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 Look Behind the Scenes

Featured Affiliate

Orvis
Ruoff's Bonefish/Permit Selection: 11 Flies for $35.00 plus shipping

I had a few interesting emails this week regarding a rumor that's been started by one of the guides in New York. This fellow's been a little annoyed at us for the past two months because he feels we should not allow anyone to post reports on our forum about bait fishing. The crux of this rumor is that Reel-Time is going out of business. Apparently he knows our business better than we do.

Over the past 8 years, RT has been counted out several times, and always by people with agendas of their own. Most of them aren't around anymore. You see, it is one thing to start a website, but wholly another to maintain a website daily and weekly over the years. It seems like it's easy, but that's only because there is a whole lot going on here you never see. Part of the problem is that we make it look easy. It isn't, and if you don't believe me, there are a couple of guys I know that have learned the lesson the hard way and I'd be glad to put you in touch with them.

For the record, this is one of the best years we've ever had. In fact, Wednesday we set a new record for the most users ever online at our forum at one time, 703. We are not going anywhere. Sure, none of us are getting rich, at least not from this, but then that's not what Reel-Time is about. It is a community of Saltwater Fly Fishermen...and one that has been and will be around for a long time.

It takes a lot to keep a site like Reel-Time running. Managing the forums, requesting, editing and posting articles, fly patterns, etc. all takes time. That doesn't even touch on the FishWire reports, which are totally unique to Reel-Time. Heck, we post more content on Friday morning during any given week than the other sites will post all month, if not all season. My morning on Friday starts at about 4:30 am. It used to be earlier, but Sam Riley has been editing our pictures, which takes a lot of the weight off my shoulders. I've looked at a lot of websites and I've never seen a set of weekly reports that comes close to those which we produce. Actually, most of the "other" sites don't even update their content during the course of the season.

Look for new things coming over the winter as we continue to grow. It's only going to get better.

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

Tight Lines!

Mark Cahill

Boston Metropolitan Regions

NEWS

New fish are showing in the Merrimack, Ipswich and Cape Ann have really heated up. In Boston, the action at the Airport and outside has become much more consistent while the bigger fish are showing off Plymouth. It's game time...get out there now!

Boston Harbor

Capt. Bill Smith of Draggin' Fly had this:

Sunday, Paul Ponichtera of Hingham and Bruce Parsons of Sheffield were on
board for part 2 of their two day charter. Joining them were Bruce's son,
Josh and Paul's neighbor, Russell. They were greeted with a gusty northwest wind
that continued to increase throughout the day. When the morning bite failed to
materialize, Captain Bill headed north and found a good school of bass on
Sculpin Ledge. Bass Assassins got their attention. At one time, all four anglers
were hooked up to bass from 25-27 inches. The next stop at the Deer Island
flats produced similar action. As the wind strengthened and boat traffic
increased, the fish broke up. Moving back inside to probe some rock piles, Bruce
connected with the first fish over 30 inches. Before calling it a day, the crew
caught two more legal size bass and two bluefish.

The Reker family, DeAnn, Douglas, and Angela of Minnesota, along with
Angela's boyfriend, Jeff were on board for an early morning trip on Monday. Doug
was the first to score on a 30 inch striper just after sunrise. For the next
hour, the crew caught and released stripers on the Governor's Flats. At one
time, all four anglers were hooked up to legal size bass. The next stop was
Dorchester Bay. The fish here were small schoolies and just when Captain Bill was
going to move to another spot, the Bay exploded. Action was nonstop as bass and
blues attacked the soft jerk baits that the crew cast. Doug caught the
largest, a 17 and a half pounder, but Angela was high rod. It seemed that the fish
liked her dance that she used when she retrieved her lure. The Reker family
found Draggin' Fly's website (www.fishboston.com) and decided that the trip would
be a neat event to add to their visit. And boy, were they right!

