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| Stripers Eat the Darndest Things...
I'm betting that most of you haven't seen this. It's a link to a report entitled "Food Habits of Striped Bass (Morone saxatilis) in Coastal Waters of Massachusetts" by Gary A. Nelson, Bradford C. Chase and Jason Stockwell of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, Annisquam River Marine Fisheries Station in Gloucester (okay, now say that out loud three times fast). It's a truly fascinating document, outlining in excruciating scientific detail the actual contents of the stomachs of striped bass. I'll caution you now that if you're knowledge of latin or scientific species names isn't great, then you'll find the document cumbersome...if not downright incomprehensible (I had to continually refer back to the glossary of common vs. scientific names). The long and the short of the story, which I'm sure your fishing experience (as well as mine) will sharply contradict, is that Ms. Saxatilis is apparently not a very discerning feeder. Frankly, the list of stuff they found in there reminds me of the scene from Jaws where they pull a Louisiana license plate out of the stomach of a tiger shark. Here's the big shocker, during June and July, they find that stripers diets consist of 40% crabs, shrimp and lobsters. That'll change once the pogies (menhaden, bunker) show up in August, to 50% fin fish and around 25% crabs and lobsters (percentages may be off, it's hard to read their chart). Now, let's take a look in your fly box. Got crabs? Maybe... Shrimp? Well, a gotcha could do in a pinch. Lobster? No? The oft-repeated tale is that the old Portugese fishermen used to used lobster tails as bait, and that they used to do really well. Now I'm not suggesting you run down to Jos. A. Hook and load up on lobsters for your trip this weekend. But you can tie up a darned nice imitation with a handful of feathers and a little monofilament. Capt. Nat Moody of First Light Anglers has provided a pattern which he's been using for a few years that works quite well. I've put the instructions through our pattern post system, so you can take a look next time your at the tying bench. Forum post of the week belongs to Soundking. Check it out here. Don't forget to send me your own reports, and until next week...
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Not to fear though! The folks at the DMF have digested this information down into information which the average salt of the earth fly fisherman (and even bait dunker!) can understand. 
If you think you're underequipped in the fly fishing department, take a look in your lure box. You've probably got Rapalas, surgical tube eels, etc. But I bet you don't have anything that looks like a crab. I won't even ask about a lobster.Boston Metropolitan Regions
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Summer is upon us. It's starting to heat up, but not as bad as usual, and the really good news is that it hasn't pushed the fish to the north, or into the really deep water like we would normally expect. The blues are now working offshore and have moved into the harbor. Look for the action offshore, or along the ocean facing beaches and rocks. |
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Boston Harbor
Capt. Wayne Frieden of Reel Dream Charters reports: Saturday, June 28, 2003: The weak cold front that pushed through Friday evening seemed to have pushed the fish out as well. Jack Noonan and "soon to be brother-in-law" Mike caught a handful of small bass and blues on light tackle. The good news is that the fish would hit their spinning lures.However, the weather was definitely better than the fishing. I guess that's why they call it fishing... Monday, June 30, 2003: Had the pleasure of taking Kevin Cheevers out today for a morning of fly fishing for bass and blues. Yes, the small blues have invaded Quincy Bay. The tide was not ideal but Kevin managed to fool a nice 15 lb. bass in skinny water during the tail end of the outgoing tide on his own gray/blue half & half. What a way to start the morning! Kevin invited yours truly to fish and I pulled a nice bass out of the rocks with a large white Bass Assassin'. For the remainder of the tide, we worked hard to get a handful of smaller bass and blues. But it's always a pleasure taking Kevin out fishing as he's great company and just truly enjoys fly fishing in the salt. And you can't catch a 15 lb. bass on a fly while sitting at your desk at work! Tuesday, July 1, 2003: No charter today, so I spent part of the morning pruning much neglected foundation shrubs around my house in Scituate. It was such a beautiful day, I decided to go flounder fishing and of course brought along my favorite 8 wt. fly rod. The flounder weren't biting so I ventured over to a productive spot in the Bay and proceeded to blind cast as nothing was showing on the surface or on my fishfinder. I was using a 2" tan/white deceiver type fly unweighted. First cast, a few slow strips then strip like crazy. Fish on...dropped it. Second cast, same scenario. Third cast, better fish on and this time I landed and released a fat 32" linesider. Looked at my fishfinder and sure enough I was marking lots of fish. Caught and released a bunch of fish, had lunch and decided to try flounder fishing again. Didn't catch any flounder...didn't care either! Great afternoon on the water. Oh yes, I was fishing at the top of the tide @ 1:00 pm.
