The forlorn among us are full of gloom and doom as they can’t find “their” fish in the aftermath of Erin. More accurately, for some, is that they can no longer find the other boats that have found the bigger bass. If your recent lunker linesider luck is lacking, a starting point may be to look towards deeper water!
Before he departed for his hardtail honey hole in Buzzards Bay (albeit a temporary one), Captain Brian Coombs found those big fish that had all but disappeared for most anglers. The Get Tight Sportfishing skipper ignored the naysayers who said that the big breeders had departed, dialed up his Humminbird side scan to read afar, and found those fish farther out than they previously were. Moreover, the very same thing seems to have occurred on the North Shore, with the shallows eerily quiet, but areas which could be described in fathoms holding very big striped bass.
As to why this is a thing right now, I’m inspired by something I just read, which really had me thinking. The excellent column in the current issue of On The Water by Kayak Corner writer Eric Harrison about bite windows covers a number of salient points, and in my opinion, is a must-read.
In addition to the extensive check-off list Eric mentions, I also pay attention to pressure. I’m not referring to the kind that comes from torturous texts from mates who are catching while you’re not fishing, but rather barometric pressure. In a number of capacities, I’ve noticed that dropping pressure often triggers a bite, while the inverse is true of a rising or stubbornly static high-pressure front. I’ve also noticed that a high-pressure front – of which we had been stuck in a rut – drives fish away from the shallows and keeps them in deeper water and sometimes with a case of lockjaw.
We seem to be moving more towards a favorable pressure pattern, so hopefully that’ll open that window really wide and bring it all in really close!
Massachusetts South Shore and South Coast Fishing Report
Captain Mark Rowell of Legit Fish Charters told me that big bass are still in abundance along the South Shore; it’s just that they are deeper than previously found. The fish are following sea herring and offshore pogy schools and moving between Scituate and Hull. Even though the fish have at least temporarily moved out to deep water, their movement pattern has remained. They tend to begin in southern environs early and, as the day progresses, move northward. Mackerel are hanging in there and continue to be the candy those cows crave. Early in the day, it’s not unusual to have surface activity, which is often belied by black back gulls picking off the larger prey the larger fish are pushing towards the surface..
For groundfish, the pick is the middle bank section of Stellwagen, where pollock have become the prominent player and haddock the supporting cast. With “cod season” on until the end of October, Pete Belsan from Belsan Bait and Tackle in Scituate suggests that anglers check out southward and eastward of Flatt Ledge. He also mentioned the 21 Can. The nightshift is putting eels to good use throughout the South and North Rivers. As for striper size, the slot play has been hot, especially at the mouths of herring runs and nearby embayments. Charlie has been busy crashing squid bars and staggered pogy, herring, whiting, and mackerel baits at depth breaks from the bank into CCB with slack tide best. Expect to experience your own personal Sharknado, as there is no shortage of threshers, porbeagles, blue dogs, and even makos out there.
Captain Jason Colby just ended a stellar black sea bass season in fine form with limits of colorful humpheads! There will be little bemoaning the loss of that “blackish” species on the Little Sister as the other blackfish is more than ready to take up the slack! Tautog are not only on a tear, but the bite is in shallow water. When tog can be targeted in 30’ depths or less, they can be easily caught with a jig. Tog are always a hoot, but when there’s little more than a 1-ounce jig separating you from a determined white chin, the excitement level is ratcheted up to the nth degree. Stripers are easy pickings, as are bluefish, with surface feeds the norm. Pack some hardtail treats with you as bonito intermittently bust up the peanut bunker, sand eels, and a panoply of other prey species just outside of Westport.
Greater Boston Fishing Report
Patrons of Hull Bait and Tackle viewed the recent torn-up surf as no problem, as they simply pivoted to the relative tranquillity of Hull through Hingham Harbor. The tube-and-worm has been getting it done at the mouth of the Weir River, through World’s End, and out to Spinnaker Island. Anglers dragging umbrella rigs with white teasers have been catching as well.
Lisa from Fore River Fishing Tackle in Quincy is also selling a lot of tubes for anglers catching stripers near the Town River, Weymouth Back River, Weymouth Fore River, and the Neponset River. If you find herring fry, chances are you’ll find striped bass. With pogies still present, anglers should look for tightly wound pods, which usually indicate that there are stripers pressuring the bait. Wollaston Beach is still holding pogies, as is Marina Bay. Some at Marina Bay are trying for smelt as the shop is increasingly fielding questions from customers hoping that they are keeping grass shrimp in stock. The answer at the moment is no, but they are considering it to meet demand. As for cod, try the stretch which was at one time known as the “cod run: Thieves Ledge through Three-and-One-half Ledge.
