The re-emergence of pogy pods, especially in Boston Harbor, has lit a fuse and led to some of the best bluefishing in years. If the more temperate toothies are still in abundance than you just know that stripers will still be here for awhile.
Massachusetts South Shore and South Coast Fishing Report
As much as we talk ourselves into appreciating ancillary aspects of angling, at it’s core we fish because we love to catch fish. On a recent Buzzards Bay blackfish outing with Captain Jason Colby and first mate Dalton Clayton of the Little Sister, the fish below were so aggressive that I almost felt bad for the green crabs. When not being torn limb from limb by a tautog they were being inhaled by humphead black sea bass. The black sea bass season is closed so fish up to 5 pounds went back and since from the onset it became apparent that limits were a foregone conclusion we began releasing anything 18-inches or under. As usual, Jason and I jigged up the white chins with Tidaltails Jig’z while Dalton did the bait rig bit. A four a.m. casting for cows session with eels was good but what was better was the promise of what lies ahead. We were in a newly “discovered” spot-in-a-spot in the Westport River when a beast of a bass belted my serpent at boatside just as I was ready to lift for another cast. The size of the explosion and impact led the skipper to the conclusion that this current seam may hold a superior class of stripers altogether. Some have been getting 40-pounders in the river on live hickory shad and just maybe we found where they are staging at night.
Chasing Charlie certainly presents unique challenges but a spooled 130 class conventional is ordinarily not one of them. However such was the fate of Captain Mark Rowell and the rest of the Legit Fish Charters recently. In between setting the first set bait and the second, something sinister walloped the whiting and took off to parts unknown in spite of a properly set drag, insane volume of line and an experienced crew! When asked where-to-go, the captain mentioned the shipping lane east of the SW Corner of Stellwagen as well as the middle bank. Bait on the bank should be no problem with hordes of mackerel swimming from one end to another. Timing is good for a tuna trip since authorities have freed up 172.2 mt of the quota for October through November.
Sticking with the tuna theme is the appearance of 16-18” false albacore busting peanut bunker along the South Shore! If juking it out with a tuna is not your thing than what might be more suitable and much closer on the South Shore is Stone Ledge haddock. Fish the edges not the top and limiting out on haddock should be no problem for you. The fish are loading up on immature clams and crabs. An effective ersatz crab imitator is Shimano’s Lucanus. I’ve had luck with blue, pink, chartreuse and orange.
According to Captain Mark Petitt of Fire Escape Charters the Three Bays are loaded with shad and peanut bunker and loads of bass. Most of the action is on schoolies but there are a few big ones still in the mix. Shark fishing is at it’s peak east of Stellwagen with the captain getting in on the fun and catching a 77-inch thresher which sported a 74-inch tail!
Pete from Belsan Bait in Scituate said that stripers and blues have been gorging on peanut bunker just off area beaches such as Peggotty and Sand Hills. The rolling mob is not staying still with the bite taking place on Peggotty Beach one day and Sand Hills Beach the next. Shore jockeys are snatching up most every serpent Pete can get a hold of and are catching nice fish off beaches at night.
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Greater Boston Fishing Report
Just when many were writing off the pogy pods until next year, the harbor seems to have been reloaded! Stripers, primarily in the low to upper 30-inch category are shadowing the schools with similar sized bluefish joining in on the carnage. Captain Brian Coombs of Get Tight Sportfishing has been putting his Humminbird side scanner to good use and speed-trolling Yo-Zuri deep diving crystal minnows into marked “wolf-packs” of toothies. The fish are moving quickly so spotting and moving with the schools efficiently is one of the keys. Recent action has taken place at Wollaston Beach, Marina Bay, Governor Flats, Castle Island, Deer Island and between the PR Can and Bob’s Bass Triangle. For stripers, Captain Coombs suggests the north side of Long Island as close to the rocks as you can get. There have been at least two scrub-offs there from brutes in the last week. Some of the commercial guys are jigging up mackerel and catching their fish by targeting structure downstream of river herring runs. River herring fry will sporadically migrate from their nurseries into the sea in stops and starts and bass of all sizes instinctively know it. Factors to look for when targeting these collisions of bait and bass are current and structure.
Captain Paul Diggin’s of Reel Pursuit Charters is still toppling the livewell off with mackerel and targeting successfully stripers and bluefish throughout the harbor. Quincy Bay has been good as has the Castle Island area with the Lower Middle getting a nod also.
Lisa from Fore River Fishing Tackle said that demand for grass shrimp has prompted her and Maria to traipse through local sloughs in search of them and now the shop is carrying gills of this preferred bait for smelt. Timing is good since a few are finding the smelt off Summer Street and Hewitts Cove. Mackerel are plentiful near Boston Ledge with anglers catching stripers and blues between there and Point Allerton.
