So when does the fall run start on North Shore

[averagejoe]

Bunch of us out today and no fish on top--getting depressed --I thought last year was bad--

I did however see half a dozen giant bass chasing 6-12 herring yesterday (not inches I mean total fish)

[Soundking]

Head a little further offshore, bro. I did pretty well this afternoon on 5-10 lb bluefish on spooks and 8 lb gear for a few hours. Decent sized schools of fish on top. Drop-back herring and another small baitfish, though not peanuts.

[z-drive]

simmiliar results as soundking, spend the day in the sound. early morning was slow with bait hard to find and no bird action. got into one good pod of stripers under birds then went in to pick up an additional crewmember and got pinched for a no wake zone violation --123-3 (that will be disputed!) got back out to no birds in sight. long cruise around and we got back on some but this time over blues. kind of tough to get to bite for bluefish, seemingly un-interested in any pnut bunker patterns or topwater. took throwing some tin around to get them to bite. non flyrod stuff like deadly dicks and crippled herring worked.

blues seemed centered, for us at least, in an area between bowditch ledge, the gooseberries and both inside and outside coney island. fast moving so forget the run and gun...just set up between some birds and drift. burnt wayy too much gas chasing them today.

[Soundking]

Good call, Z. They were definately a tad persnickety today. I found most of the smaller blues in the channel just east of cat. The bigger fish were surface cruisers on a line between the brimbles and halfway. Some good blues offshore on the 180 line, too....don't know why I felt the need to run to the bloody 180 for bluefish, but I digress...

[averagejoe]

I did do the 127 run after i posted and saw some bird activity 1/2 mile off of Endicott-

The gooseberries is a short trip in kayak...I'll be sure to get out there during my lunch break this week

[Dumpcast]

Followed the birds and had fast action at dawn today on a big school of mid-20s bass off Annisquam and on bigger blues a half-mile or more off Coffin. First contact in four trips (the recent winds were not kind to small boats and kayaks). Used a 3-inch-long streamer to match the prevalent bait, which looked like peanuts.

[eastcoast617]

I've fished the past 3 days from Manchester to Thatchers and haven't seen one bass feed that's been worth talking about. I'm not sure were going to get much of a fall run when there aren't that many fish to our north. You know its bad when you're pounding the rocks in late September and chasing small schools of blues off Gloucester...

[FireFly]

Not to rain on your parade but I was out from Kennebunkport to Boone today and it's a desert for the most part. Some bait balls off Wells but they were only being chased by baby porpoise, hundreds of them. Not one bass or blue seen all day.

[JAVIDANGLER]

Don't know this is the reason for sure but we've had a number of days with E and NE winds. The south shore is never good with this direction.

[z-drive]

we got on blues pushing birds tonight but way spread out and tough to catch. moved on and found hundreds of birds hanging around one area. eventually fish started busting around sunset. initially they were hitting bait as the birds were working and they were taking any kind of herring immitation, but eventually the bite turned off around dark. the bas continued to do their thing. i assume they switched over to sipping krill or whatever it is.

these bass were in very shore-fishable water right off west beach.

[tclprin]

Duxbury...non-existent. For the past 7+ years topwater started as early as August. This year,..nothing....but pogies and larger fish remain in the Bay.

Disappointing for fly/LT guys..others enjoying larger fish sticking around.

[Roostahfish]

My hopes were high after last weekend. This weekend I managed to put a buddy on 2 schoolies....that was it!!

Yesterday I started out with eels in the dark out of Beverly. Once the sun came I ran to Manchester, around Bakers, down to Marblehead, then to the Power Plant and only got 1 hit there that I missed!

I was very surprised with the total lack of action.

[Potter]

I agree, not much on top, but the fishing was killer on Saturday morning. 30 stripers brought to hand on the fly between two of us. Virtually all fish in the mid-20's. Nothing huge, but all were strong and feisty. Best morning of the year...so far:brow

Some friends did well on conventional gear, too. Yellow Dory was out there and got two fish around 26 pounds a trolling tube and worm setup while rowing his ass around for 8 hours. Stud! Another friend got a 27.5 pounder on live bait.

