Pictured above: Steve Langton took this 36″ striper off Nahant with a tube-and-worm.
A fresh slug of Green Harbor stripers is making the dog in the Dog Days of Summer much easier to live with on the South Shore. Some, however, are dismissing all thoughts of bass for the bedlam of busting school tuna. Perseverance and pogies are the dynamic duo for those looking to score stripers in the harbor, while those doing best on the North Shore are sticking to the night shift.
Massachusetts South Shore Fishing Report
Scotty from Green Harbor Bait and Tackle in Marshfield said that “problems” were multi-faceted. The first was whether to indulge in the awesome light-tackle tuna fishing or to stick inshore. Inshore, however, has its own quandary, which is deciding which willing species to shoot for. The skyrocketing water temperatures are making Green Harbor fish like Buzzards Bay, with one notable difference – locals also have winter flounder! Keeper fluke and black sea bass are swarming just outside of the Green Harbor jetties. Plus the flounder are biting too! If you’d like a Green Harbor Hat Trick, you had better upgrade your hooks to something that can handle all three such as Mustad’s #2 or 1/0 Ultra Point Wide Gap. Scotty claims that squid and clams are the hot baits for these hot-biting fish.
Just this Monday into Tuesday, a sea-lice-covered school of 30” to 38” stripers stormed inshore from Duxbury through Burkes Beach and the fish have been cooperative for both lures and bait. Mackerel can be a challenge to catch, with your best bet blanketing 2 to 3 miles out from the North River as well as Farnham Bell.
For a pure surge of adrenaline, it is hard to top light-tackle fishing for school tuna. At The Fingers in Cape Cod Bay, Scotty found himself in the teeth of just such world-class fishing. While he and chums caught three 100-pounders trolling Redhead Joe Shute/ballyhoo combos along with Carlson spreader bars, there were other nearby anglers doing just as well popping and jigging for these “manageable” tuna. To be holding in your hands what amounts to little more than a bass combo while getting blasted by a 100-pound finned dynamo is arguably as good as it gets in New England!
The Scituate and Cohasset inshore areas have shown signs of striper life for night-stalkers wielding eels, according to Pete from Belsans Bait in Scituate. Both boaters and “booters” have been cashing in on 25-pounders. Notable spots have been The Breakers, The Grampuses. Hogs Head, Tobias Ledge and all things Minot. For the sunlight sect, live pollock are your safest inshore bait source, which you’ll find around ledge, kelp and mussel beds. Mackerel for the most part are tinker-size and you’ll have to cruise out as far as 2 to 3 miles where you’ll find them in 70 feet of water. Despite skyrocketing water temperatures, the season’s most reliable quarry – winter flounder – are still hanging in there. Catch a drift between the 8 Can and Peggotty Beach and you should catch flounder as well. While blues have been spotty, a friend of mine who fishes the east end of the Canal was traumatized by toothy bite-offs just this Wednesday morning, maybe those fish will be chomping their way northward.
Greater Boston Harbor Fishing Report
Laurel from Hull Bait and Tackle has a patron who hauled in a 19” fluke at the mouth of the Weir River. Another angler got a big black sea bass off Hospital Shoals. Anglers are also picking off keeper black sea bass throughout Hingham and Hull. With water temperatures cresting 70 degrees not surprisingly bluefish are more on the feed than striped bass and that is putting mackerel on the run! These are big double-digit, mid to upper 30-inch choppers! The ledges off Hull have been good but the blues have also bullied their way into The Triangle as well as off Revere Beach. Shops are selling snagging trebles so you know pogies are around. Schools have been spotted off Nantasket Beach and Deer Island. Pogie chunks have been effective near the Triangle, the BG Buoy and Devil’s Back.
Probably the most consistent place to catch remains the Nahant to Lynn stretch. More days than not anglers have been catching 15-pound blues as well as a few stripers twice that size. Mackerel is still money with catches coming from the 2 Can, East Point and about halfway between Egg Rock and the Lynn Shoreline. However, it’s anyone’s guess how long the macks will remain with the bluefish presence. Another option is to imitate what the bass are feeding on at night, namely squid. Pinkish stick baits such as Slug-Gos and Bill Hurley’s new squid jerk bait will do the trick.