Massachusetts North Shore Fishing Report
Tomo from Tomo’s Tackle told me that 25-pound stripers were caught from the surf off the Nahant causeway as recently as this week! The bass were busting pogies and fell for yellow Guppy pencils. Salem Harbor still has pogies but not much on them. Mackerel are also still a player with some taken from piers off Beverly, Salem, Marblehead and Swampscott. Boaters are finding scads of them in Misery Channel with a few bass present.
Skip from Three Lantern Marine was putting the finishing touches on the store extravaganza this weekend. There will be bargains galore throughout with free-flowing fish talk as well. The only chatter fishing wise in the area is about tuna and with the gifting of an additional 172 mt to the quota there is good reason to pursue them. The best bluefin bite at the moment according to Skip is on Middlebank with the ubiquitous mackerel accounting for many fish.
Martha from Surfland said that the beach buddy brigade had good things to report about the fishing over the weekend on the reservation. Seaworms were the ticket and many a keeper striper was taken! Some schoolies were active on Thursday by the jetty as was a minke whale which kept everyone entertained! Other good bets are Plum Island Sound through the Parker River. All has been quiet as of late regarding Joppa Flats and the Merrimack River. However there is promising news from the north. A charter captain contributor to my northern report informed me that the kayak cadre who work eels among Maine estuaries are still catching cows in the dead of night there. Sooner or later, those fish must swim south!
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Massachusetts Fishing Forecast
For steady action right now, it’s hard to top the tautog/catch and release black sea bass bite which is going on right now in the Westport side of Buzzards Bay. Far from specialized equipment all you’ll need is a bucket of green crabs and a few hooks and sinkers or you can fish as we do with Tidaltails Jig’z. The other “numbers” favorite is Stone Ledge haddock/catch-and-release cod along the South ShoreMiddle-bank. The South Shore has peanut bunker in larger numbers than more northern areas and that is resulting in some of the more impressive blitzes from the Three Bays through Cohasset. Mackerel live-lined along Point Allerton has been good for solid stripers while trolling deep diving plugs by Boston Light and as far inshore as Quincy Bay has been best for bluefish. Farther north, there are some peanut bunker off Nahant which is keeping blues and bass in check while bigger pogies are resulting in bigger bass in Lynn Harbor. Surfland is living up to it’s reputation as a surf fishing mecca and a spiked rod/sandworm combo should not last long without a keeper taking notice!
Thanks for the great reports. Can you help me locate the PR Can cannot find on my charts.
TY
It’s the can that marks the split of the North and South channels leaving BOston Harbor – between the tip of Deer Island and Lovell Island.
Jeff, fishes best on an outgoing tide bow as close to the can as you can get. Butterfly jigs are killers!
My two sons and I fished the Herring run across from the hotel in the dead of night low east tides and slack water as well and no action observed. We fished the east end of the canal early AM breaking tide a few hours later until 1130AM with plugs, soft plastics on a jig, and on the bottom with herring. Saw many fishermen, boats, seals, birds, but no bait in the water and no fish anywhere on the east end. Went fresh water fishing and caught and released one smallmouth. Came back to the east end again and fished out in the water on the sandwich east end side and finally gave up at 830-9PM and drove home. No one was catching fish at the canal and reports from everyone especially locals was there had not been any bait in the water all week coming through to bring in the stripers. It was a perfect moon tide weekend but no one contacted the fish to let them know. With the cold snap that happened last night and with two rainy colder nights and water temps and air temps dropping I would pick this weekend to go back to the canal. Especially with all the reports of bigger bass in Boston harbor last week, Point Allerton, Quincy Bay, and up north. Schoolie size bass have been plentiful in Cohasset harbor on little silver swim plugs that look like minnows and sperling all day and night when the water is emptying out. No bites in Hull from shore this week on cut bait. It’s gotta happen Big Time any day now. We are running out of time in my house. Good Luck to those still fishing hard. The feeling down on the Sandwich side of the canal by all the locals that any day it could happen in the canal. Go Pats!
have the stripers made there fall migration on the national sea shore of providencetown to weelfleet?I plan to some fishing for stripers on the week of the 13 of oct night fishinf with eels
I couldn’t stand it, so I went back to the canal on Monday-Tuesday. I fished with eels and plugs around low tides during the day until dark. I fished the Sandwich side of the canal-east end, the Sagamore Bridge pilings, canal-east end on the Scusset Beach side, and the Coast Guard railroad bridge areas. Lots of peanut bunker in the east end of the canal but only 2 small stripers caught 7-10 fishermen. One other small striper caught at the Coast Guard on a Sebile swimmer. No fish all day from 11AM- 6PM. As far as fishing this weekend it is supposed to be really good with breaking early AM Moon tides in the canal. If the wind dies down I’d use live eels cast out into the canal with a slow retrieve and light weight or jigs near bottom. If fish are on top, needles, sebile swimmer, bombers, as big as you can get, if you are after a big female, cast into the seams and flat spots in between the moving currents. Columbus Day at dawn-Lo tide could be the day. Post pictures if you catch a big one. Good Luck!