Boston
Metropolitan
Region

Fish are busting up the surface all the way from Gloucester to Plymouth!!!

Along with the improved fishing and warmer temperatures. This holiday weekend will certainly have a lot more boats out on the water. There have been a couple of reports of water-rage along the south side of the Cape. With one boat reportedly ramming another while pursuing Bontio and Albacore. The size of our boat does not determine who has the right of way. Everyone out there is responsible for his or her boat wakes and the damage caused by them. Should you witness someone who believes the water and the fish belong solely to them and are operating their boat recklessly. Hail the Coast Guard on your VHF radio and report the infraction. Be sure to get the registration numbers, hull name and a description of the boat and any other information, which will assist the CG.

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 of Reel Dream Charters submitted this report

We have finally got beautiful New England weather and fantastic striped bass fishing in the Harbor! And it's about time!

I fished over the weekend and found schools of breaking fish from the Fore River to Logan. Most of the fish were in the 18 - 24" range but there are larger ones in the mix. You've got to get them early and on a running tide if possible. Typical for the weekend, the boat traffic will tend to put the fish down. Most anglers are cognizant of that fact and take care not to blast through a school of breaking fish. Relatively small clousers (3 -4") in gray/white and chartreuse/white seem to be working best.

I did get a chance to fish myself on Sunday and fooled a nice 32" linesider with a large chartreuse/white half & half while drifting over Great Faun Bar (see photo) at high tide. This is a dangerous area at low water and anglers need to be careful.

Although I didn't get a chance to get out mid-week (back to my day job), word is the fishing continues to be super. Capt. Tom Koerber of Roccus Charters had a 100 fish day yesterday! Not too shabby!

My fishing is relegated mostly to weekends and some late afternoons during mid-week as I'm back to work at Duxbury High. I still have some weekend dates in September and early October open, so call early to book a trip and ensure the best possible tides (781-545-6263).

Don't forget to register for the 4th Annual CCA/Jay Leone Memorial Tournament. For more details go to www.cca-ma.com.

Until next week, we'll see you out there...

Capt. Wayne Frieden Reel Dream Charters

Captain Bill Smith of Draggin' Fly Charters sent in this report.

August's new moon usually brings with it good fishing and this year is no exception. Big tides helped to push lots of bait into the harbor, along with schools of bass and bluefish. Mid-week saw some of the best surface action of the year!

Although most of the fish were sub-legal, they were very aggressive and there were enough bigger bass mixed in to keep things interesting. Schools were spread out throughout the entire harbor. The Inner Triangle was exceptionally hot.

Light tackle enthusiasts will find quick action on jerk baits and poppers. The Rappalla has been one of our favorite baits. Poppers and sliders will bring explosive action for fly rodders.

Last Thursday, Paul Callanan and son, Devin got into some nice bass. Biggest was Paul's 36-inch striper. Devin also caught his first keeper, which he released at Boston Light.

Friday, Jim Fitzpatrick's charter found more difficult fishing, but managed to catch bass up to 29 inches. Paul Ponichera and guests had tired arms- lots of surface action with bass up to 31 inches in the Anchorage.

Sunday, flyrodders Dave Gail and Jeff Parsons found plenty of top water action on Hospital Shoal and Long Island. White sliders were especially deadly. Paul Miles found similar action on Monday.

Tuesday, Jay Malloy entertained associates by putting them into some nice bass within minutes of their pick-up at Rowes Wharf. Bill Tedeschi and his guests from Florida experienced the best of the season. It seemed that the entire inner Harbor was alive with fish. Action was non-stop.

Captain Bill Smith

Draggin' Fly Charters

Capt. Tom Koerber of Roccus Charters sent me this email raving about the fishing in Boston Harbor

Hello Bob

I would like to report to you that the fishing in Boston Harbor has been outstanding this past week. With both fly and light tackle anglers having days that you just would not believe. There are great numbers of fish in the harbor between 24'' and 30'' with plenty of big bruisers around as well. There also is no shortage of bait. Hopefully the fishing this fall will make up for a rather tough summer.

I still have some openings for this Holiday weekend, and will continue to book charters right up through mid October.

Capt. Tom Koerber

Roccus Charters

Plymouth & South Shore

Capt. John Hayes of On Call Chaters reports.

Fantastic fishing was had by all this past week. It seems like the shift to warmer temps has helped move really massive schools of bait in, everywhere. Boston, The Bank and South Shore reports are all strong.

"Austerity" fished Nantucket and Vineyard sound 12.5 hours (! ) on Friday. We were on jumping schools of Spanish Mackerel by 6:30. Some of the best fishing scenery ever, mist, fog, sunrise and mini-tuna tails busting the surface.

