As we transition into November not everyone is settling for schoolies. The torrid tuna pace of a couple of weeks ago shows no signs of a let up when the seas permit. With smelt season in its infancy, it is way too early call it, but odds are good a grass shrimp on the line will be taken by something! Just maybe the most consistent catching is occurring in freshwater where the quarry runs from stocked rainbow trout to northern pike.
Saltwater
To a shop the word is that striper participation is a sliver of what it was just a few weeks ago and the catching is almost exclusively courtesy of schoolies. But I know of three 20 pounders that were taken within the last week! Care to add to that list? Here’s a hint how. All were taken in rivers that support herring runs. Stripers are very reluctant to leave places where there are thousands of fry! One bass walloped a tube and worm, the other a Slug-Go/jig head and the other fell for a live mackerel. And far from lone linesiders two of those nice stripers were part of multi-fish outings. Many times the fish are fickle, and if you’re there when the switch is not turned on you might as well be casting into a parking lot, but when the “I’m hungry” synapses start firing in their fishy brains you’ll forget all about the calendar.
The same can be said about smelt. Certainly the jury is still out on this year and smelt stalwarts are holding their breath as tightly as their jig sticks that this year will signal a revival for the species. I recently tried from a dock in Winthrop at the very same place where dozens were taken around the top of the tide recently. We could only afford a few hours during the last stages of the ebb and the smelt pulled a no-show. The willing choggies, sculpin and super-sized silversides did provide some brief excitement until we realized that the biters were not our intended quarry. Tomo from Tomo’s Tackle had a customer who took 40 smelt from Salem Harbor on Wednesday night and the ticket was live silversides! The smelt would not hit the seaworm pieces but the silversides did. The angler turned the tables on the silversides by live-lining them and then catching smelt! The trend does seem to be that the bite is best on the incoming tide.
Anglers targeting mackerel by the B-Buoy seem to be finding all they want. And the shore set are hauling in some major macks from the Beverly Pier as well as Salem Willows. There are also fluctuating numbers of squid off most any lit pier at night from Swampscott through Cape Ann! It would not hurt to try live-lining a squid even now. I know of someone who got quite the startle last November off the Fisherman’s Beach pier in Swampscott when a mid-40” striper inhaled a hooked squid as it was being reeled in. The angler was ill-equipped to land such a fish on his spindly rod but luck was on his side and his family wound up with striper steaks to go along with the calamari.
Joey from The Fisherman’s Outfitter in Gloucester told me that tuna fishing continues to be ferocious from Thatcher’s Island out toward Southern Jeffrey’s Ledge. The NW and SW corners of Stellwagen are occasionally giving up fish as well. Live whiting (which are numerous off Jeffrey’s Ledge and Tillies Basin), mackerel or herring are the preferable offerings.
Freshwater
Eric from Lunkers in Ashland said that anglers are getting into freshly stocked rainbow trout in Ashland Reservoir and Lake Cochituate with the latter seeming to have bigger fish. Don’t discount the possibility of catching a holdover trout from either of these places. Ashland Reservoir last year through the ice gave up an amazing number of tiger trout, brook trout and brown trout that were stocked as far back as the previous spring! In spite of the pressure the fish survived and put on some size until they were taken through the ice. Now might be a good time to toss out a medium shiner or troll a streamer, shiner or small swimmer close to points which jut into drop-offs as well as humps in deep water. Largemouth bass enthusiasts are doing well from Farm Pond and Lake Winthrop with large shiners.
David from Merrimac Sports suggests anglers take it to the rivers! Pike are pounding chatter baits, spinner baits and over-sized shiners from the Concord River and while he has not heard of luck in the Shawsheen or the Merrimack there are pike there as well. Targeting current seams, especially those which are compounded with weedlines should pay off. Bounce a worm/split shot along the bottom of the Merrimack River and you could snare a smallmouth, white catfish or even a walleye. David said that every once in a while a wily walleye is caught in the Nashua River or the Lowell stretch of the Merrimack River.
Eddie of B&A B&T in West Boylston said that the recent rains have improved fishing all around in Wachusett. Three and four pound rainbows frequent the Quinapoxet River and there is doubtless browns nearly double that size in there! Patience and stealth are often required to hook a salmon in the Stillwater but landing one of these wild landlockeds is a rush. Wachusett salmon are the only self-sustaining population of landlocked salmon in Massachusetts; if you’re fortunate enough to hook one while they are here for the business of breeding strongly consider catching and releasing. Those looking for a laker are beginning to find them closer to shore corralling yellow perch fry and occasionally rushing through the schools of fry like a scene out of the salt!
Fishing Forecast
Odds are that somewhere out there there’s a blitz will taking place at a beachfront near you! Reeling through the years, I’ve recalled doing well this time of the year from Devereux Beach, Revere Beach, Yirrell Beach, Point Allerton, Duxbury Beach and Shifting Lots Preserve. Not to knock schoolies but your chances of catching better are possible among the many rivers which support river herring. The mackerel mob are willing out by the B Buoy and there are even a few for the shore guys at Beverly Pier and Salem Willows. Tuna don’t appear to be in a rush to leave anytime soon and you may get a rush of your own with live bait from Thatchers Island out to southern Jeffrey’s.
How has the fishing on the Plymouth Beaches been?
Fished around the storm and the water was too churned up and dirty. Before the storm was good!!
Tight Lines