As the spring striper run gathers momentum, what you’ll find this weekend is a smattering of keeper fish now mixed in the schoolies so you just maybe reacquainting yourself with the sound of your drag! Haddock are hanging in more northerns environs and flounder fisherman are beginning to familiarize anew with the word “limits”!
Massachusetts South Shore Fishing Report
With Greater Boston considered ground zero for winter flounder, it’s encouraging to hear of a few flatties taken throughout the Plymouth area as well! Captain Mark Rowell of Legit Fish Charters knows of some who are targeting them among the vast flats/channel edges throughout the Three Bays and they are doing well. You should also do well this weekend chasing schoolie to keeper-size blitzes throughout the area as they are now commonplace! Obviously an early pre-traffic rise will improve your chances. Meanwhile Mark is finding one long ribbon of mackerel stretching from Stellwagen through Scituate. All that cow candy is just begging for a yard-stick long stripers to crash the party! I have no word on fish of that size yet but in all likelihood those fish will displace the current small keepers as newsworthy soon. For haddock, the skipper is finding them between 150 and 177 feet near the NE corner of the bank with clams the bait of choice.
Captain Mark Petitt of Fire Escape Charters is back to contribute his invaluable intel on what’s fishy out of the Plymouth area and beyond. Mark is a Race Point regular and will ring the bell when those fish are there and what’s the trick to catching them. He’s expecting The Race to catch fire in about a week! The good news is that the haddock are hitting on the bank and there are plenty of mackerel which will be the modus operandi to catching those Race cows.
Pete Belsan, of Belsan Bait in Schituate, said that the North and South Rivers are swarming with stripers, some of which are cresting the keeper size! Damons Point in the North River has been good as has the South River stretch between Humarock and Rexhame Beach. The shad run in the North River/Indian Head River is now in full swing.
Greater Boston Fishing Report
We found it easy to get distracted in the harbor on Mother’s Day. Foremost was the need to catch a few flatties and then get home to celebrate that special day. But there were other daunting factors such as the pelting rain, northeast wind and blitzing bass.
Going and coming by the Lower Middle there it was on full display that phenomena that we long for during the offseason – the blitz! Once the Little Sister crew settled down to business off Deer Island Flats, Captain Colby and friend enjoyed a steady pick of flounder. An occasional errant schoolie livened things up as well. I’ve heard that Hospital Shoals has been hot too.
Between blitzes and hungry flounder, all is pointing to a weekend not to miss. There are 29”- 32” stripers now in the mix as well.
Lisa from Fore River said that she’s selling squid jigs, which means that there must be some cooperative cephalopods off Nut Island Pier as well as Pemberton Pier. Regarding stripers there’s all sorts of action now from beaches and rivers with the most buzz coming from Wollaston Beach and Squantum.
In the midst of saltwater euphoria, the Zobo Flounder Tournament hysteria this Saturday and the demand for more Zobo rigs, Pete Santini took time to text me a pic of a gorgeous native brookie. The origin of the shot was not some far removed northern New England spot but rather a place within a half hour of Boston! It’s amazing what survives in semi-remote brooks/streams slightly off the beaten path. While you’re at Fishing FINatics next time, nudge Peter for the inside scoop where you may be able to catch one of these natives.
Surely the harbor would be lacking without news coming from Bob’s Bait Shack in Winthrop and thankfully that won’t be the case! Stripers are no problem in Winthrop Harbor, East Boston and off the beaches and now there has been an uptick in size with several reports of 30” fish!
Massachusetts North Shore Fishing Report
Tomo of Tomo’s in Salem has Jack at the helm again! According to him, from Lynn through Gloucester there is no shortage of bait and much of it is within casting distance of wharfs and piers! There are even pogies around! The best bass are small keepers at the moment with better surely imminent. A couple consistent catching places are Lynn Harbor, Beverly Harbor, the Danvers River and the backshore of Gloucester. The RM Smith Bay Minnow has been one of the better baits to cull out the keepers from the smaller fish and some are livelining mackerel effectively.
