Massachusetts Fishing Report – April 13, 2017

Chances are that if you live close to the Bay State coast, in spite of freshwater options, you usually have one eye on the salt. Increasingly, there are reasons not just to eye the brine but to actually fish it since this week there are reports of flounder and even mackerel!

Massachusetts South Shore Fishing Report

As a response to requests, shops are beginning to stock flats of seaworms. Pete from Belsan’s Bait in Scituate expects to be carrying worms the weekend after this one; however, I have a hunch he might be persuaded to stock this preferred flounder bait earlier if there’s enough interest. Considering the flounder reports I’ve been getting up north, the South Shore has to have them! Scituate Harbor should have a few stirring and Second Cliff could put the caster in a good position to intercept a few. The Peggotty Beach rock wall is also an early season best bet for blackbacks. Green Harbor, Burke’s Beach and the adjacent jetties are all worth a try too! While Mr. Belsan hasn’t heard of anyone catching flounder locally, the word is that the alewives are making a good showing in local rivers. No news on mackerel just yet, but they have already made an appearance in Salem so they should be nearby.

Greater Boston Fishing Report

One place you might find the tell-tale tap-tap of a flounder is off Pemberton Pier in Hull. Lisa from Fore River in Quincy has patrons who are having luck there even though most of the fish are on the small side. In addition to there, a historic early-season favorite to consider is the Sugar Bowl, which is the gateway to Pleasure Bay in South Boston. Columbia Point has also been a popular spring spot in the past. Anglers have been soaking sea worms off Nut Island and catching holdover schoolie stripers there. What’s also encouraging is that some inner-city anglers are hitting the Fore River ladies up for leftover gills of grass shrimp for white perch in the Assonett River! I was under the impression that this fishery was dead but apparently some are still catching! A hardy angler did shove off and snoop around the outer Boston Harbor Islands out to the B Buoy but did not fare so well. Lisa’s suggestion for anyone else giving it a go from a boat this April for cod is to try Ultonia Ledge, Strawberry Ledge or Toddy Rocks.

Massachusetts North Shore Fishing Report

Noel from Bridge Street in Salem has been selling seaworms to anglers catching flounder off the Salem Willows Wharf. Anglers snapping a Sabiki from the pier have even been finding mackerel! Tomo from Tomo’s Tackle’s on Pickering Wharf in Salem said that a customer caught a 13-inch flounder off the Fishermen’s Beach in Swampscott the other day only to be topped by a fellow flounder fisherman who caught a 14 ½-inch flattie!

Talking to Skip from Three Lantern Marine recently was a harbinger of pleasant things to come but not just yet! With Gloucester Harbor water temperatures finally climbing out of the 30s, flounder should become active soon! The shop is carrying seaworms for those giving it a go. Skip suggests the backside of DogBar Breakwater, Niles Beach and off the causeway seawall.

To my thinking, It isn’t officially the new season until the fine ladies of Surfland in Newburyport add input to this forecast once again. Martha did tell me that there were some interesting developments in the rivers. A tight-lipped few have been snatching up seaworms and fishing by the Governor Dummer Academy on the Parker River for white perch. While Martha could not offer specifics, she did hint that this could be a recovering fishery. If you’d like to help reclaim the shoreline of an iconic river run fishery than the Rocks Village Cleanup on April 23rd could be your cup of tea. A group of stewards headed by Eric Roach put their backs into cleaning up winter’s blight from the shoreline of the Merrimack River in West Newbury. While this crew really works up a sweat, they save a little energy for a few casts later for shad. And perhaps as a token of appreciation from Neptune, lo and behold those folks often catch the first American shad of the year! Check in with the Surfland folks for specifics.

Massachusetts Freshwater Fishing Report

The enormity of Wachusett coupled with its shore-fishing-only rules makes it always challenging. Throw in historically high water levels, and you have the makings of the current boondoggle! In spite of the limitations, the catching continues with the biggest laker weighed to date in B&A an 11-12 whopper! Smallies up to 4 pounds are popping up from the Sterling side of Wachusett and below the Quinapoxet pump house anglers are catching salmon and rainbows up to 18″ long!

When we spoke, Rod from Flagg’s Fly and Tackle had just gotten through supplying the other two shops in the area – Gate 8 Bait and R&R Sport – with flies and streamers for the mighty Quabbin which opens for the season this Saturday, April 15th. When asked for tips for opening day, Rod suggested anglers get to the gates really early if they want to stand a chance to rent a boat. However, all is not lost if you’re not in luck since lakers, salmon and rainbow trout will often be caught right from the shore at Gate 32! Boaters should search for salmon within the first few feet of the surface; these un-pressured fish should not be fussy and should fall for a variety of baits such as shiners, spoons as well as streamers. To give you an edge, Rod suggests a long fluorocarbon leader of about 30 feet and be prepared to downsize to 6-pound test if you’re getting short strikes.

Dave from Merrimack Sports told me of two hawg largemouth bass of 6.8 and 7.2 pounds which were caught from Millvale Reservoir in Haverhill. Swollen rivers have stymied efforts to fish for pike in many of the rivers so apparently anglers turned their focus and the shop’s pike bait toward “Larrys” and the results speak for themselves! The shop is dolling out seaworms for the Squamscott/Exeter crowd as the white perch run shifts into gear there!

Massachusetts Fishing Forecast

The baddest fish from Wachusett so far this year – an 11-10 laker – could easily be bumped from the top since Quabbin opens this Saturday! Some traditionalists couldn’t care less about lakers since it’s acrobatic landlockeds that they long for. Anglers are finding that the big bait/big fish mantra rings true especially when it comes to shiners for hawg bass from Millvale Reservoir. Finally, you stand a reasonable chance of adding some salt to your sweetwater diet as flounder and mackerel are hitting on the North Shore.