Tog and trout are tops on most lists right now, although anglers crushing crappie and battling black bass may sternly disagree. Never-say-quit striped bass anglers are still catching fish with the goal less about numbers and more about prolonging a passion.
Massachusetts South Shore and South Coast Fishing Report
Two of the Bay State’s most accomplished charter captains have trained their sights on tautog with predictable results. While Captain Jason Colby of Little Sister Charters has been terrorizing tautog for months now, Captain Brian Coombs of Get Tight Sportfishing has finished fooling around with funny fish and is now focused on white chins as well. It makes you almost feel sorry for those fish!
Captain Brian came up to speed quickly with a “good day,” as he put it, which included a 13-pound beast his crew bested on a bait rig in 25’ of water. Not to be outdone, Mr Colby has upped his game with the cooler measuring mark getting quite the workout for fish up to 26”! If you’re getting the drift that now is trophy time for tog, then you’ve got it right. While those skippers are catching those crab-crunchers out of southern environs, there are possibilities farther north.
The next two to three weeks are prime time for tautog, 10 pounds or better! If your check off list includes a double-digit white chin, then there is no better time than now as dropping temperatures trigger tautog to become eating machines. Even better is that much of the bite will be in water shallower than at any time of the year, the May/early June spawn notwithstanding.
Pete from Belsan Bait and Tackle in Scituate told me that South Shore sharpies have got their tog game on off irregular bottom from The Glades out to Cowan Rocks, Beetle Rocks, Collamore Ledge, Egypt Beach, and to Minot Ledge. In the past, I’ve also heard of them being taken off Maryann Rocks and Bryant Rock. It’s no secret that tog crave crabs, but when aggressive, as they are now, they will scoff down clams.
Stripers can still be found, but with diminishing results for effort expended. With fish still present up north, however, it’s hardly a fool’s errand. When I used to follow the schools along their southward trajectory, I’d load my surf bag up with Yo-Zuri Hydro Pencils, Magic Swimmers, a metal lip, and a good, loud popper. I’d often find ninth-inning South Shore stripers off Cedar Point in Scituate, as well as Ellisville Harbor and Shifting Lots Preserve in Plymouth.
Greater Boston Fishing Report
You’d expect customers to look for grass shrimp at Fore River Fishing Tackle in Quincy, AKA smelt central – but crabs? According to Lisa, tog-mania has gripped the harbor as well, resulting in requests for crabs. It seems that a number of anglers looking for cod off harbor ledges have caught tog with many running between 19” and 21”. Boston Ledge, the Brewsters, and Graves Light have been among the hot spots. While you’re not likely to experience the wonderful aroma of bushels of crabs in the shop anytime soon, they do have crab traps in stock, and they can show you how to use them. Dropping a fish-baited crab trap most anywhere in the harbor is certain to attract all the crabs an angler could possibly use. Proof of this is that one of the major players in the Bay State crab distribution is a local captain. As for striped bass, the few fishers who are still finding them are focusing on rivers, especially areas where herring fry are present. This time of the year always brings back fond memories for me of World’s End. I recall a trip there in November when I found fish off the outer ledge of the reserve. That was the fond part, the part that wasn’t so swell was the 20-pounder I mistook at first for a kelp stalk, which couldn’t care less for anything I threw at it. Customers of the shop continue to request grass shrimp as anglers are having luck with smelt. Hull through Hingham remains the epicenter of all things smelt, with some anglers eschewing bait and doing just fine with a bare bones sabiki rig. A trick which anglers employed for generations was to soak earthworms in iodine – an embellishment that many swore by.
Pete Santini of Fishing FINatics in Everett said that while less productive than a few weeks ago, anglers roaming Boston beaches can still intermittently catch stripers. I’d even try less obvious beaches such as Pico Beach and Corhina Beach in Winthrop, as well as Constitution Beach in East Boston. Those beaches are especially prime at night, being in close proximity to lit marinas where the fish can always find forage under the lights. Not surprisingly, some of the shops, more skilled saltwater anglers such as Ray Ciccone and Johnny Walker, are all in on trout fishing. Walden Pond and Baldpate Pond have been standouts with Power Bait getting it done. Like many shops, Fishing FINatics will soon be featuring off-season hours, so call before you flash. The good news is that the 24/7 vending machine in front of the shop is fully loaded with bait and tackle.
