Massachusetts Fishing Report – June 2, 2016

Thankfully, it’s becoming less of a firmly divided deepwater-with-a-mackerel formula for the better fish as cows have come sniffing in close. The already superb flounder fishing doesn’t appear to have a ceiling. And there are even a few “southerners” in our midst as talk turns to tautog, black sea bass and even scup!

Massachusetts South Shore Fishing Report

While mackerel as bait get the bulk of angler’s interest when chasing stripers, something can be said for artificials. My friend Bill Hurley, who knows a thing or two about soft plastics, had been hearing rave reviews about his new Squid-Style Jerk Bait so he decided to test the waters himself. He picked the section of the South River as it joins with the North River and bass up to 36” could not seem to keep themselves off the pink version of this jerk bait. For me, it was bittersweet as I had plans to join him but prior obligations overrode my wishes.

While the pattern shows some signs of changing, the beat goes on in that the best bass are coming in two waves: offshore on live mackerel and inshore as far upstream as you can access rivers chock full of river herring. The runs will appear to be drying up, but don’t despair, some really solid stripers will hang around herring runs awaiting “fallbacks.” Herring, especially bluebacks, will continue to fall back from their upstream spawning grounds well into July. Providing that water temperatures do not get too warm, bass will be waiting!

Scotty from Green Harbor Bait and Tackle in Marshfield said that the first catches of tuna just recently took place off of Chatham! He heard of anglers tied to 90 inches of “pain” that were hitting squid bars as well as live bait. The hope is that these bluefin storm into Cape Cod Bay eventually!

Meanwhile, mackerel are no problem, and you should start searching as soon as you clear the Green Harbor green can. Some are finding the bass with the bait, while others are drifting on an outgoing tide between the jetties and catching. The casting cadre is catching on clams as well as mackerel chunks off the beaches and the adjacent jetties.

If you don’t mind taking a ride, 20-pound stripers have been hitting all manner of wares off Race Point. The catching is occurring while “snapping ‘chutes” on wire line as well as vertical jigging and three-waying mackerel.

I’ve been saying for a while that there are more pogies this early than in years. This was confirmed by an invaluable source who told me that they are snagging them up in the Kingston/Duxbury area and finding stripers up to 30 pounds on the bait! If you haven’t been, start looking for pogies every time you’re out. Your trip may end right where you find this most valuable baitfish.

Peter from Belsans Bait in Scituate told me that the cod in state waters are not necessarily resident “rock cod” but fresh-from-the-deep beautiful white bellies and there are a lot of them! Pound humps, lumps and clumps as soon as you clear the North River, Scituate Harbor, or Cohasset Harbor. A few have turned up around “live bottom” off Rexhame Beach.

For not only mackerel but potentially big bass, nearby sharpies are trolling live mackerel from the “21 Can” out toward the ledges off Hull. Big bass are known to be reluctant to give chase for long, but that maxim gets thrown out the window when a live mackerel is in their sights. Fish up to 30 pounds and larger can be seen streaking from humps in 100 feet of water to mug a trolled mackerel a full 20 feet away. There’s something about mackerel!

The shore set is poking around upstream of the North River, especially during low-light conditions during a rising tide, and catching stripers between 12 and 20 pounds. Pete gave the nod to Bill Hurley’s new jerk bait but, considering the forage, he favors the alewife color.

Greater Boston Harbor Fishing Report

The girls at Fore River Bait and Tackle in Quincy have been giving the scale in the shop quite the workout. The biggest Boston bass that I’ve heard of recently registered 48 inches and 39 pounds and apparently was caught on a mackerel jigged off the Hull Ledges and fished in close. Lisa suggests you try for your own cow with a mackerel from Toddy Rocks, Hull Gut, and West Gut. Of course something can still be said for the deeper water ledges such as Ultonia and Thieves Ledge. Shore folks have found 40-inch stripers on plugs and chunk baits off Point Allerton. The almighty sea worm, courtesy of a tube or a Cape Cod Spinner, has been the ticket to catching for some of Quincy Bays most dynamic duos such as “Bobby and Donny” as well as “Skippy and Bill”. Those guys are catching by the can in front of Nut Island as well as Veazie Rocks, Black Creek, Hangman Island and Sunken Ledge.

Nut Island remains ground zero for squid and increasingly black sea bass are being found; the ratio is tilted toward smalls, but enough keepers are being caught to make it interesting.

