Massachusetts Fishing Report – April 20, 2023

It’s all a matter of degrees. A buddy of mine while cruising the harbor on Sunday marked 50 degree water temperatures which is unheard of in mid-April! At about the same time another buddy texted me the first picture I’ve seen of a flounder this year. Warming seas may be ultimately problematic but it’s hard to gripe when the bite is happening early.

Captain Brian Coombs of Get Tight Sportfishing was on a striper quest on Sunday, and as he scanned, he noted flounder-holding flats throughout the harbor. He couldn’t believe his eyes as he continually marked 50 degree water temperatures! Toss in the unique conditions of a winter which never did chill the sea along with a series of ridiculously warm days and – voila – we have an April that’s behaving like May. Not surprisingly, when the skipper trained his side scan on stripers of the holdover persuasion, he found them to be hungry. Dropping a drop-shotted seaworm proved too much for most to resist. Generally holdovers are sprightly schoolies punctuated with an occasional tackle-tester, but on this day, most every fish was a sold slot!
 
That got my gears turning 10,000 rpms as I conspired to look for a little action of my own and found the slot play – hot! My quandary was whether to yak it or return to my roots and cast from terra firma. To up the ante even more I passed on the slam-dunk seaworm and cherry-picked some plugs. For me the picking out of just the right plug is almost as satisfying as fishing. At it’s essence that’s what separates surf/shore fishing from everything else – the appreciation and selection of what one deems as the perfect choice of lures. I swear that sometimes those chunks of plastic and wood are talking to me. My wife uses far stronger verbiage to describe the OCD behavior.

There was once a time when holdover stripers fed as much on smelt and tommycod as herring but those days are over which makes matching the hatch actually a lot easier than it used to be. Holdovers hunger for herring now, which are mainly alewives, are substantial and average about 9-11” long. So, into my surf bag went an assortment of what I thought would look like a herring to a hungry holdover such as SP Minnows, Magic Swimmers, X-Raps, Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnows and a loaded Redfin. The first lure on proved to be the last one as a bone SP did the job. I fish with a three-revolution-and-twitch retrieve and on about the fourth cast the plug found a home in a slot’s jaw! My combo was schoolie light with a Shimano Ultegra 3000 shoehorned into a GLoomis Pro Green and that drag sounded positively anthemic!

Sure, the supporting cast of gamesters that we indulge in are an enjoyable diversion but once a striper is on the line nothing else seems to matter. And best of all we are about a week away from that obsession beginning anew!

Massachusetts South Shore/South Coast Fishing Report

While the wait is on for the seven-striped tsunami to hit the Bay State some are preoccupying their time with American shad. These acrobatic members of the herring family are famous for their leaps which has earned them the moniker of “poor man’s salmon”. Pete from Belsan Bait and Tackle in Scituate recommends a low light outing among the North and Indian Head Rivers; these rivers don’t exactly rival the Connecticut or Merrimack for size so the shad usually only move in under cover of darkness. While darts work, flutter spoons usually outfish them. There has been no word on mackerel yet or local tautog although a patron of Pete’s shop did find a few off Gooseberry Island in Westport. While subject to change it is not shaping up as the best of years for haddock. If finding gill nets and draggers was the key to catching haddock, then limits would be a cinch since there is no shortage of commercial effort from Jeffrey’s Ledge to Stellwagen Bank. The few fortunate anglers I’ve heard who are hauling haddock are fishing the northern rim of Stellwagen.

It’s still April of course and for many that still means trout. Stockings are getting interesting with brook trout, brown trout and even a few tiger trout all part of the mix.

The buzz on blackfish in the Westport area makes for a timely segue considering what Captain Jason Colby has up his sleeves. This Thursday is day one for the Little Sister with the quarry an enviable combination of cod and tautog. This will be more interesting than most of Jason’s maiden voyages aboard the Little Sister since they’ve habitually happened in mid-summer and not April. Tog are in pre-spawn mode and are transitioning towards estuaries and rivers where they will breed in May. Those waypoints over ledge and wrecks which hold tog in the summer may prove wanting now; the captain does enjoy a challenge and does he ever have one now! Cod should be a different matter as they may be residing in much of the same structure which will hold tog later in the season. For both species, a crab whether on a bait rig or impaled on a jig is pure candy! I’m hoping to have a personal report on the action there very soon.

