Boston
Metropolitan
Region

January 16th, 2004

The Contradictions of Fall

This could be the best time of the year to be on the water. There are some absolutely amazing blitzes going on off the coast right now. Cape Ann and the waters down to Boston Harbor have been on fire. Blitz after blitz. So that means everyone gets their fish, right?

No! The fall pattern is the kind of thing Prozac was made for. It's text book schizophrenia, with hot action one moment and no signs of life the next. It's standing on the shore at a usually productive rip and watching a blitz take place a hundred yards away in the middle of a channel. Mobility is the key. If the fish aren't where you are, make the move. Personally, I like to look along the ocean facing beaches now. I forget about the river mouths and look along the beachs. These fish will show up where the bait is. They're driven and they're fixated on chowing down before they make their move.

Ah, yes, the great migration of 2003, it is time we fully discuss that. Currently, I think we're on borrowed time. The fish have hung in there longer and stronger than they have in recent memory. Alas, that will change, and change soon. One more bout of bad weather or serious cold snap will trigger these fish to make the move.

That said, this will be the last report for the season. While the fish are still here, you'll be able to get and share reports on the Reel-Time New England Forum. Drop in and set a spell...

If you go to the Fly Fishing Show in Marlboro this year (Jan. 16-18), you might want to take the time to meet the RT gang. We've got a long standing tradition of meeting for lunch at noon in the bar on Saturday. Stop by and have a cold one with us...

MassWildlife Funding

I heard back from my rep yesterday, with the text of the amendment that's been added to restore funding for the Inland Fish and Game fund (that's the money that comes in from our hunting and fishing licenses). One problem...from the text I was sent, the bill appears to restore $1 for every license, not the $5 that was taken away. If this is the case, this amendment is little more than a shell game meant to appease us... Read more on the Reel-Time Forum.

You can read more about the push to restore the Inland Fish and Game Fund in the North Adams Transcript article here.

Update 10/11 - Mass Governor Mitt Romney filed a bill to restore funding - read it here in the Cape Cod Times.

I'd like to thank all of the sponsors and contributors for making this column possible.  The guides and shops have really helped to make this our best season so far.  I'm looking forward to making this even better for next year.  Have a great winter...

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

Tight Lines!

Mark Cahill

Boston Harbor

Capt. Wayne Frieden of Reel Dream Charters reports:

Thursday Sept. 25, 2003: Took Mike Buckly and his friend Joe out for a combination of fly and light tackle fishing in the late afternoon. Given a strong minus tide and 15-20 mph south winds it was necessary for Mike and Joe to switch off on the long wand. Nonetheless, the fishing (mainly blue fishing) was awsome! Jigs outfished the fly but a thick chartreuse/white 3" clouser outfished a larger half & half. We found mostly blues off Spectacle I and Moon I in Quincy Bay. However, we hit the motherload in Lynn Harbor where the bluefish were gorging on peanut bunker.

Sunday, Sept. 28, 2003: Despite the fog this weekend the fishing in the harbor and to the north has been incredible with bigger bass and blues on the heavy feed bag. Zillions of peanut bunker have drawn the fish in and those anglers able to get out are experiencing the very best of fall fishing.

Tuesday, Sept 30, 2003: Gassed up the boat after work and zipped over to Deer I to find large schools of bass busting bait from the Light and out to Little Faun and on the inside to the flats. With so much peanut bunker in the water these fish can be somewhat picky but a small lavender/gray peanut bunker fly worked fine. The key was to fish it moderately slow. Nothing huge but nice strong schoolies. Perfect way to end a work day!

Sunday, Oct. 5, 2003: Fall fishing continues to be very strong in the harbor. There were clouds of birds over bait from Boston Light to Pt. Allerton and points north but the fish were difficult to hook with 15-20 mph west winds and three footers. Decided to run up to Broad Sound and check the beaches off Winthrop, Revere and Lynn. Not much happening so we continued further north to Egg Rock where we missed the early incoming bite. Headed back to the condos and found a small school of bass where Denis Blaise and friend Mike hooked up on the fly. Once the tide began to move in earnest the fishing heated up and the area between Faun Bar and the Sound was loaded with birds and strong schoolie bass up to 28". Small baitfish patterns worked well today.

