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:

Dark Days for Sportsmen

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I really try to be upbeat. Honestly, I like to see the glass half full, to believe that things are neither as bad as they seem or as good as I secretly hope. Yet it's virtually impossible for anyone, save the most ardent PETA Nazi to see anything good in the cuts to the Massachusetts Department of Fisheries and Wildlife budget, and specifically in the closing of the Sandwich and Montague hatcheries.

Rather than rehash the news, I'll direct you to these two versions of the story:
From the Providence Journal Bulletin (free subscription required) http://www.projo.com/ap/ma/1064358086.htm
From the Cape Cod Times http://www.capecodonline.com/cctimes/statewill25.htm

Once again, we've seen supposedly "earmarked" funds from licenses stolen to help out with the general fund. Tobbacco taxes used to be earmarked funds and now go to the general fund. So too for some of the alcohol taxes, and for the tolls for the Mass Pike, which were grabbed to help pay for the big dig.

The loss of these two hatcheries, as well as the other losses of personnel and budget at DFW are going to impact us. Period. You don't lose that many people or that much money, or that much fish production without major effect. Here are my concerns:

1. We've been concerned about lack of marine fisheries enforcement for a long time. Commercial fishermen trolling or baiting inside the canal, people loading up on shorts, etc. With less Environmental Police, who will inevitably be called upon to do more to make up for losses of personnel in other areas, it'll only get worse.

2. Trout stocking coverage: expect to see places dropped of the stocking list next season. We're losing half of our hatcheries, expect to lose half of our stocking base. Hence they will undoubtedly need to cut out stocking some waters entirely, in addition to cutting the numbers stocked accross the board.

And now for a contrarian view...instead of cutting the budget and cutting personnel, why not increase them? If they were to add more Environmental Police and place more emphasis on enforcement, I would expect the EPO's would actually generate increased revenue in the form of fines. Just like the towns increase traffic enforcement as a "revenue enhancement," DFW could generate even more money.

If you're as steamed as I am about this, you can register your disgust by emailing your legislators. You can get their email addresses by going to this page (thanks Bob Parsons) and if you'd like some text, here's a link to a letter Sam Riley sent.

Time to get busy, folks.

Administrative Note

Sorry to have missed last weeks update. Technical problems, both with the RT server and with my home computer (not to mention two no shows from the Charter Cable installer...) made it impossible to update. Things are much better, and with any luck the cable guy will actually show today. If not, I may go satellite instead.

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

Tight Lines!

Mark Cahill

Boston Metropolitan Regions

NEWS

Now is the time we wait for all year. The best of the best. Blitzes along the coast from Plum Island to Plymouth. School bluefin are being taken in Cape Cod Bay, but you'll have to work at it to get hooked up. They're really on the move. Water temps denote that we've got a couple of weeks to go, but things can turn quickly.

Boston Harbor

Capt. Wayne Frieden of Reel Dream Charters has been out and has a few choice dates left:

Saturday, Sept. 13, 2003: It was tough sledding for Gary Campbell and his friend Leslie who were after either bass or blues on the fly. With a persistent east wind all morning long, the fish just didn't want to cooperate. We did manage to find fish and were cut off a number of time by small bluefish but by the time wire leaders were tied on the fish were gone. Leslie certainly got some instruction and much practice fly casting and will be more than ready to actually catch fish on her next outing!
Sunday, Sept. 14, 2003: The fishing can change on a daily basis this time of year and I'm happy to report that Enoch Huang, his brother Chris and their sister Karen had a good day on the water. We found a mix of bass and small blues at first light in the Deer I. rip. Enoch was happt to catch his first striper on the fly. Both Karen and Chris preferred the light tackle using jogs and sluggos. After things slowed down at Deer I. we found fish in skinny water in Dot Bay toward the bottom of the tide. We then ran north to Lynn Harbor and found a bunch of schoolies. Unfotunately, the migrating schools of big bluefish and larger bass were no where to be found outside the harbor. There were reports of bluefish earlier in the morning and later in the afternoon south of Minot Light. There is plenty of bait in Boston Harbor and we're all waiting for the fall run to get into high gear.

Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2003: With lots of bait in the harbor including peanut bunker we're also finding mixed schools of bass and blues. Yesterday, I'm told the fish were up all morning long from Quincy Bay to Dot Bay and outside at Faun Bar. It's interesting to note that a friend of mine was out last night and found many birds over loads of baitfish but no predators underneath! Late this afternoon, I took a friend out for a little fly fishing and found the bay between Thompson and Mood Head loaded with schoolies and small blues gorging themselves on peanut bunker. The action didn't really get going until about an hour or more into the outgoing tide and shut down with the sunset. Tis bodes very well for the rest of the fall run. Go fish!

I have the following dates open for fall fishing: Sept. 21; Oct. 4 & Oct. 5; Oct. 11; Oct. 12; Oct. 13. I also have some afternoons available for "half-day" trips.

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

Capt. Bill Smith of Draggin' Fly reports:

Saturday, Sept. 13 Brian McLaughlin of Nashua, a high liner on past charters,
brought along his brother, Kevin and his 15 year old nephew, Joe from
Medfield. The dawn bite never really materialized. However, the crew wrestled with a
few blues and a good size bass that won the battle before Captain Bill decided
to move to shallow water to hunt fish in Dorchester Bay. There was very
little bird activity but the fish were there. At first, at was all bluefish that
took poppers and soft jerk baits. Then Joe got things rolling, landing the first
bass on a Bass Assassin. Kevin struck next, also on an Assassin. This fish
made a very substantial first run and Kevin knew it was a good fish. After a
quick picture, the 34 inch linesider was released. Joe caught a 30 inch bass that
was also released. The crew caught a few more bass and blues. The "Hahbah
Rookies" more than held their own on this trip.

Mary and Rob Cloutier of Maine were aboard for Sunday's trip. Rob caught
a bluefish and a legal size bass just after sunrise on Sculpin Ledge. The fish
did not stay up for long so the Draggin' Fly continued the hunt. A mixed
school of bass and blues was found working bait along the shallow waters of
Governor's Flats. It was here that Mary caught her first ever striper on a Bass
Assassin. Rob got the routine of working soft jerk baits down quickly. The slower
the baits were worked, the more fish they raised. His biggest was just a hair
shy of 36 inches, just a little bigger than the trout and bass he is used to
catching in Maine.

Dryfly reports:

Haba evening 9/24
finally got chance to get out after a 2 weeek absence... found fish on the incoming tide east of deer island in 20 feet of water, very willing to suck down a clouser, had some fun with them till about 15 minutes before sunrise, then headed back into the harbor and picked up 2 more on airport flats casting under birds, fantastic night on the water, some nice strong schoolies,a gorgeous sunset, and nobody else around.

South Shore

Birds, bait and fish. The fish are on the move...

The SBFT are on Stellwagen. Check out this report from Saltyric...

Sbft
After several close attempts, I finally landed my first SBFT tonight with spinning gear. The fish weighed in at 54 pounds and took about 45 minutes to land. I was on a solo mission to the North West Corner of Stellwagon. Now I am REALLY hooked

Or this one from BassBuster...

Bft Ccb 9/24
Great day out yesterday, as I mentioned earlier. This day I didn't mind the first cast blues as hooking up and boating a nice one that came in just under 60 lbs. The bay was a little sloppy which did not help to spot the activity. Binoculars were the key to locating the fish or birds. We ran out past the gurnet on path to Race Pt, periodicaly stopping to check out the surroundings. We were able to get parallel to a large school which were feeding underneath the surface. These ones would stay feeding longer than the busting schools and you were able to get more casts into them before they dove down. There were pretty much only two other curteous boats out there working the schools w/us. The week end might be a different story though. Keep in mind if you find un cooperative boater and/or fish just move on, there's probably another school nearby and maybe more cooperative.
We had one other hook up on a crippled herring but the line parted when the brakes were trying to be put on to qiuckly. Always remember to check your knots and inspect line for kinks, when you do hook up you don't want the tackle to be the reason. FWIW I tied my line directly.
Flying Scot, manomet, Quicksilver, Marlin why don't we check in on Friday to see what's on tap weatherwise and who's going when and come up w/a plan. There will be lot of ears out on the radio so a plan will be key.

Fishinfromshore reports:

Blues Blitzing in Plymouth!!
Was down at the town beach in Plymouth this morning and in the middle of a blitz of blues pounding peanut-bunker right against shore. They were hittiing on poppers and sliders... Since I'm not working tomorrow I'm heading back down there again in the AM....Anyone want to meet?