Wednesday, July 2, 2003: Had the pleasure of taking Patrick Morin and his client Tom out this morning. It was a relatively short trip as Tom had to be back at the dock by 10:30 am. Worked a flat outside the Harbor and saw working birds in very skinny water. Very nice school of bass feeding on herring. Patrick landed and released a beauty but Tom had his troubles hooking up today. The school must have dismissed early as the fish didn't stay around very long and could not be located again. Went into Quincy Bay to find swirling and finicky bass and blues. This time, Tom hooked up but lost the fish due to his fly line which was knotted around one of the guides. So it goes... Still, beats being in the office! Until next time,we'll see you out there... Capt. Wayne Capt. Wayne Frieden Capt. Bill Smith of Draggin' Fly Charters had this: The Draggin' Fly got back on the water on Tuesday, June 24. On board were two expert fly rodders, Paul Ryan of Marshfield and Peter Frederickson of Weymouth. Also fishing was Paul's friend Michael who used spinning gear. Peter was the first to score on a leadhead fly in among the rocks at Sunset Point. Michael used a Bass Assassin to catch a school bass. A few more bass were caught including a small keeper before Captain Bill moved into the shallow waters of Quincy. The anglers jumped a number of bass which refused all offerings. These fish would follow but would not hit. The crew managed to catch a few bluefish before calling it a day. On Wednesday, Damon Reed of Norwell and John Kieley of New Hampshire invited outdoor writer Katie McKay to join them for their weekly trip. Katie is working on an article on Boston Harbor for Gray's Journal. The crew decided to hunt for bass in the shallows. And they found many tailing and finning fish. Damon tried every fly in his arsenal but to not avail. John had a little more success with a yellow bunny fly, including a fat 32 inch striper. Katie used Mr. Twister Exude and Bass Assassin shads. An experienced muskie fisher from Wisconsin, it took Katie a little time to learn the technique of working soft jerk baits. But once she caught on she outfished both Damon and John, catching and releasing some small bluefish. She has plenty of pictures and information for her article. On Thursday, Peter Gallagher of Norwell was aboard along with trip friends, Joe and Ron for a light tackle trip. A small school of bass was found in Quincy and the crew managed a few fish on Vivit jigs before the boat traffic broke the fish up. A call from a fellow captain about some big bass trapping bait along the shore of Lovell's Island got everyone's heart pumping. Peter was the first to hook up on a soft jerk bait with a 30 inch bass. The bass were difficult to hook, often following the lure before turning away at the last minute. Each angler caught legal size bass up to 34 inches before the fish moved out. On Friday, Joe Ramaci of Braintree met Captain Bill at dawn for his first trip with the Draggin' Fly. Joe caught and released a 30 inch bass on a Mr. Twister within minutes of the dock. Several other fish were tagged before the boat traffic broke up the school of bass. Then Captain Bill moved in the shallow water to hunt fish. Joe caught several more bass and a few bluefish on jerk baits before the fish got "lockjaw". No matter what was thrown, the fish ignored all offerings except for a small fly. Joe is addicted to "Hahbah" fishing and signed up for two more trips. On Saturday, Draggin' Fly regular, Paul Ponichtera of Hingham, put together a crew for a light tackle trip. Paul, an accomplished fly rodder, used a spinning rod so that his guests had more room to fish. The wind was howling at dawn as the cold front moved over the area. It was difficult fishing for most of the morning. A few school bass and some bluefish were caught in Quincy Bay. The big fish that the Draggin' Fly worked over the past several days were pushed out of the shallows by the wind change. As the wind subsided, anglers found a few more cooperative fish.
