Reel-Time's Fly Fishing Reports for the Boston Metropolitan Region

November 20, 2009

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Boston Metropolitan Region January 16th, 2004

FishWire Coordinator:	Mark Cahill
Navigation Aids:

A Loss...

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On vacation last week, it rudely occurred to me how much I miss having access to the Plymouth Nuke Plant outflow.

We were in Plymouth, middle of the day, and my wife says to me "why don't you go fishing for a while." Now I never argue with that statement, but then I thought: if this was last season, I'd have no question as to where I was headed for my two hours away from the family during the heat of the day. Truthfully, I can think of no other place count on to produce fish at mid-day.

But, alas, the aftermath of 9/11 means that it is doubtful any of us will ever again fish the outflow. It is now heavily protected and one of the truly great spots has been lost to the shore-bound crowd.

In the 80's I'd often take off from my office in Plymouth and shoot over to fish for a short while during lunch. But no longer...

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

Tight Lines!

Mark Cahill

Boston Metropolitan Regions

NEWS

If you haven't found a reason to go fishing Labor Day weekend yet I will give you one: This may be some of the best fishing we see all season. From the Merrimack down to Plymouth, the reports are coming in of tremendous action. Don't take my word for it, read the reports!

Boston Harbor

Capt. Wayne Frieden of Reel Dream Charters reports:

Thursday, August 22, 2002: Margy Koepke, her son Max, Margy's brother
Bruce Fox and his son Christian spent the morning fishing for blues on
light tackle. We found a small school working bait just after low water
but only picked up a few before things got really quiet. A call from
Capt. Gene Kelly alerted me to the fact that the blues (bigger ones)
came up again in the North Channel area. These fish were less picky than
the ones inside and feeding on larger herring. At the top of the tide,
we found more blues (smaller ones) in Quincy Bay. However, these
choppers were somewhat finicky due to the amount of small baitfish (most
likely silversides) they were feeding on. After trying a number of
different baits, I found that the 31/2" Rainbow Trout colored fin's fish
on a 3/8 oz jig head worked the best.

Sunday, August 25, 2002: Today turned out to be a beautiful day on the
water and a great way to spend my last day of summer before returning to
work tomorrow. We found a nice mix of bass and blues off Deer I at first
light. When the action slowed, I ventured beyond the North Channel and
explored along the rocky coastline near Little Nahant Harbor and Bass
Point. We found a mix of bass and blues churning up the water, gorging
themselves on peanut bunker and minnows. I used an 8 wt. with a fast
sinking line and a small bunker pattern. When the blitz was over, we
headed south to find more bass and blues from Great Faun Bar to
Winthrop. I switched to my 10 wt. and a larger half & half fly. Both fly
patterns were gray/lavender over white and both were equally effective
today. As the tide came in, so did the clearing skies following light
NW winds. By 10:00 am things got very quiet outside and inside, as well.

Wednesday, August 27, 2002: Haven't been on the water since Sunday, but
fishing continues to be strong for both bass and blues. Some nice keeper
bass have been taken on both fly and light tackle outside the Harbor
from Faun Bar to Nahant. Plenty of bait remain and this bodes very well
for a great fall season. I certainly miss being on the water every day
and live vicariously through reports of guides lucky enough to continue
fishing during the week. I look forward to my weekend charters and have
simpatico with others who are also relegated to weekend fishing.

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

Capt. Wayne Frieden

Capt. Bill Smith of Draggin' Fly Charters reports:

Sunday Aug. 18 was day two of the Paul Ponichtera crew's charter. Joining
Paul for this trip was son Erik and Bruce Parson. The day began at dawn with
Paul and Bruce landing 34 and 35 inch bass. Bluefish were soon pounding white
poppers cast by the crew. Captain Bill moved into Boston and located some
nice bass on Governor's Flats that ate white soft jerk baits. A number of
those fish hit the 30 inch mark. At the top of the tide, Draggin' Fly Too
moved offshore where the largest school of bluefish of the year had peanut
bunker balled up off the Brewsters. Paul, Bruce, and Erik were into the best
fishing of their lives.

    J.T. Rosnack and Patrick Huntington of Milton were aboard for the predawn
push off on Monday. Some bluefish were located in Quincy Bay but the fish
ripped up the bass tackle. As the tide began to push in, peanut bunker
flooded the Inner Triangle. And the bass soon exploded on the bait. J.T., a
regular fly fisher on the Draggin' Fly, had been in a number of "Hahbah" bass
blitzes but Patrick was a rookie and could not believe the scene of bait
busting breaking fish and diving birds. J.T. used small Half 'N Half to catch
fish on his fly rod and Patrick used Bass Assassin Shad on light spinning
tackle. Bass up to 34 inches and blues up to 30 inches were boated.

