Massachusetts Fishing Report - May 31, 2018

It’s time for a gear check and just maybe a gut check. Yesterday’s schoolie thrills have been usurped by stripers more than capable of straightening your hooks and ruining your sleep!

Massachusetts South Shore Fishing Report

TAUTOG ANGLERS PLEASE NOTE: June 1 thru July 30 the Massachusetts daily limit for taugog is 1 fish/angler/day. Please remember to check your state’s regulations before going fishing.

Captain Mark Petit of Fire Escape Charters out of Plymouth witnessed a significant bump in the size and volume of bass in Cape Cod Bay this past week. A cruise from Pilgrim Town to Provincetown put the crew into plenty of 32-36” stripers. The fish are keying in on sand eels so you don’t even need a mackerel run. Any slim-profiled metal vertically jigged in front of these hungry fish has a strong possibility of getting whacked. Bucktail jigs cast toward depth breaks throughout the bay and into Plymouth are working well also. An insane amount of schoolies have taken up by Powder Point Bridge. Duxbury is usually a pogy hotspot but Mark could not find any as of yet.

Captain Mark Rowell of Legit Fish Charters in Scituate had similar luck and defined the mass of decent bass finning along the surface near Woods End as “walk on their backs” stuff. Scituate Harbor as well as the North and South Rivers are loaded with linesiders, albeit on the schoolie side of size. A sure bet is to drop a tinker in front of their noses. If bait is the key, then Scituate Harbor and nearby environs is the place to be with all the small herring and harbor pollock; dusk and dawn feature some impressive surface feeds! Groundfishing remains good with haddock hot on Stellwagen and flounder cooperating inshore.

Greater Boston Fishing Report

Just in, around the Hub are stripers big enough to pull drag and alter hooks to where they resemble a pretzel. There are not a lot of big fish yet, but it’s beginning to get interesting. Pete Santini of Fishing Finatics marked some serious stripers by the remnants of the Long Island Bridge but couldn’t get them to take a tinker! Shortly thereafter the Santini tube and worm proved the undoing of a 44-incher off Little Faun Bar. The same general area purportedly served up a 48” fish recently on mackerel. Mackerel remain easy pickings with occasional sorties taking place near the inner harbor.

Captain Paul Diggins of Reel Pursuit Charters has been treating patrons to a catching-in-the-shadows of the cityscape experience as he has been following roving schools of busting fish between the Lower Middle all the way into Tobin Bridge. Captain Dave Panarello and first mate Carl Vinning topped off the livewell with bite-sized mackerel by Flipp Rock and found a few runs and fish up to 31” off Spectacle Island, the Winthrop water tower and Nahant.

Captain Brian Coombs of Get Tight Sportfishing tailors his trips to everyone from fly fishers to trophy hunters. Present conditions are perfect for the long rod with all the surface action. For bigger he’s been sinking mackerel in front of staging stripers off Deer Island. A lot of anglers get flummoxed by this legendary spot when fish are not held up in the rip. Brian, however, seeks out those fish in nearby deeper water and entices them with a mack snack!

Captain Jason Colby has been shifting the priority aboard the Little Sister from limits to “woah, get the net!” As temperatures rise, the larger fish feed for longer periods of time and it’s only a matter of time before Quincy Bay gives up that first four-pounder. As the fish become more active, drifting increasingly supplants anchoring/chumming. The Little Sister is starting to see some tautog action. White chins are beginning to transition from upstream spawning areas to bays and should become more common around rockpiles.

Norman from Monahan Marine told me that stripers up to 32” are falling for live mackerel by the Long Island Bridge pilings., He also has plenty of shop regulars reveling in the flounder fishing off Peddock, Rainsford and George’s Island.

Massachusetts North Shore Fishing Report

Anyone who has strolled into Tomo’s Tackle in Salem knows that the shop isn’t exactly lacking in gear and bait. But now he’s “offering” catching right behind the shop! Schoolie surface feeds (up to 25”) have been the reality within reach of the Pickering Wharf Docks. These fish are not fussy either and are willing to hit most anything tossed their way. There are also reports of squid off Marblehead. When bass binge on squid (usually at night) they can get prey-specific and fussy. My friend Joe Holey recently marked major striped bass between Egg Rock and Nahant Beach but in spite of nearly hitting them on the head with mackerel could not get a sniff. The culprit may be full bellies of calamari. There have been blitzes off the Lynnway with schoolies feeding on brit herring.

Mackerel are usual money aboard Manolin Charters, but Captain Chris Valaskatgis has been finding the ersatz offerings so good there’s been no need for a bait run. On the outgoing the Merrimack River has been best while the bite often shifts to the ocean front when the tide flips. Sandy Point through Plum Island Sound is a good option for drifting a live or fresh-dead mackerel.

Massachusetts Freshwater Fishing Report

With water temperatures squarely in the comfort zone for so many species, Patrick Barone of Charter the Berkshires Outfitters is putting folks into multi-species outings in some of the bigger freshwater bodies in the western portion of the state. He’s finding a staggered smallmouth bass spawn with some on their beds while others are off. It’s a simple case of covering a lot of water in places such as Pontoosuc until you find active fish. Spinnerbaits are a go-to weapon right now and could result in a bass or a pike, especially if you focus on transition edges between flats and points. There’s been a few Wachusett white perch caught lately in the Thomas Basin area. Someone who is dialed into salter white perch told me that minnow type crank baits account for his biggest white perch with hits almost always coming during pauses in the retrieve. Consider it food for thought the next time you hit the Chu’ for whiteys.

Massachusetts Fishing Forecast

Now is the time when a little homework goes a long way toward avoiding heartbreak. There are better bass in our midst and better still to come. So far, it’s been child’s play with all the schoolies, but to avoid a big bass exposing the weak link in your arsenal check and if need be replace leaders and hooks. Cape Cod Bay through Provincetown is now home to slug of mid-30-inch fish, which can be duped into hitting anything that resembles a sand eel. The harbor flounder bite is on fire with bigger blackbacks now in the mix. You should have no problem finding mackerel from Martin’s Ledge all the way into Flipp Rock. Schoolie surface feeds are now commonplace. Outgoing tide at the mouth of the Merrimack remains a best bet on the North Shore.