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Boston Harbor
<!--StartFragment-->Capt. Bill Smith of Draggin' Fly Charters reports:
Sunday, Aug. 3, Bruce Moyer of Sharon entertained fly rodder Dave Gale.
The Draggin' Fly pushed off long before dawn hoping to catch some nocturnal
bass. However, this was not to be the case. Both Bruce and Dave played tug of war
with some blues that won, cutting them off several times. Later in the tide,
small pods of bass were found in Dorchester Bay and on the Deer Island Flats.
Dave tried several of his tyes, fooling one on a clouser and another on a
popper. Bruce caught a few on jerk baits. Overall, it was a slow day, one in which
the fish were content to just lazily cruise the surface.
Gerry Feeley of Waltham and Paul Ryan of Marshfield joined Captain Bill
on Monday. As the sun began to pinken the horizon, Paul was the first to
connect on a 30 inch bass. But the morning bite never materialized. Captain Bill
searched the shallows of Quincy, Dorchester, and Winthrop with no success. Paul
fished the fly rod and Gerry cast soft jerk baits. Although Gerry had several
follows, the fish failed to connect. At the bottom of the tide, Paul switched
off the long rod and connected on the first big fish of the day on a soft
plastic Shad. In six feet of water, this 34 inch bass put on a good show. His next
bass was a fat 36 inch fish. Then the rain came and forced a hasty retreat. On
the way back into the Back River, the crew encountered a school of bass. Not
wanting to risk mutiny, Captain Bill stopped and the anglers caught two more
legal size bass on jerk baits. Paul and Gerry were wet but both had big smiles.
Tuesday, John Kieley of New Hampshire was minus his regular sidekick,
Damon Reed. The bass got the best of John and Captain Bill, winning the sunrise
bite. Although several were hooked, all managed to throw the hook or break off.
After the turn of the tide, John did better catching and releasing a 34 and
36 inch bass on soft jerk baits. The largest bass put on quite a show in the
shallow water of Dorchester Bay stripping out over 100 yards of line before she
could be turned.
Wednesday, Draggin' Fly veterans Dan Fallon and Brian McLaughlin of
Nashua, N.H. invited Guy Nicholas of Chelmsford to join them for a light tackle
trip. Brian was the first to connect, landing and releasing a 34 inch bass
minutes from dock. Dan was the next to connect, releasing a 30 inch bass just off of
Princess Head. As the tide turned, Captain Bill moved into Dorchester Bay,
but it was too late. Dan managed to catch a school bass on a Bass Assassin and
Brian got one on a jig. Running back into Quincy, the crew found more
cooperative fish and Guy proved that he could keep up with Dan and Brian, catching and
releasing five bass from 30-38 inches. Dan and Brian also released several
fish over 30 inches. Guy is another convert to "Hahbah Striper Fishing."
Dave Deitz of Sharon brought along his son, Andrew for a fly rod trip on
Thursday. Captain Bill moved the Draggin' Fly to Boston. The surface bite
actually began before sunrise. Dave used a large chartreuse snake fly and Andrew
used a small Half 'N Half, catching and releasing several bass including a
legal size fish. As the fog rolled in, it became difficult to stay on fish, so a
decision was made to move inside to search the shallows. Andrew broke a guide
and was forced to use a spinning rod. Twitching a Bass Assassin very slowly on
the surface, he brought up several fish. His biggest weighed 22 pounds on the
Boga grip. Dave also switched tactics and caught a 20 pounder. Dave admitted
to Captain Bill that getting up extra early paid off.
Rain forced a delayed start on Friday. And just when the weather looked
like it would turn, torrential rain spread over the South Shore.
Saturday, Paul Ponichtera of Hingham brought along his neighbor Jim
Gorman. The start was delayed for another angler was MIA or MOOA (missing out on
the action). Paul connected with a fat 29 inch bass on wreck rock. Because of
the late start, the tide was running too hard to fish this area, so the crew
moved into Dorchester Bay. There were some fish on the surface but there were
also a lot of boats working them. Running over to Governor's Flats, another pod
of bass was found on the surface. Paul connected with one on a jerk bait before
they sounded. Later in the tide, Jim caught and released bass up to 30 inches
on Bass Assassins. Fish were also pulled off the rip at Long Island in eight
feet of water. Paul ended the day hooking the largest bass of the day in the
shallows of Quincy Bay.
Capt. Wayne Frieden of Reel-Dream Charters Reports:
 Friday, August 8, 2003: What a difference a day makes! Took out Jeff and Scott Carbeck for a morning of fly and light tackle fishing. Scott was anxious to catch his first striper on the fly. The morning started off similar to the day before with a little top water action at first light. Then we proceeded to fish structure until we found some swirling bass on the Governor's I. flats @ 2 hours after the top of the tide. These fish were a bit tentative at first but then started feeding aggressively for about two hours and would hit anything we threw at them. Probably the best fishing in 3 to 4 weeks. And yes, Scott caught the first of many stripers on the fly that day.
