Reel-Time's Fly Fishing Reports for the Boston Metropolitan Region

November 21, 2009

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Boston Metropolitan Region January 16th, 2004

FishWire Coordinator:	Mark Cahill
Navigation Aids:

The Most Important Thing...

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The loss of several fishermen in Buzzards Bay last weekend brings to light one of the sad facts of our sport: it is dangerous. When a golfer has a major mishap, he lands his ball in the woods or the sand. When fishermen have major accidents, people die.

It is precisely that danger that intrigues some about fishing. For lots of us, testosterone plays a major part in our decisions. Many of us look forward to talking about our disasters averted at the dock or the gin mill. It would be better for all of us if we spent more time averting them.

I will be the first to admit that I have done some mighty dumb things in my years on the water. Still, I think I have generally acted in a safe and responsible manner. Can you say that?

Several years ago I was fishing at the B Buoy of Boston Harbor in a fog. A 23' walk around pulled up and asked me for a course to get them to the Cape Cod Canal. He had no chart, no gps or loran and little prospect of making it to "Thuh Vinyad." I gave him a course to Scituate and told him to get a chart.

I've spent a lot of time on the water alone. I have a mustang vest, which I wear on the boat I'm going solo. I figure it is the least I can do for my wife and kids. I carry a radio, charts and all the standard safety gear. I try to take the Power Squadron Course every couple of years to keep my navigational skills up to par.

I'm very concerned that so many are relying on GPS now. They're great devices, but they do not replace navigational skill and common sense. After all, batteries don't last for ever.

A couple suggestions:

Check your safety gear. When you need it, you're really going to need it.
Take a Power Squadron Course - when I grew up, it was mandatory before Dad would let me take the boat out alone.
If you fish alone from a boat, get and wear a comfortable life preserver.
If you get into trouble, don't be bashful about radioing the Coast Guard, even if you think you might be able to solve the problem. That way if things take a turn for the worse, they are looking out for you.
If you have to think twice about whether it's good enough to go out, it isn't.
Remember that you are responsible for the lives of the people on your boat. Do not take that responsibility lightly.

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

Tight Lines!

Mark Cahill

Boston Metropolitan Regions

NEWS

Airport Flats is doing very well early mornings. Plenty of surface action, just as you'd expect this time of year. Danvers River is fishing well, while Cape Ann is lagging a little. The Merrimack River has been outstanding with excellent catches coming off the Joppa Flats. Anglers are measuring catches in the dozens.

Boston Harbor

I was out on the North side of the Harbor Monday and ended up sharing a rip with Lou Edwards, formerly of Stoddard's , now retired. He's doing well and it was a real pleasure to see him enjoying his time on the water. He picked up an 8" striper that morning, which was better than I did. Surprising, things were fairly slow after several days of good action.

Capt. Bill Smith of Draggin' Fly had a busy week on the water:

May 26, 2002 On Sunday, May 19, 2002 long-time charter Brian Shura brought along his flyfishing buddy Chris. It was one of the coldest mornings that Captain Bill could ever remember on the water. The temperature when leaving the dock was below freezing. Anglers kept their fingers crossed that the previous day's Noreaster hadn't disturbed the fishing. Little activity was found until the anglers discovered pockets of bass pushing bait on the ledges of Castle Island. These fish were hard to stay on and the cold temperatures did little to encourage the fish to become more active. As the tide turned and began to move over Governor's flats, the bass did surface.; However, so did the fleet. Chris managed to catch the biggest fish on his fly rod by using a sinking line and a weighted Half'N Half. Brian was top rod, catching the most on soft jerk baits. Chris earned a Draggin' Fly hat for releasing a legal sized basss.

On Wednesday, May 22, Damon Reed and John Kiley were on board for a late afternoon trip. At slack low water, anglers found a large school of bass finning off Western Way. Some very large fish would follow their flies right to the boat before turning off. Both Damon and John managed to catch a few bass before Capt. Bill decided to seek out more cooperative fish. As the tide began to flood, the inner Harbor from Castle Island to Charlestown erupted. While most of these fish were small schoolies, action was nonstop. Damon's new invention, the Fleece Fly, had a real workout. We are sure you'll be hearing more about this fly.

Captain Tom Koerber of Roccus charters checked in with this report:

The fishing in Boston Harbor started off strong the second week of May and has not let up yet. With an abundance of bait, the fishing these past couple of weeks has been outstanding. We have had a few weather days when you could not fish due to weather related problems such as wind, rain and more wind. But that is somewhat expected in the spring. However the fish were right back the following day.

The fly fishing has really been awesome with bass readily taking small clousers and half and half's. The color that seems to be working best for my clients has been white. Spin fishermen have had great success using a variety of rubber baits, again small in size and light in color. With great flocks of terns and gulls working each morning, it has not been to difficult to find some great early morning action.

