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| FishWire Coordinator: | Mark Cahill |
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| Casting Clinic with Mark Sedotti Next Weekend
Okay, you guys asked for it, and we booked it. I've still got slots open for our Mark Sedotti Casting Clinic in Hingham next Saturday. This is a definite don' miss event. For those of you who don't know Mark, here's a quick bio that'll get you up to speed. Mark is a "fishing nut" like you, and has been so ever since the second day he picked up a rod at the age of 11. He started fishing saltwater here in New England (he lives in Greenwich, CT) two years later, and started saltwater fly
Jake and Rhey with a nice Governor's Flats bass In 1995 he became the Fly Casting Columnist for the then newly published Saltwater Flyfishing Don't forget to send me your own reports, and until next week...
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Magazine, and stayed with the magazine in this capacity for five years. (during the same period he had many articles published concerning N.E. saltwater fly fishing in this and other magazines.)Boston Metropolitan Regions
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| It's hot, then it's not. About the only truly consistent action is live lining with mackeral off Cape Ann, where they've been scoring on fish to 47 lb. (see the First Light Anglers report for a pic). In the harbor and the rivers, more than one angler has been questioning their capabilities. Check out this thread in the RT NE Forum... |
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Boston Harbor
Capt. Bill Smith of Draggin' Fly Charters checked in with this: On Saturday, June 6 Brian Shurer of Norfolk, a regular aboard the Draggin' Fly, brought along his friend, Chris from Hanover. Both were in for a full day of light tackle fishing. Action began at dawn with breaking fish just off the drilling platform at George's Island. Soft jerk baits worked wonders. After the tide turned, Captain Bill found another large school of fish off Hangman's Island. Most were 20-24 inch fish, but Brian released a fat 30 inch linesider. The crowds pushed the fish down so the crew made the decision to run offshore and work around the pods of mackerel. Captain Bill re-rigged with some prototype jigs that tackle rep Dan Shea recently sent with instructions to get pictures for a catalog. These swimming jigs are a modernized version of the Vivit Jig produced by Cecil Hoge back in the 50's. They will be marketed by Panther Martin. And boy, do they work! Chris landed the top fish of the day, a 43 inch trophy bass that tipped the scale a few ounces under 30 pounds. A great catch on 12 lb. tackle. Sunday's fog hampered the early start and any chances of an off-shore run. Dave Gale, an avid fly fisher of Sharon brought along his 13 year old son, Ev. The first few hours were unproductive. Finally, stripers were found working bait in Wollaston. The fish were small but after such a slow morning, these fish brought smiles. It took alot of convincing but Captain Bill got the anglers to leave the fish that they worked so hard to find. The Draggin' Fly moved to Dorchester to catch the end of the tide. There, Dave's specially tied mini-clouser hammered bigger bass. Ev caught his first legal fish that measured 30 inches on a fly. Capt. Wayne Frieden of Reel Dream Charters reports:
Jake gives a big "thumbs up" after helping land Dad's Saturday, June 7, 2002: Kevin Cheevers and I enjoyed a brief period of time being the only boat in the middle of Quincy Bay with FAC conditions, the sun just poking over the horizon and fish popping all over the place. Kevin was fishing a 4" blue/gray half & half which seemd to be working quite well. There was a ton of small baitfish in the area so with all that competition it wasn't a fish on every cast. The school moved from the area east of Sunken Ledge to the west side of the channel and stayed up for an hour or so into the going tide. Being a weekend, there was the usual armada of boats but folks were respecting one another's space, for the most part. Once the action died, the fishing slowed down considerably for the remainder of the morning. Sunday, June 8, 2003: With limited visability (i.e. pea soup fog) Rhey Plumley, John Austin and his 5 year old son Jake headed out with me for a much anticipated morning of striper fishing. Of course, this was Jake's first time fishing for striped bass. However, the young lad knew his way around a spinning rod while Dad and "Uncle" Rhey chose to fly fish. Today, the fishing was awsome as the bass stayed up for a good portion of the morning tide. All on board caught numerous schoolies up to 24" or so. These were user friendly fish that would readily take a 4" chartreuse/white clouser or 4" gray/lavendar half & half with gusto. We only got two fish on soft plastics. Once little Jake switched to a 31/2" gray/lavendar bucktail jig with a slim profile it was almost a fish on every cast. Until next week, we'll see you out there... Capt. Wayne Frieden The Kayak Forum crew was out on the harbor last weekend. Here's a report from Sean Ruge.
