Massachusetts Fishing Report – July 16, 2015

The curse of the surfcaster has always been that feeding fish will be just out of casting range. But fortunately for the shore fisherman, nighttime levels the playing field; in fact it just might be the surfcaster who slings eels at night who is doing the most catching at the moment. If tuna are more to your liking, then the North Shore is for you.

Massachusetts South Shore Fishing Report

A boater’s best bet may be bluefish! I saw four 10- to 13-pounders in a cooler which fell for mackerel and topwaters the other day off Minot Ledge. While we had just reveled in lights-out flounder fishing in Boston Harbor, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to a tinge of envy as I pictured those choppers smashing topwater plugs. Pete Belsan said that choppers have been chewing through everything in site from Minot up to the 4 Mile Contour Line. While mackerel are still plentiful, if those blues are part of a mass of fish that stays put it will spell doom for mackerel schools!

Conventional striped bass fishing is slow, it’s that simple. Most who troll or live-line mackerel are laboring for hours to hopefully put a nice striper or two in the boat. No-one is talking in terms of having a banner day. Now that we have transitioned into the peak of the summer, we can expect stripers to feed only during optimum conditions and for the larger ones that usually means nighttime. Pick up a bucket full of eels and target The Glades, Egypt Beach and the North River. Spots to consider at the North River are The Spit, Damon’s Point, The Herring River and the shadow edges of bridges.

Captains Tom King and Rob Green, the latter of Elizabeth Marie Charters, are having interesting trips offshore for groundfish. While the cod calamity remains the impossible-to-ignore 800-pound gorilla in the room, the fact is that there is a lot of action off Stellwagen and points east. Haddock are averaging 4 to 5 pounds, drag-pulling pollock are usually no problem to find and ironically there are plenty of 24” plus cod which anglers are pinning their hopes on to replenish the stock as they release them. Flounder are drifting off to deep water. That does not mean you can’t catch, quite the contrary. When you find them, you’ll usually find a pile, but they are now in 30’ plus of water! One potential honey hole is off Humarock Beach, but also check out Beetle Rock, Egypt Beach and Rexhame Beach.

Ian from Green Harbor Bait and Tackle said that while day-trippers in boats are bemoaning, the shore guys fishing at night are catching! Fresh chunk mackerel is one of the keys and the shop is carrying plenty of that. Bass are being caught by Blackman Point as well as Bluefish Cove. The jetties at the mouth of Green Harbor is worth a go as is the adjacent Burkes Beach. Ian felt the Rexhame Beach and nearby South River are solid possibilities since they offer diverse habitats and are in close enough proximity to fish both during a trip.

For many, the tuna fishing is a tale of woe as some are ill prepared for the size of the fish. An impromptu recent survey had the ratio of fish hooked verses landed at 20 to 2! The main culprit seems to be leaders too light for the job. The tuna are big and ravenous and usually completely inhale live bait. A long fight with a big fish results in a chafed leader. The guys catching are upping their leader to 200-pound fluorocarbon. If you’d like to hedge your bets even further, consider a junket to Jeffreys Ledge; a shopowner described the tuna up there as “everywhere” and the sizes are more mixed!

Greater Boston Harbor Fishing Report

Captain Jason Colby of Little Sister Charters feels that the end is near for bay blackback fishing for the season. Water temperatures are creeping past what is tolerable for winter flounder and they are migrating offshore to cooler climes. Yet ironically, he’s having some of his best fishing of the season as the fish head out of town. You’ll have to poke around the outer islands in 35’ plus of water to find the winter flounder but once you do you’ll probably find a pile with plenty of 16” and 17” fish to boot. An added bonus about fishing out a ways is the menagerie of what you’ll find. Small cod, “cooler worthy” pollock and a host of other critters amounts to a smaller scale version of what you’ll find in the Gulf of Maine.

With increasing regularity, anglers trolling mackerel for stripers around the ledges of Hull, beyond Graves Light and the BG Buoy are finding nice size bluefish! Those schools of mid-20” stripers that were constants from Hull through Thompson Island and out to the Lower Middle have waned. Clues as to their whereabouts can be found from the North Shore to New Hampshire where they are numerous. Expect a lot of effort for the possibility of one or two good stripers!

