Shark fishing? Book bigger boat

FISHING FORECAST

With the bluefin tuna season lagging, more anglers are getting their big-game thrills through shark fishing.

For the average angler looking for an exciting charter experience, booking a boat to go shark fishing rarely disappoints. Most boats out of Plymouth, Boston, or Cape Ann head just east of Stellwagen Bank, a reasonable ride that often provides bonus whale sightings.

Unlike most deep-sea fishing expeditions, the action in shark fishing takes place near the surface and is often very visual. Once the chum bucket goes in the water, it rarely takes long for the first shark to show. Along with the thrill of hooking, fighting and releasing a big blue shark, you’ll get to watch them approach the boat and circle the hook baits before they can be coerced into biting.

For younger anglers with limited attention spans, an end-ofsummer shark-fishing trip can provide a thrilling day away from video screens and, perhaps, spark a new interest in ocean science.

South Shore

Summertime high temperatures and warm water currents have swept in some surprising catches. This week, fishermen have reported several southern species, including king mackerel in Buzzards Bay and mahi mahi in Cape Cod Bay. There was even word of a brief encounter with a tarpon out near Nantucket.

With surface waters so warm, the roiled, deep waters of the Cape Cod Canal remain the best bet for bigger bass from shore. This weekend will be crowded, but the early morning tides hold a lot of promise for blitzing bass. Savage Sand Eel jigs, Sebile Magic Swimmers and Daiwa SP Minnows are the three top lure choices for the Canal, but pencil poppers will certainly produce if the fish are showing on the surface. At night, live eels drifted along the dropoffs are a good bet.

There are plenty of pogies along the South Shore, enough to make it a challenge finding bass that still have the appetite to strike a hooked bait. Some captains recommend trolling tube-and-worm rigs to show the stripers something different that they can’t resist snapping at.

Leaving the pogy schools behind and heading to the deep-water ledges off Scituate is another option, as the bass there can be easier to tempt with live mackerel.

Stellwagen Bank has plenty of haddock and an abundance of blue sharks off the eastern edge.

Boston Harbor

With bass overwhelmed by the volume of big bait in the harbor, many captains are abandoning live-pogy fishing and trolling tube-and-worm rigs. Other captains are finding success by remaining patient and sticking with the pogy schools until the bass decide they’re ready to feed again. Another option is to transport a livewell of pogies away from the school and fish them around rocky structure, where you might have a better shot at finding a hungry bass.

There have been several reports of thresher sharks tearing through the pogy schools in the harbor. Eventually, someone will have an incredible story to tell when a thresher takes a bass bait.

An influx of smaller baitfish, believed to be peanut bunker, is a good sign for a healthy fall run once waters begin to cool and the abundant school-size stripers begin feeding more actively.

North Shore

Mackerel have been easy to find between Flip Rock and the 2-Can off Nahant, but it can take some hunting to find feeding stripers. Keep moving and keep an eye on your fishfinder screen.

Pogies remain plentiful from Salem and Beverly out through Manchester Bay but, again, anglers are having to really work to find active bass. However, the payoff could be big as there are bass in the 40-pound class lurking around Misery and Bakers islands.

As is often the case in August, the best bass fishing off the North Shore is taking place in the dark. Live eels are the bait of choice for striper fishermen working the sandbars off Plum Island and Castle Neck after sunset, both by boat and by foot.