Massachusetts Fishing Report – November 10, 2016

It’s hard to say who is lonelier: shop owners who answer to inquiries with a “no-one’s fishing” shrug of the shoulders, or the thousands of trout that were stocked with little fanfare during striper-mania. With the weather still fine, it might be time for you to reacquaint yourself with Mr. Rainbow and his cousins. If you’re looking for your trout rod, a good place to start is behind your leaf rake.

Massachusetts Freshwater Fishing Report

While this column is supposed to be Massachusetts-specific, when a friend is putting patrons into pike up to 43 inches, it deserves some attention. Multi-season New Hampshire registered guide Tim Moore has been tackling monster toothies throughout the Connecticut River watershed as well as Moore Reservoir. Recent rains have raised water levels and been a toothy trigger. Water temperatures may be cooling down, but the pike bite is heating up. Now might be a great time to book a trip; you can go it alone or schedule something with Tim for that potential pike of a lifetime! Tim did provide a timely tip: take along Bigtooth Tackle Inline Spinners.

Eric of Lunkers in Ashland told me that the few who have been trout fishing are reporting fantastic fishing for rainbow trout, which are hitting both bait and artificials. And you never know when a holdover brown, brookie or tiger trout is likely to hit. Just maybe the recent rainfall has had lit a similar spark to local pike populations in the Sudbury River, Charles River, Heard Pond and Spy Pond. Waushakum Lake in Framingham has been the scene of some solid largemouth bass fishing. You don’t have to get to fancy this time off the year – a big shiner under a float at weedlines is likely to lure in the biggest “Larrys”.

For cold-water fishing options, it’s hard to top what’s available at Wachusett Reservoir and its tributaries. Eddie of B&A in West Boylston knows of lakers up to 6 pounds caught by the Scar Hill Road area on shiners. There is an entire differing world, however, in the Quinapoxet and Stillwater Rivers, with salmon being observed spawning in both, and as far up as the Route 190 bridge in the latter river. There have been some impressive brookies and rainbows falling for lures as well as “garden hackle” (worms). But, it’s the cruising lock-jawed (and in some cases hook-jawed) browns that most ogle and fail to interest.

Massachusetts Saltwater Fishing Report

Even the coziest of crews has a competitive streak when fishing is hot. Right now, it’s all business aboard the Little Sister on the tog grounds off Westport. The news of double-digit ‘chinners has been so frequent in the reports from Captain Colby that is has bordered on monotony. That has changed recently with the reality is that the crew has been ignoring fish-after-fish which would have placed first in the annual Massachusetts Saltwater Fishing Derby. Once the word got out (thanks to a text from yours truly) the ante was upped considerably. It took but one day for Jason and the gang to put a nearly-10-pounder atop of the pile! And it’s only the beginning. The tog will outlast most fishermen by a wide margin as the bite should still be there into December. If your boat is cloaked in a shroud of plastic but you’d still like to take part in this terrific tog action, consider Captain Colby who plans on fishing until Turkey Day.

According to Pete Belsan of Belsan Bait in Scituate, some are picking a nice day, cruising out to Flatt Ledge and Davis Ledge, and having their way with cod and mackerel. You can keep all the macks you want, but regarding cod in state waters, we are limited to only one of at least 19 inches.

The other solid South Shore option is the mixed bag fishing at the Indian Head River in Pembroke. Thanks to the herring fry, the panoply of predators you can catch their run the gamut from brook trout to black bass. I’m not shy about professing my passion for fishing the utopias that often exist around thriving herring runs. If you’re looking for one lure with catches them all when they are keying in on young herring, I’d go with an assortment of Blakemore RoadRunners especially the Reality Shad line.

Striper fishing could be summed up aptly by the expression, “If a tree falls in the forest…”. You know the rest, when there’s no one there to know is it happening…. If you are still at it, you know that you’re all by your lonesome. But hardcore guys like Dave Panarello and Carl Vinning aren’t minding scraping their pre-dawn windshields and attempting to tap life into fingers that feel like popsicles in quick order thanks to the aluminum hull of Bite Me 2. Their reward is that they are still registering 13-fish outings while trolling the tube-and-worm throughout Greater Boston estuaries.

If you’re looking for sweet eats, then smelt should be on your horizon. Maria and Lisa from Fore River B&T continue to slog through estuarial mire to keep fresh grass shrimp in stock. In addition to Hull and Hingham, the ladies are getting good news from the marinas of East Boston and Winthrop.

You know things have grown dark when Surfland is keeping weekend-only-hours! Although there is probably is no better time to have Martha Moulton work her magic on your reels before the onslaught of the “official” offseason.

Tina and the other folks at Three Lantern Marine still have the light on during the week! You’ve doubtless heard of the tragedy of the two anglers who were swept off the Cape Ann shoreline and into the water. Those two had just bought bait at Three Lantern and set out to fish Brace’s Chasm. The crags here are treacherous, and never more so than in November with the lethal combination of big seas, slippery rocks and chilly water temperatures a reality. Apparently, there are still bass around, but you should pack a goodly dose of caution to go along with your rod, reel and chunk mackerel. Mackerel are numerous and big in Gloucester Harbor. There are even a few stripers prowling not far from true mackerel. Other potential quarry from harbor beaches, piers and breakwaters is squid and flounder, which according to Tina, are still around. Anglers looking to catch tuna are still catching them on mackerel not far from Thatcher Island.

Massachusetts Fishing Forecast

A big fish bite, from a species that could take a bite out of you if you’re not careful, that’s worth considering is the Connecticut River/Moore Reservoir pike fishing. Almost as toothy are the walleyes by Barton Cove; a jig/worm bounced on the bottom should interest them. Tog fishing in the Westport side of Buzzards Bay remains terrific with a realistic target being ten-pound fish! For a November striper, a tube-and-worm dragged through Boston Harbor estuaries should do the trick. And for big mackerel, head out to Gloucester Harbor.