For some, the striper season has been one of riches, for others – not so much. If you’re in the frustrated category than we’ll see if we can nudge you in the right direction. Tuna are inshore, offshore and and seemingly everywhere but with little financial value at the moment few are fishing for them. However, the one species above all that has been getting the most enquiries – bluefish! – has finally made a Massachusetts appearance!
I’m getting a feeling that not everyone is getting their big striped bass kicks this year. Shop scuttlebutt is rife with anglers complaining about plenty of pogies but few striped bass under them. There’s also angling anxiety from surf anglers and some kayak fisherman. For the boaters I consulted Captain Coombs of Get Tight Sportfishing for a hint as to what he’s doing differently amidst the acres of pogy schools that enables him to put patrons into 30 pound plus fish week after week. For a window into what’s working he told me of a recent outing in the middle of a big pogy school that was surrounded by boats. Everyone was hooked to a pogy but not everyone was catching the mid-to-upper 40-inch fish he was. The difference was a simple one – Brian was working the edges where the stripers would launch sorties and pick off the slow, weak, injured or unlucky. Also consider working the side of the school closer to islands, ledge, humps or other types of structure which the bass use to cut-off their prey. A few years ago I wrote a story about how surf anglers can improve their catch rate by paying attention to how boaters are doing. The same benefits can be applied to the kayak crew and any anglers who are limited as to how far out they can fish. Under cover of darkness or somewhat during inclement weather conditions, bass which had been the sole province of boaters will often move closer to shore and sometimes just a cast away from terra firma. Should you get wind of a big bass bite off Humarock Beach or Wollaston Beach, consider pounding the nearby surf that night with eels or maybe a metal lip plug. The same applies to kayaks. There are no guarantees but I have seen big fish more inside at night so many times that it’s worth keeping in mind.
Massachusetts South Shore Fishing Report
It could be said that Captain Mark Rowell of Legit Fish Charters has a taste for toothies! He and his crew are the first I know of to encounter significant bluefish in Massbay this year as he’s been catching them at The Race. Some of the blues have been 15 pound gators that have had bad intentions for X Raps with gaudy colors. It’s often been said that blues are a bait shop owners best friend and after a drought anglers all across the Bay State coast are thirsting for these ferocious fighters. The other toothy affair that the Legit crew will be apart of again this year is the annual Monster Shark Tournament which will take place this weekend. Mark and the gang have done quite well in the past and even have finished first! While performing recon from Stellwagen Bank through the backside of the Cape, Mark has been encountering numerous tuna attacks, some of which have been as close as First Cliff on pogy schools.
Pete from Belsan Bait in Scituate also said that customers have been encountering small blues on the South Shore.
While schoolies are fare game for most every presentation the bigger bass are falling for pogies by day and eels by night. The mouth of the North River has been good but there is less of a spot-specific bite but more one which rewards patience and perseverance wherever anglers are finding the pogy schools. Captain Mark Petitt of Fire Escape Charters said that Plymouth is hot for big bass but as most everyone who is catching consistently has said, picking the right pogy schools is everything!
Captain Jason Colby has splashed his Little Sister into the Westport River as he does every year when the flounder dry up in Boston. On the menu are fluke, black sea bass, stripers, blues, tautog, cod and mahi mahi. The last two are the ultimate odd couple as in the past he has caught both in the exact same location off Coxes Ledge. I’ve been out on a few of these and the sight of mahi mahi mixed in with 20 to 30 pound cod in the same cooler is an image I won’t soon forget!
Greater Boston Fishing Report
In spite of “pogy-mania” Captain Paul Diggins of Reel Pursuit Charters is sticking with what has always worked for him – bump-trolling mackerel. The macks are tougher to find than a few weeks ago but he’s been still finding them out in deep water from Graves Light and beyond. Often the bass are with the bait but if that’s not the case he’s finding better bass under the surface feeds by the North Channel as well as the inner harbor.