Noel Leslie of Bridge Street Sports said that the Salem Willows mackerel should show up again now that the deluges with all that freshwater have past. Another shore spot for macks to consider is the Beverly Pier.
Regarding stripers, there are plenty of them now with some of the better bets being the mouth of the Bass River and throughout the Danvers River. Red Rock has fish now as does Devereux Beach, Marblehead Harbor and numerous North Shore rocky locations. With 30” fish now in resident, don’t be afraid of bumping up the size of your soft plastics, jigs and plugs in anticipation of something larger.
Skip from Three Lantern Marine said that the fly folks are catching schoolies to small keepers by the Nichols Candy store on the Little River. A few hardy harbor fishermen have been catching bass chasing around tinker mackerel and sea herring deeper into Gloucester Harbor. The groundfish gang is split between southern Jeffrey’s Ledge and the northern edge of Stellwagen Bank and both areas are producing haddock and catch-and-release cod. The haddock are a tad shallower than the cod.
Martha from Surfland said that the final stages of the ebbing tide at the mouth of the Merrimack River are living up to the hype – the bite is on! Plum Island Sound through the Parker River are at least as good! Don’t discount the ocean front however, forever-young Bob Smith has been doing just fine off parking lot 1 while wielding old school bucktail jigs and Charlie Graves Tin Squids. The younger crowd are more likely to pitch Savage Sand Eels and Al Gag’s Whip-it-Fish. Shad and striper fishing from West Newbury up to the Lawrence Dam in the Merrimack River is good with the bass fishing only going to get better.
What’s also getting better is the volume of stewards taking care of our Bay State rivers such as the Merrimack. A few folks have been sponsoring a Salt Addiction Fishing tournament based on this river (June 1st) and in the spirit of giving back they have a river cleanup scheduled this Sunday, May 19th. You can find more on Facebook or from supporting shops such as Tomo’s Tackle and Surfland. Captain Chris Valaskatgis of Manolin Charters is rocking a new ride this year, namely a 24” Parker Center Console! While the boat has changed the same knack for putting patrons onto fish, especially in the Joppa Flats section.
Massachusetts Freshwater Fishing Report
In spite of striper mania, Mike Didonna of the Deerfield Fly Shop reports that many are enjoying good action when the flows subside out of the Fife Brook Dam section of the Deerfield River. When currents dip to 135-400cf Hendricksons, Quill Gordons, Tan Caddis and BWO have all been hatching and there been sporadic surface action for anglers on all or rivers. The lower part of the Deerfield River has been especially accessible to the wade fisher while the Westfield River has good flow and is fishable.
Massachusetts Fishing Forecast
While it’s still light tackle time, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to test pull that drag before your first cast since there are stripers around now that are quite capable of bending a light wire hook if you’re not careful! Among the Three Bays you could find that first hook straightener by Ellisville Harbor, Saquish Point or Damon’s Point. Haddock tend to be more hit than miss if you drop a clam on the NE corner of Stellwagen Bank. Flounder should become cooperative again once May begins to act like it and temperatures rise among the Governor’s Flats, Deer Island Flats and Hospital Shoals. Mackerel have been caught and livelined to catch the first keeper stripers of the year on the North Shore with piers in Swampscott, Salem, Beverly and Gloucester all good bets!
Shad run in full swing is actually very funny. In truth, it has been a terrible year.
The shad fishing has been very slow for the most part due to the conditions such as high and murky water from all the rain. It should get better once the condition improves. It has been a 2 or 3 fish outing for me lately.
On the bright side, the herring is so thick in the Merrimack that you are literally bumping into them on the retrieve and occasionally snagging them with your dart/flutterspoon.
anyone seeing Mack’s in Boston Harbor or close by?
Hey Bunker, I saw a Big Mack box in the harbor!! Tight Line and Vags!!!!