Massachusetts Fishing Report – March 9, 2023

Compassionate casting friends have been kindly sending my way report “buoys” with ideas to write about it. Bless their hearts because as you’ve probably noticed for the moment angling options are thinner than local ice. Fortunately, those literary lifelines needn’t be that long thanks to the handiwork of our hatchery friends and reports of some big and very toothy gamesters up north.

Ordinarily about now, Captain Jason Colby of Little Sister Charters sends out titillating teasers about his planned launch and this year is no exception. Sadly for the first time in about two decades, the dump-in will not occur in Quincy but rather in Sesuit Harbor. The reason has nothing to do with proximity to his digs or marina fees but rather because for the better part of ten years flounder stocks have been in free-fall in most of the Bay State including the harbor. Coming to grips with what has happened to our flounder, which we affectionately call blackbacks, hurts like a gut punch.

Somehow, someway, a biomass of winter flounder has evaded draggers and other commercial entities and has thrived in a section off Cape Cod Bay. It remains the cruelest of ironies that the winter flounder stock in the Gulf of Maine has virtually collapsed but somehow all is well for blackbacks just off Sesuit Harbor on Cape Cod! On The Water’s Andy Nabreski who for years annually hauled up to our harbor to join a few of us in a buddy trip aboard Jason’s boat weighed in recently and told me it was a – “good move”! That’s a tough one to swallow. The good news is that Jason is pumped to put his unrivaled flounder expertise to see where those flounder are aggregating and what size fish he will find. To be honest, I almost feel bad for those flounder, they have no idea what will hit them come May!

Prior to that, the “Skillful Skipper” intends of targeting cod and haddock in April. If you’re wondering about that Skillful Skipper tag, that’s not my words but rather it’s straight from the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries. For more years than I can recall Captain Jason Colby has been awarded the prestigious Skillful Skipper award. That honor goes to the captain who has tallied the most state Saltwater Sportfishing Awards aboard his boat for the year; on a personal note I have even notched a few of those trophies aboard the Little Sister through the years – you might say that the guy can fish.

Jason’s not pinning his fortunes on the hopes that regulators will allow, once again, one token cod in April in the GOM. Instead he’ll be setting his sights on areas south of the Cape where anglers are allowed 5 fish of 22”-28” in April. As many who have jumped aboard his 31’ Contender when in Westport will attest, Jason has some winning waypoints in Rhode Island Sound. Those spots have even produced in the heat of the summer let alone prime time in the spring.

My Nahant buddy Dave Flaherty is sort of making progress on his quest to connect with something from the salt off the island. A few weeks ago he saw small whiting being pushed onto the shoreline of 40 Steps Beach, this week he saw the remnants of a far bigger specimen albeit one that met it’s demise quite a while ago. Dave sent me a pic of a skeleton of a sizable fish which featured a gaping jaw and teeth you wouldn’t want to mess with. This was no pint-sized version of a whiting as he compared the skull/jaws to what would be proportionate to a 40” striper, the dimensions of which Dave has permanently etched into his “fishbrain”. With all these signals it just might be a good year for whiting!

My friend also had a timely appointment with a dermatologist who found a troublesome mass that was promptly removed but still bears watching. In lockstep with news of POTUS recently having a cancerous skin lesion removed, now might be a good time to think about skin protection with the new season approaching quickly. That idea was broached by my friend Jan Flaherty who while not having a “fishbrain” like her husband has more of a “nursebrain” owing to her occupation.

Almost without exception friends of mine, who like many of you have spent a lifetime in the sun chasing fish, all have had concerning diagnoses regarding their skin. It might be a good idea as you plan for the upcoming season to consider a skin protection plan right along with your bass brainstorming. How about deciding to be especially vigilant by applying skin protection and maybe even repeated applications during a long day on the water. It might also be time to take a page from our southern counterparts who almost look unrecognizable while wearing head-to-toe clothing to ward off the damaging effect of the sun’s rays. In addition to hats and shades, those folks often don facial/neck gaiters, long sleeve shirts and gloves. If your argument is something along the lines of “hey but it’s too hot in the summer” that holds little merit considering that conditions are far hotter south of our border than they are in New England!

When it comes to purchasing a birthday or Christmas gift for me, my wife long ago gave up trying to pick out tackle so she goes easy on herself and orders from AFTCO’s extensive online clothing catalog. While I have no shortage of SPF-rated long sleeve shirts and caps from the company, now gloves and gaiters are on the list. An unexpected windfall of being inadvertently incognito is you won’t give away your pet honey holes!

Massachusetts Fishing Report

Thankfully there actually are some genuine fishing reports worth mentioning. Hatchery trucks this week have been rolling forward throughout the Southeast District with rainbow trout and even brook trout making it as far north as Plymouth! Even before the stockings I got word from Lisa of Fore River Fishing Tackle in Quincy that anglers were catching holdover 20” rainbows as well as 4-pound brown trout out of Long Pond. Those may be big fish but not too big for the tables to be turned on them by pike in the Merrimack River. Nick “the prince of pike” DiPhillipo has been jamming impressive pike on jerkbaits throughout the Haverhill section of the river.

As to where? Nick does not rest on past success but keeps on the move always looking for new access spots along the shoreline, something which equips itself well when tooling around with a fast-action lure such as Rapala’s X-Rap. Fortunately public parks pepper the river from the New Hampshire border to the mouth in Newburyport so there is no shortage of spots to try.

Want to get in on the bite? Find an OTW-approved Charter Fishing Captain for Massachusetts

Massachusetts Fishing Forecast

Anglers who keep one ear to the ground may hear the rumbling of hatchery trucks which daily are stocking trout throughout the Commonwealth. While other districts await their first batch, Cape and Plymouth anglers are already enjoying brookies and bows. As evidenced by the holdover luck at Long Pond, you don’t necessarily have to wait just frequent the Masswildlife website and look for water bodies that have multiple stockings into the fall. The best part about holdovers is that they have done some growing during the ensuing months. Pike throughout the Connecticut, Sudbury, Assabet, Shawsheen, Concord and Merrimack Rivers make for a nice, drag-pulling alternative.

If crummy weather keeps you inside this weekend, swing by the On The Water booth at the New England Saltwater Fishing Show hosted by RISAA in Providence, R.I.

Also, this Friday night there is a presentation by Dr. Greg Skomal called “Living with Sharks” in Duxbury.

Should be an interesting presentation! It’s worth checking out if you are in the area and enjoy fishing for sharks, or if you frequently deal with them as bycatch offshore.