Massachusetts Fishing Report – April 16, 2020

In a time when socially acceptable distancing has become a grim reality, seven-striped salvation is on the way! While the first wave of schoolies will be random and the fish reckless, the larger fish will be more composed and once they settle in they will be night-stalkers. Because not every angler is comfortable with things that go bump in the night, if you don’t mind the graveyard shift you should have no problem keeping a safe distance!

While odds are that we are about two weeks away for that fist schoolie sortie, for GOM haddock – it’s game on! Fresh from opening day, I’ve been hearing positive reports of numerous fish and big fish. I spoke to a number of charter captains and in spite of previous bookings, COVID-19 has them in a “wait-and-see” pattern. Captain Jason Colby however is dumping in his Little Sister on Friday and plans are to set sail for the haddock grounds this weekend. The skipper intends on fishing safely and will outfit his patrons with the appropriate PPE and require anglers to maintain a safe distance from each other, something which should be possible on his 31’ Contender. What he most likely will find is haddock and other gadoids in closer than usual because there appears to be less commercial effort due to the lower price they are fetching for fish. From Green Harbor to Gloucester, lobster fishermen continue to find haddock and other critters in their traps. No doubt about it, the possibility of hooking a haddock in close is real and just maybe there is the opportunity to even hook a haddock from shore – but more on that later!

Massachusetts South Shore Fishing Report

Pete Belsan from Belsan Bait and Tackle in Scituate said that schoolies in the North River now begat the question, “fresh fish or holdovers”? Of course some would say that any striper on the line in April is pretty neat, but Pete is leaning towards the fish being holdovers.

There continues to be more shad action in the North and Indian Head Rivers.

Few have been focusing on flounder so far but Captain Mark Rowell of Legit Fish Charters has been hearing of flounder in Cohasset and Hingham harbors. While he has no proof, the skipper has a hunch they are getting active in Scituate Harbor as well. Next week he intends on splashing his 32’ Whaler Outrage back into Scituate Harbor. For a short-haul, haddock spot on the South Shore, Mark suggests Stone Ledge as a good choice and it is only about three miles from shore!

Mackerel are being reported throughout Cape Cod Bay and can be found as close as the first bell outside of Scituate Harbor. Captain Mark Petitt of Fire Escape Charters has been putting this downtime to good use and has made a host of improvements to his boat. While he’s holding off on charters for the time being, next week he intends on sniffing around to find where the haddock are lurking. Knowing Mark, I’m pretty sure he’ll clue us in as to where he finds them.

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Greater Boston Fishing Report

Come mid-April, usually customers of Fore River Fishing Tackle in Quincy are longing to add some salt to their fishing but according to Lisa, trout fishing is so spectacular that most are content with that. Tiger trout up to 20” have added special spice to the mixed bag of species from Masswildlife. Good reports are trickling in from Jacob’s Pond, Houghton’s Pond and Whitman’s Pond. Whitman’s and Jacob’s have also been good for largemouth bass with shiners the best bet. With river water temperatures cresting 50 degrees along with increasing numbers of holdover striped bass chasing herring, fishing among Greater Boston rivers and estuaries is getting increasingly active. While most holdovers are schoolies, your odds of catching one big enough to dispatch an 11-inch alewife increase dramatically at night.

Pete Santini of Fishing FINatics in Everett told me that he’s never moved so much Power Bait, worms and shiners thanks to the unprecedented trout stocking in area water bodies. As to where, the better question may be “where not”? Sluice, Griswold, Horn, Spot, Silver, Walden, White – name it and folks are crowing about the outstanding trout fishing.

Harbor holdovers continue to provide an alternative to sweetwater fishing and Captain Brian Coombs of Get Tight Sportfishing shook off the dust recently and found that a red Santini tube and seaworm combination is a tough tandem to beat! Brian has one eye on his prime early season Buzzards Bay bass spot and he has a hunch it’ll not only explode by the end of April but it will be a topwater bite! For a hint where the larger linesiders are, find where the herring are bunched up and you’ll find the bigger bass.

Pete Santini is hearing of impressive haddock fishing in close. With reports of fish inshore, it might be worth giving it a go by the outer islands of the harbor, after all the state record haddock (a tie) was caught by Boston Light. Granted that was during a time when most everything was more plentiful but you never know. And while it may be a stretch, during my tenure writing this column I’ve reported anglers finding haddock off the Nut Island Pier at this time of the year.

Massachusetts North Shore Fishing Report

Tomo of Tomo’s Tackle in Salem said that the shop has been busy outfitting anglers for the imminent arrival of striped bass. One of the hotter baits across the striper coast in recent years has been the Al Gag’s Whip-it Fish and Tomo has in stock every version imaginable right now. For haddock in that area consider Halfway Rock, Saturday Night Ledge and Hills 47 and 101. Bridge Street Sports in Salem is the only Massachusetts shop left which has a stable of seaworm diggers and the owner – Noel Leslie – is the uncontested best. Noel told me that a few flounder are being caught by the mouth of the Danvers River and boaters mooring their craft are seeing schools of small stripers swimming around!

Farther up the North Shore, Skip from Three Lantern Marine said that the Gloucester has closed the public ramp to recreational use of any kind! That’s especially frustrating because reports from lobster fishermen are that they are finding haddock in their traps close to shore! Skip did say that Halibut Point was just the place to maybe catch a haddock from shore owing to the area’s proximity to 110’ depths! A better bet, of course, is on top of Jeffrey’s Ledge where on Wednesday I know of anglers who limited out quickly with many impressive specimens and they also found a smattering of plate-sized redfish and big cusk. The shop will be carrying seaworms for those who would like to focus on flounder. Three local spots to consider for flounder is the beach by Beauport Hotel, the inner arm of the Dogbar Breakwater and Ten Pound Island.

Martha from Surfland said that Newburyport is not immune to pandemic public access closings but Parking Lot 1 in the Parker River Wildlife Reservation remains open. While general beach parking is closed, there are enough smaller spots where anglers can park and fish Plum Island. That’s timely news because the first wave of stripers should strike early next month. Meanwhile while hardly epical, more shad are being caught in the Rocks Village area of the Merrimack River.

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Massachusetts Fishing Forecast

Although it’s early, it appears that an unexpected consequence of COVID-19 is less nets and more inshore life. Anglers looking to shake off the rust from their rides are finding plenty of haddock off Stone Ledge and among inshore structure off the North Shore. With friendlier temperatures and more forage, Bay State holdover stripers now have a larger feeding window and where the herring lurk you’ll find the better bass, especially at night. Many still can’t shake the tremendous trout fishing with anglers catching not only the garden variety rainbow, brown and brook trout but even the occasional “tiger” by the tail!