Captain Paul Diggins of Reel Pursuit Charters continues to see squid and herring fry swarming around the docks at his home port at the Charlestown Marina. Recently, he got into a solid bite for bass and blues off Revere Beach with umbrella rigs doing the damage.
Pete Santini of Fishing FINatics in Everett told me that anglers are traveling a short distance from the shop with Tusano and red Santini Tubes and a few dozen seaworms and enjoying a nice pic of schoolies and slots a short distance away. The Amelia Earhart Dam has been good, as has the area by Encore, the Alford Street Bridge, by the Shraffts building, and out to the Chelsea Creek. Spectacle Island has been the scene of surface feeds, as have Faun Bar through Seal Harbor. As for an in-close cod, pelican green teasers/jigs have been getting it done over an irregular bottom between Graves Light and the B Buoy. However, most, such as Hans Petersen and Johnny Walker, are making the farther trip to Tillies Ledge and mixing in a few other gadoids with the cod.
Massachusetts North Shore Fishing Report
The sizzling Salem Harbor bite, which Tomo of Tomo’s Tackle had been touting, had cooled down a bit with mainly an intermittent slot bite left. Schoolies through slot stripers have been taking down tubes by the Danvers River. The good news is that larger fish can be found among offshore pogy schools just east of the sound in depths of 110-140’ of water. Anglers have been marking the cows around clouds of bait and then dropping a mackerel into the mix, which is proving too hard to ignore. Every once in a while, the fish shove bait towards the surface, rewarding anglers who are prepared with a topwater. As for an accessible cod, Tinkers Island, Halfway Rock, and Saturday Night Ledge are all promising options. As water temperatures begin to cool, a few might also be found close to Dread Ledge.
TJ from Three Lantern Marine in Gloucester said that anglers are finding mackerel and harbor pollock inside Gloucester Harbor. Good bets for a bass bite are at the mouths of the Annisquam, Essex, and Ipswich Rivers. There have been surface feeds sporadically in Manchester Harbor as well as outside of Magnolia. Also outside of Magnolia are keeper cod with Southern Jeffrey’s Ledge serving up pollock, cusk, whiting, and a few haddock to go along with the one cod limit.
As long as Martha from Surfland Bait and Tackle has been in the bait business, she still loves to hear of angling success. Recently, a very excited angler came into the shop boasting about his best day ever off the ocean front. The scene was Parking Lot 6 at the refuge, among the rocks, with the angler having a day with topwater lures for both bass and blues. There has also been news of slot stripers inside the Merrimack River as well as Plum Island Sound with cooler water temperatures ushered in with an incoming tide mattering. Expect that to change as upstream water temperatures chill over the next few weeks, and the bite is more spread out among tidal patterns. Bait soakers continue to enjoy the refuge-wide access of the Parker River Wildlife Reservation with seaworms, clams, and chunk mackerel all having their fans and all catching fish. The bump in sand eel numbers remains one of the talking points of Plum Island regulars and is resulting in increased sales of Deadly Dicks, Ava Jigs, Kastmasters, and Hopkins spoons.
Massachusetts Fishing Forecast
The very definition of a spoiled sportsman has to be anglers complaining as they catch 30 to 34” striped bass! Such is the almost alternative universe anglers have been used to, thanks to what for some, felt like an infinite school of very big stripers. Those drag-pullers are still in residence but, at least for the time being, have been more inclined to stick to deeper water. Anglers loading up on macks are finding the fish due east of Egypt Beach as well as Black Rock Beach. Schoolies and slots can be found near rivers that support herring runs thanks to the hapless fry migrating out into nearby bays. Cod can be caught near Flatt Ledge, off Hull, as well as among humps and clumps between Graves Light and the B Buoy. For some, the prospects of one cod per person is not nearly as attractive as a possible mixture of groundfish, such as what you’ll find at Middlebank, Tillies Ledge, and Southern Jeffrey’s Ledge. Buzzards Bay continues to loom large as tautog are becoming a top draw among this multi-species Mecca.
Nice fish off deluxbury bch down, swarms of schoolies on fry in the three B’s. Tightlines
Cow’s swimm’in on deluxbury bch…Tight lines.