Bass biting big time in Boston
Big bass have arrived in Boston, right on schedule. Up until this week, it had been a very good spring for schoolie stripers, with fishermen enjoying good numbers of small fish mixed in with the occasional 30-inch keeper.
Mature female bass are always a little delayed in their migration, because they must answer the spring urge to swim upstream and spawn in the tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay. Once that task is complete, the 20- to 40-pound (and bigger) bass leave the Bay and make a left turn, moving up the coast to New England waters where they can replenish all those burned calories.
In the waters of Massachusetts Bay and Boston Harbor right now, oily Atlantic mackerel fit the bill for a post-spawn snack, and the mackerel have moved inshore in good numbers.
The meeting of mackerel and big, hungry bass is a good formula for fishing, and when you add in the big full moon tides coming this weekend, the result will almost certainly be some new additions to the Striper Cup leaderboard.
South Shore
After a lull in the fishing this week, “Ditch rats” are hoping for good action on the early morning tides. Grab your spot in the dark and be ready to launch pencil poppers, Sebile Magic Swimmers, and SP Minnows at first light. Odds are best that the east end will have the best action.
You’ll find mackerel outside Barnstable and Plymouth harbors. Live-line them just inside along the channel edges, or take them over to Race Point, which has been holding good numbers of fish. There are schools of pogies inside Duxbury Bay, but the big bass haven’t found them yet.
The North River is a great spot for fast-paced action, and some larger bass are beginning to mix in. Live tinker mackerel are the top bait, but chunked fresh mackerel fished on circle hooks should also work well. You’ll find mackerel just outside of the New Inlet Buoy.
Flounder can be caught in Green, Scituate and Cohasset harbors. A string of calm weather should improve the bottom fishing.
The haddock bite is still phenomenal, but has shifted deeper and toward the northwest corner of Stellwagen.
Boston Harbor
The flounder bite has been up and down with the weather. Flounder fishing is a fair-weather affair, and the fish have been biting best when the water clears. Check the usual hotspots, including Deer Island Flats, Hospital Shoal and Perry Cove.
The light-tackle bass fishing has been very good inside the harbor from Castle Island to Lower Middle and out to Spectacle Island. Fly fishermen armed with Clousers and Deceivers have been enjoying the action.
Look for bigger bass by slow-trolling live mackerel off the outer harbor islands. Mackerel have been schooling off Graves and on Martin Ledge, and the big bass should be close by. Ultonia, Theives and Harding are worth checking out as well.
Shore fishermen should try chunking fresh mackerel off Deer Island or the Winthrop beaches.
North Shore
Broad Sound is holding some big bass and, again, live mackerel are the top bait. Topwater plugs and swimmers are good options for artificials off Revere Beach. Good tides should have bass feeding in the moving water around Nahant and Swampscott this weekend.
The latest reports have mackerel in good numbers in Salem Sound. It’s been harder to find fish big enough to eat the mackerel, but that should change in the coming days as bigger bass arrive in waves.
You’ll find mackerel and stripers right in Gloucester Harbor. Troll or live-line the bait among any of the obvious structure inside the harbor. Surf fishermen are starting to find bigger bass mixed in off the backshore of Gloucester.
It has been a great spring for schoolie stripers around Plum Island and in the Merrimack River. With mackerel showing up outside the river, it’s time to get serious about looking for some bigger fish.