They are here.

[Hoffer]

Fished in and around Cohasset sunday morning from yak. Few smalls on topwater at first light then one small keeper on sluggo in the rocks.

no breaking fish to be seen all morning.

[z-drive]

a couple good sized bass were taken from the surf in the dead of night over the weekend too! theyre around, just no easy to catch.

fish in the surface feeds are better than the usual surface feed rats of years past..mostly in the mid 20 range.

[salamid]

Fished out of Hampton yesterday. Dozen or so schoolies to mid twenties. Sand eel pattens working. Spoke to someone who did the same and one blue. It was flat calm outside and we searched for action on the beaches and little deeper nearby. Not to be found.

Harbor was full of bait last weekend. Pretty sparse yesterday. Wondering if it slipped out when I wasn't looking.

Keep waiting on the blitzes. Haven't seen one yet up my way.

[Markymark]

It's STILL EARLY !,..... Just have to be PATIENT.

[mumichog]

I think you're right. I went back and looked at my old reports for the beverly manchester area and the best ones were mostly from the first week of October.

[tunaless greg]

Weird times. Most of the pogies staged and left about a week ago after the pursue seiner put a pretty good dent in the population in salem harbor. Hopefully we get a new school back in the harbor. They did not disappear until much later last yr. I still was able to snag bait on halloween, even though the bigger bass split a few weeks earlier.

Bass wise, we have done okay, but the fish seem to still be on a summer pattern. we had 10 fish, 4 keepers, fishing between 5:30 and 6:45 in the rocks and white water. After 7:00, fishing slowed. Last night looked good, with all the bird action off marblehead harbor and the ocean side. Certainly the predicted weather for later in the week should shake things up and change everything.....hopefully.

[hightechtoo]

Salamid,

Are you in the Hampton River Marina?

I spoke to a couple of guys on Sunday.....(and said that I caught one blue) Was that you?

I was coming off "A" Dock in the marina.

[z-drive]

we'd all like it to be turned on by now, but i agree my best days have been in october. usually by time the halloween partying starts there are still a few bass left.

my bet is by the end of next week. we just need the bass to stop doing whale impressions eating krill and start eating bait.

and a massive school of pogies was spotted saturday morning at a UDL. i could have walked on it, and had my snagging hook not become entanged in PP i would have filled the baitwells in a few minutes.

[Mattb]

we'd all like it to be turned on by now, but i agree my best days have been in october. usually by time the halloween partying starts there are still a few bass left.


The problem I see with this reasoning is that usually by mid/late October you guys down in Mass are seeing the last of the fish that're on their way south, having started up in Maine. We don't have any fish up in Maine, so once the fish you're seeing now move out, there really isn't anything behind them to keep the fishing going.

It'll be interesting to see how it plays out down there, but up here things are usually starting to wind down by October, and they never really got started. Sure, there're fish around the first couple of weeks of Oct, but the best of the run's over by then.

[salamid]

Hightechtoo,

Yep, that was probably me. Got a cousin with a Trophy up there that we're on most every weekend. He gets out during the week too.

Not sure of the dock lettering, but, it's up against the wooden barrier to the bay.

I used to have a center console up in the Merrimack. Got tired of the crowds. We run down there a bit, but, mostly work north of there. Been a pretty good season so far.

Don't hear too much from southern NH on this board.

[tmillerzzz]

Late September.....2006

[JR13]

going off about two miles off tinkers last night at dusk. you could see it from the beverly side of the harbor.

[averagejoe]

going off about two miles off tinkers last night at dusk. you could see it from the beverly side of the harbor.

That was me.. .I was beating the crap out of bluefish that bit me.

[dereks]

The good news is the reports from the last couple of days have been good to excellent in the Magnolia, Manchester and Salem Sound zones. The bad news is the weather looks tough the next couple of days. The areas around Kettle Island and Tinkers have been very consistent I just wish the wind had a bit more north in it so we could sit in the lee. 30 knots out of the east is going to get sporty!! Derek