Massachusetts North Shore Fishing Report
Usually, the equation of Tomo plus his boat equals a solid North Shore report, but this was a first I know of while his rig was – on the trailer! En route from maintenance for his ride, Tomo happened upon an angler casting the shoreline of King’s Beach in Lynn. The guy, who ended up being a regular of Tomo’s Tackle, told Tomo that he had landed one fish on a metal lip and lost a far better one on the same plug. With water temperatures still in the striper comfort zone and abundant bait, there’s no reason to think there won’t be a few errant bass still making the rounds. Personally, I’ve caught stripers off Revere Beach in the November surf on yellow Gibb’s Pencil Poppers.
You have one more shot at a cod as the season ends on Friday, October 31st. With gentle seas predicted, you may want to consider what could amount to a quick trip off of Magnolia. Many feel that the Magnolia money spot is a rock pile about 1 1/2 miles from shore, which rises to 65’ and then slides off to 105’. As to what’s working, according to Tomo, the austere Torpedo Rig without bait rules. Anglers fishing off the Backshore of Gloucester have been doing equally well.
It’s been lonely in the surf according to Martha from Surfland Bait and Tackle, but occasionally anglers are connecting with stripers. There was even a brief bait bite off the jetty on Monday. Oddly, the shop has had requests for seaworms for anglers pursuing white perch. While those folks offered no details, I have a hunch that the Exeter River in New Hampshire has been their destination. As for groundfishing, pollock are now the big prize on Jeffrey’s Ledge with headboat fleets such as Eastman’s out of Seabrook still taking out hardy anglers.
Massachusetts Freshwater Fishing Report
I was hoping to have a killer Quabbin Reservoir report for this week, but it doesn’t look as if anglers have been showing much love for this incredible place. Some shops told me that guys were dismayed that the boat launch gates weren’t open, as they were banking on convenience. Hopefully, that will change by next week’s report, with anglers appreciating this heretofore unimaginable opportunity. There’s no such lack of interest at Wachusett Reservoir, according to Eddie of B&A Bait and Tackle in West Boylston. That place right now is checking off all the boxes with salmon spawning in the Stillwater River, colorful rainbows cruising the shoreline, and post-spawn lakers now a lot closer to shore. Eddie singled out the Scar Hill area as especially good for rainbows, lakers, and occasionally smallies.
Elsewhere, river crappie and big largemouth bass have increased their feeding intensity dramatically. Crappie are best targeted under low light conditions, while some of the biggest bass in the Bay State can be found at the tailwater of herring runs as well as places that are continually stocked with trout. While the intent of the stocking is to please anglers, those small trout make hawgs plenty happy.
Massachusetts Fishing Forecast
Should you have the wherewithal, it would be cool to capitalize on the curtain call of the cod season, which comes to a close on Friday. The close-to-shore ledge off Cape Ann has been giving up easy cod with Torpedo Rigs doing the job. While withering in numbers, striped bass are still running area beaches with at least one angler hooking up to a quality fish off the North Shore. Tautog remains a Bay State best bet for the salt, all the more now that the biggest, baddest, blackfish of them all are chowing from Buzzards Bay to Boston.
Freshwater options are looking more appealing by the day, with river crappie cooperating in the Connecticut, Charles, Sudbury, and Mystic Rivers. Stocked ponds as well as water bodies that hold herring are the best bet for a big bass. As for salmonoids, the possibilities run the gamut from trout-stocked ponds to the big-fish, big-water reservoirs of Wachusett and Quabbin.
PSA if you’re fishing the Stillwater for spawning salmon, please be mindful of the redds (nests where salmon lay their eggs) and don’t tread on them. You’ll damage the eggs to the detriment of future numbers of fish for us to enjoy! Google salmon redds if you don’t know what they look like. Thank you!
In that same vein, try not to target the salmon that are actively paired up and spawning so they can do their thing and make more fish for us to catch! I know its super tempting but they’re much less likely to hit anything anyways and the risk of snagging is very high.