Those who believe the hottest action in the Hub begins and ends with the black and gold haven’t been fishing in Boston Harbor recently. While not likely to rival the velocity of a Krejci slapshot, the tail slap of a 40-pound striper on a mackerel is a pretty good runner-up – just ask my friend Dave Panarello who bested such a bass on Thursday! Some divide fish into two categories: giant tuna and everything else… and for them the time is now!

 

Greater Boston Fishing Report

Ordinarily I do not begin the report with Boston, but big news such as this can’t wait! There had been plenty of 12- to 18-pound stripers in Boston Harbor, and the ticket to tangling with them came courtesy of a live mackerel. But there have been murmurs of concern as to when and where the “real” fish would show up. On Thursday morning, while in the midst of jigging up a mess of macks just outside of Boston Light, Dave Panarello and mates Carl and Charlie Vinning witnessed acres of sea herring. The herring seemed to almost revel in mugging the Sabiki rigs before the prized macks could inhale it, but what was most bizarre is that there appeared to be no bass on the bait. The conundrum was whether fish would find the food… and the answer came emphatically a few hours later between Deer Island and Graves Light when big bass sniffed out their lunch. Finally those teen-sized fish took a back seat to fish such as the 47-inch, 40-pounder that Dave caught, weighed and promptly released from his center console Parker. Carl and Charlie caught cows as well! The weather for the weekend may not be inviting, but nothing takes the chill out of the air like a big bass blitz. Get out there now!

I finally saw the light; thankfully not in the mortal sense, but the light as in lightweight and convenient fishing courtesy of a kayak. After sampling a demo Hobie Revo 13 MirageDrive that I borrowed from Mike at Monahan’s Marine in Weymouth, I finally committed. You cannot walk into Monahan’s and not wind up in a good mood; anyplace where you are greeted by a tail-wagging lab and dachshund is a place to spend some time, in my opinion. What helped with my kayak indoctrination was a little mentoring from local Hobie Rep Chris Howie from Rockland who showed me not only the fundamentals but how to catch flounder from a kayak as well. After the third nice flounder, I was sold on the boat and the blackbacks in Hull! Unquestionably the flounder stock in Boston Harbor consists of smaller fish than in past years, a condition that is likely linked to regulators ceding to the commercial industry, whose trip limits have been doubled. If you are striking out in established spots check out the 4 Can flats off Deer Island, Graves Island and Green Island. Or move up north a bit and target Bass Point in Nahant or Lynn Harbor.

Lisa from Fore River Bait and Tackle in Quincy said that Nut Island remains a best bet for landlubbers for squid, flounder and even black sea bass. One lucky angler had a blackback/black sea bass double on a top and bottom rig!

 

South Shore Massachusetts Fishing Report

There are some bruiser bluefin tuna out there! A giant bite has occurred over the last few days, with big fish whacking squid bars and live bait from Stellwagen to the Golf Balls out to Chatham. Bob Pronk of Green Harbor Bait and Tackle in Marshfield told me that the spinfishing crew has even been catching fish as big as 92 inches while casting lures! You may have to work a bit to catch macks, but there are 40-inch-plus linesiders awaiting you. Macks flash anywhere between the first can outside of Green Harbor out to Beetle Rocks and beyond. Stripers are often with the bait. Put a jig below that Sabiki rig and you may be rewarded with a cod or two. Increasingly there have been occasions of keeper cod figuring in the mix between 50 and 70 feet of water on the South Shore. In Plymouth you should find bass in the Warren Cove area.

For the unusual catch category, Pete from Belsans Bait in Scituate told me a patron jigged up small haddock just outside of the Gurnet as he tried to procure some mackerel. Macks remain hot at Minot Ledge as well as at the South and North rivers. Hickory shad have also moved into the North River area as of late and probably Duxbury Bay as well. Big bass hunters know that these hyper herring make superb bait for super-sized stripers. Cod are being caught on clams and jigs by Cowan Rocks.

There’s a bit of a formal-attire thing going on at Blackman Point, where reports of black sea bass and blackfish are trickling in.

 

Massachusetts North Shore Fishing Report

Tomo from Tomo’s Tackle in Salem told me that anglers tossing topwater plugs, especially Yo-Zuri’s Mag Popper, are scoring mid-30-inch stripers right from the dockage behind the shop. Mackerel are being jigged up and live-lined from the Beverly Pier where stripers up to 39 inches are waiting. Sea herring and mackerel frequent Halfway Rock, Bakers and Misery Island with stripers not far. While Salem and Beverly Harbors are good for flounder, Gloucester Harbor is better. Friends of Tomo’s who drift fish are finding fat flatties as big as 20 inches! If you crave calamari, you’ll have to work for your squid off the Beverly Pier and by the Salem Ferry where the epochal numbers of last year have not materialized.

Craig from Surfland Bait and Tackle in Newburyport said that the striper fishing is a bust or a boon depending on who you talk to. The ocean front occasionally goes off, but no sooner do anglers catch than the fish are gone, leaving late arrivals miffed. But with favorable tides on the horizon, the last phases of the ebb occurring close to dawn, the bass bite should pick up at the mouth of the Merrimack River. Parking Lot 1 in the Parker River Wildlife Reservation is open and the bait-soaking bait is catching sunrises as well as stripers on seaworms.

 

New Hampshire and Southern Maine Fishing Report

Fred from Suds ‘N Soda in Greenland, NH said that guys are picking off stripers up to 40 inches long in Great Bay right from the shore of Greenland, not far from the shop. Tim from the shop has been doing quite well on Slug-Gos from the Portsmouth side of the Piscataqua River. The shop is now catching eels, and they are slinging them for stripers from the General Sullivan Bridge as well as into the marsh behind Brown’s Lobster Pound.

Nick from Saco Bait and Tackle said that the shad are stacked below the dam in the Saco River and every once in awhile there are “uninvited dinner guests” – and those stripers tend to be quite large. For a better shot at a big bass, it’s mackerel time by Wood Island, Ram Island and Eagle Island. Beaches are perfect for Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnows and 30-inch-plus stripers. Check out Pine Point, Biddeford Pool, Old Orchard and Camp Ellis. The groundfishing remains good as a mixture of cod, pollock and haddock are hitting at Jeffreys Ledge.

 

Best Bets for the Weekend

The arrival of hordes of herring to the Harbor makes Boston the best bet for the foreseeable future. If there’s a blow, then Hub homers should start out with closer locales such as Deer Island, Long Island and Rainsford Island to see if anyone is home. If the conditions allow, a better bet may be between Graves Light, Boston Light and Martins Ledge. On the south shore, try live-lining a mackerel at the mouth of the South River, North River and Green Harbor, and on the North Shore jig up a mackerel off the Beverly Pier and you should find stripers nearby. Plum Island is looking promising with the early morning outgoing bringing with it stripers that hopefully are incoming. The Portsmouth side of the Piscataqua River is the place for stripers in New Hampshire. If Maine is your home base, Camp Ellis and the other beaches have been hot for bass as has been Jeffreys Ledge for a mixed bag of gadoids.

 

Buzzards Bay and Cape Cod Fishing Report

Rhode Island and Connecticut Fishing Report

Northeast Offshore Fishing Report