Massachusetts Fishing Report – August 11, 2016

Pictured above: Keeper cod are being caught a short cruise from port in Westport.

You’d expect Westport to be a winner for black sea bass and fluke, but for cod? These are truly strange days indeed! The tuna fishing has been terrific on the Middle Bank. Boston bass continue to follow the flourishing pogy schools, but for bluefish the North Shore seems to be the place.

Massachusetts South Coast and South Shore Fishing Report

The lethal combination of the Gulf of Maine cod moratorium and the decline of the species had me wondering if I’d ever catch a cod again. Fifteen minutes into the first drift and two 8-pound cod later, it was pretty obvious that this would thankfully not be the case. As a born and bred Greater Bostonian, the last thing I ever expected was that I’d be traveling to Westport to get my cod fix, but thanks to Captain Jason Colby of Little Sister Charters, his crew found a smorgasbord of species about an hour from port. The proof was in the cooler, and in addition to an impressive cod catch, there was a doormat fluke along with jumbo black sea bass! We even had a crack at mahi mahi, which were sheltered under a floating blanket of all things! If you are looking to really shake it up, haul your ride to Westport and sniff around between Noman’s Ledge and Coxes Ledge; it’s a veritable aquarium down there! And unlike the draconian cod regulations in the GOM, you can keep up to 10 cod per person with a minimum size of 22 inches! What was working especially well for me was a Sea Wolfe pink squid teaser rig. Incidentally, the angler who bested the big fluke also caught two fourspot flounder. His secret was cunner strips on his teasers; the cod are less interested in sinking their teeth into fish, but the flatties crave it. No doubt there are 10-pound-plus fluke lurking in those 100’ depths!

According to Scotty from Green Harbor Bait and Tackle in Marshfield, tube-and-worm trollers have been catching 30-pound stripers along with smaller fish by Bluefish Cove. Bluefish continue to be unpredictable, but what is certain is that the ones you are going to catch are big! Fluke, flounder, black sea bass and even scup have been on the terminal end of anglers fishing from Farnham Bell into Green Harbor. If a livewell full of mackerel is what you want, head out to “middle bank” on Stellwagen, where they are most plentiful. Scotty said that on average, anglers are catching 2 to 3 giants out there daily on mackerel with some doing well with balloons and others heeding Scotty’s well-intentioned advice to “go fly a kite”!

According to Pete of Belsan Bait in Scituate, you can never count out mackerel, and with one on the line there’s always the possibility of a substantial striper from the deeper water ledges. It often takes some scouting around for the macks, but a duo of 30-pound stripers usually makes the effort worth it. The Minot area also continues to produce, provided that there’s a live mack on the line. The nighttime gang is getting bass at the Glades on eels and they are catching by the Cliffs as well. The recent rain should have washed river herring fry downstream throughout the North and South Rivers, awakening resident predators there as well. If you know of a spot where there’s tumbling water. such as a dam or spillway where freshwater black bass may congregate, first light can be awesome as the bass slam hapless herring fry. I’m hedging that the Indian Head River has such an area.

Russ Eastman of Monahans Marine has been living off the “Edge” in a good way. Forty Miles west of Atlantis, he and his friend Tommy Golden put a 90-pound tuna in Tommy’s Pursuit. There have also been rumblings of bigeye cooperating at night on butterfish. Keep the lights on for squid, as a live squid is a veritable slam dunk for all pelagics.

The winning formula in Greater Boston Harbor remains the same, find the ubiquitous pogies, snag one and hope for the best! Not every school has bass under them, but some do. Last Friday Captain Bill Smith of Draggin’ Fly charters found such a school and the reward was a 40-pounder for a patron. The roving pogy school began at Sheep Island and was pushed/massacred by 20- to 40-pound stripers all the way toward Sunken Ledge. Speaking of flies, ordinarily Paul and Tracey Cuzzupe can be found throughout the harbor targeting stripers with flies from On The Rocks, but not when there are pogies around. Tracey stuck a pogy and before it could be reeled in, a 40-inch, 28-pound striper inhaled the bait! They found the action between Long Island and Peddock. Laurel from Hull has a customer who took a nifty-fifty recently the same way by sticking a pogy and sticking with the school of baitfish until that big cow grabbed it. She’s also has surfcasters who are doing very well on chunk off Point Allerton and Hull Gut.

There has also been the big bluefish component. With all those pogies in the harbor, blues will continue to make slaughtering sorties into the schools as long as the bait is there. Lisa from Fore River weighed in a 15-4 blue bested by Charlie Murphy. She also said that the catching has been good on chunk pogy and mackerel from Wollaston Beach and Webb Park. You can never discount the “convenient” shore spots for bass and blues such as Pemberton Pier, Nut Island and Castle Island. Rather than just a bycatch, increasingly anglers are targeting black sea bass with Hull being the hottest. Look for sea bass from Bumkin Island to Sheep and through the West Gut.

Massachusetts North Shore Fishing Report

Joe and Marc Holey and their buddy George tallied 26 slammer blues off Revere Beach, all on topwater plugs! Joe couldn’t keep the choppers off an RM Smith Jackhammer – an industrial gauge spook – that somehow withstood the onslaught largely unscathed. The team took third place in the Nahant striper/bluefish derby with a 14-pounder. Trolling the tube-and-worm from Nahant Beach through Saunders Ledge has been one of the more consistent methods to catch a striper. Trolling pogies or chunking mackerel from the shore by the site where the casino boat used to dock has been responsible for quite a few 40” stripers!

Tomo of Tomos Tackle in Salem said that squid have returned in impressive numbers off the Beverly Pier and Salem Willows. Salem’s Winter Island has been a winner with chunk mackerel working well for stripers between 26” and 40”. There are pogies present throughout Salem Sound with some anglers complaining that they are “too big”. I’m sure fisherman who buy into the big bait/big fish maxim would disagree.

TJ from Three Lantern Marine in Gloucester told me that mackerel can be found, especially for those willing to troll just outside of the Groaner. Big blues still prowl throughout Ipswich Bay, and there’s even occasionally been a tuna bite just outside of Thatcher’s Island. Pogies are around and they are the ticket to stripers from the backshore as well as Niles Beach. In the harbor, flounder are still biting as are squid.

Liz from Surfland said that the best bass are being caught by night-stalkers working eels from the ocean front, Emerson Rocks, Sandy Point and throughout Plum Island Sound. Chunkers by day throughout the Parker River Wildlife Reservation are catching schoolies as are those working jigs/soft plastics at the mouth of the Merrimack River. For blues, your best chance remains on the southern edge of the island out to the mouth of the Essex River. And those grizzled old salts are still buying seaworms and fishing for flounder in undisclosed spots. I’m sure Kay could steer you towards a likely blackback hangout.

Massachusetts Fishing Forecast

If you’re looking for a change in latitude as well as potential species, consider cruising out of Westport. The variety of species is dizzying; pick a good day and target irregular bottom from Noman’s Ledge out to Coxes. If you’re looking for tuna, go “fly a kite” on Middle Bank with live mackerel. Boston remains a case of snag a pogy, hold on and hope that a bass will find it. Odds are that your best bass of the season is out there prowling around those pogies. For blues, troll a deep diving plug on the North Shore but keep a casting rod at the ready for topwater mayhem.