Massachusetts Fishing Report – April 9, 2020

Above: Nicolas Gontijo sent this photo of a South Coast Massachusetts holdover striper. 

While the world of the angler has been rocked, the fish seem to be coping just fine. The few lobstermen who are out there looking for “bugs” are reporting a ton of inshore bait as well as haddock crammed into their traps! The first shad reports are in, holdover stripers continue to be buzz-worthy and there are even reports of flounder and salter white perch.

Massachusetts Fishing Report

While most B&Ts are keeping hours that would give a soothsayer pause, Pete Belsan of Belsan Bait and Tackle in Scituate is Mr. Reliablity. What’s also becoming increasingly reliable is river herring which have woken up holdover stripers in the North River, especially by the site of the old Mary’s Boatyard stretch of the river. Other herring-watchers such as seals and ospreys are a surefire indicator that there are more to come.

The first shad have already been caught in the Indian Head River and as always the bite is best between dusk and dawn.

Sadly the traditional euphoria which greets opening day for the haddock season – Wednesday the 15th – has not been embraced with the usual fanfare. However, should you have a boat at the ready the good news regarding these and other gadoids is that they are in close and are plentiful! This is almost certainly a result of less commercial effort since the current return for seafood is not worth the effort for most of the fleet. I’m also hearing of an unusual volume of sea herring in close.

Trout is still the most popular fishing pastime and anglers who are scoring, stealthy big browns in Plymouth are doing so at night with Zara Puppys of all things. Imagine that, an early April freshwater nighttime top-water bite, you don’t hear of that every year!

Mark from Monahan’s Marine has been trapping his own shiners and doing well on trout from Plymouth through Greater Boston. With more herring cruising the river systems along with near-50 degree inshore water temperatures, holdover stripers are getting more active.

Noel Leslie from Bridge Street Sports in Salem told me that a reliable source of his observed schoolie stripers swimming under his kayak as he pedaled along in a Beverly estuary. The question increasingly will be: are these fish fresh or holdovers? Noel spends more time playing with mud than a spa worker and he’s keeping seaworms continually in stock now. That’s good news because a few flounder have been cooperative off the Beverly Pier. They are probably also stirring off Swampscott and in Lynn Harbor. A few harbor pollock and mackerel have been adding to the catch.

Tomo from Tomo’s Tackle in Salem told me that in addition to spooling fresh line and outfitting patrons with premium gear he’s been pointing folks towards the white perch run in Great Bay. While most folks fish this place with bait, the salters will hit anything which resembles a small baitfish or shrimp.

Donny from Merrimack Sports is stocking seaworms and bloodworms, with the latter really moving! Once a staple in shops in these parts, bloodworms are tougher than seaworms and make for excellent/durable bait. Kayak anglers have really taken to the white perch run among the Great Bay tributaries and the utility of their craft is giving them a real access edge over shore fisherman who due to the social distancing reality are finding it hard to secure a spot. Donny also has heard of holdover stripers in the Parker River along with a few white perch.

Martha of Surfland told me that the first shad that she knew of was taken from the West Newbury section of the Merrimack River. The shop has no shortage of shad darts as well as those deadly flutter spoons.

By now you have most likely heard that opening day for Wachusett Reservoir and Quabbin Reservoir has been delayed to at least May 9th. This is cataclysmic news for shop owners such as Eddie of B&A in West Boylston and Rod from Flagg’s in Orange. These guys, especially Eddie “butter their bred” in April and this news is for devastating for these small business owners. Their inventory of lake trout, salmon and smallmouth bass gear is as full as it could ever be, so consider loading up for May now, it will be here before you know it!

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Massachusetts Fishing Forecast

Increasingly the salty side of things is supplanting sweetwater. Sea-going options include inshore haddock as of next Wednesday as well as white perch, flounder, holdover stripers and shad. That’s not to discount all that is freshwater, with some taken to tempting top-water trophy brown trout in Plymouth.