Massachusetts Fishing Report – May 26, 2016

What you’ll find during summer’s unofficial kick-off this weekend is bigger bass and bigger flounder! Additionally, there’s encouraging inshore cod fishing on the South Shore; naturally the 1-fish bag limit is hardly going to fill the freezer, but it might be wise just to appreciate that they’re swimming in state waters at all! If something good for the table is a goal, then consider squid, some of which are big enough to make a meal out of just one.

If you have the ride beamy enough to make the trip, your best chance at catching a cow this Memorial Day is to drop or troll mackerel near deep-water ledges. That’s not to say that there’s nothing worthwhile to catch closer to the coast; in fact, just this past Wednesday we found mid-30-inch fish on the North Shore, and from the shore. But the big girls will stay with the baitfish. Eventually water temperature will be a factor, but for now providing the mackerel persist, the only other condition that will push bigger bass inshore is competition from other stripers. Look for that to become an issue as additional waves of stripers migrate here.

Massachusetts South Shore Fishing Report

Scotty from Green Harbor Bait And Tackle said mackerel can be found as close as Farnham Bell. Odds are good if you troll or weigh one down under the school, you’ll find stripers. Mackerel are also present between High Pine Ledge and The Gurnet. Stripers up to 20 pounds will be prowling close to river herring. Plugs and soft-plastic/jig combinations will fool the bass at night or during dim light but usually not during the day, but a live mackerel tossed into the mix most anytime will usually not be ignored by what’s there. Rave reviews continue to be reality for those looking for haddock in around Stellwagen Bank. Don’t neglect trying the top of the bank. Many are reveling in being able to downsize to 6-ounce jigs on light inshore combos and developing an appreciation for the fighting abilities of haddock in shallow water.

Pete from Belsans Bait in Scituate said the best bass are being caught one of two ways – live mackerel among offshore ledges and upriver where bass are massacring river herring. Stripers pushing 30 pounds are mugging mackerel by ledges such as Flatt Ledge, Stone Ledge and Davis Ledge. Mackerel are as close as the entrance bell to Scituate Harbor and the reinstated “New Inlet Buoy” at the mouth of the North River. The stripers pushing river herring in the North and South rivers aren’t as big as the more offshore variety, but 15-pound-plus fish in May is nothing to complain about. Cod are being caught consistently within a mile from the shoreline. In fact, a 30-inch red rock cod gulped a mackerel chunk from the shore of The Glades! The flounder fishing is fine in the harbor as well as off Peggotty Beach, Egypt Beach and Sand Hill Beach.

Greater Boston Fishing Report

If there ever were a hybrid of fishing and gambling, the “house” could be Nut Island. Lumped in with the usual suspects – stripers and flounder – cod have been caught, including a 27-incher. Three-year-old salt-in-the-making Tommy Golden had his way with big squid recently, which were nearly as big as him! The point I made earlier about the biggest bass in deep water was emphasized by Lisa from Fore River Bait and Tackle in Quincy who said that anglers hitting Hull Ledges with live mackerel are into bigger bass than the inshore contingent. Mackerel are bound to make a much closer appearance. You have three hopefully long and luxurious days to search for those macks. Historically this time of the year, they cruise in from Nantasket Roads and through the North and South Channels and could be anywhere. It is the Memorial Day weekend; you can expect quite the crowd, so give yourself the best chance by launching early. Should you catch some mackerel inshore and don’t find the bass with them, try live-lining near the herring runs. Almost without exception, our herring runs are improving too! I would not be surprised if the tally in the Weymouth Back, the Charles and the Mystic all approach 500,000 this year! The competition among herring is causing a “spillover” effect as smaller runs and even some dormant runs, such as the Fore River, the Pines and the Saugus River, are experiencing a surge.

Captain Colby’s crew aboard Little Sister Charters came in third, fourth and fifth place this past Saturday in Pete Santini’s Flounder Derby. This derby is becoming less a tournament and more a celebration of the health of Boston’s favorite fish – the blackback! Anglers of all ages and families are increasingly participating in this event and the fact that a generous portion of the proceeds are donated to charity doesn’t hurt either. Top fish were around 2 ½ pounds and naturally the following day a 4-pounder was hauled onto the Little Sister! Warmer temperatures have woken up those winter flounder and the bigger ones are getting aggressive. If you are looking for a winner winter of your own, try Pete’s Zobo rig but junk the hooks in favor of a Mustad Ultra Point Wide Gap size #2. And slap a gob of clam on the top hook. That top hook puts the larger bait above the fray and in the sights of the larger fish and they will swim right past seaworms on the bottom for that big clam swaying in the current. In addition to Quincy Bay being good, sorties into Snake Island have turned up a surprising number of 16-inch fish! Flounder are a lot more spread out than you would realize.

