Ordinarily, the talk of the town in Mid-September is about stripers, stripers, and more stripers, but right now groundfish are creating the biggest stir! Charter captains are booked, headboats are full, and even kayakers are getting in on the cod craze in spite of the regulation limitations.
It didn’t take much for Bay State anglers to renew their love affair for the official state fish – the Atlantic cod. The slim window that regulators have given recreational anglers, which allows them to keep one cod per person per day of at least 21” in the Gulf Of Maine as well as state waters has been embraced overwhelmingly. Shops are selling jigs, rigs, clams, and other groundfish goodies at a rate that harkens back to yesteryear. Moreover, fishermen are finding cod in close as well as among more noted off-shore locations such as Jeffreys Ledge, Tillies Bank and Stellwagen Bank.
The timing for this is perfect because the reality is that many of our resident striped bass, especially the larger breeders, have beat it out of town! Don’t get me wrong, there will still be plenty of mixed sizes of striped bass as well as cows to catch well into October, but for the duration of the season you’ll have to work harder for them than you did a few weeks ago. Talk now is transiting from pogies, mackerel, SP Minnows, Magic Swimmers, and RonZs to Cod Bombs, Norwegian Jigs, Cod Flies and clams. On a recent outing with my friend Captain Tom Ciulla aboard the T-Sea it was easy to see why. For eight straight hours while poking around among deepwater basins, we found non-stop action on haddock, cod, cusk and pollock. In addition to eating well, sleep was easy to come by that night. Regarding the eating part, few bleed out their groundfish catch before putting it in the cooler. My friend, however, sold me on the value of this measure. Haddock which are bled immediately have a translucent fillet as opposed to opaque white when not bled. Far from being persnickety, there’s a purpose to the effort and the difference on the dinner table is huge! Try it, you’ll like it!
The rig that did the most damage for me was a pink/white Sea Wolfe Cod Bomb tied below a pink Cod Fly tipped with a pink Gulp Swimming Mullet. The Cod Bomb has been one of my groundfish favorites for years, it plummets to the bottom within seconds, catches as good as anything and the single hook/tube on the bottom of the bait snags up less and does less damage to fish which I release. The fact that the company is based in New Hampshire doesn’t hurt either in my opinion. However, all these good cod vibrations ends on September 30th so get out while you can!
Massachusetts South Shore and South Coast Fishing Report
While most any groundfish is a score, in these parts hooking a halibut is tops. Captain Mark Rowell of Legit Fish Charters recently put a charter on a trip for the ages. While at anchor looking for a Charlie, a deep-set line with a 24-inch whiting went off. But instead of a tuna, the charter came tight to 56 inches and 100 pounds of halibut. What was most amazing is that this “groundfish” rocketed off the bottom from 90’ down to hit that whiting! The crew also put their guest into a 55-inch tuna! It’s hard to imagine what Legit Fish will do for an encore the next time they take that guy out!
Captain Mark Petitt of Fire Escape Charters got into a bunch of cod on their maiden attempt on Sunday and they found fish among structure/ledge in 100 feet of water not far from clearing the Three Bays! Near port in Plymouth, the skipper and crew are still catching blues and keeper striped bass. While pogies are gone, mackerel can still be found with deeper water searches more successful than in close.
Pete Belsan of Belsan Bait in Scituate said that 1- to 2-pound snapper blues are an unexpected catch suddenly on the South Shore and they are not fussy. Tog have been targeted successfully among the Tar Pouch and are hitting the ubiquitous green crabs. Schoolies are no problem but the best bass Pete’s hearing of is from those using eels and live mackerel by Third and Fourth Cliffs. Macks are best located by chumming by Stone Ledge.
For Captain Jason Colby, cod is no big deal aboard the Little Sister since he’s been putting charters into them for over a month between Coxes Ledge and Buzzards Bay and with water temperatures due to take a nose-dive, those fish will only get more active and closer to port in Westport. Primarily the skipper is targeting tautog by day and eeling for stripers at night in the Westport River. Charters on Jason’s boat have finished first in the tog category many times in the state saltwater fishing derby and he’s expecting that first double-digit fish to be caught any day.
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Greater Boston Fishing Report
When we spoke on Wednesday, Captain Paul Diggins of Reel Pursuit Charters was biding his time just waiting for the seas to subside as he expected Egg Rock off Nahant to go off! The fusillade of texts that he sent me the next day of blues and bass to 36-inches was proof that his instincts were good! While pogies have pulled the migrating move, as long as we have mackerel there will be big bass and blues lurking not far away and the latest spot Paul’s been finding the forage is near the BG Buoy.
