Massachusetts Fishing Report – June 30, 2016

Big blues have stormed the Bay State like finned wrecking balls. As if the fireworks that those create aren’t enough, seasons-on-the-sea salts are theorizing that this is just the tonic to bring bigger bass closer to the shore. Toss in the appearance of acres of pogies and it looks as if the wick is ready to be lit!

Massachusetts South Shore Fishing Report

While there have been spurts of big bass activity close-in, this season has mostly been a case of “go deep if you want to catch.” Decades-long linesider lovers have been saying that we need a wave of bluefish – the bigger the better – to “convince” mackerel, sea herring and pogies into fleeing closer to shore. Tattered leaders from those trolling mackerel off the South Shore mean one thing: blues are here! That tale of the tape is that some of the fish are 38 inches of fury! It may be time to tie on the wire or at least upgrade to 80-pound fluorocarbon.

Pete from Belsans Bait in Scituate gave me the good news on the blues. Initial forays have been east of Minot Light, but they could be anywhere by now. The timing could be perfect for another reason with the onset of the July 4th weekend; after all bluefish are the ultimate crowd pleasers. Pete recommends the Rapala dynamic duo to find these fish – Xraps and CD 18s. Flatt Ledge, Scarlett Ledge and Davis Ledge are all good starting points for your soiree.

Inshore the catching has been best for bass at the “Cliffs” and off Egypt Beach. Eels at night are always a solid choice as are the ubiquitous harbor pollock which can be jigged up by most any rockpile. The Glades has been good for live bait as well as the tube-and-worm. Flounder remain in fine shape with fish even being taken at the Spit and at the mouth of the South River. It looks as if it’s going to be a good year for pogies for not only Massachusetts but they are even in northern New England. On the South Shore Duxbury remains ground zero for pogies but I wouldn’t be surprised if they make an appearance in Green Harbor.

Scotty of Green Harbor Bait and Tackle suggests a late start if you want to procure mackerel. Strangely, anglers searching later in the day are doing more finding than the first light gang. The mackerel almost appear to be sleeping in and in the afternoon can be found as close as Farnham Rock on out to Stellwagen. Prime places to troll or liveline those mackerel are Peaked Hill Bar and Race Point. Also try trolling from Mackerel Rock past the Gurnet and all along Duxbury Beach. You should have no problem snagging pogies in Duxbury Bay but you may have to ride it out for a striper hit squad to rush the pogies. Once you’ve snagged one, keep tight to the school and sooner or later the bass will arrive. Tog up to 9 pounds have been taken off Cedar Point and the Green Harbor jetties. Tuna fishing remains slow but a few giants have been taken on live mackerel by Peaked Hill Bar as well as the Southwestern portion of Stellwagen Bank.

Greater Boston Fishing Report

It was less what my friends Dave Panarello and Carl Vining caught but more of what they saw that was promising. On recent days, while searching for mackerel for the livewell, they found themselves surrounded by acres of pogies by Boston Light. No bass or blues were obvious, but this could be kindling ready to ignite. If those South Shore blues sniff out the pogies and push them inshore, there could be mayhem in the harbor for the holiday weekend. Prior to the that batch, some pogies have been found in Quincy Bay as well as Winthrop Harbor, Point of Pines and Lynn Harbor. Not all that long ago, sinking a treble hook into a pogy was the piscatorial version of a straight flush: a guaranteed score. But there just aren’t the volume of big bass there once was, so you’ll have to be patient and stick with what has always worked, shadow the school and keep a pogy on the line.

Lisa from Fore River in Quincy told me of an angler who did well on stripers up to 38 pounds by Graves Light on live mackerel. Others are having success trolling mackerel between Minot Ledge and the 21 Can. Shore anglers are catching by chunking mackerel behind the Hull High School and Hull Gut. Squid central remains Nut Island and to a lesser degree Pemberton Pier.

Captain Jason Colby has been having interesting outings while fishing for flounder. Two recent drifts in blackback country resulted in keeper fluke! And to add a real “southern” flair, the Little Sister Crew topped it off with a 10.19-pound tautog! The gravid female was full of eggs and promptly released.

Russ Eastman from Monahan Marine weighed in on the great groundfishing east of Stellwagen when we spoke. Aboard Captain Rob Green’s Elizabeth Marie they found plenty of haddock up to 9 pounds between Breaking Rocks and Wildcat Knoll. Bigger but less fish were present by the former while the latter produced numbers.

For many the Fourth of July is code for Cape Cod. Russ recently steamed out aboard the Helen H and had interesting results which may help you if you head down there. They found impressive fluke and black sea bass on the south side of Nantucket, especially by Old Man Shoals. An indicator that this was going to be a heck of a trip was when Russ brought a 4-pound-class black sea bass boatside to which the captain commented, “Let it go, we’re after bigger”! And bigger indeed was what they caught, with black sea bass to 6 pounds and fluke to 9 pounds! The trip was sponsored by Shimano so they dipped deeply into Shimano wares, and what was working the best was flat-sided Butterfly Jigs as well as Lucanus Jigs. Russ was especially pleased with the Lucanus with the bucktail skirt. It comes equipped with a larger hook than the standard jig and the bucktail survives the toothy onslaughts of the black sea bass more than the soft plastic skirts do. If you’re interested in pairing this with a new reel, the guests all gave glowing reviews to the Calcutta D.

Massachusetts North Shore Fishing Report

There’s been some pogy schools roaming between Point of Pines and Lynn Harbor, but unfortunately they haven’t been under duress. If you’re tiring of live lining without luck near the school, an option is to liveline the pogies near potential striper staging structure when the tide is ripping. According to Tomo of Tomos Tackle in Salem, the Red Rock club continues to catch on seaworms with the occasional keeper mixed in with schoolies. A few tog are being taken by Marblehead’s Chandler Hovey Park. This is also a good place to find pollock and either liveline on site or troll the contour line off Marblehead Neck.

Noel from Bridge Street Sports said that Saturday Night Ledge has the most consistent quality bass bite. Techniques vary from live bait, to chunk to vertical jigging but the results are the same – a goodly dose of 40” fish. Inside Salem Sound, it’s a schoolie fest while there’s a higher keeper ratio while using live squid. The squid fishing is okay at night with most anglers filling halfway a 5 gallon bucket for a tide’s worth of effort. A bycatch blackfish is occasionally caught by fisherman targeting flounder. Flounder can be found just outside of the Gloucester Herring Plant where stripers have also been caught on chunk.

Mike from Surfland said that a couple of 30-pound-class fish were caught recently at the mouth of the Merrimack River on mackerel. The big news has been the volume of sturgeon which have been caught on chunk by surf guys fishing the mouth of the Merrimack. Those sturgeon are protected and must be promptly released. Some nice fish have been coming out of the Parker River on Slug-Gos. An angler I know from New Hampshire has been rigging them weightless and catching with white during the day and black at night.

Massachusetts Fishing Forecast

Make the quintessential American holiday all the more special by sprinkling liberal doses of fishing on it! What should be special on the South Shore is the big blues that have invaded the offshore ledges. If you opt for mackerel, you had better swap out your leaders for either heavy fluorocarbon or steel. Pogies and tinker mackerel by Boston Light might mean that it’s a tinder box ready to go off if the blues sniff them out. Pogies by Point of Pines and Lynn Harbor are hard to ignore and won’t be ignored for long by roaming stripers. A mackerel drifted through the mouth of the Merrimack could catch you a cow while Slug-Gos have been stellar at the Parker River.