Jay Molloy brought his six year old son, Connor on Tuesday. Connor's
first fish was 26 inches that fell for a Bass Assassin. Jay and Connor cast to a
small pod of bass on Sculpin Ledge but the fish didn't stay up for long. Jay
managed only one more fish. In Dorchester Bay, the anglers found scattered pods
of schoolies and some blues. Captain Bill cast a Grizzly fly and Connor
retrieved the line catching two bass. When Jay caught and released a 29 inch bass,
Connor reminded him that Grandma requested a bass for the grill. On Governor's
Flats, Jay filled the request with his 37 inch bass.
Wednesday, Draggin' Fly regulars, Damon Reed of Norwell and John Kieley
of New Hampshire could not keep their date, so they invited friend, Ed Nowak,
senior editor of The Fisherman, to take their place. Ed brought along his son,
Kenneth. The forecast was for 10-15 SW winds. At the dock, it was already
blowing 15 when the crew pushed off. There were scattered schools of bass
throughout the Deer Island flats. However, the wind not only made it difficult to cast
but nearly impossible to keep the boat on the fish. Ken managed to catch a
blue on a Vivif jig and lost another that bit through the leader. In Dorchester
Bay, conditions were the same: wind and scattered pods of bass just shy of 28
inches. Back on the Governor's Flats the crew caught a few more bass up to
keeper size in 8-10 feet of water. As the winds picked up over 25 mph, Captain
Bill headed in. One last stop in Quincy Bay brought Ken's biggest bass of the
day, a fat 32 inch fish.

Thursday, Paul Ryan of Marshfield and Gerry Feely of Waltham were aboard
for their final trip of the season. Joining them was Jay Bouryeols of Waltham.
The Draggin' Fly pushed off before dawn to cast to nocturnal bass. On the
second drift along the rocks in Quincy, Jay hooked into a nice bass and almost
immediately Gerry also connected with a hot fish. Jay's measured 34 inches and
Gerry's was just a little shorter. At slack low water, the crew moved off shore
in search of bluefish. Pickings were thin. Only Paul connected, just to have
the fish cut through the rubber bait. Back inside the fish never came up on
the flats as they had the previous days. Moving into Quincy, Gerry caught and
released another legal size bass. Paul hooked a very hot fish that used all of
its body to finally open the swivel.

Joe Ramaci of Braintree and Matt Kiley of Brockton were aboard Friday for
an early morning light tackle trip. The morning began with bluefish that
managed to use their teeth to escape. Joe and Matt cast Bass Assassins to a small
pod of breaking bass. These fish were keyed into small bait and were very
selective. Joe managed to fool a few. A run offshore failed to find any bluefish.
Back inside, Matt caught a fish that measured 22 inches on a plastic shad on
the Governor's Flats. Jeff and Matt caught a few more stripers before moving to
Quincy Bay to explore the rock structure. And for the second day in a row,
the fish won! When Joe hooked a very large bass, to crashed on his lure and
headded straight to the rocks. Joe was unable to stop this fish which gained its
freedom.

Saturday, Steve Kerr of Plymouth brought along his 12 year old son, Jimmy
and his 15 year old nephew, Philip Preskevis of Roslindale for a light tackle
trip. Just after sunrise large flocks of birds began to work the massive
schools of silversides in the Fore River, but there were no fish on this bait. In
Quincy Bay, Captain Bill found enough fish to keep the crew busy. On the
incoming tide, the blues began to tear up bait in Wollaston. Though not big, they
put on a good show on the light spinning rods. The lure of choice was the Bass
Assassin. Jim is a seasoned veteran having caught some large bass on a
previous trip on the Draggin' Fly, but Philip had never fished before. By the end of
the trip, he was casting well and caught the largest fish of the day that was
destined for the grill.

