It is little wonder that some are experiencing more frustration than jubilation during their striper forays with conditions as they are. Water temperatures are surging and in case you haven’t noticed there are a few pogies around. While you look around for stripers which aren’t sated, sluggish or both, be mindful that there are faster quarry now present such as blues and even – bonito.
There is good news however in that the average size bass that is out there is an impressive beast and that they are resident fish that are not going anywhere, anytime soon. The movements of “our” stripers will continue to be more of an offshore-onshore pattern as oppose to north to south meaning that even inshore spots which were hot and have cooled will randomly be visited by those fish again. As usual it all comes down to timing with a cool front, east wind often being the fuse that will light a feed. The bass beat goes on in that anglers cannot just sit on a pogy school for the duration of their trip and expect results, there is simply not enough stripers and too many pogies to expect that. Those who are winning more often than losing are hitting numerous locations in an outing and in spite of more swings than misses are eventually hitting one over the fence.
Massachusetts South Shore Fishing Report
An antidote to consider to the current cow-or-nothing realm of Massbay is what’s available in the Westport side of Buzzards Bay. Recently Captain Jason Colby of Little Sister Charters succeeded in another limits-all-around trip for humphead black sea bass. He needed some help from friends – John D Silva, Armindo Ramos and yours truly – to accomplish this. It really is a different world out there when a clump of clams on the bottom is immediately inhaled by “something”. In this case the gamesters were black sea bass, slab scup and even some short tog. Jason has however been jigging up keeper blackfish on Tidal Tail Jig’z/crab combos here-and-there. The bonito played more hide than seek for us and the fluke were not too cooperative but it’s hard to complain when making room for a big bag of black sea bass fillets in the refrigerator. The skipper has a hunch that there are ample stripers in the mix as well but we’ll have to wait for next week to find that out. There also should be news next week of “keeper” cod and quite possibly mahi mahi – stay tuned.
After a brief disappearing act, the pogies have resurfaced big time on the South Shore. Pete from Belsan Bait in Scituate told me that recent sightings have put them at the SA Buoy. Just prior to the weekend it was really good for bass and blues off Minot Beach, Sand Hill Beach and Third Cliff. At least one crew live-lining pogies off Humarock Beach in 50’ of water was beaten up by a bluefin which inhaled the pogy. Canal rats who frequent the shop said that the ditch went off yesterday with big fish so the hope is that some of those bass will make it a little farther north.
Captain Mark Rowell of Legit Fish Charters has been catching and releasing Charlie-chasers in the making – namely baby makos. Some view the mighty mako as the supreme swimmer in the sea and it’s a treat to see juniors out there. Mark said that even a 40” mako will pulverize a live-lined bluefish in seconds. The Legit Fish crew uses circle hooks so everything goes back as safely as possible. There have also been big haddock in as little as 150’ of water off Stellwagen Bank. Mackerel are easy pickings right near the haddock grounds and make fine, convenient bait.
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Greater Boston Fishing Report
Lisa from Fore River B&T described the state of local bass fishing as “total bedlam”! And that was before the bluefish arrived! ‘Gator blues are now in the harbor mix and popping up sporadically from Harding’s Ledge through Hull and into Wollaston Beach. With the volume of bait in Boston that buffet is keeping those blues on the move with your best bet at duking it out with a toothy in deep water. Captain Paul Diggins, of Reel Pursuit Charters, is finding them by trolling between the B Buoy and the G21 (east of Minot). In addition to trolling mackerel or pogies, ornate deep-diving plugs should work. Captain Brian Coombs of Get Tight Sportfishing has not been settling for just good enough and continues to burn up a lot of water to find bigger bass up to 46-pounds. The key is to not waste valuable time fishing over a pogy school which is not getting pushed. Recent successes have been in habitat as varied as Broad Sound, Nahant and Graves Light. A loose rule to go by is that cooler water brought in by a flooding tide/east wind will bring the fish in closer while ebbing or westerly weather will lure the fish out deeper. Of course if blues continue to become a factor, those 9” Doc topwater plugs he and his charters employ will be invaluable insurance against cut-offs and make handling those yellow-eyes a lot less harrowing.
Massachusetts North Shore Fishing Report
The big news on the North Shore is that the bonito are back! Tomo’s Tackle told me that he is getting numerous reports of encounters with these speed demons from Broad Sound through Manchester. The fish are averaging about 15”, the growth rate of which would put them squarely in line with last year’s 8 – 10 inch specimens. There are also bluefish present, with anglers encountering bigger ones while trolling plugs. Squid can be counted on off most lit piers at night from Swampscott through Gloucester with a day bite as well. Water temperature swings in the Cape Ann area fluctuate arguably more than anywhere in Massachusetts and therein lies the key to finding the cows according to Skip from Three Lantern Marine.
Last weekend while aboard my friend Captain Tom Ciulla’s T Sea we found 70 degree plus temperatures in Gloucester Harbor only to find mid-60s off the back shore of Gloucester. Not surprisingly the most action we saw that day was where the water temperatures were coolest. Keeping on the move is a must, on Saturday Tom crushed cows up to 51” in Salem Sound and the next day they were gone. However being creatures of habit, unquestionably those fish will continue to return to those feeding grounds, again and again, so you can bet we will not be ignoring that place for good! Mackerel have made a return and have been jigged up past Halfway Rock and out beyond the Groaner. In spite of all the pogies, some are doing well from Ipswich Bay through Salisbury while trolling the suddenly resurgent mackerel. The beach brigade are chunking their way to an occasional cow from the Parker River Wildlife Reservation as well as Salisbury Beach.
Fishing Forecast for Massachusetts
If you’re looking for a break from all-bass-all-the-time, the Westport side of Buzzards Bay offers a much different sort of bass – black sea bass – and while lacking the size of stripers they are a hoot on light tackle and awfully good tasting. Bluefish are finally a factor from Plymouth through Plum Island with trollers working bright X Raps catching most consistently. Boston bass fishing remains great but not for those who simply snag and drop among the fleet. Generally the schools of bait closest to cooler, deeper water are holding predators. Blues are hardly the top speedster in our midst now as it appears that the Bay State left a good impression on last years bonito which appear to be back and have grown some! To up your chances of catching a Cape Ann cow keep a watchful eye on water temperatures: in this case, cooler is hotter.
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What on earth are people doing harassing baby mako sharks? It’s not like there is an abundance of makos out there. If even one died from such nonsense it’s too many.
Fire away at me but I think its nuts to target juvenile fish of any species let alone a slow growing species in decline like makos.
dont think he is targeting but yeah if possible release without removing – not always dooable we had a couple last week on the troll for tuna they pounced
Voice, I get your concern totally. But trust me Captain Mark is nothing if not a conservationist. He is absolutely not targeting baby makos; it was caught inadvertently. He had to quickly remove it from the water before removing the circle hook and letting it go. A quick “non-glory” shot was snapped and it was released. If there was any obvious trauma to that magnificent shark I would not have posted that picture. The point was to foster respect and a bit of awe at how cool these things are!
-Ron
Ron, Thanks for clarifying. Theres always another side to a story for sure. appreciate the post