Boston
Metropolitan
Region

January 16th, 2004

A Rare Window of Opportunity

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It's not generally known around the Boston area, but we occassionally get a shot at the smaller bluefin tuna.  This is that time.  Capt. John Pirie of Online Fishing Charters reports this week that he's seeing 30-80 lb. tuna close in to the North Shore. I have also had reports of giants (definitely not ffing targets) in close to Scituate.

I you're thinking about going after these fish, there are a couple of important points:

• You must have a permit from NMFS which you can get online here.
• Don't even think about using your 9 wt.
• If you don't have a high quality, high capacity reel, you'll probably see your arbor and find out how good your arbor knot is. 

Truthfully, if you want to give this a try, I highly recommend you pick up the phone right now and call Capt. John Pirie at Online Fishing Charters or Capt. Nat Moody and Capt. Derek Spingler at First Light Anglers.  These guys have the gear to get the job done, and are extremely experienced at this type of fishing.  Seriously, don't wait - the window of opportunity is generally very short.

On the regulatory front, I recv'd from Capt. Pat Keliher the CCA position paper on the recent MA striper hearings.  You can read it here.  You'll also not that the news section of this report has a link to the draft amendment for striper managment from ASMFC.  Kind of interesting that it was released for comment this week, right after MA finished their hearings. Something is definitely up...

I'm on vacation all next week.  Thorne Sparkman will be filling in for me. 

That's it - on to the reports!

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

Tight Lines!

Mark Cahill

Boston Harbor

Capt. Bill Smith of Draggin' Fly Charters reports:

Monday, Kathy Bourgea of Holbrook and her sons, Eric, 14 and Brian, 12 were
aboard for their first saltwater fishing experience. Fishing for the past two
days had been slow. This was also true today, with little or no surface
action. Eric managed to land the only big fish of the day, a 31 inch hard
fighting bluefish.
    Veteran Draggin' Fly angler, Jay Hoffman of Marshfield planned a family
affair for Tuesday but the cold front and accompanying gusty winds forced a
change in itinerary. The day started with brisk northwest winds but the fish
were finally biting! Jay began the day with a 34 inch, 16 pound bass that
took a 5 inch Bass Assassin fished on a 3/4 ounce Ultimate jig head. After a
few more bass, Captain Bill decided to hunt blues on the flats before the
wind built any more. Jay was soon tight to bluefish that used the large waves
to battle this experienced angler. Jay managed to fight the fish to a draw,
landing as many as he lost.
    The wind was strong again on Wednesday morning when Phil Strazzula of
Norwell, Bill Rovelto of Hanover, and Chuck Tilden of Boston were aboard for
their annual "Hahbah" outing. Phil began the day by hooking the first fish of
the day within minutes of the dock. Action continued throughout the morning.
All anglers caught legal size bass on jigs, including Phil's 25 pounder
before moving to the flats for bluefish. Blues were less cooperative but the
group managed to catch a few before the tide turned.
    Thursday, Damon Reed of Norwell invited Senior Field Editor, Ed Nowak of
the Fisherman to join him on his weekly trip. Fishing started with a bang as
a large school of bluefish was found pounding bait on the surface just off
Hangman's Island. It was a hard morning for Damon on the fly rod. The fish
were fast moving and showed little interest in flies. As the wind picked up,
the bait was scattered, making it very difficult to stay on fish. Captain
Bill made the decision to look on the Deer Island flats for bass. However,
all that they could manage were a few bluefish. This was the same in the
Inner Triangle.
    Pete Gallagher of Norwell assembled the crew for Friday's trip. Joe
Garbmeier ande Jay Young joined him for nonstop action, most of which was on
the surface. Jay, a Kentucky native, had never fished the salt before. He got
things going by landing his first blue caught on a popper in three inches of
water., The bite continued for most of the morning before the crew headed off
shore in search of bass. Captain Bill found a nice pod of bass off the
Brewsters, but they ignored all offerings. On the way back to dock, another
school of blues was encountered. A great end to a memorable day, with most of
it spent sight casting on breaking fish.
    Jim Lincoln of Pembroke and 14 year old son Travis were ready for
Saturday's annual Boston Harbor cast off. It was a slow bite until the tide
began to come in and then fish erupted on the surface. Jim and Travis used
white poppers to land bluefish after bluefish. When the action slowed ,
Travis asked Captain Bill, "Where did all the fish go?" The captain replied,
"At the end of your line." as Travis's rod was almost pulled from his hand.
The young angler caught and released the most fish, winning this year's cast
off. Jim and Travis are already planning next year's outing.

