Massachusetts Fishing Report - July 1, 2015

The intent of Independence Day is to celebrate our freedom and the right to make choices. The combination of the penultimate summertime holiday, combined with weather right out of a lemonade commercial will probably make local harbors a bit “busy.” And rightfully so, especially if your focus is flounder. But, if you’d like to shake the crowds than there are some very sweet freshwater options available.

Freshwater

There isn’t a fish that swims in these parts that hasn’t attracted the interest of Russ Eastman of Monahan Marine at some time or another. However, if you were to back him up against the wall, he’d tell you it’s the brown trout that has bored its way into his soul. Fresh from a 12 trout outing on the Deerfield, including an orange-spotted 22-inch beauty, Russ is counting the days until he can get back there! Firetiger 1/8^th ounce Kastmasters were king on a recent outing. Although his buddy Dana didn’t fair too badly with a Rebel Teeny Wee Craw either. Crawfish usually aren’t the first thing which comes to mind when trying to picture what trout are feeding on, but brown trout are predators with bad intentions, and relish crayfish making this Rebel a brown trout killer. These guys found fish at Fife Brook, Coles Brook and at the stretch by the Housaac Tunnel. Don’t be squeamish about donating a few of your offerings to the bottom, down deep is often where the action is. If you’re looking for a break from the crowds, exploring the possibilities of this premium river are a great alternative.

Eddie of B&A in West Boylston told me that Wachusett Reservoir has been fishing like a ghost town. However, the few catching rainbow trout and salmon aren’t likely to complain that they are lonely. Two-pound rainbows have been falling to well-placed flies upstream of the Oakdale Pumphouse on the Quinapoxet River. There has been solid salmon action on Kastmasters off the Causeway as well as by Gate 7 and 25. Some of them, such as Carl Hewitt of Sterling’s 2-pound, 14-ouncer, are respectable fish. If you’re looking to work off Fourth of July extra helpings than you can traipse the shoreline for miles with top water lures in search of some of the bigger smallmouth bass you’re likely to find anywhere. Dropping a Trophy Spoon by Sandy Point off Gate 35 or Gate 8 could catch you a laker or two, they are easier to catch than many realize in the middle of the summer.

Rod from Flagg’s in Orange said that few are fishing but the guy who took the 4-pound landlocked salmon was sure glad he was. The concern in the Quabbin has been the lack of smelt but a recent four-pound forkie was so sated with smelt it was practically spitting them up! Salmon have been hitting streamers close by the old “Bombing Tower” off Gate 35 as well as farther spots such as The Gap and Curtis Pond.

 

South Shore

Ian from Green Harbor B&T found some fast and furious action on 35- to 40-inch stripers recently at Race Point on mackerel. The fish were not fussy and they tore through three dozen mackerel fished on the surface or weighted down. Plymouth Bay has been the scene of some surface action for schoolies. For bigger bass try vertical jigging in some of the deeper channel edges and by Bug Light. Fluke activity has picked up with some as big as five pounds falling for jigs/squid strips on dropping tides in Duxbury Bay. Nighttime has been the right time for casting eels of Burkes Beach, the Narrows and Green Harbor. For mackerel you’ll have no problem topping off the livewell as soon as you clear the first bell out of the harbor. Stick boats have finding their mark but only a few tuna have turned up for sportsmen. Many are waiting for the tuna to turn the corner past Nantucket and head into Cape Cod Bay.

Pete from Belsan’s in Scituate said that finding mackerel is easy, but striper fishing the past week slowed to a crawl. One reason might be the rapid drop in water temperatures which have made those linesiders languid. Maybe this will be the bust-out bass weekend everyone is longing for. Some are finding the easy-pickings mackerel as possibly too much of a good thing. It might be time to switch to something else for bait such as pollock which you’ll have no problem jigging up off Egypt Beach as well as The Glades. The eel-casting crew continues to buy up their favorite bait and spend time at the North River. Try places where inlets and tributaries mix into the North River on an ebbing tide. The shadow lines of bridges at night, again on a dropping tide, can be deadly when working eels also.