Capt. Wayne Frieden of Reel Dream Charters reports:

Saturday, August 24, 2003: Bob Hand took his young son, Fletcher out this morning for some light tackle fishing. We found some working terns and bass chasing bait around the Fore River area at first light. This school was moving quite fast and hard to stay on long enough to hook up. But it's always a good move to stick around and make a few casts after the school moves off just in case a few stragglers are hanging around. Just as I fired up the engine to move off, Bob hooked into a nice 31" keeper that took his sloggo with gusto. We then moved off to another bay where we had some great schoolie action while others were onto the blues outside the Harbor. After things quieted down, we ran outside to find gulls diving on bait being pushed up by bluefish. Unfortunately, we only landed one blue as the fish were moving very quickly and the wind had picked up as well. There were lots of boats casting or trolling through the pods of fish and this also made hooking up a challeneg. That's fishin'...

Bob shows off a small keeper.
Saturday, August 30, 2003: Took out Jeff Coble from Dallas, TX and his two friends Kelly and Jeff of Houston who were in town for some R & R, including a Jimmy Buffet concert! At first light, we found lots of small bait (silversides) and a mix of bass and blues (mostly bass) off Deer I. Using small gray/white clousers and white suggos, the trio caught and released a handful of fish before we lost the tide. I decided to run offshore but found no action from the Graves to the #21 Bouy and back through Nantasket Roads. With an hour and one half into the coming tide, I motored into Quincy Bay where we were greeted by a nice bluefish blitz. We stayed with these fish for about an hour or so although the action was not steady. Kelly, a novice, caught her first fish of any kind on the fly and naturally landed more fish than the two Jeffs. She also caught the biggest fish!

I have the following dates open for fall fishing: Sept. 6 & Sept. 7; Sept. 21; Oct. 4 & Oct. 5; Oct. 11; Oct. 12; Oct. 13

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

Bimini Twist Reports:

Aug 21st through 23rd - First light surface action near the airport consistantly.

Aug 27th - Tides changes and the surface action dying down. A couple schools of blues biting off the fly until wire used.

Aug 29, 30 - Slow first light, but able to get a couple fish with lots of casting in Governor Flats area.

South Shore

Mixed reports from Plymouth. Word's coming in of good catchs for the boats, both on bait and flies, but lots of nothing for the shore guys. Bass are starting to show off Browns Banks which could be the start of the big skedaddle... Expect it to only get better.

North Shore

DGoorno posts on the forum:

Essex mouth 10/30 dusk and 9/1 dawn:
Similar results not as much busting fish but some good pockets of smaller fish from the clam flats above the spindle all the way out the mouth. A few larger fish thrown into the mix. I was hooking some larger fish 20-26" with a strange retrieve, I would cast out, let the line sink, feed more line out then slowly bump the fly on the bottom as the tide moved me along. Insted of always recasting I would let the current feed the line out and then slowly bump my fly back in. Not sure what you would call this, like jigging the bottom but it seems like this was the most effective way to work the mouth when the tide was stronger and it was the only way I produced fish over 20"....any thoughts?

Kayaker had this:

Cape Ann
Cape Ann fishing is hit or miss, but the hits, when they come, are out of the park. The bluefish are all over the place, but it's tough to predict just where that place is. On Saturday morning it was school after school off Halibut Point. On Sunday it was Thacher Island, where neighbors who participated in the annual Lane's Cove Bluefish tournament (a trolling and drinking competition) caught lots of fish up to 12 pounds. I tried to get within fly-casting range of several pop-up schools off Lanesville on Monday but connected with only one small blue (have been on vacation and have fished daily since Saturday). Plenty of small stripers in the Annisquam River chasing those small baits (herring or bunker) as well as silversides, and there are larger bass working the same baits in the Essex (early Wednesday morning there were mini-blitzes of bass from Crane Beach to the West Gloucester side -- we think there were some blues mixed in but caught only stripers). In Ipswich Bay it has been worth spending time looking (or waiting) for birds and being extra cautious about the approach once the birds (and fish) are located. Like last weekend's fishing for blues on the north end and east side of the cape, Thursday morning provided epic fishing for big stripers right in the bay. Though drenched to the skin, nearly hypothermic, and still fishless after 90 minutes, I trailed yet another bunch of terns, and this time was rewarded. What looked like two separate schools of bass suddenly blew up in front of me. Nothing but keepers. Practically surrounded, and armed only with a 3-inch silversides fly, I had no choice but to fight my way out.

