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Boston
Metropolitan
Region
October 11th, 2002 |
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| FishWire
Coordinator: | Mark
Cahill | | Navigation
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The End of Another Great Season
 The
fishing may not be over yet, but we've reached that point in the
season where it's time to put the Boston Metropolitan FishWire to
bed for the winter. We've had a great season, and I'd like
to take this moment to thank all of the sponsors and contributors
for helping to make this the best season yet. I honestly can't
remember a season where I've enjoyed writing this column so much.
Watch for our sponsors at the shows this winter and be sure to
stop and say hello. They're a truly remarkable bunch of fisherman
and it's a joy to work with them.
Marine Protected Area for Stellwagen and Jeffreys?
Bill Hubbard posted this on the RT New England Forum yesterday:
There is a mounting effort by large
conservation groups to make Stellwagen Bank into a Marine Protected
Area, triple it's size by including the Southern edge of Jeffries
Bank and Cashes Ledge and then to ban all recreational and commercial
fishing as well as whale watching within its' boundaries.
Led by the NE Aquarium, Audubon and the Ocean Conservancy; those
groups are bent on the elimination of all uses within the expanded
sanctuary area except scientific study.
This movement is especially pernicious because without the overwhelming
support of commercial and recreational fishermen, the Stellwagen
Bank National Marine Sanctuary would never have been created.
 The
impetus to create the sanctuary was to protect our fisheries from
oil and gas exploration. At that time, government and other officials
promised that at no time then or in the future would fishing be
limited within the sanctuary.
The Sanctuary Advisory Committee has just completed a series of
public hearings to take input on reauthorization of the sanctuary.
It was at these hearings that the big environmental groups brought
out their ideas for banning all fishing and whale watch activities
and to expand the boundary of the sanctuary. They garnered a lot
of support for their proposals.
It is imperative that we, as fishermen let the committee know
that we will not stand for being excluded from the sanctuary we
helped to create. Write to or email the Advisory Committee today
and send a copy to your congressmen and senators. The final date
for written input is October 18th. Don't delay.
You can get more information about Stellwagen Bank online at:
www.stellwagenbank.com
Contact Katrina VanDine, Project Manager, Stellwagen Bank National
Marine Sanctuary, 175 Edward Foster Rd., Scituate, MA 02066 or
send her an email at Kate.VanDine@NOAA.Gov.
Be sure to send copies to your senators and congressmen.
I will admit that initially I had
a hard time verifying this data. Then I found this document
entitled "Effectiveness
and Economic Benefits of Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary"
which was prepared for Environmental Defense by Michelle
Perez and Matthias Ruth from the School of Public Affairs at
the University of Maryland. I quote from page 35
Model results indicate that
a 6% to 16% reduction in direct and indirect revenues from the
bluefin tuna fishing industry could be expected in association
with a closure of the northern or southern bank or the entire
bank area. The reduction in revenue
from tuna catch under the whole bank closure could be viewed as
a $1 million investment by the Massachusetts economy in the Atlantic
bluefin tuna stock using SBNMS. However, to the extent that other
regions do not make similar investments and the extent that others
"cash in" on the investments made by limiting bluefin tuna catch
in SBNMS, the benefits to this investment are not reaped by the
local economy.
Okay, in layman's terms, they are setting up a case
for closing the whole bank under inclusion in an MPA the size of
Rhode Island in order to avoid stressing out whales. Don't
take my word for it, read the document! This might do
the following:
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Close Stellwagen to Whale Watching
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Close Stellwagen to fishing of all kinds
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Interfere with shipping access to the Port of
Boston
We need to watch this issue very closely. I will
post information as I find it on the RT
New England Forum and in the RT Conservation Forum.
Have a great winter, and I'll look forward to next season.
Don't forget to send me
your own reports, and until next week...
Tight Lines!