If you are planning to fish the Harbor try a weekday when there are not as many boats out. It seems that the word is out about how good the fishing is in the Harbor and thus there have been an unusually large number of boats out each weekend.

Tight Lines
Captain Tom Koerber
Roccus Charters

Captain Wayne Freiden of Reel-Dream Charters reports:

Saturday, May 25, 2002: Canceled the trip today due to post cold front
conditions and strong NW winds. Boy, am I glad did! From what I heard,
the guys using live herring did very well while those fly and light
tackle enthusiasts were getting the stuffing knocked out of them.

Sunday, May 26, 2002: Speaking of herring, Kevin Cheevers ( a live
herring aficionado) brought along a bunch of live herring for yours
truly to try on Sunday's charter. Kevin preferred to use the long wand.
We found the fish at first light in the main Harbor channel and Kevin
took a number of nice schoolies before we lost the tide. Throw a live
bait out with bass in the area and you were hooked up within minutes.
However, both kevin and I agreed that there is nothing like catching a
fiesty striper on the fly. Medium to large herring pattern deceivers or
half & half's were the ticket. Although there was some activity on the
coming tide in the Fore River, it didn't amount to much. At the top of
the tide, the fish came up chasing the blue backs in the anchorage.

Memorial Day, May 27, 2002: Today was a perfect day on the water...With
warmer temperatures, no wind, and lots of willing linesiders, you just
couldn't go wrong. Again, the fish were up BIG TIME off the Castle from
first light into the coming tide. My charter, Enuch Huang, wife Grace,
brother Chris and Chris' wife Stephanie enjoyed catching schoolies on
light tackle all morning long. The smaller pearl bass assassin's, white
shad bodies, and white sparkle saltwater tubes (gitzits) worked
especially well later in the morning when the fish were on silversides
and somewhat finicky. Although the early morning fish were on the small
side, we did get into some nicer bass later on in Quincy Bay. The fish
came up again in the anchorage an hour or two before high tide. However,
the school was not particularly large and the bass were doing their yo
yo thing chasing the herring to the surface.

Until next week, we'll see you out there...

Book Your Next Fishing Adventure Early...

Upcoming Events for 2002:

CCA-MA, South Shore Chapter One Fly-One Lure Tournament & Barbecue
Date: TBA

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Capt. Wayne Frieden
Reel Dream Charters
reeldream2@attbi.com
Scituate, MA
781-545-6263

Bob Bowes speng last Friday on the water. Here's his report:

We fished Boston Harbor on Friday morning May 24, trailered the boat down
from NH and put in with two friends at Winthrop public landing at 5:30 am,

Worked out to shipping channel where all kinds of fun was breaking loose.
Birds were working hard and by the time we arrived at least 10 other boats
were already into the action. (photo enclosed)

These photos were typical of the bird action that kept up for over 1.5
hours, and since I was taking the picture I couldn't show my fish, the
result of an honest "triple" with all of us having fish on at once.

This was clearly the most consistent day of large fish this year, with
almost every fish in the 24+ range... My biggest was about 27 1/2 inches and
was also an "All Time, personal best" on a fly. Two "keepers" were boated,
but released.

All three of us were working with 9/10 weights and fast sink / shooting
heads with "any color of chartreuse clouser" you chose to tie on...

Everything quit about 9:15 when the Coast Guard closed the harbor for an LNG
tanker passage. If you have never seen this evolution, it makes you even
prouder of the USCG, they mustered more white and orange in / on / above the
water then I have ever seen... After the harbor re-opened the birds were
pretty much gone...

Although we thought we would be taking a chance because of traffic on the
holiday weekend it was fine and you could count the trailers at the Winthrop
landing on one hand...

Bob Bowes
Francestown NH

South Shore

More coming later today. If you fish the area, send me a report!

North Shore

Captain Derek Spingler of First Light Anglers reports:

May 23rd - The fishing remains good despite the snow and rain over last
weekend. The precipitation definitely washed the rivers out pretty good. The
Essex, Ipswich, Rowley and Parker Rivers looked more like my coffee than an
estuary on Sunday morning. We did manage to catch fish on bright flies in
some of my favorite spots, however, there were no surface feeds and very
little visible bait. We did see some nice 4-6" herring getting worked on the
backside of Crane's Tuesday morning and Nat managed to land one nice 30"
fish. Recent reports talk of a decent morning feed on the front sides of
both Crane's and particularly Plum Island close to the mouth.