It’s still all about the mackerel but increasingly a few are setting nets off Wollaston Beach where pogy schools have taken up residence. I’ve also learned that there are some in Lynn Harbor. Snoop around the North Channel, Faun Bar, Yirrell Beach and Seal Harbor while ether trolling live bait or live-lining it around bars, rockpiles or depressions.

A true indicator is that the commercials are having a tough go finding “selling fish”. When these guys, who have logged decades into finding big fish, are struggling it says it all. The other option is to hit rivers, marshes and estuaries with eels at night. Consider the Weir River, Weymouth Back, Neponset, Mystic, Pines and Saugus Rivers. The skinny water of these places may seem like a ghost town during the day but at night stripers will cruise in with the tide looking for prey.

Laurel from Hull B&T has patrons who are finding a few pogies off Wollaston Beach and catching impressive fish off Brewster Spit, Point Allerton and Toddy Rocks. Shore anglers are catching on chunk mackerel from Hull Gut behind the high school and out to Point Allerton.

Lisa from Fore River has been selling a lot of squid jigs. I can’t vouch for the usual spots such as Pemberton Pier and Nut Island but I have a friend who has been catching over a 100 on recent nights just north of here.

Massachusetts North Shore Fishing Report

The top story on the North Shore has to be tuna, which as one shop hand put it are “everywhere”! According to Skip from Three Lantern Marine in Gloucester, they’re spotting tuna as close as Thacher Island. The fish are a mixture of sizes and there are accounts of everything from footballs to giants! One clue as to their timely appearance may be in the bait. Tuna relish halfbeaks and I’ve seen photos of them being jigged up by those targeting mackerel! In the past when tuna are close they can also be found off Andrews Point and Halibut Point. Mackerel have been pushed right into Gloucester Harbor and striped bass are with them! Squid have invaded Gloucester with anglers catching them at Stage Fort Park. If they are there, Skip suspects the squid are at that state pier as well.

According to Tomo from Tomo’s Tackle in Salem, the squid catch has improved off Marblehead, Beverly and Salem. He has a patron who diligently surf fishes Devereux Beach and on most outings does well with chunk mackerel. Working the rocky opposite ends of the beach has paid off for me in the past with nice bass. Kayakers trolling tubes by Little Pig Rocks and Tinkers Island are picking up fish as well. If you fancy flounder, they can be found off The Fisherman’s Beach in Swampscott and near the Beverly Pier.

Matt Kelleher of Capefish Outfitters and fly tackle gave a clue as to where all those mid-20” stripers which were swarming Boston Harbor recently have went – apparently Salem! It’s currently a dream come true for fly-fishermen as surface feeds are the norm, especially early and late in the day and all the way through Manchester Harbor. The fish are feisty and fat from all the feed.

Tom from Surfland said that just as folks were ready to write off the slow conditions as just the summer doldrums, fish up to 35 pounds are freshening things up! As you would expect, the rivers have warmed up and the fishing has gone cold, but the beach front has been rewarding. Anglers soaking chunk bait, sea worms and clams are catching from the jetty at the mouth of the Merrimack all the way out through the Parker River Wildlife Reservation and out to Emerson Rocks. The better bass are being taken by boat guys with mackerel or eels at the aforementioned locations. There has been some action for the wading crowd with SP Minnows by Sandy Point. Out of force of habit, I half-heartedly ask about flounder in the Newburyport but seldom receive a positive answer, but not this time! Not only are they getting them at the mouth of the Merrimack River but guys are even catching while casting from the shore!

Fishing Forecast

If you’re looking for quite the battle and maybe some topwater thrills, then consider bluefish from Minot’s Light, the ledges off Hull and northeast of the Harbor Islands. If you poke around during daylight, load up on mackerel east by Martin’s Ledge or maybe as close as off Nahant and check out Halfway Rock, Flip Rock, Seal Harbor and Deer Island. The North Shore is experiencing a squid surge: most any lit pier at night should hold squid right now in fact, I’ve been hearing of 100 fish outings! If you have the gear for it, capitalize on the terrific tuna bite which is as close as Thacher Island!