Mark Cahill
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| NEWS | | Word is in of some epic blitzes on the North Shore. Still, things are starting to slow down. There are still bass and blues in the Plymouth area, but it's clear that everything is headed southward now. In Boston Harbor, the action has remained fairly steady with bass being taken in Dorchester Bay and on the flats around Worlds End. Things are winding down though, so this is the last Boston FishWire for this season. |
| Boston
Metropolitan Regions| |
Boston Harbor
Capt. Wayne Frieden of Reel
Dream Charters summarizes his trips this week with this:
Sunday, October 6, 2002: For Dave and Rob Surdel, the morning started off with great promise. At first light, we found a mix of bass and blues chasing bait off Faunt Bar. Dave caught a number of schoolie bass on the fly whereas Rob landed and released a mix of bass and blues on light spin tackle. The action was very good for a while until the wind shifted and picked up big time. Then we were faced with a strong post cold front situation and a harbor that appeared to be a "dead zone". We decided to end the trip a couple hours early which gave us time to clean up, grab some lunch and watch the Patriots lose to Miami! So it goes...
 Wednesday,
October9, 2002: I took two brothers, Joe and Lillo, and their
"Big Brother" Jay Ostema, out for a couple hours of light tackle
striper fishing. We found a nice school of bass busting bait on
the Hingham Bay flats along World's End. For two hours, the boys
were catching and releasing lots of schoolies up to 33". It was
a great way to spend the afternoon and unwind from a day of work
at the office.
Until next season, we'll see you out there...
Capt. Wayne Frieden
Capt. Bill Smith of Draggin'
Fly Charters had this report on his piscatorial activities last
weekend:
Sunday newcomer Tom Oerlet brought along his daughter and two friends from Maine for their first Boston Harbor adventure. It was a slow start but just after dawn a small pod of bass was located in Princess Cove. Each angler caught a bass before the fish moved into shallower water where even Draggin' Fly coould not venture and it was just outside of casting range. It was frustrating to watch this massacre with no way of getting to the fish. Eventually, the fish moved out to deeper water and the anglers caught a few more.
Monday afternoon Adrian Jackson of Charlestown invitied Jay Hoffman of Marshfield to join him. Jay is a "Hahbah" veteran but Adrian had never fished in his own backyard. The wind blew much harder than the forecasted 10-15 and turned up the harbor pretty good. But unlike the previous day, fish were more cooperative. Captain Bill found fish at almost every stop. Although the fish were selective, Jay and Adrian caught a number of good sized blues and a few bass on Bass Assassin Shad and poppers. Just before dark, Hingham Bay erupted in a bluefish blitz. Adrian is now hooked on Boston Harbor and has already signed on for next year.
Dave Gale of Sharon invited long time friend and fellow fly fisherman Bruce Moyer also of Sharon to share his last trip of the season. Dave and his guests got into some great bass and bluefish trips this season but a previous trip in late August was the Draggin' Fly's slowest trip of the year. This was not the case for this trip. Dave and Bruce were into outstandfing top water action once the tide began to run. Bluefish dominated the scene but Dave managed to catch a few bass using a fast sinking Teeny line to get below the blues. Bruce used poppers and soft jerk baits to earn honor of top rod. Action was in Quincy Bay and off of Bumpkin Island until dark.
Christian posted this bit on the RT NE Forum:
Hingham
Got the bug after hearing good reports of large numbers of fish in Hingham Harbor. Made the early treck this morning and jumped in the Kayak over to a muscle bed at dead low with the sun just rising.
I saw no birds and no fish working the area. Oh well for the reports.
I managed one nice striper 30'' for the effort. It hit a clouser on a slow retrieve.
I only had an hour to fish before I had to sit in traffic to log in the 9 to 6 at work.
We'll see what happens this weekend when I have more time to get the line wet.
Christian
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South ShoreDMM2784 had this post about his Tin Boat Tuna
 I
GOT THIS TUNA 4 MILES NE OF THE H BOUY 61LBS. THE WATER WAS FLAT
NO WIND. FISH WERE ON THE TOP FEEDING. THAT DAY I HAD FISH 360
AROUND MY 18FT LUND WITH 40HP-HONDA. I WOULD GO RIGHT ONTO THE
"PODS" OF WHAT I THOUGHT WERE 30-70LB TUNA. ON THIS DAY YOU COULD
PICK THE WEIGHT OF THE TUNA YOU WANTED THERE WERE THAT MANY PODS.