Monday, Oct. 6, 2003: Probably one of the best days of the season with strong schoolie bass up to 28" active all morning and into the early afternoon hour when our arms (at least my shoulder) were too tired to catch another fish. There were clouds of birds and schools of bass found off Shag Rocks and Outer Brewster shortly after first light. After things quieted down, we headed over to the area between the North Channel and the water tower at Winthrop where we spent the rest of the day with relatively few boats for company. Using small flies, these fish were not finicky and readily took our offerings. Just a wonderful day of fly fishing for striped bass in Boston Harbor.

I have the following dates open for fall fishing: Oct. 11; Oct. 12; Oct. 13.

Until next season,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

Tacklebox had this:

Boston Harbor 10/7
Fished with fellow member Tacklebox in the Harbor last night. No action around Deer Island. Headed over behind Spectacle to find spread out pods of fish breaking. Tacklebox took several stripers on a popper and me on a chartreuse bunny fly. When the action would die down we would just listen to where the splashes were coming from and move in that direction. All stripers in the mid to upoper 20's. Definitely some bigger fish around though.

ChuckD reports:

I was fishing from shore off Deer Isle and from 5-6:30 PM could see nothing but a massive flock of birds working over fish from the tip of the Faun Bar north. Don't know when you were out there or why you didn't see it. There were a few boats out there on it.

Cannonball reports:

The water between Boston Light and Hull was boiling at the same time. Shore guys are killing them on Pt Allerton.

DaveK had this from the Harbor:

Harbor Bass
Steady diet of schoolies on the drop around Deer Island. Nothing showing up on top. Was out there at Dawn with numb fingers and toes. lAlmost all fish on plastic close to the bottom. Got one to take a bunker pattern. The skunk streak ended at 8.

Sandy reports:

I was out on Saturday in the am and saw hundreds of birds between the Gut and Boston Light. They would concentrate on one area and then all fly 500 ft to another area. The boats were going crazy trying to keep up with them. The stiff wind, white caps, and periods of rain were making it hard to see any surface action. I was marking fish about half-way down the water column at 20-30 feet. It didn't really seem like anything was really happening other than a bunch of birds flying around so I headed to Deer Island and picked up one schoolie close to shore. The wind wasn't helping my fly cast so I was using spinning gear. I cruised some more and finally found some action in Quincy. There were pods of fish all over the Bay. Around 11 the wind completely died down. All of a sudden the entire Bay was glass, very strange considering there were white caps up until that point. Out came the fly rod and in came the fish. With the calm conditions you could see stripers coming up all over the place. Mostly smaller schoolies (fat ones) but I did bring in one at 26". There was only one other boat enjoying the fish and that was on the other side of the Bay. This lasted for about a half hour until a 20 knot wind came out of nowhere and ruined it. It was almost like I had been in the eye of a hurricane. Once the rain started to pour I decided to call it a day. Now is definitely the time to get out there, the stripers are everywhere and they're hungry.

South Shore

Squidly reports from Plymouth:

Plymouth 10/4-6
My favorite way to ensure fish crashing the beach is to bring my dogs down for a walk without my rods. It held true on Friday around 5:30. I went to the water and there were so many fish crashing the beach about 5' from shore I could have sent the dogs in to retrieve them!! I mean the whole beach was splashing!! Dogs got thrown in the car and I raced home to gear up. Got there 20 min later and the mayhem had stopped and my cursing began. I waited about half an hour and they returned. I ended up landing and releasing two keeper size fish, but had many good hook ups. The bait was very small 2" silver sides. An olive version of the platnium blonde was the ticket.

Went out saturday night in Plymouth harbor on a friend's boat, but it was very sloppy and got skunked.

Went down to the beach again last night and it the fish were there , but wouldn't take my flies?? I ended up landing on 25" on an olive sand eel pattern. Had to cut it short because the wife was going to cut me a little short if I blew off dinner!!!

Punchshot reports:

10/4 Plymouth harbor
Went out this morning in Plymouth, and was real quiet. Fished from 6:30 to 9:30 in the yak and saw one big flock of birds working, battled the waves and the wind , only to have them all vanish just as I got to the area. I haven't been skunked in along while in Plymouth harbor - hope I have few more good days before the fish head south

North Shore

Mumichog posted this on the forum:

The Merrimack River

This came in from Firefly