Greater Boston Fishing Report

It’s not everyday that news of a mid-April slot bite takes a backseat to other fishing news but if there is an exception it’s flounder. Captain Brian Coombs of Get Tight Sportfishing, while breaking in the new horsies on his Jones Brothers CC, marked 50 degree water temperatures over the weekend on Deer Island Flats and Governor’s Flats! When I got that news I could practically feel those flatfish feeding. Not long after Pete Santini ofFishing FINatics in Everett texted me a picture of a flounder dangling from what looked to be a Zobo Rig with Lynn Harbor in the background. That venue is not surprising because for generations of anglers the shoreline from behind Walmart to as far into Riley Way as you can reach was THE shoreline flounder spot in Greater Boston! Captain Coombs however was not interested in flounder but rather holdover stripers and he found them in a feeding mood with the average size over the rail coming in as impressive slot-sized specimens. As for haddock a few can be found a few miles northeast of the B Buoy but the fishing is hardly exceptional. As for freshwater, Pete’s top pick is the culvert area in Horn Pond which has thus far only been stocked with rainbows but is due for it’s annual slug of brookies, tigers, brown trout as well as brood stock!

Lisa from Fore River Fishing Tackle in Quincy has been working the Great Esker Park section of the Weymouth Back River for holdovers now that herring are a factor there. Fresh from my success with larger lures she’s now planning on ditching the smaller stuff for something more in line with the substantial meal they are eating. It’s quite possible that by next week at this time, I’ll have news of fresh migrants swimming into Greater Boston. The stage is set with more inshore prey already moving in as evidenced by feverishly working cormorants and diving gulls.

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Massachusetts North Shore Fishing Report

Tomo of Tomo’s Tackle in Salem is also hearing reports of willing flounder. In addition to Lynn Harbor, the Jubilee Yacht Club area in Beverly is often an early season producer as is Fisherman’s Beach in Swampscott. As for the possibility of holdover stripers, the Danvers River has been known to hold some. That river also features spawning tautog in May with the Kernwood Bridge one of the better spots to target them.

TJ from Three Lantern Marine has been hearing of a few cooperative holdover stripers as well. While his report was light on specifics he did list the Little River, Annisquam and possibly the Essex River as possibilities. Flounder continue to be a factor for those in Gloucester Harbor who are soaking seaworms among sun-swept shallow flats. Customers of the shop are having good trips aboard the Yankee Fleet with redfish accounting for a significant portion of the catch.

Liz from Surfland Bait and Tackle in Newburyport said that while the shad fishing is good, the action is upstream of the Merrimack by the Chippendale Dance Studio in North Andover as they seem to have skipped past Rocks Village in West Newbury. There are no reports on flounder from Plum Island Sound but I would not be surprised if they are there. South of Plum Island where the Essex River empties into Crane’s Beach is another good spot for flounder with action usually a little later in the year, but this year who knows? White perch fishers continue to request seaworms for the Squamscott/Exeter Rivers. This tributary is a great place to launch and fish out of a kayak in one of the last strongholds of these unique fish.

Massachusetts Freshwater Fishing Report

Rodney of Flagg’s Fly and Tackle in Orange told me that the Quabbin Reservoir kicked off in fine form as 5 to 6 pound lakers were the norm out of Gates 31, 35 and 37. A number of solid smallies also were caught, but for those seeking salmon, it’s been a disappointment so far, at least on that side of the reservoir. You may be better off trying the Gate 8 area if you have your sights on a salmon. Freshly stocked rainbows at Gate 31 are providing sport for Power Bait soakers. As for river action, the Miller was stocked with browns and rainbows and reportedly the action has been good. When hearing of the Quabbin’s steady pick of 5/6 pound lakers I couldn’t help but think of how Chu fishers would give anything for that average size lake trout!

Eddie of B&A Bait and Tackle Co. in West Boylston said that salmon are now figuring into the catch with fish up to almost 5 pounds falling for shiners. The Cellar Holes has been holding big smallmouth bass while the Causeway through the Thomas Basin is best for largemouth. There has been no news on white perch as of yet. While I am hardly dialed into that fishery I do know that in the salt I was told a long time ago that when the apple tree bloom was on, white perch would be running the rivers. While I can’t say if that translates to Wachusett’s tributaries draining into the Thomas Basin, it proved to be magic for me in the salt! Closer to the coast, Concord’s premier ponds – Walden and White’s – are giving up black bass on broken back Rapala floating minnows.

Massachusetts Fishing Forecast

There’s no beating fresh fish and odds are that in a week this report will be ripe with the arrival of fresh striped bass! Every bit as fresh should be cod and tog news from the South Coast. While we are waiting you’ll have to lean on the supporting cast of shad in the Indian Head River as well as the Merrimack. It’s not every April that we’re rewarded with a blackback bite but thanks to warmer than usual water temperatures flounder fortunes are on the upswing in Lynn Harbor, Gloucester Harbor and most likely Deer Island Flats, Rainsford Island and Peddock Island. Freshwater fishing remains a fantastic option with “forktails” feeding heavily in Quabbin along with smelt-stuffed salmon in the Chu. Not all is cold water species or nothing among these blue ribbon reservoirs as smallmouth bass are biting off Gate 37 in Quabbin while the Causeway is king for Chu largemouth.