I HAD AT LEAST 15 HOOKUPS LOST 7 TINS IN THE 3-4OZ RANGE. THIS
FISH TOOK ME 45MINS.TOO GET IN THE BOAT AND YES IT PULLED ME ABOUT
1 MILE MY GPS SAID(thanks for asking BOB). ALSO I HAD 1 LURE LEFT
IN MY BOX W/NO HOOKS THE TUNA WERE MOUTHING IT ALL THE WAY BACK
TOO THE BOAT QUITE A SIGHT.
BigRed had this report:
Still big ones in the Plymouth area.
Fished east of Plymouth today. No big #'s, one nice 38". Mixed fish were bustin' off the Gurnet for a little while. Some I'd estimate at over 30" mixed in with the schoolies. Got a good look cause a couple followed my shad right to the boat. Got the bigger fish on a chunk a little to the south.
Peter Sorensen had this report from earlier in the week:
There were fish in Plymouth for the past two days working big bait balls. Some blues mixed in. Nothing huge but there are some fatties mixed in.
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North ShoreOkay, the words "hit and miss" come to mind.
WildmanSpecial posts this morning:
Beverly Harbor Report 10/11am
Nothing much doing from the shore down at Lynch Park, Dane Street Beach, or Independence Park this morning from 6-7:30am....No birds working either...Maybe better luck this weekend....
While we've got reports like these from earlier in the week:
MarkyMark:
Beverly Harbor
Beverly Harbor, there were birds between the SalemWillows Pier over to Lynch Park in Beverly.Stipers AND Blues mixed. Went at 5:30 , once the sun came up , everything turned on, lasted until about 9:00am. Might get back out tomorrow,sure it was cold,once the water it was not too bad.
Kayaker:
Cape Ann
I did not witness it myself, but a reliable source says there was an epic striper blitz early yesterday afternoon (Tuesday) at Back Beach in Rockport, across from the American Legion bandstand. My 23-year-old son, heading home from a job, stopped at the beach long enough to register what was happening, then drove to Gloucester, grabbed a spinning rod and some plugs, and returned in time to land a couple of near keepers. He said he had never seen bass and bait (baby bunker) massed in such numbers. Lure- and line-fouling weed in the water, he claimed, was the only thing that kept him and the few other fishermen there from making an epic catch.
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 The
Merrimack River
Capt. Charlie Crue forwarded his final report for the season.
Be sure to watch for his Merrimack River Retrospective 2002 over
the winter!
Merrimack
River Report #27 October 10, 2002
Well
this is the last report for this season. How has it been? From
my perspective, the Merrimack River estuary
area has had a banner season. We have been blessed with extraordinary
striper and bluefish fishing. Bait, lures and flies have produced
exciting action. I am attaching some photos of fish caught and
released using light spinning and fly rods.
I
just returned from a few days down on Cape Cod
and my opinion is that we experienced better fishing over the
last few weeks than down there when limiting the fishing to
flies and light spinning.
 This
area continues to be one of the best for light tackle fishing.
Whether you fish from shore or on a boat you can get fish from
May thru September. Plus, you can enjoy the beautiful surroundings
of the Massachusetts
north shore. Newburyport
has so much to offer to anglers and those who just enjoy the
historic seacoast.
Consider
this area for you next season. Have a great winter and look
forward to another great Merrimack River
season starting in May.
Thanks
to all of you that have been out fishing with me!
Captain
Charles Crue
Channel
Edge Charters
cec@greennet.net
Touching Cloth had this report:
Plum Island 10/10 AM
Fished Plum Island at sunrise with Sterlings this
morning, and did just ok on small schoolies. There were birds
working consistently about 1/2 a mile off the beach (ocean), and
I saw a guy catching a ton of fish at around 8:30 AM, anchored
right outside the Merrimack, about 300 yards off the jetty. Seemed
like it would have been a good day to bring my boat, but had no
time. I kind of got the feeling that it was the end of the season
up there, but the mere presence of any fish indicated to me that
there should be good action in the canal, outer cape, and RI for
at least another month. Last year at time, I recall the north
shore being totally dead. Didn't see what size or type of fish
the birds were working, but the guy in the boat was catching decent
sized bass. No action in the river itself. All fish caught ont
he ocean side of the jetty.
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© 2002 Reel-Time |