JimW had this:

I was at Bert's last night, my radiator had a pinhole in it so I needed to drive around while the sealant did it's job. Stopping at Bert's I noticed some splashing here and there, a quick walk out on the jetty revealed a sea of bait and micro bass. The blues have been smaller over the last week but plentiful. Hope you guys have fun out there. Honestly the fish seem to be everywhere right now so don't make a big journey to get to Bert's they are most likely in your own backyard.

North Shore

Capt. Derek Spingler of First Light Anglers reports:

Cape Ann Report
September 25th- Fall is here and the fishing is spectacular. Isabel brought in acres of peanut bunker to the Cape Ann area. Starting last Friday, the fishing has been quite epic from Beverly Harbor to Cape Hedge and Milk Island. At times, the shoreline of Cape Ann seems to be one enormous surface feed with almost every cove and harbor having waves of bait driven up on the beach or rocks by marauding stripers and blues. Rte. 127 has become a popular road for shore anglers as they drive around searching for the big blitz of the day.
The most popular spots have been Devereux Beach, West Beach, Black & White Beaches, Coolidge Point, Magnolia Harbor, Long Beach and Pebble Beach. Singing Beach has been great at times as well as Dane Street Beach, but neither has been as consistent as the others. The area of Cape Hedge in Rockport has been like clockwork this entire week in the morning and with a strong south wind this weekend I cannot imagine the bait going anywhere. Although the water may get a bit dirty. That strong south wind and swell from Isabel had Magnolia Harbor going bonkers last Friday, so that may also be a good place to focus attention.

I have not had any great reports from the rivers this week. It seems there has been some decent action along the front sides of the beaches, but the volume of bait and fish along the south side of Cape Ann has been so consistent that most shore anglers have been somewhere between Beverly and Rockport.

If you are fishing from a boat, there have been huge schools of blues and some bass off of Thacher’s Island and Kettle Island. The last couple of days there has been huge bait balls and the blues have been going nuts for hours on end. There have been both mackerel and bunker all the way out to the red can.

The bait has still been small so make sure you have a spin rod light enough to cast small jigs and plastics. The 2” and 3” Storm lures have been fantastic in Bunker and Pearl. With the fly rod, small Enrico Puglisi flies have been deadly, either the brown and white or the gray and white in size 1/0.

As far as the football tuna, we had some epic fishing Sunday, Monday and Tuesday out in the shipping lanes. Monday was one of the best days all year as far as the volume of fish and the length they stayed up on top. We managed to get two fish on poppers and I saw the longest feed of my life. By the time I got to the feed I rolled almost 4 minutes of video of the same school, about the size of a basketball court on top feeding, truly amazing. Tuesday morning, Nat’s charter caught a fish on their first cast, which was good because by noon it was so rough they had to come inshore. That blow on Tuesday seems to have scattered the fish a bit although Nat did get another fish last night off of Race Point. There are some reports of a few fish off of Thacher’s and some more down off of Minot’s. We will be out there the next couple of days, so please call the shop for some more info.
This is the time of the year when information is almost the most important thing. As always, we are one the water dawn and dusk until the end of the season and will do our best to keep you informed. Enjoy it while it lasts and good luck! Capt’s Derek & Nat (978)526-4477 reports@firstlightanglers.com

Capt. Randy Sigler of Sigler Guide Service reports:

All heck has finally broken loose in Marblehead. I've been telling clients for three weeks now that "any day" things are going to go wild. There has been so much bait around, both in the harbors and outside in the open water. The bait has included massive amounts of silversides, lots of juvenile menhaden, and herring from 3" to 7" long.

It has been amazing to se all of this bait around and not have and action around it.

Well, today the shoot finally hit the fan. Salem harbor had roving pods of schoolies all morning that were crashing the small bait. It seemed like the bass waited for the cormorants to pack the bait up, and then came crashing through it ...triple lindies abounded.

We then went outside to fish the rock and battle the 15 - 20 mph northeast wind and chop. Thankfully, there were pods of bass and blues working in many different areas. Some of the largest concentrations, football field sized, of frothing water that I've seen in a couple of years,with fish smashing bait everywhere.