Massachusetts North Shore Fishing Report
According to Tomo’s Tackle in Salem, bass have been regularly blitzing in Beverly. The fish are averaging 27-34 inches and appear to be hitting herring. Look for the feeds by Mackerel Cove as well as Independence Park. Mackerel have moved back inshore and are once again even being caught from shore off Salem Willows. This is one fishery where catching fish and winks are not mutually exclusive, the action can be lively any time during the day. For blues you had better pound deeper water with deep-diving plugs in Salem Sound, Saturday Night Ledge and humps/contour lines in Ipswich Bay. Customers chasing fluke in the Lynn area are finding black sea bass as well!
According to Capt. Skip at Three Lantern Marine in Gloucester, the giant tuna bite has broken wide open! Stellwagen’s Middle Bank, Jeffreys Ledge and, if you can make the haul, especially Platts Ledge have become pelagic playgrounds. In addition to the giants, there are mixed classes of smaller tuna in the melee.
Unfortunately, striper fortunes seem to be tied to the abundance or lack thereof of mackerel and last week’s bounty has turned into this week’s bust! A better bet may be to jig up the more prevalent harbor pollock and float them up against the islands and along the backshore of Gloucester. Blues are still numerous and are blasting trolling plugs off Thatcher’s, Andrews Point and Halibut Point.
Martha of Surfland said that there are a lot of schoolies around but not many bigger fish. Noted Plum Island photographer Jimmy Waldron recently stalked the area from the mouth of the Merrimack out to the jetties and found fast-paced action for 20-25” fish. The night/eel guys are picking up a few keepers off the ocean front. There are big blues but they have been prowling between the southern tip of the island out through Cranes Beach. Mackerel drifted throughout the Merrimack remains one of the higher percentage methods but most are struggling to put a few in the livewell. Be prepared to poke around Breaking Rocks, Hampton Shoal Ledge and maybe the Speckled Apron for a few live baits.
Massachusetts Fishing Forecast
On the South Shore, take advantage of that slug of decent stripers that just moved in from Duxbury to Green Harbor. If you have the time, top the day off with a drift or two between the jetties, you’re likely to catch a flounder, fluke or black sea bass. A Boston best bet is to snag a few pogies and chunk them up by The Triangle. Just northward, Nahant still sizzles with big blues and good bass willing to wallop mackerel or pollock. If you’d rather steer clear of schoolies on the North Shore, then adopt the night shift and let eels do the work for you off the ocean front of Plum Island.
I’m unfamiliar with the “triangle where is it?
Just outside of Deer Island in between the channels.
fish it on the outgoing tide
Goose point still holding keeper sized bass feeding on small bunker in the three bays. Pods are moving from the cordage channel to goose point . Tight lines.
Hey Walleye, you still catching blues at the power plant? What boat ramp can you recommend for quickest access to that area, don’t usually fish south of boston much any info would be helpful. Thanks
On Sunday went out on boston harbor today trolled around castle rock and points near egg rock for blues .. nothing. Could not find any macks around the BG bouy has any had any luck finding macks near boston? inconsistent little up and down blitz near Thompson island on way in.. no dice
I am new to fishing.. I have both ma salt water fishing and fresh water fishing. We did try at castle island couple of times but did nt get any.. I dont know what mistake I am doing and any guidance on fishing would be great.
Thanks in advance.