Capt. Wayne Frieden of Reel Dream Charters reports:

Saturday, August 10, 2002: Bob Kraus of Wilmington, NC was my guest
today for his first saltwater fly fishing excursion. With a little
coaching, Bob picked up the 9 wt and within a short time was casting
well enough to hook into a number of bluefish. White and chartreuse
flies worked well at first light but we later switched to gray and
lavender. The blues were feeding on large schools of herring in Quincy
Bay.

Tuesday. August 13, 2002: Today, Jay Crane was my guest for an early
morning trip that produced a handful of blues on fly and light tackle.
The weather was warm, no wind to speak of, and the harbor calm. Perfect
conditions for poppers, gurglers, sliders, or any other top water baits.
Came in at slack water so not sure whether or not the fish came up again
after the tide turned.

Wednesday, August 14, 2002: Jim Mcloy, son Jackson, and Jim's associate
Richard fished the late afternoon tide with me. Given the heat of the
day, it was a pleasure to be out on the water. Shortly after we left
Rowes Wharf, we were greeted by a school of stripers chasing bait on the
flats east and west of the Long Pier. These were nice fish and took the
trio's sluggos with abandon. Two keepers were landed in the 28 and 30
inch range (the latter kept for the grill). After the bass fishing
slowed down, we headed for Quincy Bay for some light tackle blue fish
action. Note picture below, Jim McLoy landed a 30" keeper on light
tackle.

Thursday, August 15, 2002: The bass never came up on the flats this
morning so I took Joe Estock and his father, Joe, blue fishing in Quincy
Bay. Although these fish move around chasing bait to and fro, up and
down, they are a blast on fly or light tackle. The blues cooperated most
of the morning but the fishing slowed down a couple hours before slack
water. We then went offshore but didn't locate any schools of bass or
blues. Headed back into the Bay at low water to find the blues chasing
bait in skinny water.

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

Capt. Wayne Frieden

South Shore

Peter Sorensen reports:

Plymouth 8/11

The topwater action in Plymouth has been deader than Elvis for a couple of weeks now so I have been doing quite a bit of fluke fishing and dunking bait for some big bass. This morning I went by myself to do some flyfishing and some light spin w/ poppers if my hunch was good. I left the slip in Kingston(Jones River) at 5:35 and headed for the outside of Long Beach. Even 2 hours before the bottom of the tide, there was only 2 feet of water in some spots due to the crazy minus tides this week. I ran up tight to the beach in the guzzle and I finally found some topwater action. There was a mixed school of bass and blues crashing bait, flopping and flipping all over the place. The school was @1/2 acre and packed tight. The wind was already @15 SW so I set up a drift and threw a chug bug at them and the water exploded around it. It was non-stop fish on (almost)every cast for an hour and a half. My brand new chug bug is hammered. Lost the front treble early on to a medium sized bluefish and the finish looks like it was hit with a cheese grater. It was real fun for over an hour. Every cast, stop, pop, pop, SLAM! It was great to see fish so turned on that 4 or 5 would compete for the popper. The blues and bass were all 20 - 26" with a few bigger ones mixed in. Once the tide hit the bottom it all stopped and did not start up again on the incoming. The water was only 62 outside and it was 68 - 70 inside the bay. This time of the year the fish will start schooling up east of the beach and early morning dropping tides can be awesome.

North Shore

Capt. John Pirie of Online Fishing Charters reports:

The Merrimack River

Capt. Charlie Crue of Channel Edge Charters reports: