Massachusetts Fishing Report - November 25, 2015

If you are looking for a break from the bird, then consider a second helping of fishing this weekend. Not only will the exercising and fresh air do you good, but sweet-eating smelt or a nutritious meal of grilled trout is a heck of a lot better for you than another dose of apple pie!

Massachusetts Fishing Report

While for most this week is all about the turkey, for anglers it’s in large part about trout! Pete from Belsan’s in Scituate said some sharpies are trolling up stocked, as well as the occasional holdover, rainbow and brown trout from Long and Little ponds in Plymouth. Pete lamented how years ago for him and his brothers, Thanksgiving Day meant shoving off a mile or two from the coast and loading up on cod, but those days are all but a warm memory.

Lisa from Fore River suggests that you substitute a “silver” Friday for a black one since the smelt, AKA silver streakers, are as cooperative as the weather is supposed to be. The girls have not had time to net any more grass shrimp so you had better swing in soon to pick up gills while they have them! Weather providing, they are hoping to make another shrimp run on Saturday. In addition to Hull and Hingham, Nut Island pier has been making news on the smelt front. One of the appeals of smelt fishing is the variety of critters you can catch while at it. It’s neat to experience what still stirs below while it’s getting frosty. You’re likely to catch some tommycod or “frostfish”, maybe whiting, harbor pollock, winter flounder or mackerel. But you’ll catch none of these if you don’t get off the couch and have at it!

Smelt and mackerel are cooperative off the Congress Street Bridge according to Tomo from Tomo’s Tackle. If you’d prefer mackerel Salem Willows is the better choice. While Tomo hasn’t any word on smelt farther north, his gut tells him Gloucester should be good, especially off the Commercial Street Pier. With a break in the weather now may be the perfect time to make that final voyage out to Jeffreys for a giant tuna. The bite was big just before the seas began to heave and with the rollers more manageable this could be the final curtain.

It appears that most of the salmon are finished with trying to make more salmon in the Stillwater River according to Eddie of B&A and anglers are catching them in the reservoir again. One angler in particular has been making a killing on blue/chrome Kastmaster XLs, which are a dead ringer for the preferred forage – smelt. While the Stillwater has gone quiet, a steady discharge of water from the Quinapoxet has rainbows, brown trout and salmon staging close to the dam. Some of the rainbows are 3 pound beauties and some browns no doubt far bigger

Rod from Flagg’s in Orange said that in spite of heavy stocking, few are fishing Lake Mattawa. This may be a Connecticut Valley Region best bet for trolling up a bunch of nice rainbows and browns. If you’d prefer working off the bird on a river, Rod recommends the Miller and Swift for trout and the Connecticut River for smallmouth bass, walleye and if you upsize your gear – pike!

Winter Flounder Alert

It’s pretty easy to be thankful while living in these parts. I may be a bit biased, having lived in Greater Boston my whole life, but “world class” is an easy tag to put on most everything from our culture to our history to our sports and, yes, even to our angling. For those who have logged a decades-long love affair with fishing in Boston Harbor, no fish pulls as firmly on our heart strings as the winter flounder. Far from just a provincial passion, those from “away” obviously valued the flounder as well, as evidenced by the hordes of anglers who have historically traveled to our town to fish for them. While the legendary busloads of fisherman from all along the East Coast are no longer the reality, local shops and charter captains will tell you that folks still come to fish for flounder in a big way. And if you spend some time talking to some of these fishermen as I have while aboard my buddy Captain Jason Colby’s Little Sister, they long for the bygone era when they had flounder to fish for in their bailiwick. Their flounder are gone and most likely never coming back! Boston Harbor stands as ground zero for this most-cherished groundfish. But there’s a black cloud on the horizon which is darker than the blackest of backs on our “blackback” flounder. The New England Fisheries Management Council is looking to incentivize the commercial fleet into directly targeting Gulf of Maine Flounder – Boston Harbor flounder! Lord knows we’ve been down this road before regarding cod! Even though science or even anecdotal evidence does not support the move, regulators have proposed a 60% increase in the commercial quota from 489 metric tons to 776 metric tons to placate commercial interests who can no longer catch cod! This is in spite of the fact that the NMFS own Recreational Fishery Advisory Panel unanimously recommended that the council reject this proposal. Time is of the essence, comments have to be in by this Friday at 10:00 a.m. Email your outrage at the proposal to dramatically increase the commercial killing of more winter flounder to either Council Chairman Terry Stockwell or Executive Director Thomas Nies at comments@nefmc.org. There just isn’t enough flounder to survive a 60% hit from the commercial industry. Mention RAP Motion 2 in your email and tell the regulators to put the fish first!

Fishing Forecast

A saltwater best bet is smelt from the Hull Public Pier, Hewitts Cove or Nut Island. In Salem get your smelt fix off the Congress Street Bridge but also consider the Marblehead Commercial Street Pier and the Beverly Pier. Trout are tops in freshwater with trolling minnow plugs a good idea in Plymouth while Kastmaster XLs are king for salmon in Wachusett Reservoir. Save a little room during this quintessential American Holiday for a little fishing! Here’s too full plates this Thanksgiving and tight lines!