Big bass continue to file into the Bay State with cognizant casters paying attention to the forage, catching the most consistently. Living up to its billing as an equal opportunity pleaser, the striper bite is spread around with everything from rivers to deepwater humps, all serving up fish. Variety continues to be the hallmark of the Southcoast, while flounder fortunes are best along the North Shore.
South Shore and South Coast
The antidote to fussy fish is a good chum slick. Few have perfected this to an art form quite like Captain Jason Colby of Little Sister Charters. When the crew is looking to supplement the buffet of other species available along the Westport side of Buzzards Bay and would like their trip tailored more to stripers, the captain has just the answer. Invariably, Jason will break out the big guns, which usually consist of at least one chum sack filled to capacity with clams and weighted towards the bottom with a sash weight. The technique is old school, and once experienced, leaves little doubt why it’s stood the test of time.
While schoolies are likely to give chase to the roving band of bait and birds, larger fish conserve calories and hunker slightly down-current from structure. That structure could consist of ledge, wrecks, muscle beds, rapid depth changes, or even the shadow line of a bridge/dock. Anything that obscures the predator from its prey just long enough for it to rush out and dispatch its victim. It’s important to keep replenishing the chum and, now and then, give the whole thing a good shake. Crabs are an ally when an orange or onion sack is deployed as a chum dispenser, as those plebeian crustaceans tear at the chum through the sack openings and spread the love. The captain’s credo is that it’s far more effective to burn through chum than gas, and it’s best to leave the bird chasing to the ornithologists.
Stripers aside, there has been an uptick in the size of the black sea bass that the crew has been finding, and odds are very good that next week there will be a fluke report!
The rivers are still rocking, according to Pete from Belsan Bait and Tackle in Scituate. Tinkers are the trick in the North River for stripers up to 30 pounds. Thankfully, the smaller mack snack is readily available near eddies formed among inshore structure not far from the Three Bays, Green Harbor, Sciutate Harbor, and Cohasset Harbor. Mackerel on the troll just off the Gurnet, High Pine Ledge, Minot, and Hull are picking off slot and larger stripers. It’s shaping up to be a solid year for squid as reports trickle in of stripers driving them right onto Cape Cod Bay Beaches. Flounder anglers are better served heading up north, with haddock being a better bet along the northern rim of Stellwagen out through southern Jeffrey’s Ledge.
Greater Boston
Lisa from Fore River Fishing Tackle in Quincy had a cool conservation story to tell when we spoke. It seems that the Weymouth Fore River herring restoration project is paying off handsomely. Spillover from that run is filling up the Town River in Quincy, and not surprisingly, the striped bass have taken notice. Should you happen upon large baitfish in that area, resist the temptation to break out the pogy snagger, as what you’re seeing is most likely river herring, and they are protected by law. Opt instead for white/bone plugs, which have been working by the Bay Point Marina for fish up to 42”. Pogy schools are hunkering down in 10-15’ of water not far out from the Fore River, which is a sure sign that they are not being besieged by bass. Stripers up to 46” have been taking down mackerel drifted through Hull Gut. Squid are making their presence known off Nut Island Pier as well as Pemberton Pier. A few are still kicking around the flounder thing with the usual islands – Peddock, Rainsford, Georges – giving up a few fish.
It’s only fitting that the inventor of the flounder-slaying Zobo Rig – Pete Santini – might have a better take where the blackbacks are biting. Pete said that the guys fishing Lynn Harbor are catching more flounder than anyone else in Greater Boston! Shore folks are catching as well from Lynn Pier through the shoreline behind the Walmart. That seems to be the trend as I’m hearing other favorable reports farther up along the North Shore.
The herring runs now consist of spurts of bluebacks, but as they tumble back, they will continue to funnel through the harbor, setting off explosive early morning surface breaks as stripers take advantage of the emaciated herring. Mystic Mojo Rigs, 9er Rigs, and Boston Massacre Rigs are accounting for slot size and larger linesiders from the gateway of the Reserve Channel through the stretch between Castle Island and the Sonesta Hotel, near the airport. Live macks dropped in front of marked fish are catching them as well. Vella Rigs have been a hot commodity and thankfully are back in stock as inner city anglers using seaworms are catching stripers from the plethora of parks which dot the Charlestown/East Boston area. Zobo Rigs are working in those same spots for oversized cunner as well as the occasional tautog. Regarding freshwater parks of note, the newly revamped River Green Park in Everett is one not to ignore. Located on the banks of the Malden River, which is a tributary of the Mystic River Watershed, anglers – both young and old – are liable to catch anything from black bass to slab white perch, crappie, carp, and striped bass. This is a highly recommended spot to introduce young anglers with a bobber/shiner or worm combination likely to come tight to most anything!
