Massachusetts Fishing Report 8-21-14

Striper hounds have a love/hate relationship with bluefish. We love the ferocity and fight but could do without the wrecked tackle. Within the last week, we have been invaded by ‘gator blues, some of which have tipped the scale at 16 and even 18 pounds! In the midst of a so-so striper season, you can’t help but ask yourself, “What’s not to like?”

South Shore/Westport Fishing Report

Dave from The Fishermen’s Outfitter in Plymouth told me that the anglers who are catching stripers consistently are putting in the most time. If ever there was a season to put Johnny-come-lately in his place, this one is it. Mackerel findings just outside of Plymouth are spotty, with pollock sometimes more plentiful. Don’t ignore the pollock; one of the bigger bass hooked in the Boston area recently fell for a pollock, which was fished right next to guys live-lining mackerel. If you positively have to have macks, try farther north just east of High Pine Ledge, or if you have the time and can make the haul, how about Green Harbor where they are so plentiful and so close to shore kayaks are finding them. Once baited up, try the incoming tide just as it laps inshore structure among the three bays.

Increasingly, anglers are targeting fluke, perhaps due to frustration from a striper season which pales compared to recent history. Dave suggests the channel edges of Clarks Island. My new fluke squeeze is the SPRO Squidtail jig. In fact this just may be my new favorite, period. How can one of the premier jigs in the world – SPRO Jig – when combined with an alluring squid skirt not catch fish? In my brief experience with this lure it catches bass and blues with equal aplomb, which I’ll touch on later.

Bob from Green Harbor B&T was nearly incredulous when asked if the striper season was slow! His reply was, “Everyone is catching fish!” Tourists are coming into the shop looking to “catch something” and returning from the beaches, the harbor of the jetty and touting an outing of catching. One reason why the bass are staying put is the volume of mackerel, which are no problem to catch almost as soon as you clear Farnham Bell. In fact kayak folks are paddling/pedaling out there, jigging up a few macks and then catching stripers off Beetle Rocks, the Narrows and in Green Harbor. Duxbury, Rexhame and Berks beaches are all giving up stripers especially for those who are chunking mackerel by day and slinging serpents at night.

Pete from Belsan’s in Scituate was gushing about bluefish, bluefish and more bluefish when we spoke. And these fish are ‘gators! He has weighed in 16- and 18-pound jumbos! Look for them to be busting bait on the surface but sometimes more subtle cues are all that is needed, such as a few wheeling, searching birds, which may spot blues bingeing below the surface – especially when conditions are calm as we had often last week. Do not venture out there without steel leaders. Obviously live pollock or mackerel will be quickly scoffed down, but some are catching while trolling deep divers such as Rapala X-Raps and Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnow Deep Divers. Some 20-pound-plus bass are occupying the niche of clean-up crew. Inshore cod fishing remains crazy good with anglers talking in terms of reaching limits. Look for bottom-hugging fish or irregular bottom as soon as you clear 70 feet of water.

Some of the most consistent striper fishing is occurring in Westport at the moment. I’ve been out twice, and each time an eel in the water meant a drag-pulling good time within what seemed like seconds. I even had my first bass break-off of the year, which I just had to get over with. I’m not saying that this fish was the potential new world record, but it was a far stronger beast than the 20-pound fish I had been catching. My tattered 40-pound braid was proof of that. Look for current seams where tide flows over structure. It is a nighttime-to-dawn bite, and then those bass seem to disappear.

Greater Boston Fishing Report

Boston Harbor has not been immune to bluefish mania. The fleet has been out between Point Allerton, Martins Ledge, through Graves Light and to Broad Sound and nearly everyone is ecstatic about the blues and their size! The rub is that not surprisingly mackerel have become spotty, which just might be another way of saying that they’ve been eaten! All is not lost however because macks have consistently been Mass Bay’s comeback kid and they could very well pop up again. The good bait news is that pollock have proven easy to jig up by Nahant, Graves Light, Roaring Bulls and among the outer harbor islands. For those who would prefer their quarry with stripes, where there are bluefish slicing and dicing you can usually count on cows underneath. Some serious striper action recently occurred among smaller fish in the inner harbor with much larger linesiders hitting well just outside of Winthrop and out to the North Channel. The nighttime crew is starting to find more consistent cow action for fish up to 46 inches while trolling plugs among structure off Spectacle Island, Long Island and Deer Island.