    Tuesday, the predicted occasional showers remained over the Draggin' Fly
the entire morning. The rain didn't seem to bother the fish, nor John Kieley
of New Hampshire and Damon Reed of Norwell. Shortly after dawn, large
stripers pushed the peanut bunker right up on to Rainsford Island. Damon
caught several on his Fleece Fly worked across the surface, while John used a
small Half 'N Half fished on a Teeny 350 grain in seach of a trophy bass. By
the time the crew moved to the Anchorage, large schools of bass began
blasting the bait. Action was nonstop until the top of the tide.

    It was a quick start on Wednesday, when Gerry Feely of Humarock brought
along Stve and Dan Uns for their first "Hahbah" experience. Steve hooked up
to bass on his first cast with his fly rod. For the next hour Gerry and Dan
joined Steve in casting to breaking bass throughout Quincy Bay. Then schools
of blues moved in and switching from soft jerk baits to poppers, the crew had
a ball. The day concluded offshore with Steve, Gerry, and Dan tight to big
bluefish.

    Thursday was an off day for scheduled maintenance. While the Draggin' Fly
was being tuned up for the fall migration, Captain Bill used the time to tie
up bunker flies and repair tackle. There are a few openings in September, one
of the best months in the Harbor.

    On Saturday, Draggin' Fly was back in the water and ready to pick up
regular Dave Gale at Rowe's Wharf at dawn. The wind was still blowing out of
the northeast. Captain Bill reported that this was the slowest day of the
year. Small pods of bass were located, but they refused most offerings. Going
offshore in search of bluefish was not an option since the ocean had a big
belly ache from Friday's blow.

South Shore

Things appear to be breaking open around Plymouth. Last week I found breaking schools of blues on the outside of the harbor jetty around high tide several days during the week. As long as the east wind ehld off the fish were in.

Capt. John Bunar of Skippy III Charters reports:

Good action in and outside the bays. It would be tough for someone to not get into the breaking schools as long as they got an early start.   Lots of small bait around with a 80/20 mix of bass/bluefish terrorizing them. Action is turning up anywhere and everywhere so the best bet is to get the boat on plane and cruise til you find where it is happening.   The schools hanging outside the bay have fish of a larger average size than the schools busting inside.

Cod fishing has not started but there are still a decent amount of fluke around. Fluke size has increased greatly the last couple of weeks.   I saw some over six pounds make there way up the dock the last few days.

Small tuna are everywhere from halfway over to Ptown to Stellwaggen to North of the H buoy.   Catch a calm day and you wont be able to miss them. Fish from 30-80lbs are being easy to find as they are making acrobatic efforts in thier pursuit of all the small tinkers in the area. Good luck to anybody that thinks they can deal with these things on fly gear!!

JB

North Shore

Capt. John Pirie of On Line Fishing Charters reports:

A banner week for the On-Line Charters crew. We have been invaded by
hordes of peanut bunker. The recent Northeast winds have turned the
switch and fall is here. THe last few days have included some of the
most phenomenal fishing we have ever seen. The entire coast is lit from
Boston to Ipswich. As we run the coast it has become simply a matter of
picking the largest concentration of birds and fish. We have been into
mixed schools of bass and blues as well as select pods of larger slammer
blues. Incredible fishing, all topwater action, the clients have been
treated to stellar days all week. On Wednesday we fished for tuna on the
surface for 4-5 hours. Non-stop action, broken lines, dumped spools and
lots of tuna hooked. The tuna were eating the peanuts as well. We
unfortunately had a hard time hooking the smaller 30-50 pound fish since
that would have improved our odds greatly. We hooked a few over 100 lbs
which promptly departed with our line. 5 seconds is about the time it
takes a large school fish to dump a reel. The fishing is intense.
Schools of tuna were crashing bait on the surface, birds working and
miracle of miracles, the surface bursts were lasting for several minutes
rather than several seconds. The tuna would ball the bait and then surf
through. Fish were literally surfing alongside the boat. This is some
incredible action and something people should jump on. There are not
many days left so call soon. Capt John T. Pirie, On-Line Fishing
Charters, 978.468.1314, jpirie@olfc.com

Capt. Derek Spingler of First Light Anglers reports:

August 26th- The baby bunker are here!! And better yet the fish have found them. Last week we started to see and hear about little pods off baby bunker getting worked by bass, however, Sunday kicked off the blitz. I was down in Nahant on Saturday and the water around Egg Rock was literally brownish red with massive amounts of 1-3 inch bunker. The birds were picking at them, but not a single bass to be seen or marked on the depth sounder. We did not have a trip Sunday morning but we had told a couple of customers to go and check it out. Apparently it started at dawn and was still going at 11am when the customer called me from the water! Sunday afternoon saw Salem Sound light up with bass and blues crushing bait along the Beverly shoreline all the way out to Little Misery. Monday morning the reports started pouring in about the epic blitzes. Starting at House and Ram Island outside of Manchester, the fish were working under birds all the way up to Magnolia Harbor and Kettle Island. The best part of the report is that fish up to 40” were taken. Apparently Lobster Cove was chaos for about two hours!

