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North Shore 6/14- BIG bass makes up for slow day
Hit the water today at two, and did not connect with a single fish until 6 pm. By fish I mean bait as well, dont ask why, just couldnt find anything until six. At six, seemingly when the tide turned, the area erupted with schools of surface feeding macks. Loaded up from there and drifted several rocks off of magnolia, as well as the shipping chanels in back of Bakers. Landed roughly 15 fish all were legal, all were released to fight again. On the last cast with the fly rod, on one of my big mackeral flies, I hooked into what felt like freight train. Almost immediatly, I was dumped of 50 plus yard of backing....I only thought one thing, big fish. I had to give chase and came up on the fish and tried to slug it out 70 feet veritcal, after 5 minutes of not moving her, it was time for plan b. Switched the angle and put a different angle of pull on her, and slowly she began to move. Soonthereafter, the cow measured out at 51 inches, 44 pounds, released to make some little cows. This is my biggest bass, all tackle for me, and the fact that it was on a flyrod, on my fly made it so amazing to me, that could be the last fish I catch this year, and I still will be satified.

Capt. John Pirie of Online Fishing Charters emailed with this report:

Well we finally moved our operation over to Manchester. We have been
fishing in Essex and Ipswich aboard our Maritime Skiff 20' for the past 5
weeks. The fishing has been excellent in all of the local rivers and
estuaries. There continue to be a surprising amount of big fish in the
mix. Lots of surface action in front of Cranes Beach and in the mouth of
the Essex and Ipswich Rivers. Along the rocky shoreline, there are lots
of solid fish holding in every rocky nook. We fished the rocks monday
morning to find lots of decent fish, 22-30" tucked in tight to the rocks.
We have had a lot of eelgrass and wed with those big tides that are
fouling the nearshore areas. If you can get away from the weed you are
all set in the rocks. Look for some whitewater and cast in tight. We
are using mostly sinking flies, whistlers, clousers and either in white
or chartreuse with good results. We have tried to get offshore a few
times but the weather has not been good. I expect that there are a lot
of blues out there now if we can just get out there. Salem sound has
been quiet of late but Nahant and Swampscott are holding a lot of nice
fish. Boston Harbor has been fshing quite well. Lots of surface action
in the morning, bring your flak vestt though since the harbor is always
full combat fishing. We have two more days open in June if you are
interested in coming out for a trip. THe August tuna fishery is all but
sold out with maybe two days left in August and 4 days open in September.
Email or call us soon for dates. Good luck this week. Capt. John Pirie
email jpirie@olfc.com, 978.468.1314

This report came in late this morning from First Light Anglers:

June 20th- Well the fishing is finally consistent with some really nice fish being taken on the rocks. Although not red hot the rocks are producing good numbers of fish with a lot being in the 20"-27" range without too many micros mixed in. We took a nice 35" fish off the rocks yesterday in Magnolia and have picked away at them along most of the islands in Salem Sound. The weeds were a bit tough earlier in the week with those south winds, and this made Gloucester to Rockport almost not fishable. If you could get through the weeds, the fish were definitely there and we did well around Milk Island, Lands End and Straitsmouth.

The most entertaining fishing has been out of Marblehead a couple of miles. There have been big schools of mackerel with large bass crushing them on the surface. The last couple of days has been fantastic on the fly and plug. Ninety percent of these fish are 28" and bigger with the largest fish caught yesterday on the fly being 38" and 23lbs. There have been a few blues mixed in so do not be surprised if you get bit off. Friday morning Nat had a great trip out there with all legal bass in the 28" to 34" range. Interestingly, they were all on 5"-7" herring today and not the mackerel.

The rivers have been fishing excellent with these good dawn and dusk high tides. Some really nice fish in the mid 30" range have been coming out of some of the tiny tidal creeks and are a perfect target for the fly rodder. The Ipswich, Parker and Rowley rivers along with Essex have all been very solid. The bugs are starting to get a bit savage, but it sounds like it's worth it. I have heard the Merrimack has been great but an absolute mad house.  The weather looks perfect for fishing this weekend horrible for beaching. Winds are meant to be less than 15 knots all weekend with some light to variable mixed in. Although most have been frustrated with the weather, I couldn't be happier with low light and low winds, don't need the rain but it's better than wind. Be in touch if you need any more info. Thanks, Capt's Nat and Derek (978)526-4477 reports@firstlightanglers.com

Leighton Honda reports from Wintrop:

Ding Dong, the Wicked Skunk is Dead
Finally got into fish today after a horrendous and lengthy series of skunkings. Fished the 3 incoming hours to high, and schoolies were plentiful, if small. Took almost all on a tiny white bucktail with a blue jig head that had previously seen use only in fresh water. It sure was what they liked tonight in the salt, I'm pleased to say. Almost all takes were in the top 20 inches of water, and fish were busting on the surface enthusiastically. Nothing to write home about size-wise, to perhaps 17", but still mucho fun on 6 lb test. I was trying large 3-4 oz. jobbies as well, to no avail. The fish that were biting were hitting the tiny stuff, so I obliged.

Location was the Belle Isle inlet area in Winthrop (easy access in back and I've never seen another fisherman there), and the sandbar behind the water tower on the beach side before that. Only saw a few of the 'hey-let's-get-a-buzz-on-while-carfishing-the-bridge' bait slingers out there at Belle Isle besides myself, using clams (I watched them as I strolled up from out back) However one chooses to fish legally is OK by me, to each his own, but the catches they haphazardly somersaulted 10 feet from the top of the bridge back to water was simply atrocious. Hardly a sporting release. I let them know I thought so, to no apparent effect. Shame.

Temps were surprisingly cool out there, but the reward for 'braving' it was well worth the effort.

Leighton

Capt. Charlie Crue of Channel Edge Charters reports:

Merrimack River Report #5 June 11, 2003

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.

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.

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.

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!

Bunker had this report:

Joppa Mon & Tues AM
Took two days off of work to hit the flats. Wish it was better but as they say a bad day of fishing is better than a good day at work.
Hit it early monday morning for the outgoing. Paddled around quite a bit with only two fish both under 20". Wind picked up quite a bit and it quickly became a pain to maneuver and cast etc. Headed in just before dead low. Was going back out again in the evening but one thing lead to another and never did get out.
Hit it again 5 AM tuesday. Nice start to the morning. Blue skies, nice sunrise and a slight breeze to keep the bugs down. Caught a couple of small ones early on and drifted down towards Woodbridge. Around 6:30 I looked towards town and noticed a black cloud rolling in. 10 minutes later socked in. Kind of spooky in the fog. I knew where I had to go but was quickly losing track of where I was. Not to worried about getting lost more afraid of being run down. Paddled upriver on a NW track. Fortunately the fog thinned a bit and I could start seeing houses. Stopped and started casting again, whammo, nice fish towed me around a bit until I was back in the fog again. Finally boated an amazingly fat 32" fish. Fog burned off by 8. Kept at it through low tide. Took a break and parked the boat on mound of grass that was exposed and stretched the legs a bit.
Took a nap until the tide came in and started fishing again. A few more hits with fish in the 20s. Kept bumping into finning bass and occasionaly spotted swimming bass under the boat. Couldn't get them to hit on a regular basis though. Quit around noon. By that time I had 7 hrs of paddling and had a good burn going. Probably should have stuck it out until top of high. Any way a good day with some nice bass and finally enjoyed a sunny day on the water.

Tight Lines

Mike D.