Flounder fishing is fantastic and getting better. As good as the catching has been especially aboard my friend Captain Jason Colby’s Little Sister Charters, every time I’ve been out it has toasted the previous trip. And amazingly it’s rare to catch one under the keeper baseline of 12” with most a solid 14” to 16”! Not even during the halcyon days when this area was rightfully touted as the flounder capital of the world were fish that big! Those blackbacks seem to be everywhere; in addition to the usual suspects of Peddock, Rainsford, Hangman and Deer Islands, don’t be afraid to poke around Slate, Grape, Bumpkin, Thompson, and Spectacle. If you keep at it you may find your own little stash.

Laurel from Hull Bait and Tackle told me that her hottest item in her vending machine are packaged tinker mackerel, which she struggles to keep in stock. As to where you can chuck that cut bait, she suggests Sandy Beach, Gunrock Beach, Point Allerton, and Hull Gut. One patron is plucking pollock and mackerel from the shore of “Gunny” and live-lining them! Flounder fishing is great by boat and from shore and increasingly the boat brigade is catching black sea bass and even scup!

Pete Santini of Fishing FINatics in Everett told me that pogies have sporadically been making runs into the Amelia Earhart Dam. While you’re searching, troll a honey mustard Santini tube-and-worm and see if you can’t pick off a few fish by the dam, the Alford Street Bridge, the Schrafft Center, and out to the mouth of the Charles River.

Another place where the tube-and-worm has been good, according to Dan from Bob’s Bait Shack in Winthrop, has been the inner harbor wharf section from Piers Park through the Boston Shipyard Marina. This is also a tremendous place to tug in a tog! Dan is also hearing of and catching tog from the Winthrop Public Pier and the Belle Isle Bridge. The biggest bass in the Winthrop area seem to be falling for live mackerel off the Five Sisters, although shore fishers have been doing well off Pico Beach, Corihna Beach and The Fisherman’s Bend.

Massachusetts North Shore Fishing Report

Noel from Bridge Street Sports in Salem raved about Red Rock in Lynn when we spoke as one of the more consistent spots for a keeper for a shore fisherman. Mackerel by the bucketful have been no problem from Salem Willows Pier. The problem is that squid are hit or miss from here, and the Beverly Pier with most cephalopods being corkers as opposed to juveniles, which has some worried. Thirty-six-inch bass are being caught near Cat Island with chunk herring and live mackerel. Noel’s brother has found a nice little tog bite near the Jubilee Yacht Club most every outing.

A customer of Tomo from Tomo’s Tackle in Salem dueled off Devereux Beach recently with a substantial striper only to lose the fish. I’ve done very well on this beach in June casting eels at day break. During a particularly good morning, I met an old salt who lived on the beach and claimed he did real well among the exposed rockpiles just off the beach. As if to underscore that point he rowed out to the spot and promptly returned a short while later displaying a Gibb’s Polaris Popper with the hooks completely straightened out. To further the frustration, he had with him only the one plug!

Matt from Capefish Clothing Company and Outfitters told me that his dad has been crushing the flounder throughout Beverly, Beverly Farms, Manchester by the Sea and Magnolia. Matt carries an assortment of mackerel and herring pattern deceivers that fly-fishermen have been putting to good use in Salem, Beverly and Manchester Harbors.

Tina from Three Lantern Marine in Gloucester said that mackerel have returned to Gloucester Harbor with a vengeance and stripers are with them! If you’re struggling to find the macks, drop your Sabiki rig near most any rockpile and you should be rewarded with small pollock, which make mighty fine bait on their own. Some have been catching better with live mackerel or pollock by The Groaner. Surf fishermen have been catching from Good Harbor Beach as well as Cape Hedge Beach. Boaters trolling tubes as well as live mackerel are doing well from Bass Rocks to Brace Cove.

Finally Surfland in Newburyport has news of 20-pound-class stripers! One such fish was taken on a jig/soft plastic just seaward off the Captains Fishing Charters dock halfway between the top of the tide and low. Others have been caught by those using bait from the ocean front through the Parker River Wildlife Reservation. Kay Moulton did tell me that her son caught a “big one” in the Parker River on a plug. Her son did not give her specifics on size, but when one of the Moulton’s call a fish big, odds are that It’s substantially more than a keeper. The flounder fleet are finding flatties but not saying much as to where; in the past however the going has been good by the mouth of the Merrimack River. For mackerel look around Breaking Rocks and Hampton Shoal Ledge.

Massachusetts Fishing Forecast

Inshore on the South Shore, toss a jerk bait throughout the South and North Rivers. Incoming tide is best upstream, while on the outgoing follow the fish downstream. Live bait is hard to beat, and you should find mackerel close to port or not far from where you launch while the bays are filling in with pogies. For flounder continue to pound Quincy Bay and Deer Island Flats but sniff around the inshore islands since the fish are spreading out. Red Rock remains reliable for keeper bass while far bigger are belting plugs and jigs now off Plum Island.