Massachusetts Fishing Report | October 2, 2014

With the howling Northeast blow that seems to have lasted 40 days and 40 nights, odds are pretty good that you haven’t been out. But some have. And they have found monster blues on the North Shore up to 39 inches! Estuaries are entertaining awesome eel action, especially when the skies are dark, and that goes for recent rain storms as well. Plus river regulars who have been waiting for flow to bring on the fish feed bag are finding improving fishing there as well.

Massachusetts South Shore Fishing Report

The east wind tends to bring in beastly bluefish! Scotty Sinclair from Green Harbor Bait and Tackle said that casters who are not afraid of getting a little wet have been dueling with monster bluefish from South Shore beaches. Duxbury Beach has been decent; regulars off Rexhame have done well and the blues have been going bonkers off Berks Beach. Surface plugs have been the ticket with some catching on jigs and spoons as well. Chunkers chilling below the carnage have been catching the occasional cow striper. Tuna fishing is still one of the Bay State’s top tickets and those giants are gluttonous right now. Trolled ballyhoo or live herring, whiting or mackerel are all solid bait options. Recent hook-ups have taken place at the Middle Bank, SW Corner of Stellwagen, Wildcat Knoll and The Kettle in Maine.

Pete from Belsan’s in Scituate said that with all the bait around, the South Shore is like a tinder box ready to combust. Peanut bunker, bay anchovies, sea and river herring, sperling, squid, mackerel and harbor pollock are all in residence. And with water temperatures in the 60s the “run” is still in its infancy. Not surprisingly the anglers catching the most consistently are spending time “eeling” in the estuaries. And during rainstorms the bite is almost as good as at night! The bass upstream are usually nice, healthy 15- to 17-pounders. Considering the state of the stock, it’s refreshing to hear of inshore cod catches; it goes to show how well this fish responds if given a chance! There has been cod chatter for most of this season among the few who have been targeting cod among inshore ledges and they’ve often been limiting out! A couple who shop at Belsan’s recently both limited out on cod by Flatt Rock.

Russ Eastman of Monahan Marine in Weymouth recently “fell off the edge” as he spent some time at the Fish Tails section of The Canyons aboard his buddy Tommy Golden’s sweet new Pursuit 35. Russ chunked up at night his personal best bull 20-pound-class mahi mahi on butterfish. Closer to the coast Minot’s Ledge is giving up many a cod still!

Some viewed the recent rains/east wind as a reason to frequent local rivers and estuaries. While night is usually best, the blackened skies of a storm often draw nice stripers into skinny water. Soft-plastic stick baits will work, as will Gulp! Jerk Shads, but you can’t beat the real thing—and in October that’s eels. The particulars don’t change; find moving water and some sort of structure where you can envision a bass hiding behind, anticipating an ambush. Keep your rod tip high, slowly reel that eel in just enough to keep it from wrapping around something, and upon feeling a bite drop the rod, point toward the take and as soon as you come tight to the fish, let her have it! I liken it to a three-second rule since it usually takes about that long before the fish pulls the slack out of the line. Setting the hook so quickly overwhelmingly results in a mouth hook-set. When I do miss a fish, I’m fairly certain it was small anyway. I have a new favorite eel hook and it’s the TroKar Big Nasty; this is an exaggerated octopus hook with a “belly” in the bend of the hook that can hold an extraordinary amount of bait yet keeps the business end of the TroKar’s ridiculously sharp point free for penetration. An added bonus of the geometry of this hook is that it is eel-ball resistant. During the months I’ve been using them I forgot what a nuisance eel-balls were until just yesterday when I revisited the more typical Octopus hook and was promptly reintroduced.

For places to try, check out the Weir River section of World’s End. The Weymouth Fore River deserves a nod and has potential from Watson Park all the way through the Route 3A Bridge. Bare Cove and Great Eskers Park in the Weymouth Back River have historically been hot. Also check out the Neponset River by Commander Shea Boulevard, Tenean Beach and Sagamore Creek.

Wednesday morning the Nahant area was crushed by big blues up to 39 inches. If those fish move into the harbor, then Deer Island, Castle Island and maybe Nut Island could go off. This weekend may be prime time to chunk those spots, just make sure you’re equipped with steel leaders.