Rapalas were O.K., but much less so than when the bait is not as plentiful. On the Tunoids, Flies were bumped but not hooked-up.

A short time later we came upon a huge school of blues, 6-8lbs crashing everywhere, off Centerville. We shut off the engines just for the audibles ! Between jumps, bait crashes and birds screaming, the scene was surreal. The sound of hundreds of fish busting bait at once I have not seen since Costa Rica. This experience was to be repeated several more time this day, all the way down to the middle Elizabethans! I have never seen so much bait spraying, schools of Spanish, The ever Elusive Bonito, Blues, Schoolies and Albies in one trip before. (Naturally our charter was ecstatic and by this time I was babbling in awe of the fishing Gods)These fish wanted only small metals, which most closely matched the silversides and peanut bunker. The fly was taken readily by blues and bass, but not Tunoids.

The Next morning's charter Dr. Joe Ranney and I headed into Boston for Joe's first fish on the fly, a 6Lb Blue. We then proceeded to hammer bass until 0800. We found a nice school off the Channel and had it all to ourselves. Soon after, birds were up and the Sunday morning prayer services were held off Deer Island Flats. All in attendance were gracious, and humbled!

Joe Called that night to say this was the best day of his summer to date. He did as well as anyone on a 9wt/350 combo. Needless to say, he will be back for a season finale.

The rest of the season we will be doing these mixed trip weekends.

Fish hard now, its a really long winter...

Tight Lines,

Capt. John

North Shore, Cape Ann & Merrimack River

I spoke with Capt. Nat Moody of First Light Anglers and he could barely contain his enthusiasm over the phone saying that the fishing is just awesome. There have been fish busting on the surface all day long. Chasing 1 to 2" Baby Pogies, 2" Silversides and 4" Juvenile Herring all the way from Beverly to Gloucester Harbor. Matt described one day where Capt Derek Spingler had a morning charter from 5 AM to 1 PM and Matt headed out with one from 3 PM until 8:30 and they both found fish busting on top. The stripers where running in sizes anywhere from 18 " to 35"and the fly of choice is a gray/white clouser. He also reported big 12 to 15 pound blue Bluefish are running offshore from Ipswich Bay to Halibut Point and along Stellwagon Bank. They are devouring 5" Tinker Mackeral, when asked which fly or plug was working the best, the answer was anything you could drag through the water.:

Jan Van Straaten of Rivers Edge Trading reports that Salem Harbor is also very hot with acres of Silversides and Baby Bunker dominating the bait there also. The Harbor has lots of Stripers creating lots of white water as they attack the bait. He said just look for the birds and you can't miss the fish. Best times to be out have been early AM with the tide moving.

Jan also mentioned that he had fished the Merrimack a couple of time and said that the River is still fishing a slow. He had many fish follow the flies but no takers. He said to work the outgoing tide and be patient. The great fishing a little to the south has to move into the area soon. Jan's favorite fly has been a brown Polarfiber Minnow.

Capt. Charles Crue of Channel Edge Charters submitted this Merrimack River Report

Striper fishing has been good. Last weekend my clients caught some big schoolies along with some 18 to 20-inch fish. With the beautiful weather last weekend the boat traffic was extremely heavy. I had clients out near Buoy #11, on Saturday morning, where we fought boat wakes along with stripers. We spent a lot of time out on the far side of Joppa Flats, to avoid the boat traffic, where we found cooperative stripers chasing silverside minnows. A cast to the area where the silversides jumped out of the water was usually rewarded with a hit on a sluggo cast into the area. We found big schools of stripers in the shallow water but it was a bright and calm morning and they were spooked very easily. We finished the morning fishing up in the AYC sailboat mooring area where we found some stripers in the outgoing tide current near Half Tide Rocks.

Sunday we started fishing near the party boat docks at the north end of Plum Island. They caught schoolies as the tide moved in. About two hours before the high tide we moved onto Joppa Flats. The fishing was even better than the day before. There was some cloud cover and a light breeze causing some ripples on the water. George Chenson and his son, Nicholas, did very well. They caught stripers ranging from about 18-inches to 27-inches using light spinning gear.

Monday I found good striper action on Joppa flats near Woodbridge Island. A couple were close to keeper size. Tuesday was bright with slow action on Joppa Flats. There were a lot of fish near Buoy # 7 but they had "lock jaw" for bait or artificials.

Wednesday morning there were some keeper size stripers caught between the jetties by those fishermen using chunk bait. I fished an hour without any action on deep fished flies. I did get some schoolies to provide some lively action up near Buoy #11.

Capt. Charles Crue

Channel Edge Charters