Up the coast in Gloucester, Pebble Beach has had some epic feeds over the last 4-5 days. Late last week the big mackerel had the bunker pushed up tight to the beach and then the big bass moved in to eat both the mackerel and the bunker. I just received a call from Nat who said the bass and blues are working hard right now off the corner of Milk Island just off of Pebble Beach. The volume of bait is very encouraging and I find it hard to believe it will depart in the next day or two, but one never knows.

I had not heard any encouraging news out of the Essex/Ipswich side until Saturday when a customer came in saying he had just had his best shore day ever on the front side of Crane’s down by the swim area. He also mentioned that the birds and fish were breaking all the way over to the southern end of Plum Island.
The key at this time of the year is information and moving around until you find the fish. This is easier in a boat than on shore, so please call the shop and we will try and give you the most recent information to put you in the fish. Along these lines if you have some information please give us a report so we can pass it along to others. One last note for those who have read this far is that the baby tuna are still off of Thacher’s Island. They have been tough to get to eat anything but the weather looks favorable the next couple of days to give it a shot. Anyways, I hope this gets people psyched that the doldrums are officially over and that now is the time to get out on the water. Best of luck, Derek (978)526-4477

Sound King reports:

Salem Sound-wham, bam, thank you slam

Salem Sound went nuts this evening. Just sitting by the ocean, watching the cigarette boats make huge wakes, and noise, when it seemed as though the sound exploded. I launched an amphibius kayak assault on them (boat on dry-dock for repairs). Landed 30-40 fish ( pretty even mix of bass and blues) in around 2 hours. I came back into my beach, saw huge schools of bait, threw my cast net out, and discovered a mix of three baits. The most abundant was PEANUT BUNKER!, then there were some juvie herring, and some spike mackerel. This all happened from 5 to seven. Casting from my beach after I netted some bait, I caught two fluke and one window pane flounder. This all combined to create a salem sound slam, and one hell of an evening. All the fish were taken on two flies, one my fly called peanut which is on this board, and spike which is also on this board under the heading "fly of the week". It should repeat tomorrow evening, and tomorrow morning, as from mingo beach to dane st. was loaded with milling fish and bait. Note: the fish were not being reckless, and were feeding gently, a slower strip and longer casts were required to connect tonight. Tight Lines, Soundking

The Merrimack River

Capt. Charlie Crue of Channel Edge Charters reports:

Merrimack river Report #19 August 22, 2002

Inshore striper fishing was slow last weekend. Schoolies were still around the north end of Plum Island and hit flies and softbaits on the outgoing tide. We did well with bluefish by traveling down to the Plum Island Basin, Parker River area. There were schools of 4 to 5 pound blues chasing silverside minnows (evidenced by what they spit up in the boat). They provided good hard fights on light spinning and fly tackle. Wire and heavy mono leaders were the order of the day. One thing I enjoy about bluefish is their acrobatic performance during the fight.

Joppa Flats continues to be slow. One fellow told me on Saturday morning he saw lots of stripers rolling around on the flats but only managed to get one to hit a surface popper. It was a 27-inch fish.

The dry hot weather has resulted in very clear water in the lower Merrimack. This has only made the inshore fishing more difficult. I’m sure.

Monday my clients enjoyed "running and gunning" for snapper blues in the Plum Island Basin area. Jon and his two teenage sons caught about twenty snapper blues and lost quite a few in the furious action. (Photo) They took home four nice eating size blues and released the others.(photo)

Fishing has been getting better over the last few days. On Wednesday morning I had a "captains day off" and went out to scout the river area. I found birds working over schoolies that were chasing bait at the edge of the AYC mooring area. I caught and released five schoolies on five casts. Then, a friend radioed that there were fish breaking the surface down the river on the Salisbury side and some were big.. I went down and had good action with stripers to 20-inches. I saw a big striper, about four times the size of the one I was fighting, following the hooked fish. Yes there have been some big stripers caught lately. A charter captain friend, who has been trolling with umbrella rigs, in the river, said they caught a 55-inch striper (44 pounds). They caught another striper that was over 40-inches.

Thursday morning my clients, Pete and his college age son, Adam, enjoyed lively schoolie action on the incoming tide. We found aggressive stripers smashing sand eels or silversides near the party boats at the end of Plum Island. As the tide moved in, we followed stripers up the river and stayed in the action for about three hours. We also met with fast-moving school of snapper blues that robbed flies before we converted to wire leaders.

The cooler weather and shorter days are hinting at fall. I saw ducks in V formation and bunches of birds out over the Flats. I am looking forward to some good fall striper action.