Massachusetts North Shore Fishing Report

The east wind brought in some corker bluefish this past week to Nahant. My buddy Dave Flaherty won most of the battles but also fed a few white Sebile Magic Swimmers to those tackle crunchers. Not surprisingly, there were decent stripers figuring into the mix. Increasingly while attempting to jig up mackerel anglers are finding keeper cod hanging on the bottom jig. There have also been swarms of foot-long football-fat pollock mobbing most any sabiki rig lowered to the bottom by Forty Steps! Fill a rack with these fish and you’ll have a battle on your hands. If you’re looking for mackerel give East Point a try.

The east wind blew in some bluefish/bass blitzes off Lynn Beach as well as Devereux Beach. To punch through onshore gusts to reach far away surface feeds, anglers have been snapping on SPRO jigs as well as Kastmasters. There have been schoolie-fests by day and better bass hitting at night throughout the Danvers River from White Fuel Bridge through the Kernwood and out to the Beverly Pier. A few squid are being picked up from the Beverly Pier as well as the Commercial Street Pier in Marblehead and Salem Willows as well. There are a few mackerel among the latter too.

Tomo from Tomo’s Tackle in Salem told me that striped bass are feeding aggressively at Point of Pines in Revere as well as the Nahant Causeway. The focus of their attention is often peanut bunker. They’ve been slamming them at Salem Sound on 24-7 Flipping Mullets. Yo-Zuri Mag Darters have been the hero by Derby Wharf and Collin’s Cove. SPRO jigs and Andrus Jetty Casters have been a staple for those shaking off the east-wind rollers at Crane’s Beach as well as the southern end of Plum Island by Emerson Rocks.

Freshwater Fishing Report

Regulars of B&A in West Boylston are now fishing rather than wishing for rain to spur landlocked salmon to begin their spawning run in the Stillwater Basin. Additionally the uptick in the flow has reinvigorated brown trout, rainbow trout as well as landlocked salmon in the Quinapoxet River. Possibly the best news I heard from Eddie of B&A was that gamesters are still full of smelt which obviously bodes well for the future of this dynamic cold water fishery. If you want 2- to 3-pound robust lakers, cast a Kastmaster off the Route 70 side or check out Gate 19 as well as by the Power Lines. Smallmouth bass fishing is still spectacular with everything from tubes to occasionally topwater lures drawing strikes.

Rod from Flagg’s in Orange would like to remind all that Quabbin Reservoir is closed to fishing after October 11th. Fishing activity has dropped off considerably but the action has not cooled in the least. Head out this week and odds are you’ll have this breathtaking place practically to yourself! After the dearth of smelt in recent years, regulars are finding the fish full of this most prized forage again! If it’s lake trout you desire, trolling a shiner, streamer or spoon by Curtis Pond or The Golf Ball in the Gate 31 area will help you get your fill of 2 to 5 pound fish. Salmon are gathering at the mouth of Hop Brook, so troll a Canopache or Winnie Smelt by this area. Rain and increased flow means more oxygenated water and active trout from everywhere from the West Branch of the Swift River to the Miller River. Incidentally the latter is scheduled to receive another truck load of big beautiful brown trout! Designated fall trout water bodies have been stocked again.

Fishing Forecast

Look for fast-moving predators to be storming through Plymouth this weekend with various-sized stripers and maybe some big blues as well. Scituate is smoldering with bait and the bass may be sniffing out that bait this weekend off Priscilla Beach, Egypt Beach as well as The Glades. Or toss an eel out into the Herring River. Drop a jig onto Flatt Rock and odds are you’ll find a willing cod. Could all those monster North Shore blues be thrashing bait in Boston Harbor by the time you read this? Shore slingers should try Deer Island, Castle Island and Nut Island. It’s raining peanut bunker in Salem, so Storm Shads should do the trick at Collins Cove or in the Danvers River. Try tossing eels where Plum Island Sound meets up with the ocean by Emerson Rocks. Or try the sweetwater option for salmon in the Stillwater or lakers from Quabbin.