Boston
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Blue Fish Invasion heats up with the Temperatures

First off I would like to apologize for there being no Boston Fish Wire report last week. We suffered a loss in the family causing me for probably the first time not to think about fishing. The Harbor is still producing some good size bass, along with some exciting blue fishing. Although it appears to be on fire one day and slow the next. The North Shore and Merrimack are still providing angles with some great fishing. Blues are infiltrating the region with the increase in air and water temps.

Two weeks ago Linda and I went out the mouth of the Merrimack to do a little exploring. I drug the 12-weight fly rod along with us. Once we left the mouth we found calm seas and no wind and headed due east for 1 ˝ miles all the time keeping our eyes open for birds or any signs of fish breaking. Our plan was to confirm rumors of Giant Blue Fin playing that close to shore. After motoring around for a while I decided to shut down and drift along with the current trying to observe what tactics the other boats were using. As we sat there a thought entered my mind what am I going to do if I do find these fish. I am out here in a 16 foot center console armed only with a 12 weight. All the books I read stated that the schoolie Blue Fin tend to hang around the outer Cape and rarely make their way this far north. To steal someone else’s line “I need a much bigger boat”. We spent the rest of the day exploring the numerous sand bars and flats outside of Crains beach which is a much more suitable environment for my little boat

Don't forget to send me your own reports, and until next week...

Tight Lines!

Bob Desplaines

Boston Metro Regions

Boston Harbor

Capt. Wayne Frieden (781-545-6263) of Reel Dream Charters reports:

August 1, 2001: Took a busman's holiday with friends Kent Jackson and Michael Meyers. Another great day fishing offshore where we were flyrodding mainly bluefish. There were some bass in the mix but not many were caught today. Still, pound for pound, you can't beat a bluefish crashing your popper and its bulldog fight on fly or light spinning tackle!

August 2, 2001: What a difference one day makes! Took Paul Mahoney and his Dad, Connie, out today and headed offshore at first light. The blues were nowhere to be found...Even the bass didn't show outside. There was some sporadic and brief activity in the anchorage and off Thompson's, but nothing to write home about. We managed to catch some schoolie bass and a couple of snapper blues on fly and light tackle in Quincy Bay. The sluggo out fished the fly today.

August 6, 2001: The morning harbor fishing has been somewhat inconsistent over the past few days. Last Friday, Brenda and Ray Phillipon and friend Dan, had a slow day of fly and light tackle fishing. Brenda did hook up with a "monster" bass off the Outer Brewster that sadly took her into the rocks and cut her off. Although I didn't fish Saturday, I'm told Quincy Bay was on fire! Go figure...My Sunday charter, with Jim Husk of Miami, was disappointing as the pea soup fog made fishing very tough all morning long. Although there was a brief flurry of early morning top water action between Nut and Peddocks and near the QYC, it didn't last very long. The guides who were out on Monday morning found the action on the slow side. However, my late afternoon trip with Jason Halio and colleagues Todd and Jason was quite good. We found working birds near the airport long pier about 2 ˝ hours into the ebb tide. Jason H. landed a nice 33" bass on a white sluggo fished deep. Later in the tide, a mix of blues and bass were on top in the channel between the Castle and Governor's I flat. Jason H. managed another 30+" bass on a jig and all on board hooked up with bass and blues in the 3-5lb. range.

August 8, 2001: No charters on Tuesday and Wednesday morning but heard the early morning bite was pretty good. Took Wally Sullivan and his client Mark out for an afternoon trip. To say the fishing was slow would be somewhat of an exaggeration. There was virtually no action throughout the harbor until dusk when schoolie bass and small blues came up in the main channel between Castle I. and the airport. Saved the day!

Until next time, we'll see you out there...
Capt. Wayne Frieden
Reel Dream Charters

Roccus Charters was ON the water when we spoke at 10:30 AM this morning and I could tell he was telling the truth when he said: " Thorne We're working hard for them these days, since the Fall migration hasn't really started yet."

The best times to fish have been early and late, and actually late has been far better. Things get interesting between six and seven in the evening when the surface action picks up, with both blues and stripers taking flies and chasing bait right in the sirface film. The morning bit has been a bit off however, for some reason.

Once the sun is up in the sky, the Outer Islands have been the best place during the day, working deep. The water temperature is between 68 and 70, and Quincy Bay even reached 71 degrees. A week ago Roccus Charters guided Steve Clasby of the EM Snow Company to a 42 inch bass off Winthrop to cap off two great days.

Plymouth & South Shore

Captain Dave sent in this report:

Last evening was a great day to be on the water with a fly rod!Headed out with Scott "The Boss" Parry, a local designer/builder and Duxbury resident. We put in at town pier the last hour of a dropping tide - very tough tide to fish - or so we thought...

Much to our delight, we found breaking fish in the small channels and guzzles South of Powder Point Bridge and around Clark's Island - at low tide! Skinny water fishing at it's best (my favorite). We set up drifts that took us from fourteen feet of water to twelve inches of water within a half-dozen casts. Continuous striper hook-ups, as we stripped BAYMEN Universals in olive/white/pink and a Scott Parry deceiver/sand eel in olive/white/pink with lots of perl flash. Intermediate and sinking lines did the trick in this spot. As the +1.0 tide bottomed out, the fishing slowed way down. We were concerned about getting aground and having to wait it out, so we slipped over barely enough water to keep us afloat and headed for west of #10 in the Duxbury Channel...

North Shore, Cape Ann & Merrimack River

Captain Charles Crue (978-462-9212) of Channel Edge Charters wrote in with this Merrimack River Reportthat the Bluefish action is heating up at the Merrimack:

Merrimack River Report August 9, 2001

The Merrimack River estuary area continues to provide exceptional action for anglers using flies or light spinning gear. Last weekend we participated in a fun fishing tournament sponsored by Mako Marine. Our first day we caught 21 stripers and broke off one bluefish. Fourteen stripers were taken with spinning lures and seven were caught using the long rod. Our trophy fish for the day was a 43-inch, 33-pound, striper caught on Joppa Flats in about three feet of water (see photo on home page). It was released to grow even larger!

Sunday morning the fishing was a bit slow early but picked up with the incoming tide. We stayed inside of Plum Island because of fog and boat traffic. A large pleasure boat was sitting on the sandbar off of the north end of Plum Island. Reports were that the hapless operator ran the craft right onto the bar about 4 PM on Saturday. Apparently there was severe damage as the boat was half submerged when we saw it. We caught and released 11 stripers, including several keepers. We also caught one shad (about 19-inches) that hit an olive/white clouser. There were large bluefish out along Plum Island. Many were entered in the tournament. I heard reports, on the marine radio, of double hook ups on the monsters. With the warm August water we can expect a lot more bluefish action.