Targeting tautog usually happens in earnest by late September, when water temperatures dip below 60 degrees. If you’ve been out lately with one eye on your electronics, you know full well that water temps are far warmer. Thankfully, the tautog seem to be paying more attention to the calendar than actual water temperatures!
Massachusetts South Coast
Tautog could be the fish voted “most likely to embarrass.” When the uninitiated hooks a 5-pounder, the dogged fight can easily dupe an angler into thinking he has one on twice that size. Then there’s the thievery aspect, which is enough to make a cat burglar jealous. When finicky, tog will remove every last morsel of crab from your hook before you can blink! But not all in the blackfish world is frustration; once you wage war with an 8- or 9-pounder and win, you’ll be a tog fan for life. Preseason sampling of rockpiles and wrecks among the Westport side of Buzzards Bay is revealing more tautog than in years, according to Captain Jason Colby. It might be time to start thinking in terms of green crabs and “green jigs” – as in Tidal Tails Jig’z, which are our personal favorite tools for tog.
Massachusetts South Shore
Scotty from Green Harbor Bait and Tackle in Marshfield said that the best bet for those looking for a giant is way, way out on Georges Bank, while east of Stellwagen is a winner for school bluefin. Fishing for the latter is proving to be the best in years with anglers targeting them reporting multiple chances on marked/porpoising tuna most days. Stout spinning gear rules and some of the winning wares are RonZs and Bill Hurley Sand Eels. Scotty touted Bill’s swimbaits as well.
Pogies in Plymouth and Duxbury bays ensure that the bass you find there will be well fed. Like many shops, Green Harbor’s MVP – most valuable product – this year has been the snag treble. Random blitzes are popping up from The Gurnet to High Pine Ledge all the way to Bluefish Cove. Stripers up to 35 pounds have been falling for Daiwa SP Minnows and Daddy Mac’s version, which is a little heftier and called the DM Minnow.
In the surprise category was a bonito that was caught just outside of Scituate, according to Pete from Belsan Bait and tackle. Pogies have pushed into the Egypt Beach area and what is not a surprise is that there are 25-pound bass on them. If you’re looking for an artificial alternative to a pogy, I’ve had luck with white Sebile Stick Shadds, brown GRS pikes, and olive Dannys. The caveat is that the fakes will only fool them during low-light conditions, so fish accordingly. Doherty Cove has given up a few cows also. Macks can be found north of the 21 Can.
Believe it or not in the midst of this cow contagion, there are some who are shifting gears toward smelt! Elder salts who have seen and caught most everything that swims in these parts often get enthused at the prospect of catching smelt above all else. There’s just something mesmerizing about this native New Englander that never seems to hit the same way two outings in a row and can be maddening yet satisfying to fish for. Limits of smelt are being realized right now in Hewitt’s Cove!
Greater Boston Fishing Report
Fresh from news of smelt success, I had to ask the girls from the unofficial “smelt shack,” Fore River Bait and Tackle, if they had been “shrimping” yet! I believe they got the hint and they now have grass shrimp in stock and hopefully will until well into the winter months.
There’s no secret about how to catch a 25-pound bass in Boston Harbor if you have a boat. It’s just a case of find the pogies, snag a few and then live line or chunk. And voila!, the bass seem to almost rise out of the mud. Increasingly shops are telling me that fishermen are adapting to circle hooks and are having great success. That’s sweet from not only a catch-and-release conservational standpoint but makes sense from a conservative view. A hook in the jaw of sharp toothed bluefish is far less likely to be a bite off than one in the gullet. Some see the cost savings from the swap! Each shop has their own favorite circle but my personal favorite for years has been the 9/0 Mustad Demon Perfect Circle.
Shore anglers are occasionally snagging pogies and even when they’re not, they are catching bass on chunk from Avalon Beach, Hull Gut, Pemberton Pier, Webb Park, Bare Cove Park, Wollaston Beach, Sheas Beach in East Boston, and by Coughlin Park in Winthrop. An under-appreciated gem for the shoreline angler is Boston’s Harborwalk. This 38-mile pathway permits access to prime fish-catching harbor shoreline! Spend some time exploring this stretch; its potential is infinite.
Laurel from Hull Bait And Tackle said that all sides of World’s End has been a winner. Projecting ahead, this is a great “last gasp” spot. I’ve seen ridiculous bass just beyond the shoreline ledge as late as November! Some customers of Hull with a lot of time on their hands are jigging up mackerel between Martin’s Ledge and Three-and-one-half Fathom Ledge and then live-lining them in the middle of pogy schools and are crushing neutral bass that are reluctant to chase pogies.
Massachusetts North Shore
I asked Tomo if any of his patrons at Tomos Tackle in Salem had been sniffing around for smelt yet and he replied in the affirmative, but as of yet they haven’t been catching! What customers are catching is striped bass. Little Nahant has been solid for bass and blues; some are catching mackerel by the 2 Can off Nahant and feeding them to bass and occasionally blues from the East Point to Saunders Ledge, Egg Rock and in front of the Halfway House on the beach. The Red Rock brigade continues to catch mixed sizes of stripers with no shortage of keepers as well. This crowd exclusively uses seaworms with clams or chunk derided as their version of Kryptonite. Lynn Harbor still has the enviable buffet of pogies, bass and bluefish! The same can be said for Salem Harbor with reports of bass into the lower 30-pound range being caught from kayaks.
Skip from Three Lantern Marine in Gloucester said that anglers in Cape Ann are lamenting the near-disappearance of mackerel. Pogies remain just south of Gloucester with nice stripers and the occasional school of bluefish pounding the prey. The dearth of mackerel is certainly temporary; up your chances for finding them by chumming! Skip feels the best bass bet is still off the Gloucester backshore, Brace Cove, Loblolly Cove, Niles Beach and Good Harbor.
Kay from Surfland said that surf sharpies who have been at it awhile have resumed their tried-and-true September methods which is to target Plum Island Sound and the Parker River after dark with eels! Other reliable fall eel/bass options on the “south side” are wherever a river empties into a beachfront. Rivers to watch are the Rowley, Essex, Ipswich and Annisquam. If you know of a bridge that spans the fishy looking water of a river, marsh or estuary now is the time to camp out there with eels at night! Mackerel have been found off Breaking Rocks as recently as Wednesday. Joppa flats is starting to stir and there are good reports coming in from Woodbridge Island.
Massachusetts Fishing Forecast
If 25-pound stripers have become just ho-hum to you (I want to know where you’re fishing!) and you’d like a diversion, contemplate increasingly active tautog on the Westport side of Buzzards Bay or possibly smelt which are cooperating at Hewitt’s Cove. If you don’t have a boat and are tiring of hearing how hot the Harbor is, then consider biking the multi-mile ribbon of access to the shoreline known as the Harborwalk. Do as they do in the “ditch” – shoehorn a rod onto a bicycle, take along some SP Minnows, Magic Swimmers, and your favorite pencil or spook, and spend the day running-and-gunning. And don’t forget a snag treble; a lot of anglers are casting and catching in the middle of a pogy school right from the shoreline. Salem is still spectacular for pogies and bass while the big mystery on the North Shore is just where the Gloucester Harbor bait went? Anglers in Newburyport are not giving that one a thought, they are too busy catching off Woodbridge Island, Joppa Flats and the Parker River.
Big cows around, use heavier rope in the three bays and Browns bank. Pogy’s early by the end of the jetty for a 25 pounder. Tight lines.
Anyone have good spots for late afternoon into the night for stripes found some massive balls of poggies off of deer island winthrop just at sun set but no cows.