Massachusetts Fishing Report – July 27, 2017

It’s hard to get a bead on the bite when the Northeast blow just won’t let up. If you can find a window among those winds a hint of what may be waiting comes courtesy of offshore.

Massachusetts South Shore Fishing Report

Some might be awed by the recent whale show between the Southwest Corner of Stellwagen and Race Point in Provincetown. But, apoplectic might be closer to how anglers who intimately know the area are feeling. Captain Mark Rowell of Legit Fish Charters said that those beasts have been gorging on sand eels, which are the primary forage to keep local stripers fat and complacent. The breaching whales, combined with a depleting bait source, means that those cows will look for greener pastures. With increasing numbers of pogies pushing in and mackerel appearing to be content to hang in there, our striped bass fishery could be a powder keg ready to go off. Of course, we need a break in the onshore winds to find out.

Scotty Sinclair of Green Harbor Bait and Tackle has had a few scouts sample the conditions recently and all that gray has brought in the blues. Gorilla bluefish are making short work of soft plastics between the Pilgrim Power Plant in Plymouth out through Duxbury Beach. You had better not head out there unless you’re are properly “wired.” High Pine Ledge has been hot for stripers up to 45 inches for those opting for live bait as well as tube-and-worm rigs. “Surfs-up” conditions may be rough, but experienced surfcasters know that it pushes bait, bass and blues into the shoreline wash. Not surprisingly, some surf sharpies have been cashing in off Marshfield Beaches on yellow Gibbs needlefish and blue/white Atom Striper Swipers. For a tuna tip, Scotty suggests you show them bait that is a little less common. Mackerel are ubiquitous and maybe “ho-hum” to a tuna, but drop a pogy or whiting in front of a bluefin and, rather than play with it, that tuna is more likely to just take it.

Pete Belsan from Belsan Bait in Scituate said that the winds blew in blues up to 14 pounds off Fourth Cliff. And there are pogies in Scituate Harbor. With blues around, those bass are expecting to dine on pogy pieces so show those stripers a chunk.

Greater Boston Harbor Fishing Report

According to Lisa from Fore River in Quincy, the fish remain cooperative even if conditions are not. Pre-blow, over the weekend the surf gang took advantage of the building suds and scored stripers up to 41 inches on chunk and clams from Hull Gut and around the Fore River Bridge. The shop is getting enquiries from anglers asking, “Where are the pogies?” At the risk of sounding sarcastic, the answer is that you have to look for them. There are plenty around but they keep on the move. However, the latest intel I have is that there have been big schools by Thompson Island and the Lower Middle. Fishermen pretending that they are “normal” folks and actually lounging by Greater Boston beaches such as Nantasket and Revere over the weekend reported seeing big blues putting a big hurt on large schools of pogies. I have a hunch those folks were a bit distracted.

Captain Paul Diggins of Reel Pursuit Charters has had no problem finding plenty of mackerel between Graves Light and the BG Buoy, but there has been little in the way of linesiders with the bait. A better bet has been to steam out to the usually reliable Egg Rock off Nahant. Mackerel have also been omnipresent off Flip Rock as well as the 2 Can.

Darlene of Bob’s Bait Shack in Winthrop had customers who for a big portion of the weekend found stripers up to almost 40 pounds between Deer Island and Short Beach. Live or fresh-dead mackerel were the magic bullet. Captain Carl Vinning and his sidekick Dave Panarello were into similar fish off Winthrop, but what was most awesome wasn’t what they caught but what they saw. Schools of slab stripers cruising up to their mackerel baits but not really in a feeding mood proved unnerving. And some of those fish were huge. It is late July after all, and the fish are not always feeding but they will be in about 6 weeks. Dave did have a few intimidatingly large linesiders follow his mackerel SP Minnow to boatside only to turn away at the last minute.

Massachusetts North Shore Fishing Report

Tomo of Tomo’s Tackle in Salem told me that the kayak cadre continues to make a killing on fish up to the mid-40-inch range just off Revere. Ironically, these guys are catching while watching the boats zip on by on the way out to Egg Rock. They are using eels and large soft-plastic stick/jerk baits. There have been pogies off Revere, Swampscott, Marblehead and in Salem. Anglers snagging are reporting that they do best by searching out “rushed” bait balls. Pogies which are bunched together or circling are usually besieged bait and that is where the bass and occasional blues are. A few flounder are still hanging in by the mooring field of Salem Harbor. One angler ties up to moorings, chums like heck and draws the flatties right to his boat. There are a few squid being taken off the Beverly Pier and Salem Willows but it is not a great year thus far.

Liz from Surfland echoed what her mom, Kay, told me last week – the bigger bass are falling for metal lips off the ocean front after dark. First light and last light anglers are doing well from the mouth of the Merrimack out through the Parker River Wildlife Reservation on spooks such as the Musky Mania Doc and the NTA Custom spook. For a walk on the frustration side, check out Joppa Flats where pot-bellied stripers are seen but not “heard” from. But unlike little children this is not a good thing. You can’t escape the calendar, big striped bass in late July are very fussy and odds are if you can see them, they can see you and the strike rate goes down significantly. Being stealthy will give you an advantage.

An interesting byproduct of less cod killing by the commercial fleet, thanks primarily to stricter regulations, is that sport fishermen are seeing more inshore goodies. A buddy of mine who live-lines pollock form the rocks of the North Shore has been fining more and larger pollock than in memory. Ordinarily the forage moves off by early July, but there are so many they are still available. My pal Captain Tom Ciulla of T Sea Charters has been catching corker inshore whiting and his son Tom Jr has been having a heck of a time with inshore cod. Remember, in state waters anglers can keep one cod per day at a minimum of 19”. While it’s a whole new paradigm to catch and release 15-pound cod after you’ve harvested a 5-pounder, it might behoove us all to simply revel in catching our state fish again. Search out wrecks, humps, lumps and clumps at the edge of state waters to see if you can’t find your own pile of inshore groundfish. Just check the current DMF regulations before you steam out there; I suspect the winds of change will be blowing soon.

Tina from Three Lantern Marine told me that while tooling around in her 12-foot skiff in Gloucester Harbor in addition to stripers she has been catching sea robins, black sea bass and even an occasional tautog. Those fish seem as if they are in the wrong cape. For more usual fare, the pogies are keeping big bass from straying too far from Manchester Harbor, Ipswich Bay and the Merrimack River.

Massachusetts Fishing Forecast

If the predicted Northeast blow holds true then your goal may be more in line with finding a productive lee than anything else. Fortunately, pogies in Scituate Harbor should have good bass nearby. Pogy schools in the inner Boston Harbor should be heavily fished also. For a twist, there’s black sea bass in Hingham and in the shadows of the Tobin Bridge. Surfcasters may want to emphasize shallow beaches such as Wollaston, Winthrop and Revere where there will be less of a pounding yet still potential for bass. The mooring field of Salem for flounder is a convenient option and then there is Gloucester Harbor, which according to Tina from Three Lantern is home to most everything which swims.