Massachusetts Fishing Report - June 28, 2018

The phrase “better late than never” sums up the state of local striper affairs. While there have been no shortage of linesiders more than willing to engage, thus far to tackle something capable of testing your gear it took a trip to the outer edges of state waters. But as we near July 4th, it looks as if that’s about to change.

Massachusetts South Shore Fishing Report

As Captain Mark Petitt of Fire Escape Charters put it, the past few days had been a “good week”. As proof, retired Air Force Veteran Ken Sheldon put a genuine 50 pound bass in the boat! Cape Cod Bay has plenty of catching with all the sand eels and occasional sorties of mackerel but for the larger stuff you may want to consider Peaked Hill Bar which is where that nifty-fifty could not resist a live mackerel. The procurement of macks is facilitated by a first light search inshore but even during the day a cruise to Stellwagen should put you into all the mackerel you could use. As water temperatures rise, blue sharks as well as porbeagles are becoming a more common quarry. Jessica Heil recently couldn’t help live lining a pollock in front one persistent porbeagle which was looking for dinner and ended up becoming the dinner! Jessica said that the shark tasted as scrumptious as swordfish.

Captain Mark Rowell of Legit Fish Charters said that the key to catching bigger bass is to target the edges throughout Cape Cod Bay where the larger fish will stage and look to ambush prey. For those looking to catch their fill of mackerel, he suggested that anglers target the lower levels of the water column where macks tend to move to once the sun is up. If all else fails than steam out to the Southern edge of the bank which is teeming with macks.

Some of the better bass remain on the backside of Provincetown. Pete Belsan of Belsan’s in Scituate said that while anglers await the arrival of big bass, there are plenty of micros and 24-30” bass to keep anglers preoccupied in the meanwhile. For those looking for bait, the latest report on mackerel is that some have been found by the first “Whistle Buoy” outside of Scituate Harbor. There had been some good surface action off Peggotty Beach and Fourth Cliff on Daddy Mac RD Bombs. There must be something to these spooks since a lot of shops are plugging them.

Captain Rich Antonio of Black Rose Charters has been finding a nice pile of keeper stripers right inside Green Harbor, provided that there’s a live mackerel on the line. On some of his charters he’s delivering on limits of haddock as well as keeper bass fishing! The haddock have drifted off to 240-280 feet of water east of the bank. However, there may be a new player worth fishing for now that Rich has eyeballed – tuna!

Boston Harbor Fishing Report

Captain Dave Panarello aboard the mighty Bite Me hooked a finned freight train off Spectacle Island which buried his line among the rocks in only a few feet of water and then – straightened out his hook! His first mate, Carl Vinning told me that the fish ran so close to shore that he thought it was going to flop onto the island.

It looks as if finally anglers stand a good chance of catching bigger bass in Boston!

The closest place for macks remains by Flipp Rock and off Nahant. The steam out to the BG Buoy and beyond is another option to keep in mind. Captain Paul Diggins of Reel Pursuit Charters continues to head out off of Hull towards the ledges to find adequate mackerel.

There are still plenty of bass out in deeper water, making trolling mackerel where you find the bait a good choice. Broad Sound through Seal Harbor and through Short Beach randomly has some good fish.

Captain Brian Coombs of Get Tight Charters was the first I know of to spot these 15 pound to 30 pound bass last week. Over the last few days he’s been wrenching fish up to 44” from the rockpiles which he’s been getting on Doc spooks. Seal Harbor has been a hot spot of his one hour either way of high tide. On morning he also found a pile of slammer bluefish there! He’s still finding mackerel by the lobster pot field by Flipp Rock too.

Darlene from Bob’s Bait Shack in Winthrop said that shore fishermen are getting in on the fun too from Deer Island out through Winthrop Beach. She even heard from one of the shop regulars of a 50” fish taken somewhere in this stretch with seaworms.