Here's a late report from First Light Anglers from last week - best wishes to Capt. Nat Moody on his recent marriage.

North Shore
August 30th- Sorry for the delay with a fish report, but I was pulling double shifts with Nat on his honeymoon for the last two weeks. The fall push of bait seems to finally be getting the fish moving and active once again. This whole past week has shown some very positive signs. The bluefish have pushed in thick off of Magnolia and Gloucester. Almost every morning there has been a great surface feed stretching most of the length of Eastern Point and lasting for hours. The bluefish have also been thick in and around Kettle Island. At first light there have been some feeds at the mouth of Manchester Harbor, Singing Beach and Coolidge Point. Most feeds have been short, but the volume of bait around is impressive and when another push of bass shows up it will go nutty. A couple customers got into a nice school of bass on the surface, all around 30”, on Friday around high noon off of Magnolia. Overall, the rocks have been slow and with these large pushes of bait I would recommend fishing early or late in the day and looking for the birds and fish up on top.

There have been some good surface feeds also down around Nahant and Swampscott. The bait has been small herring and the fish have been schooling them up around Egg rock and the beaches and coves north and south of Nahant harbor.

The Essex and Annisquam rivers continue to have decent fishing. Most has focused around dawn and dusk, but the surface feeds have been great at times. The bait is quite small with some only being an inch or two long so smaller flies have been critical at times. The front side of Crane’s has also fished quite well the last couple of weeks so if you are in a boat I would definitely take a run down the beach and take a look over at the mouth of the Ipswich river and Emerson rocks.

Finally, the school tuna have been around!! The action was good about a week ago, and has dramatically slowed in the last couple of days. This past Tuesday was the last good show of fish. The fish were thick out on Jeffries eating spike mackerel and herring for about five or six days then they pushed in closer and the bait got scattered. We have been searching long and far the last two days without too much success. I am confident a decent body of fish is still around we just need another good push of bait to bring them back up to the surface. There has been some limited success trolling the last couple of days but nothing fast and furious. If you are going out to chase these school tuna please feel free to call the shop and we will try and give you the most recent reports. As always, Nat and I will be on the water every day, and anyone who knows us is well aware that there is little else on this planet we would rather be doing then chasing bluefin with a fly rod. Bring on the fall!! Capt’s Derek & Nat (978)526-4477 or reports@firstlightanglers.com

The Merrimack River

Capt. Charlie Crue of Channel Edge Charters reports:

Merrimack River Report #16 September 4, 2003

The stripers continue to hold and feed in the Merrimack estuary. The high tides have been producing some excellent fishing. On three successive days this past week my clients experienced the great inshore fishing of this area. Stripers were feeding on small bait fish so flies imitating those minnows gave good results. The strong northwest winds drove the bait fish into the lower end of Joppa Flats. That resulted in good striper fishing. Also, in those areas, there were days when surface action was going on, as stripers chased the minnows to the surface, so that poppers or sliders took some very nice fish.

The harbor seals have returned and can be seen anywhere from the "toothpick" to Joppa flats.

There are no reports of football tuna in the area. Overall, the tuna catches have been slow this year.

Labor Day the offshore boats were getting bluefish in fifty feet of water off of Plum Island.

With the weather and wind changes of Sunday and Monday, of the Labor Day weekend, the Joppa fishing slowed. However, I found excellent striper action by going to the Parker River area. On Labor Day we caught and released well over a dozen stripers there, around the high tide, most over 20-inches. The largest was about 30-inches. They were great fighters in shallow water.

The summer is winding down but the fishing is revving up for the final blast of the season! It is the time of some spectacular action as stripers feed in preparation for their migration south...

Captain Charles Crue
Channel Edge Charters
978-462-7718