The afternoon trip would have been a blow out with the wind and chop, but we could see the masses of gulls working throughout Salem sound ... so we went out and had a fabulous (and wet) afternoon.

I don't know if other areas have been as slow as we have for the past 3 weeks, but it looks like the cork has finally popped.

For more information, or to book a trip, please call Randy Sigler at 888-FLY-LINE (359-5463) or email Randy@striper.com

All the best.

Randy

NormM posts:

Manchester 9/24
Bass & blues off the Manchester beaches last night after work. Largest about 34" most in the 22-24" range. The 34" fish was picked up just behind a line of busting rat blues. Some questionable boater etiquette put many groups of fish down just as the boil started.
Norm

Telliedog posts:

North Shore ACTION 9/24
Late start and out on the boat at 9:30AM this mroning and immediately saw chaos in the form of tons of birds, bait and fish at Manchester. Fish breaking everywhere, flocks of birds working, hanging, etc, big schools of bait packed up against the shore - it was The Works, Supersized. Fished for three hours catching about 10 fish, lost 2 and broke 2 off. All were 26 to 30 inches. Guy on the shore landed a 37 incher. Not a cloud in the sky and standing in the boat, I could see the fish everywhere. No schoolies, just tons of mid-twenties to mid-thirties. I left at high noon with a sunburn and a smile and the feed was still going on, although the fish were a bit more picky. Almost everyone otu there was on the fly and catching. I caught fish on little t/w Enricos, c/w clousers and o/w clousers - all on a full sinking line.

It was unbelievable and the best day of fishing I have had all season and certainly could be a sign that the fall run is here and will be great.

SeanK posts:

Salem Sound 9/24 PM
Heavy late afternoon/dusk activity from mouth of the Danvers river out the the islands (low tide to first of incoming). Mostly blufish working on top and below. Birds and bait everywhere.

Managed to land 6 blues 5-7 lb range, lost a couple more (and my favorite fly). Went with 3' 30 lb flurocarbon, and ended the property loss, and the lost casts while rigging-up...Must have been some stripers under, but couldn't get anything through or around the blitzes with sink-tip line. Going with the fast full sink line tomorrow.

Also looked like some possible shore action along the Beverly side (Beverly Cove?). Hundreds of bird at the shore, but I didn't go in close enough to say for sure.

And so it goes...

The Merrimack River

GF2020 reports:

Bluefish action was hot from Salisbury up to Hampton this AM. Plenty of fish slamming bait, between the two of us we must have landed close to 20, all were in the 25-30" range. I managed to get one 30" striper who must have been lurking under the blues.

Beautiful day on the water!

OceanRunner posts:

What a day!

We rounded the North Jetty at about 6am to the sight of crashing Blues just of the beach… First cast: BOOM! I hooked a 12 pounder on 8lb spinning gear. What a fight on light tackle. My buddy tossed a popper into the mayhem and hooked up instantly as well. We fished there for about an hour with constant surface action, until a few other boats started showing up, and we decided to head south in search of bigger fish, and hopefully some SBFT.

On the way to Halibut Point, we found several huge pods of peanuts on the surface, but no game fish. One pod looked like several acres of rain on the wind blown surface. Even with the wind blowing, you could see and hear them pop the surface…but no birds and no sign of Bass, Blues or BFT. As we got closer to land, and found a few schools of smaller (6lb to 8lb) blues, and caught several, until it died down and we got the call from FireFly to head north.

On the way to Hampton, and found several busting schools of Blues once we got north of the Mack. We managed to catch a few fish from almost every school we found. Some schools lasted long enough to catch 3 or 4 fish before we had to move on, while the better schools, with bigger fish, had no birds and didn’t last as long as the bigger schools with smaller fish. The best fish of the day was about 14lbs, and was caught after a school stopped breaking surface, on a jig fished deep.

We caught a lot of fish; I can’t even begin to count them all! For a while, we even removed the hook on some poppers to watch the Blues go crazy! It’s awesome to watch how pissed off they get when they can’t hold their food; they fly out of the water on top of each other, and the faster the retrieve, the more they want it!

As for Bass & BFT: not a one. We only saw Blues, Peanuts & Gulls. But definitely no complaints, we had beautiful weather, awesome fishing!