Anglers who are putting in a lot of time out there have been finding mackerel by Flip Rock, occasionally Nahant as well as the BG Buoy. So far the better bass being caught have been with the mackerel but look for that to change soon. You could spend a whole summer working the Winthrop/Deer Island stretch and need nothing more. Even the harbor side can be hot by the MWRA wharf and of course there’s The Rip, Great Faun and Little Faun Bars, Yirrell Beach, the Five Sisters and Seal Harbor. I’d wager that more 50-pound stripers have been caught in the harbor in the places I described than all other areas combined.

I just got word as I was finishing this of mackerel by the PR Can (just beyond Deer Island) and a lot of 30-inch-plus fish mugging the mackerel. The bottom was described to me as “covered”. At the same time a big bass was lost by Nixes Mate – game on!

Massachusetts North Shore Fishing Report

On the North Shore, you can now expect to make the leap from 15 inches to 15 pounds and beyond. One clue where to find the better bass is to find the harbor pollock. They are swarming around the crags of the rocky coast and even shore fisherman can get in on the fun. On Wednesday while a buddy was rotating through his extensive artificial arsenal and getting only smalls, I opted to go the pollock route. A sabiki in the water did not last long before being hit by a pollock, nor did a pollock last long before being engulfed by 28” to 34” stripers! It was that easy! Another easy part is that stripers will forage for pollock in the middle of the day, so you don’t have to lose winks.

Look for the convenient combination of pollock/stripers off Egg Rock, Preston Beach, Tinkers Island, Castle Rock and through Cape Ann. The squidding has improved tremendously according to Tomo from Tomos Tackle in Salem. The usual places – Beverly Pier, Salem Willows, Marblehead Harbor – are where the action is, but the size and action is now better! Some are livelining or cut-bait fishing the squid on site and catching stripers. These spots, along with the Lynn Pier and Fisherman’s Beach in Swampscott still have flounder also. Boaters should hit tracks of soft bottom among rock around Misery, and Bakers Island as well as Kettle Cove for flounder.

Skip from Three Lantern Marine said that Gloucester Harbor has been invaded by squid and some of them sport 18” tubes! The state pier, the Dogbar Breakwater as well as most anywhere you can vertically fish a squid jig are all potential squid spots and the catching is even happening during the day. Schoolies are no problem in the Little and Annisquam Rivers but for bigger bass you have to put a hook into a mackerel. After a weather related disappearance, mackerel should be back in the harbor with prowling striped bass nearby by now. For a chance at a cow, target the backshore of Gloucester at first light with purplish or brownish plugs designed to dupe a striper into thinking it is one of the ubiquitous pollock. Of course the real thing isn’t so bad either! The effluence of the Essex River/Cranes Beach has a tight-lipped contingent who are quietly catching now also.

Kay from Surfland said the rhythm there is that the outgoing tide near the mouth of the Merrimack can be a fish-per-cast outing but for bigger pound the beachfront. For eons a huge pile of mostly small stripers make for fast paced catching from the Captains Fishing Charter dock to the jetty at the mouth of the Merrimack. Kay would like to think that these 20” fish are fifty pounders in the making so she urges anglers to pinch down the barbs while they are having fun. And then there are those who are steering clear of the schoolies and are targeting the jetty with bigger wares in the hopes of catching larger. The other bigger bass option at the moment is the incoming tide at the beachfront. Since sand eels are numerous here, a Bill Hurley Mole Tail, Savage Sand Eel, Slug-Go or RonZ should do the trick. At night knock them dead with NTA Needlefish.

Massachusetts Fishing Forecast

Just in time for the Memorial Day weekend, mackerel can now be found closer to the coast throughout our region. Jig them up by The Gurnet, the North River or Scituate Harbor on the South Shore. If bass are not nearby, then try Davis Ledge or Flat Ledge. The inshore option is the North and South Rivers along with Green Harbor.

Boston now has bigger bass from Deer Island to Nixes Mate with mackerel close by. If you’d rather relax with the family and fish for flounder, you’ll find plenty of them in Hull, Quincy Bay and even Winthrop Harbor. A live pollock on the North Shore will not swim far without being pounded by a striper. Check out the rocks in Manchester, Magnolia, Gloucester and Rockport for this sort of fun. For numbers on Plum Island the mouth of the Merrimack on an outgoing tide is the place for you, while you may beach better bass on a needlefish plug off the beachfront on an incoming tide at night.