Sometimes blues get a bad rap. Especially when they tear through a pricey soft plastic collection like fire through paper or reduce a bucket full of select eels to squirming stubs, but back in the early 80s those bad boys were our saviors. For some, there are shades of that right now as stripers for the most part are playing a hide and seek game with anglers with one notable exception – The Harbor!

South Shore

Bob from Green Harbor Tackle in Marshfield told me that Race Point regulars have been having better luck for stripers trolling a tube-and-worm by Brown’s Bank in Plymouth and Warren Cove. It’s smacks of irony that Green Harbor yachtsman have also been doing quite well on keeper-sized stripers right from their slips and moorings in the harbor. Clandestine casters are keeping a tight lip and a tighter still grip as they toss eels off the Green Harbor Jetty and Berks Beach.

Pete from Belsan’s in Scituate said that striper fishing is fine in Scituate Harbor as long as your content with a schoolie-fest where there sometime fish-a-cast outings on pearl Slug-Gos or 6 ½” Shankas stick baits rigged weightless and paired with a Gamakatsu EWG. And then there’s the bluefish from brit herring sized to those as long as a good bass. The blues are busting up bait with random surface displays from the Inlet Buoy at the North River through Long Ledge off Sand Hill Beach and out to Surface Beach off Minot. You can still get your fill of macks but you’ll have to work at it in at least 70-feet of water. If you’re thinking, “no problem” I’ll just chum them up – you may want to reconsider, the dogs are on the prowl!

Greater Boston

By the time you read this the acres-long blitzes throughout Boston Harbor will have been almost a week long! No, I’m not kidding! Many felt that the hordes of sea herring were a bait source that was akin to a powder keg just waiting for a spark to go off. That spark was provided with teen-sized stripers and stripers up to 30-pounds. The good times have extended from Winthrop to Graves Light and out to the East Point of Nahant. If you’re fortunate enough to find the fish still feeding you may be interested in how “pros” cull out the cows from the choppers. Captain Roger Brousseau of Midnight Charters found that fixing a 20-ounce trolling sinker just ahead of his 9er Rig flipped his offering from a bluefish toy to a 25-pound striper killer. Carl Vinning and pal, Dave Panarello, found that if they resisted the temptation to begin cranking pearl Zoom Flukes in as soon as they touched down and let them sink deeply into the water column the slicing and dicing turned to catching and releasing stripers. Of course then there’s the absolute thrill of tossing a popper in the melee and watching a 13-pound, head-shaking blue thrash the plug for all it’s worth.

Rick from Fore River in Quincy told of a similar bite outside of the mouth of the Weymouth Back River in a more tranquil environment just right for the small boater or kayak angler who wants to duck the crowds. Chunk mackerel and clams are working well for those who would prefer soaking bait. Forever the meddler, Rick is always looking for the next big thing and for clam anglers he believes he has found it – Miracle Thread. The rub with clams has been that they are always falling off the hook. According to Rick the Miracle Thread is comparable to spawn sacks for salmonid anglers in that it keeps the bait on the hook yet gains purchase in a fish’s maw with little effort. It sounds like one of those “why didn’t I think of that?” ideas. Soak some of those clams off Peddock Island and you may think you’re in Buzzards Bay from all the scup and black sea bass attention you’re likely to find.

A few stealthy striper hounds are gill-netting pogies off Wollaston Beach and then live-lining them along Revere Beach and are catching the biggest bass of the bunch!

North Shore

According to Tomo from Tomo’s Tackle in Salem the squid fishing has changed from last week – they’ve gotten bigger! You’ll catch far less calamari by day than from dusk to dawn but you still may catch a few. The Beverly Pier, Salem Willows and piers in Swampscott and Marblehead all feature squid bites. An invasion of snapper blues in Salem Harbor has been a boon for families wanting to put kids into fishy action as the 6” devils will hit most anything flashy that they spot. Most stripers in Salem Sound are shoolies but you may find bigger fish if you pound a Butterfly Jig or Crippled Herring among deeper structure such as Saturday Night Ledge or Hills 47 and 101.

