From the moment I first powered up my Marcum LX-9, I knew that for me its scope would extend beyond hardwater. It has become my “crystal ball” as to what’s swimming below. As you can see from the video I shot on December 4th in inner Boston Harbor, some of what’s swimming below (still!) is striped bass! This was NOT taken in a river but from a totally saltwater environment. Sorry for a bit of the shakes, it was a windless day and my footage platform was my Hobie – it was so nice I couldn’t resist a quick cruise!
What is keeping these fish put in the harbor? One word – forage! Much of the forage consists of river herring, which I have learned in some capacity never completely leave the harbor and are fuel for all that swims here. Healthy rivers are the building blocks for most of the life in the harbor, in addition to herring they are nurseries for shad, smelt and other river-running species.
When I discussed my findings with DMF biologist Brad Chase, who heads the anadromous species program, he made some very salient points. His first comment was, “Why would they leave (stripers that is) with all the bait?” And the second was, “See how important river-run species are?”
Now if the cod ever make a comeback, it could get very interesting in the harbor!
Kudos to the hardworking folks at the DMF, the MWRA and others who are restoring the vitality to our rivers and our harbor – Happy Holidays!
AMAZING, AMAZING, AMAZING!!!
i didn’t think big schools like that stood around
WOWZERS!!! Where in said harbor did you stumble across this? Without Spooking them.
GPS coordinates please ?
Unbelievably fantastic!
I didn’t know schools tht big stood around
Beautiful footage. Can’t believe how clear the water is too.
Great footage. That LX-9 is sweet!
Here in Providence we’ve also had a lot of bait holding their ground still, yup staying put, but nothing in them feeding, at least not caught or viewed. How did you come across them, how did you know they were there
Ron, why didn’t you jig a couple up? See any flatties down there?
JW
As you can imagine when water temps are 42 degrees the bass aren’t exactly ravenous and their feeding window is short. I fished that school briefly and they weren’t interested in my glow Queen Cocahoe in the least. But I fished another school in another area a couple of weeks ago and like a switch they turned on and were all over that same lure, it was wild! And then just as quickly all went quiet. No flatties Johnny, but as you’d expect, I’m scheming to find them!
-Ron
Dying to no more, please reach out to me…again from providence,RI
Aw..right…..good news….i’ll be checking my holdover spots the next mild day here on Cape Cod….I still have a nice supply of live eels in my tank….thanks for the update…good work Ron..!!! vinman 508
I would love to take advantage of any stripper in December on the cape I’m in Orleans hopefully someone get this and contacts me
they were around….he scared them all off now!!!!! hahahhaha
What an awesome video!! Can’t wait for next season, thanks for sharing!
Where in the harbor is this…. the flats off the airport?
Awesome ……but – What if a fish eats the camera ?
cheered me up,i’m oiling my shimano’s!!!!!
[…] Powers, a contributor to On the Water, published a post a few days ago with the above video of striped bass gathering in Boston Harbor. The date the video […]
A lot of shots in Bass river, Yarmouth
Unbelievable footage. What a great system. I assume the shaky camera was from you jumping up and down in the boat.
That and the fact that my kayak would shake, rattle and roll as I peddled to keep up with the fish!
Hey Ron Im a friend of Joe Holey…Makes you think twice about striper migration,,They catch then in CT, all winter,can it soon happen here as well? Great post and I always read your articles,,,huge fan!! see ya out there…The Rev.
Thanks for the kind words Jason! If you’re a friend of Joe Holey’s than you are in good company! If there is sufficient forage a segment of the striper population will not migrate and obviously I found a few. While biologists differ a few of us even believe that some breed locally – I taped a 10 1/2″ striper last May! I’m skeptical that a fish of that size travels very far. Kay from Surfland will tell you about the winter-over striped bass population that used to thrive in the Parker River and some of those fish topped 20-pounds! Once the forage went away – tommycod, smelt, white perch, herring – so went the stripers. That’s why the efforts by biologists to restore river herring and other anadromous species to our rivers is so important. And it is important that commercial interests which “target” sea herring and bycatch river herring are kept honest!
Happy New Year!
-Ron
I believe that too Ron. I caught an extremely small striper in scorton creek up river in very shallow water, with a storm bait, and the lure did not fit in its mouth. Initially I thought I was hung up on the weeds. First thought also was no way he made it up here in open water.
they are leaving harbor that’s y schooled up like that migration is where they are headed to ocean they will return in spring with sea lice
Hi Ron. I am in the process of working with EPA Region 1 in Boston on a video documenting the cleanup of Boston Harbor. We would love to be able to include a few seconds of this amazing clip in the video if possible. Please email me regarding detalls..
Thanks, Marco
This has absolutely inspired me to clean up the gear now and go back out! I just shared this with the people in my facebook group. Check it out and join it, easy way to see what people are catching and where! Facebook search: Boston Casters (Fishermen)
[…] In several tidal rivers in New England, including the Mystic River, the Providence River, and the Thames, Connecticut and Housatonic, striped bass that don’t migrate south seek refuge and become what anglers call “holdover” stripers. (see video: Holdover Stripers in Boston Harbor) […]
Wow! I can’t believe I’ve been missing out all winter. I would have been out there in my carhart jacket if I’d known.
Wow!!!
This may not be a good sign. There was no mention of the size range of the fish. If they are females where will they spawn? They need fresh or brackish water of the same specific gravity that they were born in. This is needed because striper eggs are free floating in the water column and don’t survive when laying on bottom. If spawning age stripers are not returning to their rivers of birth this may be a problem. I don’t believe the reason that they’re there as stated by Brad. Below a certain temperature they don’t feed. Could this be a situation similar to the problem bees are having of not being able to find their way back to their hive. We are using many new compounds of pesticide in agriculture and mosquito control that have not been tested for unknown collateral damage. Not trying to rain on any parades but we’ve heard a lot lately about bass stocks diminishing.
It has amazed me what Boston Harbor and the lower Charles hold in the way of fish; especially over the past 30 plus years, I have seen a vast improvement. Many folks over look these locations still thinking of how polluted they used to be. I know how important the forage species are to the health and sustaining the populations of sport fish. That is definitely an area to concentrate on.
I am holding a free session with Captain Tom where we will hit some of these issues as well as the right methods for catch and release. If anyone is interested, go to
HangoutWithAnne.com/event-registration. I do believe that our conservation now impacts the future for all of us and more folks need to be aware of things like keeping the forage species populations growing strong. Thanks for all of your great comments above. Very insightful.
By the way, I have been reading OTW for many years now. I feel you folks do an amazing job informing everyone of local and not so local conditions. When I realized how valuable the content in OTW was, I started saving back issues that I still refer back to now…great for reading on those cold snowed in days like today! Thanks for all that you do.
Thanks Anne!
these holdovers are in somerville now .one caught 10 days ago measured at 52 inches .
Cool! I bet they look for warm spots!
This is really cool and very valuable information. Thanks for sharing!!!