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South Shore
Bassbuster had this: 6/8 Duxbury/Plymouth
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North Shore
Another great report from First Light Anglers. Derek emailed after the report with a pic of a 46.7 lb. striper taken yesterday morning on mackerel. Quite a fish, but then throw in the fact that it was also Chris's first striper! We have been spending a good amount of time fishing the rocks up in Gloucester and Rockport with most spots holding fish. There have been reports of some really nice fish falling to live mackerel out in the deeper water and I plan on finding out for myself in the next day or two as we have a couple of spin fishing charters. As the tides start to change to those morning low tides, I would definitely start looking around the mouths of the rivers and harbors at dawn and dusk, especially on the Ipswich Bay side. The reports from the rivers have been OK. The Essex has not been spectacular in the last couple of days. Anglers have been getting fish, but it sounds like the evening flood tides have just been scattering the fish a little too much. This weekend should have some good early morning incoming tides for those planning on fishing the estuaries. The best reports I have heard have been coming from the Merrimack. I have heard numerous reports of acres of schoolies up on top eating small 1-4” bait and a number of reliable reports of some really nice fish being taken on the fly. All reports have complained about the number of anglers, so if you do go do not be surprised. Also, don’t be afraid of fishing the front side of Plum Island as I have received good reports from there without the crowds. As far as the Ipswich River goes, I just have not had any reliable reports in the last couple of days but I would imagine it would fish well on the incoming tide this weekend. If you are heading out, please feel free to call the shop or send me off an email. As always, we are out on the water every day and are happy to help you find the fish! Take care, Capt.’s Derek & Nat (978)526-4477 reports@firstlightanglers.com At Sigler Guide Service, Randy is seeing hot action too... Soundking has been working flies around the schools of macks...here's his report: North Shore 6/12 pm- Why I Love June Sentience had this: I fished Pavillion Beach and the Ipswich mouth today. The current was ripping but I guess the action was this morning. So I went to Black Beach and saw some fish breaking and rolling on the surface. The ended up being just out of reach but I did end up with four or five of the smallest bass I've ever caught. I guess I was catching the very edge of the school. Fun to be back up there though. I stopped at First Light for a while. They were telling me about that 47 lb., 47" striper. They are generally pretty psyched about the fishing. So am I. |
Well it is finally happening off Marblehead. Had some wonderful trips yesterday and today. A good amount of fish holding in the rocks that were quite happy to pounce on flies. In keeping with my general philosophy, pattern doesn't seem to be the key, but presentation is important. Our best results come on casts which are thrown right up into the white wash, and then stripped out with sharp 12" to 18" strips. The take almost always comes on the pause as your stripping hand is moving forward for the next strip.  |
The Merrimack River
LightTackle posted this on the NE Forum: Merrimack/Joppa 6/10 (with question) On Sun and Monday got out on the water about 4:30 AM and had a wonderful morning(s). With Sunday's fog, the fish were eating on the surface everywhere on Joppa. Just had to be in the right area at the right time and within the sight, depending on the fog thickness. Between me and a buddy we caught 9 keepers before 10:30 then we pulled out. On Monday morning between 3 of us we caught 17 legal keepers and many more close ones. 3 biggest were a 36", 38" and a fat 42"... all before 9:30, then pulled out to go to work. But when I went out last night I got skunked. We were on the water by 7:30 PM ready to catch the 8:30'ish high tide. First area we went to had footprints all around us. My first cast I had a keeper sized fish but it came unplugged. My buddy landed a 29" on his first cast. My second cast also hooked into a keeper sized fish but then it broke off. My buddy then got another 28". But after that first 5 minutes that was it for the rest of the night except for 2 or 3 little trout sized schoolies. One thing I did notice was it was dead calm after we got out there. Fish were making footprints ALLL over the place but nothing wanted our offerings. Was quite frustrating. Does this mean the summer doldrums have started already? Finally pulled out around 10:30 PM. Water temp was only 61+ degrees. Too many assumptions but no answers other than they were OFF lastnight. Didn't see any fish from the armada of boats that was out there either. Any thoughts??? Quit Wishin, Go Fishing!! RF Several years ago Capt. Phil Klug postulated that this type of behavior actually denotes that the stripers are feeding on tiny river shrimp. i concur, and believe that when they do this, they will often filter feed like a Basking Shark, simply cruising through clouds of bait with their mouths open. In this scenario, they won't actively pursue an individual bait, which means that you're fly falls right into the school of shrimp's "safety in numbers" scheme. Also, since they are not singling out your fly, you will not always feel when they have inhaled the fly until they've already spit it back out. This can be one of the most frustrating times for fly fishermen... Capt. Charlie Crue checked in with this: Merrimack River Report #5 June 11, 2003 During the three days we had one very interesting catch and release. Noel (the Irish fellow) thought he hooked a fish but as he reeled in we observed that he had snagged a line. I went over to free up his lure but felt a strong tug on the line in my hand. I pulled on it more and felt the unmistakable pulsation of a fish. The harder I pulled, the harder it pulled back. Fortunately I was wearing my light canvas gloves and began a hand over hand struggle with the fish. I let line slip out when I felt strong surges and gained line during slack periods. To make a long story short, I finally got the fish close enough to see that it was a nice big striper. I got it to the side of the boat and brought it aboard. It was a reel nice striper measuring 32-inches, with a circle hook in the side of its mouth. I removed the hook and took a photo before the release After a day off the water to have my new Honda 130 in for its 20 hour check, I hosted Bill and his friend Regis. We found some large stripers out on Joppa Flats. On other fronts, I heard of a 37 pound striper taken at the river mouth on a drifted dead herring. Mackerel are being caught around breaking rock up the coast. There are many reports of large stripers in the area. The weather continues to be less than comfortable for fishermen but we don't care as long as we can get out and enjoy our great sport! |
Last week I hosted a fine group of guys that get together each year for some fishing and camaraderie. They came from Idaho, Colorado, Virginia and other states including our own. It was an enjoyable three days for me, as their guide, and for them, some having their first exposure to our wonderful striped bass fishery here on the Merrimack River. The first day of fishing they kept two legal stripers, which I filleted so they could take them to the chef at Stripers Grill for dinner that evening. They were the only two fish that we killed out of several keepers that they caught over the three days. (Photos) Each evening, over dinner, after a day of fishing they had lively debates about which angler did best. I think the overall winner was Noel, the guy of Irish extraction, who managed to get several large fish to the boat without being pulled overboard. Gary caught his personal largest striper on a fly on Saturday morning; it measured about 30-inches. 
Sunday my clients, George, Chenson and his son, Nicholas, enjoyed some good striper action with a mix of schoolies and some big fish. The action continued to be good on Monday when I guided for Tom, his daughter Liz, and friend Rick. Rick ended the morning by catching a 37-inch, 17 pound striper on a small olive/white clouser.