Massachusetts Fishing Report – August 12, 2021

The invasion by bluefish – a lot of bluefish – have shaken up things considerably! Bait, especially inshore, is on the move and that withdrawal has lured larger linesiders back out to deepwater to feed on sea herring! Many however aren’t as considered with the whereabouts of striped bass as you would expect, they are to busy reveling in catching gator blues!

Massachusetts South Shore/South Coast Fishing Report

From Captain Mark Petiitt of Fire Escape Charters had been catching Charlie prior to the quota closing for the month and found the fish working over bait between Stellwagen Bank and Cape Cod Bay. Fingers are crossed that those giants will stay put for when it opens up again in a few weeks. With plentiful blues of mixed sizes swarming The Race, bait should not be a problem. For “recreational” tuna, the skipper suggests that anglers head more east. Closer to the Three Bays, after a dearth of bait and bass possibly because of the toothy terrors, mackerel and peanuts are back and with them schoolie to slot stripers. For haddock the skipper is moving out to 240 foot depths east of Stellwagen where you’ll find no shortage of sharks.

Captain Mark Rowell of Legit Fish Charters said that giant tuna have stormed Stone Ledge but with the giant quota closed until September it is a strictly catch and release fishery. Haddock are still present among that inshore ledge which just might explain why the tuna are there. Bonito are now among the grab bag of species available off Race Point and reports are they are big. Peanut bunker in Scituate Harbor are the fuel for intermittent surface feeds.

Pete of Belsan Bait and Tackle in Scituate described the peanut bunker which are swarming the South Shore as so thick he called them “silver clouds”! As the month wanes look for those fish to be increasingly under seige. With a little less rain now, incoming tide is bringing in bigger bass into river systems and bays resulting in a better big bass-at-night bite with needlefish, soft-plastic stick baits and of course – eels – all working well.

Bruce Calvin of Strike II Charters has been finding keeper cod as well as big black sea bass among the Southwest Shoals of Nomans Land!

Not to be outdone, Captain Jason Colby’s Little Sister is mixing in tautog with the run-of-the-mill black sea bass limits and keeper codfish. Some of the skippers runs are taking the crew out to Coxes Ledge. The wait is on out there for mahi mahi to begin hanging by the high-liners but water temperature needs to bump up to about 72 degrees before that might happen. The current heat wave might put temps over the top!

Greater Boston Fishing Report

I often half jest about anglers burning through their soft plastic collection when blues come to town, but there might be a bit of an antidote according to Captain Brian Coombs of Get Tight Sportfishing. Captain Coombs has been putting a major hurt on toothies from Wollaston Beach through Nahant Bay and the hot bait has been Al Gag’s Whip-it-Fish which in spite of being a “soft” plastic has been holding up to bluefish choppers and allowing his charters to boat up to 9 fish on just one bait! Soft plastics have certainly come a long way! Brian said that blues have scattered inshore bait and forced stripers to look more towards the humps for a sea herring meal. Earlier in the season, a honking Southwest wind brought those bigger bass and bait back inshore so we’ll just have to see if that happens again.

Captain Dave Panarello of the mighty Bite Me II broke in his new Lund in fine fashion on Thursday morning by the Lower Middle as he found slot stripers pounding pogies and best of all, there were only a few other boats on them.

Captain Sam from Boston Saltwater continues to put anglers into their PB bass with fish up to 49” falling for live mackerel. With the bluefish brigade in attendance, the macks are not as easy to find as they were but Sam is still getting them at first light at the 2 Can, Graves and Three-and-One-Half Fathom Ledge. Pogy schools remain a ticket to a trophy striped bass and he’s finding both at Deer Island and all the way into Bumpkin Shoals. For trolling pogies, Sam suggests a “stinger” hook to gain purchase on tail-chomping blues.

From the same fertile mind which brought us the Pelican Green Teaser, Zobo Rig and the Santini Tube, now comes the Bella Bobber! Named after Pete Santini’s beloved late dog Bella, this lit bait floater has been enabling anglers to beat the odds by the casino come nightfall. Not only do seaworms work but eels as well and who get’s tired of seeing a bobber disappear on an ink-black night? One of Boston’s best, Johnny “Plankton” Hoffman of the Fishing Academy is all in on trolling the red Santini tube with a sliver of worm by rockpiles off Thompson Island, Spectacle Island and Long Island. Fluke continue to be found in embayments, estuaries and rivers with a bucktail/squid strip doing the damage.

Regarding fluke, Lisa from Fore River Fishing Tackle in Quincy tipped me off to a keeper caught by Tom O’Brien by Rainsford Island. There are more fluke in these parts than most realize but few fish for them! Lisa also said that pogy schools off Wollaston Beach are drawing fire from bluefish.

Captain Paul Diggins of Reel Pursuit Charters is a trolling specialist and didn’t have to skip a bait when the blues came to town! With his X-Raps he’s been tearing through bluefish and bass off Seal Harbor, Egg Rock and near pogy schools hunkered down by Dear Island.

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Massachusetts North Shore Fishing Report

According to Sam from Tomo’s Tackle the North Shore is hardly immune to bluefish fever. Anglers were knocking them dead off Nahant recently as well as the Salem/Beverly area. Pogies at the mouth of Beverly Harbor have had big bass on them with blues occasionally raiding the schools. As Captain Coombs alluded to earlier, the Al Gag’s Whip-it-Fish in the “new colors” has been the go-to lure for the blues. Predominant striped bass sizes seem to be about perfect for everyone as they’re divided between slots and slobs. Groundfishing on Jeffrey’s Ledge and Stellwagen is hot and is a nice alternative to the inshore crowds among coveted north shore spots.

John from Three Lantern Marine told me that the bluefish fishing is better than it has been in years off Cape Ann! Those trolling plugs off Magnolia or Thatcher are hooking fish as are the anglers chasing pogy schools. Eel slingers working the effluence of the Essex River and Crane’s Beach are catching cows as well. Kettle Cove has given up a few nice fish too. A few peanut bunker schools which are fueling surface feeds have appeared off Magnolia and Gloucester Harbor.

When Surfland Bait and Tackle is moving the venerable Rapala CD18 trolling plug, it means one thing – bluefish! Back in the bluefish heyday, this was the standard gator slayer and not surprisingly it still is! Preferred colors are orange/gold and green/gold. The mouth of the Merrimack River has been good for blues as has trolling those plugs between 30 and 50 feet of water off the Wildlife Reservation. With night permits now being issued off the Parker River Wildlife Reservation sand-spikers have been picking up a few blues and bass right from the beach. Joppa Flats had an uptick in striper action recently but it might not last long with the current heat wave.

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Massachusetts Fishing Forecast

If it’s been a while since you had a double-digit blue explode on a trolling plug or topwater than you are in luck because from Provincetown to Plum Island those toothies are all the rage! The bluefish factor has been making finding big striped bass more challenging as bait schools have scattered. Pogies in the harbor however have bass shadowing those schools and herring on the humps are holding even bigger fish. An alternative is to try tempting the toothy version of flounder which you may find off Wollaston Beach, Rainsford Island, Revere Beach and Lynn Harbor. Eels at night outside of the Essex River have been working well for stripers as has pogies from the backshore of Gloucester. Groundfish action is good on Jeffrey’s Ledge as well as Stellwagen and is proving to be a sanctuary from the inshore crowds now that the tuna quota is closed for the month. Farther north, anglers are reacquainting themselves with the thunderous strike of a double-digit bluefish on a trolling plug off the Plum Island shoreline!