Sunday, August 10, 2003: Ed Constantini, Jerry Thompson and his two sons Jake and Jeffrey fished with me for both weekend days on their annual striped bass pilgrimage from Minnesota. Although we caught fish on Saturday, the fishing was somewhat slow and the bass never came up on the flats like the day before. We did find huge schools of bait (herring and silversides) with no bass underneath. Conditions were FAC and we managed to avoid the thunderstorms. Sunday was a different day completely. The wind had picked up and was blowing @ 15-20 in the early morning but the fishing had also picked up significantly. We found fish on top in Dorchester at first light for @ 2 hours. There was a mix of bass and small blues that would hit large soft plastic baits (Bass Assassin's and Sluggos) and Seaducers and large half & half's in white, gray/lavender/white. Ran outside and north after things quieted down inside but didn't find anything going on. Decided to fish certain rocky areas around some of the islands and one of the flats for the remainder of the morning.
Tuesday, August 12, 2003: Despite dense areas of fog today, the fishing during the early stage of the incoming tide was excellent with keeper bass caught in a few different areas. The fish were on top in Dorchester but didn't stay up as long as they did on Sunday. The good news is that there is plenty of bait and lots of fresh fish inside the Harbor. The fishing to the north (i.e. Lynn Harbor, etc...) remains on the slow side.
Thursday, August 14, 2003: There was a brief early morning bite today but a change in the weather with brisk NW winds made for a slow morning of fishing. Hopefully, the weekend tides will produce better action.
Until next time,we'll see you out there...
Capt. Wayne
Capt. Wayne Frieden
Reel Dream Charters
fish@reeldreamcharters.com
PO Box 274
Scituate, MA 02066-0274
617-909-7122
Cannoball reports:
Haba Rept 8/14
Launched in the Back River at 5:30, cruised past Quincy to Dot Bay and then over to the Airport flats and out past Faun Bar...great morning for a boat ride but terrible fishing. Nothing showing on top, nothing on the fish finder (above 40 ft). There was a big low tide at 7:30 and an almost full moon, so I bet the fish were on in the early hours before dawn and went to bed before I got there...Hopefully this afternoon will be better.
Tacklebox7 had this in reponse:
Was out last night. Fished the flats by the airport and then headed out to LI Bridge. All of a sudden the bait fish was everywhere, but nothing in them or around them. Dont know what more to do at this point. Not having much luck lately at all.
Rbrothers had this:
8/12 in the haba
Nice morning with a couple of passing showers, which you could see coming and have plenty of time to get the jacket on. Fish were finning on the surface and very picky. I was able to get 4 fish on 4 different flies in 2.5 hrs my buddy got 1 (he had major line issues). The fish went nuts when you hooked them. Largest about 32". Any ideas on what bait they are feeding on? My friend hooked a small crab.
Dryfly responded with this:
got out last night just for about 45 minutes, fished the edge of the shallows by castle island- hooked one fish that fought like an absolute champion, i thought it was going to go mid 30's anyway, got it to the boat and measured and it was a lean 27, i agree these things are fightnig like mad not sure what gives maybe the cooler water temps have them charged up, either way the wierd thing was that the fish had an unbelievably strong odor, very fishy smelling, not sure if thats what a life living at castle island will do but i thought it wierd..... olive over silver tinsel clouser FYI
Sandy had this report:
Hingham/Quincy Bay-8/13
Started out at 6 am in the fog and headed to my usual low-tide spots in Hingham Bay. On the way out saw tons and tons of bait of various sizes all over the surface at the yacht club. Birds were diving here and there but I didn't see any surface action. I tried droppping flies below the bait but there were no takers. I moved on and eventually caught a handful of stripers in the 20"-29" range. Most were caught on herring patterns but the largest was caught on a small chart/white clouser. Blues started popping up back towards the yacht club so I tried my luck there until things got too crowded and I bolted for Quincy. I didn't get anything there nor did I see any fish, but there were acres of herring over by the bridge waiting to get mauled. Despite catching only a handful of fish, it was great to see so much bait in the harbor. Should be a good Fall run.
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We are well into August with weather that has been wet. The Merrimack River has been dark with rain water coming down stream. Surprisingly we have been enjoying some very good striper action. It has been like early season fishing where schoolie stripers attack flies with abandon and fight like crazy. On several outings I have had stripers hit flies on almost every cast. Most of the good fishing has been in the river on both incoming and outgoing tides. Besides stripers, there have been some blue fish. Stripers are feeding on sand eels so flies that imitate that bait are working best. Olive/white clousers, deceivers or epoxy flies are effective.