Captain Brian Coombs continues to put the Get Tight Sportfishing gang into monstrous 40-pound class stripers. Mackerel remain the silver bullet, but hits are not instantaneous as the fish are sometimes keying in on squid and krill-like critters. His advice is that, as painful as it may seem, if found fish are not cooperative, look elsewhere until you find stripers with the feedbag on. Graves Light, the BG Bouy, the NC Buoy, and the Triangle are all good places to start as migrating stripers collide with schools of sea herring and mackerel. Captain Paul Diggins of Reel Pursuit Charters has been deploying mackerel on his trips, which he’s finding by Graves Light. Deer Island and the Anchorage have been producing fish on most trips, as has the area by the Green #5 Nun buoy. Captain Paul’s port location at the Charlestown Marina places him adjacent to the route the river herring take when exiting the Charles River after spawning; there are times when he barely has to leave his slip to find fish.
North Shore
Tomo from Tomo’s Tackle in Salem said that his usual mackerel spots are swarming with squid – calamari-cravers get that deep-fryer ready! Salem Sound has been the scene of surface feeds, but the fish can be fussy. The forage consists of bunker and brit herring, with the majority of fish focusing on the smaller herring, making it important to match the hatch. What has been working for Tomo are Albie Snax, as well as a sweet new little pencil popper from Labana Studios; golden bunker has been the killer color. There has also been action by the Pigs off Devereux Beach, Marblehead Harbor, and Beverly Harbor. Mackerel can still be caught off the Beverly Pier, Salem Willows Pier, as well as by Halfway Rock and Gloucester’s Groaner. Squid catches are becoming more reliable at local piers as well.
Garret from Three Lantern Marine told me flounder hot spots continue to remain fruitful, with Niles Beach, Ten Pound Island, and Wingaersheek Beach giving up fish. That same stretch all the way through Crane’s Beach has been hot for stripers with live mackerel and eels getting it done. Macks are omnipresent from Magnolia through Ipswich Bay. Harbor pollock are numerous as well and make for a fitting substitute should the macks be a hard find. What you will also find as you plumb the bottom with a sabiki rig is plenty of beautiful, clean cod from 17” to market size. Of course, the king of our ground fish must be released after a brief appreciation. Shore fishers are catching a few bass from the Dogbar Breakwater as well as Stage Fort Park.
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Martha from Surfland Bait and Tackle in Newbury told me that while the fishing is good, frustrated anglers are reporting a lot of fish that won’t commit in Joppa Flats as well as Plum Island Sound. The fish are spooky in shallow water and prone to bolting from the shadow of a boat and even a kayak. Casting over marked fish often has the same effect as the stripers scatter. Tube-and-wormers by day and the eel-by-dark brigade are experiencing the same angst. That had me thinking of an article I recently read written by Charlie Soares in the back page In The Wake column of On The Water. The subject was the venerable tube-and-worm, and the story was peppered with his decades-long take as to how to make that striper catcher work for you. One thing he wrote that was germane to a shallow water presentation was to be leery of casting a shadow, even with a kayak. His recommendation is to set up the troll so that only the tube (or eel) swings into view of the striper, and the boat or kayak does not cast a shadow. It may take a little practice to pull off the right trajectory, but the payoff of fun displacing frustration certainly makes it worth it. The stripers are working small bait in Plum Island Sound, which is solidly in the wheelhouse for fly fishers, while spinners who do not have slim-profiled wares are bemoaning a lack of success. The shop’s suggestion is to tie a Red Gill or similar teaser to a dropper loop ahead of a swimming plug.
Freshwater
I heard of an interesting opportunity to fish for trout in the North Attleboro area from my friend, federal biologist Kevin Cheung. The hatchery there re-tooled years ago, once it was determined that the Atlantic salmon restoration project was no longer viable, and now they rear rainbow trout, brook trout, and American shad. Even better is that the pond on the property is now open to the public, and just in time for a fitting kick-off, it was just stocked with some very impressive trout! The hatchery also has been diligently working on stocking rivers with American shad to give anglers additional options to fish for these acrobatic, drag-pulling sport fish, in locations other than the Connecticut River, the North River, and the Merrimack River. Thus far, results from the Taunton River are encouraging, and there may even be a viable fishery in the works, a heck of a lot closer to Boston – more on that later!
Massachusetts Fishing Forecast
Herring runs on the South Shore may be wheezing to a stop, but bass can still be found at the mouths of the Town River and North River. An influx of tinker mackerel is making bait acquisition and the catching of those stripers a lot easier. Trolling mackerel or floating them up tight to a ledge, such as at High Pine or Tobials Ledge, or Minot Light, should work well. In addition to no shortage of stripers, bigger black sea bass may just have moved onto rockpiles and wrecks in the Westport side of Buzzards Bay. In all probability, it’s looking for a solid year again for squid, with Nut Island and Pemberton Pier racking up solid numbers already. Mackerel can be found off the ledges of Hull as well as near Graves Light. Try drifting a mack through Hull Gut or trolling them by Bob’s Bass Triangle or by the PR Can on an outgoing tide. Your best bet for blackback flounder is off Lynn Harbor or perhaps Gloucester Harbor. When anglers can get a rig through squid, they are finding mackerel from the Misery Channel out to Halfway Rock. Trolling macks along the ledge near Marblehead, as well as Winter Island and by Hammond Castle, has been productive. Fall-back shad and herring are holding big bass in Plum Island Sound as well as the flats in the Merrimack River. The fish are shallow and spooky, with stealthy anglers keeping their shadow at bay, and the bait in front of the bass, having the most luck.