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South Shore
Look for big blues offshore in spots like the H-Buoy, and the off the rocks along Cohasset. The stripers are moving towards summer haunts, which will have them hanging around the offshore rocks at places like Minot very soon. Expect the rivers and bays to tail off. BigRed had this: Hit the Manomet area with my 2, 9 year old nephews and my new boat on Sat. One of my best days on the water yet. The boys had a hellava time fighting 2, 36" bass. They were stoked. We also picked up 3 fish in the 29" range.
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North Shore
Leighton Honda hooked a nice fish last week and had an excellent post on the forum which is too long to add here. I've copied it into the "Hall of Fame" forum - here it is. http://reel-time.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=32088 Soundking had this report: North Shore 7/1 pm- Great Sight Fishing Continues Along Beaches It all started as a normall take, came tight on her, and she peeled out about 70 yards fairly quickly, more a delibrate than frantic run, this fish was very heavy. Tried repeadly to turn her head, finally did, and fought the fish for another ten minutes, it was see-saw until we both went for the win at once, she made a big surge as I was putting the bricks to her, and I gave, stupid mistake. She swam for the bottom, and I could feel my line chafing on the rocks. I tried one last desperate effort to raise her head, and the angle of pull was in my favor, she began to move, I thought I had it won for sure. Them, suddenly, the line parted....there goes a trophy. Reeled it in, and sure enough it was chafed through, this was a huge bass, I got a quick look at her tail once, and she seemed at least 45+ inches probably pushing 50. This fish felt much heavier than my 44 pounder though, so maybe, just maybe.... Thats it until tomorrow fellas, oh try the beachfronts when the doldrums hit, you just might be suprised by what you find. |
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The Merrimack River
Capt. Charlie Crue of Channel Edge Charters reports: Merrimack River Report #8 July 2, 2003 Bluefish, mostly small snappers, are all over the area. They have already taken many of my softbaits apart and I have donated a few flies. By the way, Rio has a neat new fly leader for blues and other such fish. They are called Toothy Critters Leaders. They are tapered and have a nylon coated piece of cable (about a foot long) tied in at the end. They should work fine for blues and not cause stripers to shy away. One place I know where you can get them is Hudson's Fishing and Boating center on Route 1 in Salisbury. It is about a mile north of the Gillis Bridge across the river from Newburyport. Bait fishermen were scoring well this morning where they were anchored just down stream of the Plum Island Point sand bar. I had some success with a small clouser in the same area. Actually this morning I had a day off from chartering and enjoyed a couple of hours of fishing for my own pleasure. I caught what I call the Merrimack "grand slam" that consists of catching and releasing stripers, bluefish and shad. Except for the striper they were all relatively small but enjoyable to fight with my fly rod. Joppa Flats has been slow with the bright mornings. One of my clients caught a nice keeper there last Saturday using light spinning tackle and a sluggo. NormM had this in the RT Forum: Merrimack 6/30,7/1 We then witnessed something pretty cool. |
The fishing continues to be good in the Merrimack estuary area. The wild frenzy of the early fishing has changed into a slower pace. It will require more effort and skill to get large stripers on artificials. We can expect mornings with blitzes as well as quieter ones. Fly selection will be required as the water warms and the full summer pattern comes into being. Fly type, color, size and will often determine the degree of an anglers success, not to mention skill of the presentation to fish that have been in the area and may have even been caught and released a couple of times. I will begin experimenting with some variations of my standard flies and some new designs.