Recently my timing was not very good as the day I picked to give it a go was in the eye of the bluefish/striper storm. It was one of those “you should have been here yesterday” occasions. On Wednesday it was a bluebird, mill-pond calm day and as someone aptly described over the radio, It “Twas like the night before Christmas…” You know the rest, “not a creature was stirring.” But I caught a little better than others courtesy of a white 2-ounce Spro Squidtail Jig. I figured the glassy, sunny conditions had the fish deep and not active so I decided to assault them with the erratic jigging motion my friend Captain Walter Peterson taught me while “snapping wire” throughout the harbor and “bam” I caught some decent blues and bass. The fishing was not epic, but I believe I have a new trick that I can’t wait to employ when the bite is really on!

Hardly anyone is fishing for flounder, which is fine for the few that are still finding them off Deer Island flats! Odds are that they are also out in deeper water such as by Green Island, Boston Light and Point Allerton. While you’re at it probe around Rainsford Island and by Hospital Shoals, odds are you’ll have the place all to yourself.

By the way, it’s not too late to sign up/participate in the harbor’s most celebratory fishing tournament – the 10th Annual Help Hook The Cure striper derby. It takes place this Saturday the 23rd at the Elks Club in Winthrop. Aside from a fun-filled event, proceeds are donated to help fight the hideous Parkinson’s disease. Like many, I so look forward to this event and I’ve never met anyone who hasn’t had a great time.

Massachusetts North Shore Fishing Report

If you’re base is the North Shore and you’d surely like to be in the bluefish sweepstakes, then perk-up, because they are there too! Over the past two days, 10-pound-plus blues have been the finned version of a wrecking ball in Salem Sound as well as Devereux Beach. We know that amped anglers are given to hyperbole, but the word “insane” was used to describe the action to me.

Tomo from Tomo’s Tackle in Salem said that tube-and-worm anglers are doing well on bass by Tinkers Island off Marblehead as well as in Marblehead Harbor. If the action’s good there I suspect it’s worth a shot by Castle Rock. The squid scuttlebutt is reflecting 60-80 fish outings on most evenings in the harbor. Kayak crazies continue to tout inshore cod over irregular bottom just outside of Salem and Beverly. Tomo told me that the shop’s buzz lure is the new suspending Shimano Waxwing. Considering how effective the slow-sinking bone “Boy” Waxwing is for me, especially when there are surface flare-ups, I’m chomping at the bit to give the new one a try. There has been surface action for 25- to 30-inch stripers in Salem Harbor as well as Nahant Bay.

Flounder can be found at Marblehead Harbor, off Swampscott and Manchester Harbor. I’m not sure if he can sing the blues, but Pete from Fin and Feather in Essex was talking them up on Thursday when we spoke. The same slammers which are thrilling southern sectors are off Wingaersheek Beach and Cranes Beach now! Those making the haul at night to fish the beaches where they meet up with the rivers are usually rewarded with a 40-inch bass or two. The backshore of Gloucester has heated up for stripers as well and the word is that they are good fish. If you’re looking to load up on mackerel try a little north by Halibut Point; of course, there is the real probability that the blues have made it to there by now also!

Martha from Surfland in Newburyport said that some unusual catches have taken place at the mouth of the Merrimack River and by the adjacent jetties. Namely black sea bass, blackfish and fluke! If you’re looking for a one-bait catch all for these “southern species” I suggest a sea worm and don’t be stingy. Fluke prefer a moving target so drift or cast and drag slowly along the bottom. Tautog should be shadowing structure such as rocks and mussel beds and prefer their bait stationary. Black sea bass are somewhere in-between and usually aren’t the least bit fussy. The best bass bite is occurring at night on the Parker River Wildlife Reservation and the good news is that the trustees are now issuing nighttime permits to fish it!

Fishing Forecast

You have to give it up for those bluefish! Of course the trick is to avoid giving up too much of your terminal tackle to those toothies. On the South Shore the “toothy flounder” is attracting a dedicated bunch who are drifting the channel edges of Clarks Island. Green Harbor has no shortage of striper in the harbor and off the beaches with the ubiquitous mackerel remaining the bait of choice. In the Hub, big blues have been a best bet by Boston Light. With Winthrop remaining a winner for striped bass. Farther north expect blues off Essex, Gloucester and Rockport. For striper stick to the backshore or Gloucester as well as the Parker River Wildlife Reservation after dark.