Captain Jason Colby has more often than not put his The Little Sister patrons into limits of flounder but it’s not as easy as past seasons! Rather than first drop lock-and-loads as was the case in previous years, the skipper has had to search for a pile of wiling fish. His edge which proves to be the undoing of many a Quincy Bay flounder is to chum, chum and chum some more! The fish are migrating out to deep water now with the skipper finding those flatties now on the outskirts of Hull!

Increasingly there are black sea bass in the mix, according to Lisa from Fore River! Keeper black sea bass are being taken off Rainsford Island, George’s Island and Hull Gut. The latter has had a good jig bite as Spro jigs are dropped to the bottom as the current whisks the anglers along.

Massachusetts North Shore Fishing Report

Get Tight Sport Fishing’s Brian Coombs, who called a nice little striper bite off Winthrop last week, might be onto a similar scenario from Egg Rock out through Nahant Beach. His crew caught fish up to 44” on the north side of Egg Rock but what was really interesting was the volume of fish that he marked! The forage is adult sea herring and the captain believes he may have spotted pogies a whopping 70 feet down! Should blues sniff out those pogies, the fishing will be explosive!

A few days ago Swampscott was the scene of some impressive bass on pogy predation with a few getting 30 pound fish in the melee! Jack from Tomo’s Tackle told me that the Danver’s River has had some topwater schoolie activity. For better bass a few customers of the shop have cruised over to Lynn Harbor and caught good fish while bump-trolling mackerel in the channel.

Lynn has pogies as well as hickory shad!

My buddy Steve Pappows nailed a 35 pound striper while stemming the outgoing tide in Gloucester Harbor with a GRS Junior Pike! Steve had been practically stocking the delivery man in anticipation of some toys from Gary Soldati and on the very first outing with a scup-colored pike, he caught that 35 pounder!

Three Lantern Marine said that the mackerel acquisition remains a tough one with some anglers resorting to a trip to Saturday Night Ledge to stick a few for bait with trolling for them with the Sabiki seeming to work best.

Should you get macks, you may want to mimic what Captain Chris Valaskatgis of Manolin Charters has been doing, namely sticking with the Merrimack River! Dropback shad and river herring are keeping the stripers upstream from the mouth towards the Amesbury section of the river. There are pogies around but a live mackerel or pollock is more of a sure thing.

Martha from Surfland said that it’s hard to pick a pattern for the most striper success, most everything is catching! Tube and worm anglers are scoring stripers in Joppa Flats, the ninjas of the night are tossing eels in the wash from the ocean front out to Sandy Point and catching the occasional cow. While families of anglers are doing just fine baiting rods with clams and seaworms and just spiking them in the sands of the reservation until a striper comes knocking!

Massachusetts Freshwater Fishing Report

Mike Didonna of the Deerfield Fly Shop said that the rainfall has literally been a blessing from above! Rising water levels have been a spark to better fishing with early mornings and evenings fishing best. For dry fly action, stick to the hour before dark. White mayflies have been the top producer. Water temps are spiking during the day; to avoid stresses on released fish make sure you keep them in the water almost exclusively to ensure survival. And before releasing, face the fish into the current as you revive them. Above all, always be prepared and paying attention to rising/increasing water flow. They are subject to change always and it would be wise to check the schedule beforehand. You can find a good link on the Deerfield Fly Shop website.

Massachusetts Fishing Forecast

Happy Fourth of July fellow fishers! Just maybe thanks to what appears to be an inshore migration of larger linesiders, the fireworks will not be restricted to the sky! Provincetown remains one of the better producers close to the South Shore, although Green Harbor reportedly has some good fish for those fishing mackerel. Deep water has been the antidote for those tiring of smallish fish in the harbor but from straightened hooks off Spectacle Island to mid-40-inch fish bashing spooks off Winthrop July may be kicking off in fine form! Nahant through Swampscott has yielded fish up to 30 pounds thanks to pogies and adult sea herring. Farther north there are not shortage of stripers off Plum Island and no shortage of ways to catch them!