Devi – first of all – welcome to the fishing club. You have now learned why they call it “fishing” and not “catching”. Every time out you will learn something new. Therefore – just keep at it. Giving advice at this point is a shotgun affair since I would need to know what you are trying to catch (stripers, blues, fluke, etc.) and how are you trying to catch them (boat trolling, jigging, bottom fishing, surf fishing, ect.). My personal approach when starting a day of fishing in my boat and there could be anything in the water is my “fish-finder” rig. This is not a traditional “fish finder” piece of tackle that slides on your line and has a clip to attach a sinker to. No, my “fish-finder” is an altered “high-low” rig made from 30lb. wire that looks like this: 18″ 30lb. wire leader connected to main line (50lb. braid or monofilament). On the main line I have a 3 or 4 oz egg sinker and a bead sliding on the main line. That is the first thing to do before you tie the terminal end of your main line to your leader. Other end of leader clip on to rig: attach swivel end to 4 ft. of 3olb. wire. Midway down the wire make a dropper loop or use a squeeze connector to attach a 4 inch wire attached to Kalie hook. At the end of rig tie on or squeeze attach another Kalie hook. Yes I have had fish bend the Kalie hook. But that was because I was trying to wrestle with a 20 lb. bluefish that had swallowed it and it was a fight to the death. I won, but the Kalie hook turned into a pretzel with all the twisting and yanking to get that hook out. Of course with fishing advice you get a fish story – hee hee! And at No Extra Charge! Why this set up? Well -with a kalie (also known as a Wide Gap hook) you can catch just about anything. Bluefish -Stripers-Sea Bass-Fluke would be my targets. People will poo-poo a kalie hook because it can bend with a very large fish. But if you are trying to find out what fish are down there – I recommend something versatile at first. The kahlie is perfect for sea bass and fluke and still a pretty stong hook and it is nickel plated – resists rusting. If the catching is consistent, then you can set up your 2nd pole to specifically target that species. Now a word of warning- Now bluefish are out from July – October. If you put down a mono, braid, or fluorocarbon rig or leader, the sharp teeth of a bluefish will bite it off pretty much always. Bluefish are crazy- they will slash your line, bite the tail of your bait and fight like anything when caught. Any they will bite on anything when they feel like it. So it is a good idea to have yet another pole rigged for casting a bluefish lure again with a wire leader. I have a short pole – 7ft long that has a Penn spinning reel with 20lb. mono and a 18″ wire leader connected to either a 3 oz. Kastmaster (metal) or a green “football” plastic plug. That is ready if the blues are schooling and the school pops up within casting range. This time of year it can happen. Be prepared.
I use as bait either sand eels if available, squid whole or strips, for sea bass and fluke; or chunk bait (Pogy, mackerel , herring, or sea clams) (the fresher the better) for stripers and blues. Mackerel and pogy are oily fish that set off dinner bells for stripers and blues. The thing is, in the hot weather, blues are more aggressive than bass and will get to your bait first. hence the use of wire. I don’t know how many times I was fishing for sea bass or fluke on a mono or fluorocarbon setup when -WHAM! out of nowhere a freight train smashes my bait and runs off with it after a brief stuggle. I pull in a severed line. Probably a 10lb. bluefish got me. Just last year this happened. I was trying to get some Scup – which is a smaller bottom fish. They have small mouths so you use this small hook rig made out of monofilament. Sabaki rig it’s called. Yep – SMASH!. brief struggle. severed line. Bluefish at work! If the “fish-finder” rig sounds too complicated for you at this time, you can go quick and dirty. Get a wire “high-low rig” used for surf fishing. These are intended to hook a pyramid sinker on the bottom for surf casting and have 2 hooks attached . A “high” hook and a “low” hook. Cut off the bottom part that goes to the sinker snap, then attach to leader and main line as described above. I’ve done this many times when I was out of my custom “fish finder” rigs. If it seems confusing, print my instructions and go to a tackle shop and show them and they can fix you up. Or if you see what appears to be a seasoned fisherman, just ask him/her some questions. Don’t be afraid. Most fishermen are really nice people and love to dispense advice. I learned about the hi-low rig when I asked 2 guys surf fishing on Cape Cod bay how they set up their rig for bluefishing. They said they used a hi-low rig. I said “What’s a hi-low rig?” And they showed me. Nice, mellow guys. After that I started using it with sand eels and finally started catching blues and stripers from the beach. I admit that was about 40 years ago. You can run into some cranks, but don’t let that discourage you. There are jerks everywhere.
If I could draw some pictures that would certainly be worth 1000 words of my babble!
Most people are happy to help. But be patient and respectful. Like – don’t stand behind them while they are casting or horn in on their spot because they are catching fish and you’re not. There are tons of tricks to fishing and the guy catching the fish knows some. If you stay mellow you might pick up a couple of those tricks. After doing that for a while – you too will be catching fish,
Patience and perseverance usually work. Good luck to you!
Looking for a good place to shore fish north of boston where we can catch some 20″ plus fish. We were using clams as bait but are looking to do some night time fishing with eels.