Massachusetts Fishing Report - May 25, 2017

While it’s still early, this striper season is shaping up to be a far superior one than the last few. From The Canal to Cape Ann, you can’t help but be optimistic! If you can refrain from the all-encompassing striped bass contagion than there’s huge haddock waiting just offshore. Flounder fishing is impressive for both the inshore variety as well as a certain offshore magnum version. What more could you ask for, save a three day weekend! Okay, we’ll give you that too!

Massachusetts South Shore Fishing Report

Ordinarily the prized prey for stripers this time of the year is the sacred mackerel but they are spotty according to Pete from Belsan’s Bait in Scituate. Regardless, the hope is that the offshore schools move in just in time to make the Memorial Day weekend very special. Pete reminisced about the near-mythical “Memorial Day Massacre” which occurred a while back in the Scituate area. That epochal blitz was day-long and featured big bass binging on sea herring and mackerel. As the word got out, the volume of participants swelled to where it became a flotilla, but it didn’t matter as everyone caught until arm weary. Well…I personally had the good fortune of sampling some impressive canal fishing earlier in the week and I’m sure many of those fish have moved on and most likely northward! The sea herring quotient is already in play, should the macks make an appearance, oh my! I can just picture the campfire tales now!

Meanwhile there’s a lot of 20-pound specimens being caught in the North River, especially by the Fourth Cliff. The South River has been good too, all the way up to Rexhame Beach. One of the shop’s hot lures is the mackerel Bill Hurley paddle tail.

Inshore and offshore groundfishing has been great! Flounder fishermen are taking limits in Scituate Harbor and nearby beaches while drifting for haddock on Stellwagen Bank appears to be a slam dunk! Bruiser pollock, which inspired the nickname “Boston bluefish”, remain more an offshore affair but those working off the bank rockpiles are finding redfish and cusk.

Captain Mark of Legit Fish in Scituate expects to have his 32′ Boston Whaler Outrage at the ready by next week’s report and it looks like he has some impressive fish in site. His latest intel is of 30″ plus haddock and halibut! A mate on his boat has been privy to a nice little pile of not-so-little flatfish up to 80 pounds! There was more buzz about these mammoth members of the flounder family last year than in years; we can only hope that it’s a harbinger.

Greater Boston Fishing Report

Are stripers ever a nuisance?
That kind of was the case over the weekend for Captain Colby and crew of Little Sister Charters during the Zobo Boston Harbor Flounder Tournament. I had the privilege of fishing aboard the Little Sister during the tournament and the good news is that we placed third and fourth, the “bad” news is that we had many false alarms as “world record” flounder quickly materialized into drag-pulling 27″ to 28″ stripers!

While I can’t put my finger on it, unquestionably this year is shaping up as a far better striped bass season than the last few years. Whether we are referring to the canal, Duxbury, the Harbor or the North Shore, it looks as if it’s a good time to be chasing stripers in the Bay State!

Captain Paul Diggins of Reel Pursuit Charters has been treating charters to flatties fattening up at Portuguese Cove. Among other skills, the skipper is a drifting specialist. A backup spot to the cove is the flats of Deer Island. He has also been putting patrons into busting bass from Hangman Island out to Thompson Island. His go to baits are shads and other soft plastics.

Lisa from Fore River said that some of the more consistent striper spots are the Weir, Weymouth Back and Neponset Rivers. For many of those fish, river herring are on the menu making Magic Swimmers, SP Minnows and Shimano Coltsnipers effective ersatz offerings.

At the moment anglers are working hard to procure mackerel and they’re covering a lot of water from Boston Light to Martin’s Ledge to the BG Buoy to find them. Carl Vinning and Dave Panarello, the former who I swear can smell macks from 10 fathoms down, found a pile off Nahant and then proceeded to whip 26″ to 34″ stripers off Broad Sound!

The guys aboard the Bite Me are finding bigger bass each day they are out! One guy who found bigger was Pete Santini of Fishing FINatics who chartered Larry Koldenberg to a fat 42-incher off Peddock’s Island. Zach from Bob’s Bait Shack has been hearing of solid flounder fishing from the shore of Deer Island. Kayak anglers have been catching keeper stripers on an outgoing tide there at night. For an alternative check further inshore by Snake Island and shore casters should try soaking seaworms off Coughlin Park in Winthrop.

Massachusetts North Shore Fishing Report

When it comes to Tomo’s Tackle in Salem, it looks as if that place is featuring one stop shopping. If you’ve been there than you know it’s crammed with goodies and, along with his neighbor Joe’s fish prints, there’s a lot to ogle. But now Tomo seems to have kicked it up a notch since there are blitzes right behind the shop! As I said, “one stop shopping”! An example of one-stop-catching took place during a recent tournament where the goal was to tally a flounder, cod (inshore) and striper in one outing. Just beyond the Salem and Beverly Harbors contestants were able to find cod and stripers in 60 feet of water! I have a hunch the predators were competing for the ubiquitous sea herring. A few flounder have been caught off kayaks by the GE Bridge and also in the harbors of Salem, Beverly and Manchester By The Sea. Squid and mackerel are occasional but not steady off the piers in Marblehead, Salem and Beverly.

Skip from Three Lantern Marine in Gloucester told me that the buzz about schoolies in the Little and. Annisquam Rivers has been bumped by talk of keepers and up! Mackerel are most consistent from The Groaner on outward. Some are taking them into Gloucester Harbor and doing well. Other productive spots for stripers-on-mackerel are rocky outcroppings along Manchester By The Sea and Magnolia. The tube-and-worm has been hot by Ten Pound Island and at the site of the old Paint Factory. For flounder stick to inside the jetty and seek out patches of sand/mud in the midst of more varied bottom. Arguably the best fishing is on top of Jeffrey’s Ledge where the haddock are huge while the more numerous Stellwagen fish tend to run smaller.

Kay from Surfland said that shad are dropping back now from upstream sections of the Merrimack and mixing it up with schoolies feeding between the charter boat dock and the mouth of the river. On a recent outing, Dave Panarello and his pal Lefty Al caught schoolies incessantly at this stretch with jigs/soft plastics. Kay did tell me that not all fish are small however and as if flipping a switch, 18″ fish will seem to morph into 30″ fish! Go bigger when it comes to what you’re casting and odds are you’ll catch bigger. Captain Chris Valaskatgis of Manolin Charters is finding bigger bass in the mix most every day he is out. His go-to lure is the Savage Sand Eel. Chris says that when he experiments with other soft plastics, the Savage far out-fishes them! Right now patrons are pitching the smaller versions but when bigger bass arrive he’ll upsize. The skipper is catching in the Merrimack and Plum Island Sound. The only disappointment in his haddock charters is the amount and size of the cod he’s catching (and releasing!). Some are corker-30-pound brown bombers!

Massachusetts Fishing Forecast

Thanks to the American heroes who sacrificed so much, we get three days worth of opportunities to fish! Let’s all take a moment to memorialize those who have made our lives so blessed. As much fun as keeper-size to 20-pound stripers are, I have late word that a contingent of charter captains have hit into 30 to 40-pound brutes off the ledges of Minot and Hull. The bait as is always the case at this time of the year is mackerel! Should those fish make the turn inshore, this Memorial Day weekend could have fireworks worthy of the Fourth of July!