if not educated by fishing pressure, but they will occasionally fall for a Blue Wing Olive in sizes 20-24 and sometimes a Wooly Bugger. For less harried salmonoids, consider the Miller River at the Wendell Depot or at the dam in the center of the town of Orange. MassWildlife stocked this stretch this past fall with 1,800 brown trout. Many of these fish holdover and Rod has seen colorful 4-pounders taken there. It also may behoove you to bring your pike gear along and toss out an oversize spinnerbait by the dam—there have been upper 20-pound toothies taken here.
Wachusett Reservoir closes for the season November 30th, so you had better get your forktail fix while you can. Not only work the bottom for lake trout with ¾-ounce Kastmasters or 1-ounce Trophy Spoons or shiners, but occasionally toss out something lighter and ply mid-depths. Landlocked salmon, which have spent most of the past month upstream in the Stillwater and Quinapoxet rivers, are tumbling back into the reservoir and will be famished and should be feeding ravenously. As always, if you have a cache of stunted yellow perch available, take a dozen of them with you. The chew is hot at the ‘chu for everything that swims in the reservoir when the bait is yellow perch fry.
Fishing Forecast
There’s no excuse to let the gridiron gang have all the fun this Thanksgiving. Check out the rivers and estuaries from Plymouth to Portsmouth, as there are stripers and smelt lurking there with nighttime getting the nod as the best time. Find a seam in the weather and you could catch a cod or two off Hull, whether by boat or boot. The sweetwater best bets are taking place out west with lakers lurking in Wachusset and a host of salmonoids a fly cast away in the Swift and Miller’s rivers. And above all, have a wonderful Thanksgiving!