Massachusetts Fishing Report – April 7, 2016

Someone apparently invited the lion of late March into staying a spell into April. This is hardly doing wonders for those entertaining winsome thoughts of an early season for gamesters that swim in the salt. Meanwhile, while we are waiting for conditions to “normalize,” Wachusett Reservoir is proving a challenging diversion.

If you’re one of the hordes who have been traipsing the shoreline of the ‘Chu and have found reality not living up to expectations, relax. What we are experiencing is the sweetwater version of what some in the salt refer to as the “pogy principle.” That is the phenomenon that occurs when bait balls draw in predators like magnets, and if you’re haplessly casting one bay away from the feed, then you are probably completely out of luck. Eddie of B&A in West Boylston said that he is hearing incessantly of smelt-swollen salmon and lakers, but he’s not hearing of any spent smelt washed up on shore. It might just be a simple case of waiting for these shoal-spawners to come in closer to shore to do their thing, and if you happen to be working your spoon in the vicinity, you’re most likely going to have a banner day.

Unexpectedly good has been the smallmouth bite, which has amounted to 4-pound fish being “by-caught” on shiners by those looking for salmonids. Smallies are a more versatile feeder and not as bound to the smelt balls as their coldwater neighbors, so the fact that the ratio has been tilted toward them is telling. Anglers have been catching a lot of small landlocked salmon, which is a result of an unusual and possibly one-off stocking of excess salmon from the Roger Reed State Hatchery, which rears salmon for Quabbin Reservoir and had a surplus last year of about 2500 that wound up in Wachusett. Considering how full of smelt the fish are, it’s obvious that the forage has survived the onslaught of a couple-thousand extra predators. Most of the salmon are being caught between the causeway and the Route 140 sections of the Quinapoxet and Stillwater Rivers. With finding the bait being the trigger to finding the predators, it might behoove you to pack light and keep looking until you find those forktails. Odds are that if you see smelt washed up along the shoreline, your search is over.

Lisa from Fore River in Quincy is getting peppered with questions about flounder. Thanks to the spate of less-than-appealing weather, few have attempted. One hint where breeder blackbacks may be is the section of Black Creek upstream of Quincy Shore Drive. There have been sightings of a dogged couple who apparently dig their own bait and put in a lot of time there. Other possibilities could be Cohasset Harbor, the Sugar Bowl in South Boston, the Orient Heights section of East Boston and the Pines River. Water temperatures are stuck well south of where they have to be for the flounder to feel the need to feed, but odds are good that winter flounder are present in the last stages of their spawn.

Kay from Surfland in Newburyport said that anglers used to catch winter flounder in Plum Island Sound during the early spring months. She mentioned the effluence where the Eagle River joins the Parker River as a particular favorite. The simple truth is that the shops are not carrying seaworms yet because demand is not there. The few enterprising anglers who are out there focusing on flounder are also digging up their own bait and not talking. Kay did talk of recent catches of white perch, but unfortunately not from the once prolific run in the Parker River. Rather, she was referring to the Squamscott/Exeter Rivers in Great Bay New Hampshire. When I asked if she felt there was any hope regarding the Parker, she said there hasn’t been any word of anyone trying in a while. You can’t help but wonder if the Parker is experiencing a bit of a rebirth as they are enjoying north of the border.

The river-run species that should soon be making a splash is the shad run in the Merrimack River. Each year a group of anglers, headed by Eric Roach, embark on a clean-up of the Rocks Village section of the Merrimack River around the third Saturday of April. For the life of me I could not find this year’s exact date, even Kay from Surfland could not pin it down for me, but if anyone cares to expound on that in the comment section they are more than welcome to do so. Not only do these conservationists leave this precious resource a lot cleaner than they find it, their just desert is that they get to fish for them when all is said and done! And more often than not, someone catches shad!

Massachusetts Fishing Forecast

While we wait for April to behave like April, the best saltwater bet remains taking the trip to Great Bay in New Hampshire and targeting white perch in the Exeter and Squamscott Rivers. While I haven’t heard, just maybe a few wayward white perch are cruising up the Parker River again. If you’ve been wearing out your boots and casting arm with little to show for it in Wachusett Reservoir, take heart. The smelt should be cruising closer to shore any day now and when they do they’ll call the predators in like the Pied Piper!