Massachusetts Fishing Report – July 1, 2021

Thank goodness for Thermodynamics! In spite of the relentless heatwave the ocean water did not sizzle and roast every critter in it but remained for the most part very hospitable for striped bass, even inshore! The sultry stuff did pick up outer harbor temperatures which finally turned on deepwater bass and even resulted in some topwater action.

Massachusetts South Shore/South Coast Fishing Report

The first week for Captain Colby in the Westport side of Buzzards Bay started off with a bang. Not only were anglers aboard able to comfortably achieve black sea bass limits of above-average size fish but he’s even been able to find cod and tautog among wrecks and rockpiles a short distance off the mouth of the Westport River. His first shot at clamming up stripers in the river resulted in slot stripers as well as fish of over 40”! Suffice to say, that Little Sister Charters has options.

Captain Mark Petitt of Fire Escape Charters knows a thing or two about heat and he said that Race Point is remaining red hot! As recently as Wednesday morning, the captain found piles of slot stripers there with many fish willing to hit deep-diving trollers as well as mackerel. Snapper blues have pushed in from CCB into the Three Bays. Out front of the Gurnet there are pogies but not always bass on them. For haddock head to the deeper/cooler water in the shipping lanes.

Captain Mark Rowell of Legit Fish Charters is seeing acres of pogies throughout the South Shore with Cohasset seeming to have the most. Not all pods are being pressured making live mackerel drifted between the Third Cliff and Fourth Cliff a more reliable option.

Pete Belsan of Belsan Bait and Tackle in Scituate said that anglers are starting to see a few black sea bass off Bryant Rock and other South Shore locations. The Powder Point Bridge area has also historically given up black sea bass in the past. Soaking bait there could also interest a sand tiger shark! Pete did say that South Shore sharpies-in-the-making, area kids, are having a blast riding around in their bikes and catching schoolies off the Glades and Minot. Others continue to pound the South and North Rivers at night with eels and soft plastic stick baits. Recent pogy schools of Rexhame Beach were reportedly rushed by bass.

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Greater Boston Fishing Report

Water temperatures off shallow beaches and harbors have maintained a striper comfortable mid-60 degree range making for good, even if intermittent, action. Wollaston Beach, the mouths of the Charles and Mystic Rivers as well as Broad Sound through Lynn Harbor have all had good feeds. Surf fishers and the kayak crowd working the same stretches at night or during spates of inclement weather have also been catching well. The bite is not consistent, with those taking a night off often getting stung by the “you should have been here last night” curse but there have been enough productive tides to make many shrug off the lack of sleep as well as the occasional skunking. What had been missing however is a consistent deep water bite but ace charter captains who contribute greatly to this report are seeing a change!

Captain Sam from Boston Saltwater said that southern harbor outer ledges have been holding nice striped bass with pogies and mackerel working well. Areas to consider there are Harding’s Ledge, Ultonia Ledge and Martin’s Ledge as well as the deeper water ledges off Hull.

Captain Brian Coombs of Get Tight Sportfishing has been telling me that the volume of bait among the outer Harbor Humps has been looking like a tinder box ready to explode and if the photos are proof, it looks as if the heat lit a spark. He along with fellow charter captain Vinny Schettino of Point and Shoot Charters have been having their way with plugs, pogies and mackerel. Two things that he is seeing less experienced anglers err on is that they are not checking their baits for weeds as often as necessary and that they are not letting as much line out as they should when trolling. Captain Russ Burgess, who has tallied countless 50 pound Boston bass through the years, told me long ago that 100 feet of line is the sweet spot! Broad Sound through Lynn Harbor has been looking like a parking lot lately with the commercial fleet practically bouncing off each other’s brightwork while trolling the tube-and-worm for “selling” fish. I would avoid that area at all costs, no fish is worth such aggravation!

Pete Santini of Fishing FINatics in Everett told me that Johnny “Plankton” Hoffman has been skipping out on the bait search and sticking to trolling the Santini tube along the northern tip of Long Island and as well as other inner harbor islands. Johnny has been flashing some pictures of him posing with fish and reports are that those stripers look big! I had the pleasure of hanging with Mr. Plankton as well as Captain Santini during the Deer Island Pier Inaugural last Thursday. The pier is certainly well built, well lit, and offers picturesque views of much of Boston Harbor and the skyline. As to what will be caught there, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see! What I was pleased with is that everyone I talked to concerning our environment and fisheries from the head of the Department of Fish and Game to the MWRA was very concerned with the message and vowed to work with me (us) to make things better. Regardless, Deer Island is an incredible resource for the citizens of the Commonwealth as well as anglers, and the agencies responsible for availing it to us all should be lauded for their efforts!

Another captain who is passing on the pogies and mackerel and still catching well is Captain Paul Diggins of Reel Pursuit Charters. When asked about that, he feels that time spent procuring bait could be better served catching striped bass, for Paul it seems to work! He’s been sticking with trolling deep diving plugs, his own umbrella rigs as well as Mojo rigs. He’s been putting patrons into those stripers between the BG Buoy and the B Buoy.

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Massachusetts North Shore Fishing Report

Sam Stavis of Tomo’s Tackle in Salem said that he had a bass-on-bunker bite all to himself the other night off a beach on the North Shore. When asked on what, he mentioned that the bass were thick and frenzied in the wash and would have most likely hit everything although bone SP Minnows did the damage for him. That is so true about feeding fish not being fussy, but it still won’t stop me from spending way too much time handpicking plugs before every outing. Sam said that suffice feeds in harbors such as Marblehead, Salem, Beverly and Manchester are often the result of fish feeding on small shrimp-like critters making any “match the hatch” efforts nearly impossible. The stripers responsible have been largely between 12-30”. A remedy for that selective feeding is to tie on a small teaser ahead of a plug or try “assaulting their senses” by employing something big and gaudy and working it very fast looking to elicit a reflex response. The wait is still on for the “outside” bite such that we experienced during the last few years, namely big bass on mackerel or pogies off Tinker’s Island, Misery Island, Halfway Rock and Kettle Cove! Many are betting that that will kick in within the week with the east wind bringing cooler oxygenated water and a diversity of life in.

Matt from Three Lantern Marine in Gloucester said that the commercial guys have been bunched up off Lanes Cove and are using pogies to catch them. When asked about the volume of pogies, he said there are plenty and to just look for the “clouds”. It’s a good thing pogies are plentiful because obtaining mackerel has been spotty.

Ben from Surfland Bait and Tackle gave a first-hand report when we spoke since he had just spent the morning at the mouth of the Merrimack where he caught all kinds of stripers on bucktails as well as jigheads/soft plastics. Anglers wading the oceanfront at false dawn are finding bass-on-pogy feeds for short durations and are culling nice fish out of the mayhem. The perennially reliable Sandy Point, Plum Island Sound and Joppa Flats are fishing well also!

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Massachusetts Fishing Forecast

A more comfortable weather pattern should ensure that the inshore South Coast striper action in the Westport River stays put for a while. The same goes for the South Shore in the Three Bays as well as from Scituate through Cohasset. Race Point remains red hot and with the preponderance of sand eels is not likely to change anytime soon. If there is one thing good that came out of the recent heatwave is that it livened up the outer harbor, hump, ledge bite with some captains now catching well with artificials. On the North Shore, false dawn feeds with stripers pummeling pogies in the wash-off area beaches is something to keep an eye out for. Relatively cool water temperatures are still keeping stripers in the Merrimack River with both Joppa and the mouth-holding fish.