Rick Paone of Medford has been extracting cows from the pogy schools by live-lining pogies at the edge of depth breaks, especially those depth changes near harbor flats. Captain Brian Coombs of Get Tight Sportfishing has been keeping a pen full of pogies next to his slip 24-7. The advantage of having this premier bait at the ready before dawn often makes a huge difference. He’s been finding fish up to 40-pounds off Nahant as well as Salem Sound. After burning the candle at both ends to the tune of up to three charters a day, he was supposed to take the day off and rehab weary bones at the spa – but then the call came in! Of the two areas, the former does not have consistent pogy pods while the latter certainly does. What both spots do have in common is a squid forage base. After keeping one eye on the success of Captain Coombs and others I nudged my friend Bill Eiker into a midnight run with our Hobies just off a North Shore beach. As expected, the deeper water daytime bass were in casting distance of the shoreline. Numerous times we spooked probably thousands of big fish finning just below the moonlit surface in shallow water. There was a lot of screaming drags that night as those bass found eels hard to resist. By dusk the place was a ghost town. During the dog days of summer, for shore slingers, kayak anglers or anyone who prefers working inshore areas, nights are where it’s at!
Captain Anthony Ahrens of Chasin Tail Fisheries has been “bombing” the bass with his prized umbrella rig that he calls the Big Bass Bomb. When he’s not dragging that around and catching fish up to 52”, he says he’s dropping mackerel under pogy schools and outfishing the snag-and-drop crowd. While macks are tough, he’s finding them by rising early and being among the fist out in the harbor.
Massachusetts North Shore Fishing Report
Tomo of Tomo’s Tackle told me that there have been random toothy attacks in Salem Sound! There’s not enough bluefish action to trumpet their return but it could be a harbinger of things to come! There’s plenty of pogies between Marblehead and Misery and Baker’s Islands but not every pod has the predators so searching missions are a requirement. You won’t have to search long for squid however as they are swarming most inshore marina and harbor piers at night. If there is a downside it is most are small with Gloucester Harbor being the exception.
Regarding Gloucester, Skip from Three Lantern Marine said that a 44 pounder is now leading the shops annual season-long striper tournament. The catch was a simple case of an angler enquiring about the leading fish while in the shop. After a shoulder shrug and an “I can top that” remark, two days later the guy lugged the new leader into the shop! Skip suspects the bigger bass are coming from pogy schools just south of Gloucester in the Manchester/Magnolia area. He did hear of luck at Long Beach as well as Halibut Point and farther into Ipswich Bay.
Breaching inshore bluefin occurrences are common, but those close-to-shore pelagics are persnickety! Showing them something different than the pogies they are feeding on, such as mackerel or whiting, helps.
Martha from Surfland said that fishing for boaters remains great but as befitting the latter stages of July, surfsters are struggling! Should you toe the ocean front surf, don’t forget a snag treble as occasionally bass are pushing pogies in close enough to snag! Naturally night stalkers whether it be by boot, boat or kayak are catching the cows! What is working for the sun-up fishermen is a red tube-and-worm. Plum Island Sound, Sandy Point and occasionally Joppa Flats all have potential. Jumping monster sturgeon are giving many a fright with occasional bycatch hookups leading to the unknowing proclaiming that they just lost the “world record striper”!
Fishing Forecast for Massachusetts
Finally there are ornery bluefish mugging ornate Rapala X-Raps in Cape Cod Bay with The Race home court at the moment. Picking the right Plymouth pogy schools will reward with a cow or three. If your Harbor hijinks are not cutting it for you try switching it up to nights and eels for shore-cruising slab stripers off Nantasket Beach, Wollaston Beach, Revere Beach and King’s Beach. Fortunately Misery Island is not living up to it’s namesake but to extract the predators from all those pogies, work the edges. Father north off Plum Island bring along a snag hook just in case the bass push the bait within casting distance. But most importantly of all, if you’re stalking the suds or cruising in a kayak you have to give the nights their due!
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Nice report!!!!
“Early bird catches the worm” in the three bays! High heat has the line siders heading deep once the water temp jumps! Tight lines!