Rockport and Gloucester have been a bit slow with some fish up
around Milk Island and Salt Rock. At this time of the year the cool water
can create a bit of a boom/bust cycle around Cape Ann. A strong east or
north/northeast wind seems to push the cold water along the headlands of
Cape Ann. This is probably why the fishing has been much better in the
Manchester/ Magnolia area. From Gloucester Harbor down to Manchester the
fish have been scattered among the rocks. The mackerel are in big time off
of Singing Beach and Kettle Island, the Miss Jill has had full nets all week
long!! Tough to get some of the bigger fish to eat while there is so much
bait around, however, the numbers of big fish we have been seeing already is
very encouraging. It is definitely a good time to work some big poppers
early in the morning or in the evening, a 1.5oz Chrome Creek Chub has worked
great for me the last couple of evenings. As for flies we have gone the
whole spectrum of big and small. The water has been awfully clear so one
does not need to get too bright and flashy. I have done well on some kinky
fibre mackerel patterns and some large yellow and green bunny deceivers.
Page Roger's Big Eye baitfish has also been good in the early morning,
although it seems a bit too flashy once the sun gets up.

Salem Sound has been a bit quiet regarding surface feeds. I
would look for that to change over the weekend as we get some good dawn low
tides to help concentrate the bait at the harbor mouths. The rocks around
the entrances to the harbor have had fish in them just nothing fast and
furious. Nice schools of mackerel have been around the power plant as well
as around Cat Island and Halfway rock. The Danvers River has still had a
bunch of fish according to reports, I just have not wanted to spend the time
getting all the way through the no wake zones since the fishing outside has
been good. Anyway, I hope all well find time to sneak out over the long
weekend. I am eager to see what happens when the water gets a few degrees
warmer. The temps have been fluctuating between 48 and 52 degrees this past
week and I must say finding the warmer temp water has been critical at
times. Please feel free to call the shop for more info and good luck to you
all. Derek (978)526-4477

The Merrimack River

Captain Charles Crue of Channel Edge Charters reports:

Merrimack River Report #6 May 30, 2002

The weather improved the end of last week and so did the striper fishing. On Thursday morning we found hordes of hungry stripers thrashing sand eels or silver side minnows in the AYC mooring area near Half Tide Rocks. Friday we fished up the river as far as Eagle Island on the late incoming tide. We found fish scattered through out the area. One of my clients caught his firs striper with the long rod and an olive/white clouser. But, that was only a warm up for some exciting striper action around Joppa Flats. My clients caught and released dozens of stripers with many being mid-twenty inch fish and one 32-inch bruiser.(photos) To top off the morning, I caught a 27-inch striper off my boat as it was tied to the dock. The fish were hitting bait as it was rolled around by the outgoing tide turbulence. They were stacked up under the dock and would dart to the surface to grab a minnow. I used my fly rod and flipped out a white clouser with a 300 grain line and let it sink. On the first strip I had a solid hit. The fish was strong and much of the battle had my line under the dock. Luckily it didn’t break off and I finally tired it and brought it to the boat with cheers from the few boat owners that were around. Fun!

Although the weather has been wet and unsettled over the past week, the striper fishing has been terrific. On Memorial day my friend and I fished the Joppa flats area around the high tide. It was a "captains day off" and my first opportunity to fish with him on his new custom Eastern 22-foot center console. The boat is designed for fly fishing and I thoroughly enjoyed fishing on it. We caught dozens of stripers that were large schoolie size (mid 20-inch range) and close to a dozen fish that were keeper size or larger. I caught one that measured 32-inches. As is our custom we released all fish in hope that they will continue to grow and produce more good fishing in the future. We fished for five hours and were catching good fish over the entire time. The Merrimack estuary area is simply full of bait and hungry striped bass. What a great fishery we have in this area!

I had a trip scheduled for Tuesday morning just before a heavy thunderstorm rolled through. Fortunately the VHF marine weather station flashed a storm alert as I prepared the boat for the trip. I closed it up just before the storm hit with heavy rain and lightning. My client call to say he was stuck out on I 495 because the rain shut the visibility down to near zero. We will try again next week. After the storms passed I went out for a couple of hours. The tide was low and just staring to come in. I found birds working between the jetties where the stripers were feeding on small bait fish. I connect with a clouser on my first cast and continued getting fish as they moved into the river with the incoming tide.

The flies that have been working include white, chartreuse/white and olive/white clousers, and large white deceivers.

Spin fishermen have been scoring with soft baits. Bait fishermen are getting some big stripers using clams, sandworms or chunk bait (herring or mackerel). My grand son caught a 26-inch striper using chunk mackerel while fishing from the boat with it tied to the dock.

This morning the fish were scattered about the area of Joppa Flats at half tide. I know of one awesome fish caught 36-38 inches caught using the long rod and released. I saw the photo. My client and I had a slow morning but did get some big schoolies.