Bottom line, topwaters a thrill
FISHING FORECAST
Catching fish on topwaters, a broad category of lures that are used on the surface of the water instead of beneath it, is as exciting as fishing gets.
Fishing where water meets air allows a fisherman to witness the violent, predatory act of a fish deciding to eat an offering, often seeing the gaping mouth and explosive splash a moment before the strike is telegraphed through line to rod.
It’s not only thrilling, it’s a deadly effective way to fish for striped bass.
A baitfish struggling to swim at the surface is pinned against a barrier with limited escape routes. A striped bass lurking below has evolved to sense this easy target, its lateral line picking up splashes and ripples disturbing the surface, its large eyes spotting a dark form silhouetted against the sky.
Pencil poppers, cup-faced poppers, and spook-style stickbaits are three common topwater plug styles, but there are other lures that can be fished effectively as topwater plugs. A floating minnow plug like the RedFin, when fished at a slow crawl, stays on top and casts an alluring V-wake that will call in stripers on sandy beaches. The Sebile Magic Swimmer, retrieved at a fast clip so its back just breaks the surface, does a perfect mackerel imitation and is the hottest lure this summer among Cape Cod Canal fishermen.
Whichever topwater you choose, note that they are most effective at dawn and dusk, when there is just enough light in the sky to make bass look up for its next meal.
South Shore
As expected, there was more great fishing in the Cape Cod Canal on last weekend’s new moon and the days that followed. Magic Swimmers were the hot lure as bass in the 20-40-pound class chased mackerel at the surface. Mackerel-patterned pencil poppers also did some damage around the morning current switch.
Although the bite has slowed, the Canal is worth fishing any day of the week right now, as abundant mackerel and big bass in Cape Cod Bay will continue to push into the east end on west tides.
Boaters are jigging up mackerel and live-lining them off the east end of the Canal, but Cape Cod Bay is big and it’s been a challenge to locate the striper schools. Race Point has slowed, suggesting some of the stripers have pushed off to Stellwagen or down the backside of the Cape to Chatham.
Inshore ledges and rocky shorelines around Scituate and Cohasset have good numbers of bass. Live pogies, mackerel and eels are all producing. The mouth of the North River has been particularly good but most of the fish are 30 inches or smaller.
There are mackerel in deep water several miles out of Scituate Harbor and some bluefish as well.
Shark fishing has been very good. Plymouth-based captain Rich Antonino on the Black Rose took first place in the New Bedford Monster Shark tournament with a 360-pound thresher shark, and then days later landed a 400-pound-plus porbeagle shark.
Boston Harbor
Rising water temperatures are likely to blame for pushing big bass out to deeper waters outside the harbor. Mackerel and bass have been out at the BG Buoy, Graves Light, and Three and One-Half Fathoms Ledge.
Inshore, it’s been scattered bluefish attacking pogies around Snake Island in Winthrop, Lower Middle and Castle Island.
Flounder fishing has slowed, but black sea bass are an option. Drop bucktail jigs tipped with cut squid on the rockpiles around Hull Gut to see if there are any home.
North Shore
Action has slowed in Broad Sound, but you might pick off some fish trolling tube-and-worm rigs along the shoreline or swimming live mackerel off Egg Rock.
Salem Sound has schoolie stripers feeding on small baitfish, mostly in the mornings and evenings. Salem Harbor and Manchester Bay have had the bait and bass.
Pogies remain numerous from Annisquam to Plum Island, but commercial netters have put a dent in their numbers. Some good fish have been taken recently by fishermen live-lining the pogies around the mouth of the Merrimack River.
Shore fishing has been best at night. Live eels and black minnow plugs are the top baits after sunset.