Massachusetts Fishing Report – May 12, 2016

Pictured above: Dan Anderson caught this topwater striper on the Connecticut River in Western Mass.

When is time to start switching the search from schoolies to serious striped bass? Some would say that you should flip once you can find big bait. If mackerel and pogies qualify, then the time is at hand. And then there’s the faction that is enjoying the flounder flurry so much, they feel that the stripers can wait!

Massachusetts South Shore Fishing Report

It’s redemption time for shop owners such as Pete Belsan of Belsan Bait in Scituate who had to sweat out extremely lean times during the last 6 months. But not now…now the fishing is spectacular and only getting better. The hardest part may be where to start. First of all folks, we have a lot more pogies this early in the year than I’ve seen in years. In fact right from shore I could have snagged a cooler full on Wednesday! At this time of the year, pogies are usually inshore in bays and estuaries and the like. On the South Shore, look for them in Plymouth Bay, Duxbury Bay (by the Powder Point Bridge) and in Green Harbor. My experience is that there are not fish around big enough to eat these things – and they are slabs – but look for that to change soon! If you don’t find bass on the bait inshore, put the pogies in a cooler and take them out to beaches and fish them chunked or whole-dead. Make sure you slice them up a bit to get a good scent trail to call the bass in. Meanwhile, there are plenty of sea herring as well as some mackerel within a mile from the shoreline. Some anglers are loading up on sea herring and taking them inshore by such places as Scituate Harbor, as well as the North and South rivers. I’d also try Warren Cove in Plymouth, the mouth of the Town River, Cripple Rocks and Billington Ledge.

Groundfishing can best be described as great! Scotty from Green Harbor Bait and Tackle said that the only gripe anglers are having is that they have to cull through sizeable cod to catch the haddock! The cod, of course, must be promptly released. Most of the catching has been on the western edge of Stellwagen, as well as occasionally on top. In addition to all those cod and haddock, there has been a smattering of redfish, which is not that uncommon this time of the year and won’t last long. Cod are prowling in state waters (which means you can keep 1 fish of at least 19 inches) around humps in 70 feet of water. The 51 degree inshore water temperatures have rung the dinner bell for flounder! Limits are no problem in Scituate Harbor and I suspect Green Harbor and Cohasett Harbor. Talk among tuna nation is that the first recorded bluefin catch of the year will happen well before the end of the month!

Greater Boston Fishing Report

When my friend Captain Jason Colby of Little Sister Charters refers to the health of our flounder fishery as reminiscent of the 80s, it would be a wise thing for the rest of us to listen. Limits have become ho-hum and in a number of “new” places. Recently we were bailing those blackbacks right in front on Nut Island Pier, a place in spite of having fished aboard the Little Sister hundreds of times, I’ve never been! Of course it’s one thing for the flounder king to catch, but what has impressed me the most is the amount of shore anglers in on the fun. Nut Island Pier has been loaded with prospectors as has the harbor side of Deer Island. I recently heard of the pier at Fisherman’s Beach with near elbow to elbow anglers all catching! Please preserve access by respecting the property you are on, and if the slob next to you doesn’t, pick up after him as well! There have been surface feeds observed by Governor’s Flats. River herring balled up by the Charles River locks are constantly under assault by stripers up to and over 30”! Quite a crowd has been gathering at the mouth of the Neponset River off Commander Shea Boulevard so you know they’re catching there.

The mantra for mackerel has always been: “from Mother’s Day to Father’s Day”. So not surprisingly anglers poking around between the “5” Can by Graves Light and out toward the B Buoy are finding a few mackerel. This Thursday, one clutch fisherman jigged up only 3 and dropped them down to the PR Can, which sits at the confluence of the North and South Channels, and caught three “big” bass! Big is always a relative word, especially at this time of the year, but this description came from an experienced salt. Darlene from Bob’s has been seeing pictures of patrons with 31-inch and better bass which they have been catching between Deer Island and Winthrop Beach. You could do far worse than fish this stretch, in fact I’d wager that more 50-pound striped bass have been caught between the Deer Island and Seal Harbor than any place in Boston Harbor! Flounder talk from the shores of Deer Island is that of limits of fish! For bait choices, stick to seaworms for flounder but if bass is your bag go with the clam. We often put bait up with a clam on one hook and a seaworm on the other for flounder and stripers always inhale the clam, as far as I’m concerned the case is closed on that one.

Massachusetts North Shore Fishing Report

The big news is that the “rockfish” are now by the rocks! That craggy, foamy, white-washed shoreline that defines much of the North Shore is now sporting foraging stripers, some of which are big enough to test your mettle. The fish are finicky, maybe because the water is still a bit cold and it is so darn clear that they can spot an impostor. Fish at low light and keep your wares at the edge of white water and you’ll fare better. One of my favorite methods for catching them from crags is to live-line pollock. Pollock should be settling in close about now and they make excellent live bait, especially when there’s less of them early and late in the season. It’s almost a fishy version of Economics 1.0, when there’s less the fish seem to hunger for them more. A good pollock imitator I’ve always had luck with is the bronze YO-ZURI Mag Minnow, this thing is a pollock ringer if there ever was one.

Tomo from Tomo’s Tackle in Salem is busy in the evening dropping seaworms off to the Red Rock crowd who are finding plenty of fish there but few keepers. Tomo has been hearing of keepers at the mouth of the Danvers River. Flounder can be found in Lynn Harbor, Swampscott Harbor and from the Beverly Pier and Salem Willows. Tinker mackerel as well as sea herring come-and-go off Salem Willows.

Noel from Bridge Street Sports said that a steady customer of his has been getting sizeable striped bass at night on plugs from Devereux Beach in Marblehead. Live or fresh bait will catch the big girls by day but at night the plug pitcher has an even playing field.

John from Three Lantern Marine said that the most consistent catching is happening courtesy of flounder. He knows of 18” fish taken inside of the Dogbar Breakwater. Other anglers are finding flatties by picking around inside Gloucester Harbor. Striper talk revolves around schoolies but I bet the backshore of Gloucester and Rockport have keeper stripers right now! Groundfishing has been a real gamble as schools are on the move. One outing will result in full coolers of haddock and the next anglers will be “cursed” with nothing but cod! Nothing chafes to the core more than catching non-stop cod – our state fish – and anglers are not able to keep a single one in the GOM! John did say that The Curl section of Jeffreys Ledge was active. There’s no news about mackerel in any numbers to speak of on the North Shore.

Kay from Surfland said that anglers fishing by the bridge of the Plum Island River were inundated by schoolies! She’s suspecting that maybe, finally, a similar volume will be found at the mouth of the Merrimack and maybe the next outgoing tide. Anglers are catching stripers off the beachfront but there’s no talk of size yet. Few are catching flounder but it that doesn’t mean none are around! Earlier she heard of an angler targeting white perch in the Parker River who was constantly catching little flounder! She’s also been hearing of this from Eagle Hill River. Makes you wonder just where are the breeders which are supporting this nursery”? It might be time to spike it and soak some seaworms on an incoming tide at Cranes Beach and the beachfront of Plum Island.

Massachusetts Fishing Forecast

If you want to upsize your striper catching, then think live or fresh bait by day and artificials at night. On the South Shore, jig up mackerel or sea herring and work them in Kingston Bay, Green Harbor or the South and North Rivers. The going for flounder in Greater Boston has been great in Quincy Bay, Deer Island Flats and numerous other spots where you can soak a seaworm. As always, you’ll fare better if you chum. Stripers are now cruising the crags of the North Shore; cast chunk bait out from Gloucester or Rockport by day or try plugging those fish up by night off Devereux.