Massachusetts Fishing Report – April 21, 2016

While viewing a picture of a fine striper caught this morning by my friend Dave Panarello’s grandson Jake, it dawned on me that fresh pictures of stripers should be flowing in from now through November! I don’t know about you, but that puts a smile on my face just thinking about that one. Similarly, shop owners who had been as bored as the Maytag repairman are now reporting antsy anglers awaiting shipments of seaworms.
 
Pete from Belsan’s in Scituate told me that lobster fishermen are reporting an increase in flounder and cod catches in their traps. Anglers on the South Shore seem reluctant to be the first to score a flattie on their own, even though mid to upper 40 degree temperatures are usually the catalyst for the blackback bite. Shad should be in any day in the North River and Indian Head River. While you are waiting for the fish often referred to as the poor man’s salmon, treat yourself to a cousin of the salmon in Long Pond, where catching is a multiple choice treat consisting of rainbows, brown trout, brook trout and even tiger trout.
 
The 70 degree/little wind forecast for Thursday had anglers lined up at Fore River anxiously awaiting a UPS delivery of seaworm flats from Maine. There’s plenty of incentive why, as schoolies are hitting at the Weir River and flounder can be found at the Deer Island Flats. DI is one of the deadliest early season flounder destinations because the muddy bottom is one of the earliest to heat up. Schoolies have also been reported off Point of Pines. This is the time of the year when the line between holdover and fresh striper is blurry, but who cares when you’re catching?
 
Darlene from Bob’s Bait Shack in Winthrop also reports good flounder fortune off the flats of Deer Island. Other encouraging news is coming from the Belle Isle Bridge. Surf fishermen are in luck since both spots are shore-friendly.
 
Tomo from Tomo’s Tackle has patrons putting a few flounder in the pail from Lynn Harbor behind the Walmart as well as Fishermen’s Beach in Swampscott. For those just dying to dip their Sabiki rigs into the salt, Tomo is hearing of mackerel among outer Boston Harbor and sea herring in Salem and Beverly Harbors.
 
Neil from Three Lantern Marine said that increasingly lobster fishermen are finding flatties in their traps between Ipswich Bay and the Annisquam River. A potential early season spot is the Dogbar Breakwater as well as Niles Beach in Gloucester. Schoolies are being taken now throughout the Danvers River. Of course that fuzzy question is whether the fish are holdovers or migrants! Cherry pick a sunny afternoon on an outgoing tide and toss out a Sebile Bull Minnow, Rapala Skitter Walk or Queen Cocahoe/jighead anywhere between the White Fuel Bridge and the Kernwood Bridge and see if you can’t luck into that first linesider of the year.
 
Kay from Surfland said that so far there’s a lot of wishing but not a lot of fishing. Still, scout river herring in the Plum Island River is an indication that just maybe this river’s run is improving. Some excitedly reported of big splashes in the mouth of the Merrimack but the reports are probably a combination of striper withdrawal, an overeager imagination and the handiwork of seals. By next week we hope to have shad reports and just maybe white perch and schoolie news.
 
Lake trout luck in Wachusett Reservoir has definitely picked up over the last week with more quality 3- to 4-pound plus forkies figuring into the mix. A 1-ounce Kastmaster may sound too large for freshwater, but it will often outfish the smaller varieties. You’ll want smaller, as well as a 5/8-ounce Krocodile in shoal water. Eddie of B&A told me that white perch catches have been eerily non-existent so far. This is one water body where largemouth bass take a backseat to their smaller, feistier smallmouth cousins but they are present and often huge! Hawg honey holes are the causeway, the peninsula off Gate 35, the inlet behind the Tahanto school off Route 70 and Andrews Harbor. I know an angler who runs and guns the Chu with oversized swimbaits and he catches colossal black bass as well as lake trout.
 
Bill Martell of Gate 8 Bait in Belchertown said that anglers with sonar are marking clouds of smelt throughout the Gate 8 side of Quabbin. A 5-pound salmon is the top catch so far that he’s aware of. True to form, salmon are being trolled up within the first 10 feet of the surface while lakers are occupying the mop-up role from below. For salmon, use a long fluorocarbon leader – 30 feet – and downsize as light as 6-pound-test and you’ll find your hook-up rate much better with the leader-shy landlockeds.
 
Massachusetts Fishing Forecast
Striped bass should be a real possibility from now through the fall run, but you won’t know for sure unless you start casting. Schoolies have been hitting at the Weir River, the Mystic River, Point of Pines and the Danvers River. While the first wave usually consists of shorts, there are 20-pound-plus holdovers prowling around, so keep on your toes. Flounder activity is steadily increasing as water temperatures rise. Expect a few flatties in Scituate and Cohasset Harbors as well as Green Harbor. Inner shallow islands such as Slate, Grape, Bumkin, Moonhead as well as Deer Island should have a few flounder stirring as well. The wait is still on for shad to make a splash in the North and Merrimack Rivers and this fishery should kick in any day. For some, the salt can wait as long as the lake trout and salmon are biting in Wachusett and Quabbin!