Jimmy from Fin and Feather in Essex said that the rivers among the North Shore have cleared up from the soggy early summer and the stripers have comes surging back. Fly fisherman have been doing quite well among the Essex River across the street from the shop. Nearly all the beaches such as Good Harbor, Wingaersheek, and Crane’s Beach have solid striper action as the fish grovel among sand bars from sand eels and other small prey. Not surprisingly Bill Hurley Cape Cod Sand Eels, the Ocean Lures Sand Eel and olive Backshore Plugs are catching fish. The wildcard is the rocky shores from Manchester Harbor through Rockport often have a striper presence as harbor pollock, cunner and crustaceans keep the stripers in residence.

Kay from Surfland told me of anglers claiming that there seemed to be a strain of scrappy herring in the Newburyport area that were even inclined to take a nip of a careless finger. Hello snapper blues! Kay’s son and son-in-law have taken to drifting with eels along the Merrimack River come dark and have been taking teen-sized stripers but no big ones. Boaters who hunt among deeper passes for mackerel are still finding them as well as stripers and the occasional bluefish. A recent crew from Cape Cod has been chilling among the beachfront with their families not far from the shop and reporting decent action on mixed sizes of stripers and above all one heck of a time.

New Hampshire and Southern Maine

Chad from Dover Marine said that the previously muddy Piscatagua River has finally cleared up and the fishing has been on a tear. Sharpies are jigging up harbor pollock by upwellings and ledge and sometimes by the 2KR Buoy and tossing the bait most anywhere combers create white water. A balloon is the best way to keep the pollock off the bottom. Drifting pollock behind and egg sinker along the river bank is a high percentage method as well. Jiggers working bucktails or Lucanus Jigs along the same stretch are accounting for a few black sea bass as well. Squid have reappeared and can be found among most any bay along the Piscatagua River wherever there is a pier, wharf or bridge with a light source. The groundfishing remains great throughout Jeffrey’s Ledge; the resurgence of cod and haddock among Jeffrey’s stands in sharp contrast to Stellwagen which has been a veritable ghost town since the GOM opened up to recreational cod fisherman on April 16th. Chad recommends tying a simple dropper loop and plain gold hook just up from your baited hook on the bottom of your top-and-bottom rig will often out-fish bait for haddock.

According to Marco from Saco Bay Tackle big striped bass have become the norm over the past week with fishermen throughout the Saco Bay region tallying impressive catches. A forty-five inch cow striper caught on Trina-Lynn Charters was one of the highlights as was four 40” plus fish taken out of Kennebunkport. Most large bass are being targeted and caught on nighttime tides with increasingly scarce mackerel being the bait of choice. The Kennebunk area saw schools marauding blues arrive late last week as well as Cape Porpoise Harbor over the weekend. Two and three ounce Crippled Herring jigs have been making a killing.

Just offshore the groundfishing is remaining steady with strong numbers of cod, pollock, and haddock in the mix. An increasingly common occurrence on Jeffrey’s Ledge is to have a blue shark steal an angler’s cod or haddock at boatside. Some are turning the table on these mammoth sharks which can weigh hundreds of pounds and reach over 10’ in length. Boats fishing Jeffrey’s Ledge are reporting more encounters with aggressive sharks. A common occurrence on the offshore grounds is to have a cod or pollock swiped by a scavenging blue shark, a species that commonly reaches 10 feet or more in length and can way hundreds of pounds. Fighting a “blue dog” as they are frequently referred to, can be an amazing experience.

Best Bets for the Weekend

If the lack of blues has been giving you the blues than get an early start on the South Shore off Sand Hill Beach or off Minot. Closer to Boston, check out the Weymouth Back River where bass and blues have been beating up on herring. Boston Harbor has been blitz city for the better part of the week and with the huge presence of herring and a swell in resident bass this should continue for the foreseeable future. On the North Shore the deluges have ceased, the rivers cleared and the bass have returned among the Essex, Ipswich and Annisquam Rivers. The crags of the backshore of Gloucester and Folly Cove in Rockport harbor pollock, crustaceans and hungry bass. Live pollock throughout the Piscatagua River is a solid Granite State bet and groundfishing remains great throughout Jeffrey’s Ledge.