Massachusetts Fishing Report- August 10, 2023

The bluefish blitzkrieg of 2023 shows no signs of abating, and with the possible exception of those who want mackerel, almost no one is complaining! That’s not to suggest that striped bass are not part of the equation it’s just that if your default method is to reach for live baitfish you may want to have a back up plan.

Massachusetts South Shore/South Coast Fishing Report

Shop sales say it all: sabiki rigs and snag trebles are gathering dust while trolling plugs and eels are selling briskly! If you’re most happy topping off your livewell then these are not the best of times for you. How different can two years be? Last year the pogy population in Massbay seemed infinite; in fact the commercial menhaden quota was achieved effortlessly in early June. Even the additional two million plus pounds fishery managers gave the pogy purse seiners was also filled. This year as of this Wednesday, August 9th, the fleet has only filled 18 percent of the allotted quota! Coupled with a burgeoning bluefish population which has scattered mackerel and we have a very different picture than the last few years.

When Mr. Mackerel – Captain Mark Rowell – employs eels to put patrons into stripers than you know the acquisition of mackerel is a tough one. Aboard Legit Fish Charters they are finding mackerel but it’s taking a trip out to the SA Buoy to get them. Even without macks, Mark has been putting his crew into bass up to 50” long! He has taken to fishing eels around inshore ledge, wrecks and the “Cliffs” off Scituate. His home port of Scituate Harbor has been so full of quality fish, he’s been tempted to drop anchor right near his slip! Of course odds are that his charters would not be thrilled. Peanut bunker numbers are starting to surge and have been lighting the feed fuse. A few haddock can still be found among soft-bottom sections of Stone Ledge. There are plenty of whiting from the bank through the bay and a few makos willing to take advantage of them. With an early surge in water temperatures it’s been strange that there has been few appearances of bonito, but that might be changing.

Pete from Belsan Bait and Tackle in Scituate sent me pics of a porker taken off P Town and he said a few smaller ones have been hooked off Humarock. With mackerel sticking to deep water well offshore, increasingly anglers are turning to three-waying and casting eels around inshore structure such as Farnham Rock, Cowen Rocks, Tobias Ledge, the Grampuses and off Black Rock Beach.

Captain Jason Colby continues to expand his repertoire while aboard his Little Sister. Red hake and cod are now part of the catch along with such plebeians as black sea bass, fluke, stripers and blues. While the rest of Massachusetts has to wait until September 1st to keep 1 cod, the Southern New England area has a bag limit of 5 fish for the rest of August! The bite has been spread out between The Hills, The Trench and Coxes Ledge. Juvenile Great Whites continue to “entertain” the crew save for when they make short work of a nice black sea bass feet from the net. With September quickly bearing down on us, it’ll soon be time to turn to tautog which just might be the skipper’s specialty.

Greater Boston Fishing Report

Bostonian’s are no longer removed from the Great White Shark phenomenon! My buddy Joe Holey sent me a video of one swimming around in Lynn Harbor last weekend. The next hint that things are much different now came courtesy of Pete Santini of Fishing FINatics in Everett who texted me a shot of a “guillotined” big bass chomped at Deer Island Rip. This was not a one-off incident as the guy fishing it had a hard time getting an intact striper into his boat. It looks as if The Rip now has a dual meaning! As for more manageable fish with teeth, Pete told me of Antoine Scott who continues to reach limits of fluke off beaches from Revere through Lynn and he’s doing it from shore.

Captain Brian Coombs of Get Tight Sportfishing knows a thing or two about toothies as he targets bluefish with modified Docs, Jumpin’ Minnows and a host of artificials. It’s a good thing that Brian isn’t dependent on bait for those blues because as he put it, to find mackerel, “you have to turn those blues upside down and give them a good shake!”. As for stripers, the inner harbor has less blues making it easier to find stripers from slots through mid-30”.

For the inside scoop as to what’s going on inside I consulted my friend Captain Dave Panorello who when asked if he’s chasing the blues replied, “Naw, having too much fun catching stripers!”. He’s been catching aboard his Lund “Cast Right” between the “blue roof building” at the Reserve Channel as well as by Snake Island in Winthrop. Dave’s been getting them on a tube and whole squid! The combination of copious amounts of cephalopods and less big finfish bait just might have put local linesiders in the mood to feed on squid. Regardless, he’s been doing well by simply casting the squid or dropping it down to marked fish. Once the bait free-falls he’s employing a technique many of us learned from our late buddy Carl Vining, something we call the “Vining twitch”. This finesse presentation is simply a subtle snap of the rod tip which hops the offering off the bottom. The twitch is effective for everything from jigs to dead bait of all sorts and stripers can’t resist.

While hardly a banner year for bunker, a small school continues to hold out between the Fore River and the Town River in Quincy. In fact anglers off Avalon Beach have even been able to snag a few. Peanut bunker are also becoming a factor which bodes well for a good fall run. Bass and blues from up north will not linger in town without an adequate bait source but a big ball of those baby bunker will keep those blitzes going!

Massachusetts North Shore Fishing Report

While anglers are still finding plenty of blues up north, the big bass onslaught has cooled down considerably. One peak at the commercial quota numbers says it all, as the ascension – after a meteoric rise – to filling the quota is now only creeping forward. Some of it might be due to what seems like daily deluges which have turned rivers such as the Merrimack River into muddy messes.

Tomo of Tomo’s Tackle in Salem told me that pogies are still hanging in there in Salem Harbor. To their credit, the pogy boat has actually been an enabler to anglers catching big stripers. Not only have they been handing over buckets of free bait but the dead/dying pogies falling from the net during the haul have instigated feeds. Anglers have been taking advantage of this and caught fish up to 35 pounds! Tomo himself has been mixing it up off Misery Island, the Middleground and Great Haste Island with 44” topwater stripers taking down Docs and blues busting orange/gold Rapala CD18s on the troll.

Matt from Three Lantern Marine said that eels continue to be money for big bass but because demand is so high they are in tough supply. Fortunately the shop carries soft plastic stick baits which are more than adequate. Blues remain thick from Wingaersheek Beach through Halibut Point. Anglers dropping chunk pollock, or one of the scattered mackerel, below the blues are coming up with big striped bass.

Martha from Surfland Bait and Tackle in Newburyport said that stripers prior to the torrents were on a tear throughout the Merrimack River, but brown water and black-striped fish just don’t mix. Should we ever get a break from the downpours we can expect those bass to reassemble, especially by the “Ice Pick” on the Salisbury side which had been especially good. Blues occasionally are busting bait on the beaches, but more often have been taken on trolling plugs in 30-50’ of water. The Parker River Wildlife Reservation remains in large part closed until the last of the Piping Plover chicks are on the wing which is expected any day.

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Massachusetts Fishing Forecast

For those looking for a little bit more on the South Shore, bonito in both big and small versions have made an appearance from Provincetown through Scituate. Further diversity from stripers/bass or nothing can be had along the South Coast with hake and cod cooperating between Westport and Rhode Island Sound. A ribbon of peanut bunker from Plymouth through Boston Harbor bodes well for a bass/blue fall run. Of course with blues taking down topwaters from Spectacle Island through Lovells Island, and stripers slurping squid from Snake Island through the Reserve Channel, no-one needs to wait. While hardly numerous, pogies are still a thing in Quincy as well as Salem with big bass prowling nearby. Blues continue to make life miserable for mackerel from Rockport through Plum Island with trollers doing best. While formidable, bluefish are hardly the apex predator grabbing the attention of anglers in these parts as Great White sharks appear to be part of an astonishing new normal!