After a brief hiatus, striking fear in the hearts of many a funny fish around the Cape, Captain Brian Coombs of Get Tight Sportfishing is back in Boston and ready to the final month of the bass and blue season. He’s also expecting to jump into the groundfish game as well. Options he is going to consider are the Santini tube-and-worm at the mouths of rivers as bass and occasionally blues binge on drop-down river herring fry. However, not all is mum on the open ocean as I’ve gotten wind of some of the commercial guys having success between the Standpipe in Winthrop and Kelly’s Rocks on Revere Beach and the color tube they are using is the Santini honey mustard. Some theorize that this color is a dead-ringer for eels that have adapted to a light bottom.
Lisa from Fore River Fishing Tackle said that cod have been of great interest to customers and they are catching off ledges of Hull, in the Graves Light area and among irregular bottom by the B Buoy! For stripers, eels at night off Avalon Beach, the mouth of the Weymouth Back and the Neponset River have been the trick. The tube and worm is the best daytime option among those same areas.
Massachusetts North Shore Fishing Report
A sure sign that the fall run has legs is that bluefish are still a factor on the North Shore according to Tomo of Tomo’s Tackle in Salem. Some toothies have fallen for deep-diver plugs outside of Baker’s and Misery Islands while customers making the trip to Nahant and Quincy have found blues there as well. Some of the shop shore casters have caught impressive stripers on Guppy Pencil Poppers off the North Shore rocks. A few kayak customers have been keying in on inshore cod off the Manchester/Magnolia area and have been finding fish up to 29 inches long.
Skip from Three Lantern Marine said that striper news in the Gloucester area has been reduced to schoolie talk throughout the North Shore harbors. However, interest in groundfishing has supplanted the striper obsession lately. A keeper cod by The Groaner, or the Dry Salvages is a real possibility but a better bet is Southern Jeffreys Ledge where a smattering of haddock, cusk and pollock all add to the outing. Just don’t chum, less you want to invite the dog pound to come out and play or even worse their “blue” cousins.
Liz from Surfland said that Joppa Flats, Plum Island Sound and other inshore/upstream locations are now better options for numbers of striped bass. The ocean front is more hit-or-miss but the odds are better there for a bigger fish. She did hear from friends from Maine, that their big bass have just departed with the arrival of those fish expected to be soon.
Fishing Forecast for Massachusetts
For a shot at a South Shore cod, Stone Ledge is good, close-in spot. However the shipping lanes just east of the Southwest Corner of Stellwagen offer more of a mixed bag of groundfish with the prospects of a school tuna as well. Big blues in the Three Bays are an interesting option but for South Shore bass, mackerel among the Third and Fourth Cliffs is a better bet. Tog are feeding much more aggressively now among structure just outside of Westport with the eel-for-stripers-at-night possibility make it a worthwhile trip. Blues off Quincy and up to Nahant are proof that we have quite a ways to go this fall. For a shot at both, jig up some macks by the BG Buoy. Inshore anglers try dragging a tube and worm at the mouth of rivers as bass prey on river herring fry. Up north, shore jockeys are catching cows off the crags on pencil poppers while groundfish are getting a lot of attention with even kayaks getting in on the cod.
Bass, Blues, and Hickory shad biting in the three bays! Bring your flotation device as the seas are up, either that or your over-sized girl friend, whatever works! Tight lines!
Ron, is there an online map/one-stop-shop that shows where all the various ledges, buoys, etc are?
Hey Drew, one of the best investments I ever made which turbo-charged my learning curve, was to buy a few Captain Segull’s Sporfishing Charts. They are reproductions of NOAA Charts with a twist – historically hot fishing spots are highlighted in pink! They compiled their data via tackle shops and charter captains, many of which are no longer with us. For example, Chart GMM17 illustrates Stellwagen Bank, Tillies Bank and Jeffrey’s Ledge. Great stuff for browsing and learning!
Hi Drew. Usually most tackle shops will carry the Captain Seagull chart for the local area. Just like Ron said. These charts are plastic coated so they are waterproof. I don’t know how many paper charts I’ve had that have dissolved when they got soaked, or ripped. I gave up on paper charts. However, Capt Seagulls are an “investment”. Not cheap. I just paid $23 for one of the South Cape which I got at Maco’s B&T in Buzzards Bay. They also had an incredible Capt SeaGull map of the Canal with like 50 fishing spots noted. I didn’t get it since I don’t fish the Canal. I also have the one for the ledges which has Jefferys Ledge and others in that area. I don’t remember where I got that one. I bet 3 Lantern Marine in Gloucester would have that one. What else you get extra for the $23 is that fishing “hot spots” are marked in pink on the chart. Nice reference you won’t find on your GPS.