Greater Boston

The flounder fishing remains fantastic, but as some fish begin to migrate toward deep water some are finding that the blackback bite is shifting out to Green Island, Boston Light and Point Allerton. Captain Colby labeled a two-outing Tuesday as “epic” with several fish in the 3 pound class! One of the fish was certified at Hull B&T at 3 pounds, 8 ounces and will be a solid contender in the junior division in the state saltwater fishing derby. Regarding Hull, Laurel from Hull B&T said that the Weir River has been a winner with some keeper stripers falling for clams. This is diverse habitat from the craggy section of World’s End through the marsh and out to the Washington Street Bridge and it’s little wonder it is good striper water. Flounder fishing has transitioned from Cohasset Harbor to seaward of the Cunningham Bridge. There have been a few taken from Gunrock Beach as well.

It would be hard to top the 51-pound striper that was weighed into Fore River B&T last weekend, so instead Lisa has news of good bass fishing from shore and boat. Webb Park has been a winner for “chunkers and clammers”. Don’t discount the Weymouth Back River either as blueback herring begin dropping back from their spawning habitat and are awaited by stripers. Blacks Creek remains one of the better shore spots as is the Neponset River mouth off Commander Shea Boulevard. The shops two most tenacious tube trollers, Bobby and Donny, often troll within casting distance of the Quincy Shoreline and have done quite well on stripers up to 29 pounds.

There’s been some serious surface action for stripers up to 30 pounds by the Graves Light area where the bedlam was most likely due to bass pushing mackerel to the surface. Some have been miffed because the general striped bass bite has been off. Part of the blame could be placed on the cool spell which dominated much of last week and sent sea temperatures plummeting. With 80 degree days expected over the foreseeable future look for the feeding windows to widen significantly.

North Shore

Noel from Bridge Street Sports in Salem said that the recent roiled surf resulted in hot striper action for those casting clams into the surf at Devereux Beach. Stripers are attracted to the shorelines when the surf is up expecting a buffet of bivalves. Anglers who take advantage of this and fish clams in the wash often do very well. A customer of the shop showed Noel a photo of an impressive halibut that he hauled in off Tillies Basin. Noel said that from nose to tail it measured up to the guy’s chin! The big flattie fell for a 17 ounce Norwegian Jig; he was also busy tossing back cod up to 20 pounds.

Tomo from Tomo’s Tackle told me that tog are being taken randomly in the Kernwood Bridge area as well as by the Beverly Pier. Anglers are catching a few squid from Swampscott as well as Marblehead. A few black sea bass have been caught by the Jubilee Yacht Club in Beverly. News of blues has Tomo recommending that those looking for choppers troll Rapala X-Raps or CD18 Magnums just outside of Bakers and Misery Islands. Mackerel are as close as the Salem Willows Pier. Forty-inch plus stripers have been caught by live-lining mackerel among ledges bordering deep water such as Newcombs Ledge, Saturday Night Ledge and Hills 47 and 101.

Tina from Three Lantern Marine in Gloucester said that sharpies are catching the occasional cow in Gloucester Harbor by chunking fresh mackerel by rockpiles and depressions in the harbor during moving tides. While some are employing the opposite approach and staggering suspended mackerel under balloons by offshore ledges in water well over 100 feet deep and also doing well! A forty-five pounder was recently caught this way. Brandon from Surfland said that Joppa Flats was hot for the ‘yak crowd as long as they were trolling a tube and worm at night. The tube was even out-fishing eels by a wide margin. Outgoing morning tides have been kind for those looking to work the mouth of the Merrimack River. Shore anglers casting the stretch from the Captains Fishing Charter dock out to the jetties have been beaching mixed sizes of stripers on bucktail jigs. Mackerel continue to occasionally get pushed up onto the beachfront. Some have even picked up the mackerel and chunked up stripers with the “gift!” Trollers cruising the ocean front out to Sandy Point with mackerel by day and eels by night are doing well.

Best Bets for the Weekend

Spark a little fireworks of your own this weekend by escaping out west and indulging in trout fishing in the Deerfield River or Miller River. Another solid option is the smallie and salmon fishing at Wachusett Reservoir right now; odds are you’ll have the 37 miles of shoreline mostly too yourself. A few fluke can now be found by Clark’s Island in Duxbury Bay but meanwhile keep your eyes peeled for striper surface activity in nearby Plymouth. Eels at night often mean a striper on the line at the North River as well as the jetty of Green Harbor. Blackback flounder remain Boston’s best bet but you may have to start focusing on flounder among the Green Island and Boston Light as the fish begin to move off. Joppa Flats has been terrific for the tube and worm crowd while the mouth of the Merrimack is one of the most consistent for the shore caster.