The thing I love most about the sport of fishing is that size is not a limiting factor. Growing up, I participated in sports and thrived on competition until my early high school years when it became apparent that my 5-foot stature no longer intimidated my opponents or even came close to measuring up to the competition. Size definitely mattered, so I traded my number 11 jersey for a seat on the sidelines as a spectator.

My competitive spirit has never dulled over the years though, so when I was first introduced to the sport of fishing, that spirit came rushing back. Only this time it was more about personal achievement rather than beating a team of opponents. No more sitting on the sidelines. But just like any sport, you need a coach to show you the way and lead you to the winner’s circle.

Over the last five years, I’ve come to the conclusion that the secret to “catching” isn’t actually a secret at all, but rather the ability to recognize and adapt to changing conditions and apply different techniques.  All too often people adopt a technique, perfect it and use it over and over again because that’s what they know.  We were always taught ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’. If there is one thing you pick up by reading this article, it’s that complacency holds you back. You will never be better than what you were yesterday if you always do the same thing.

Recently I had the chance to fish with Captain Jimmy of On Time Sports Fishing.  Jimmy is a legend in the fishing community and has been my “coach” on the water for the past five years. He runs a 31 foot SeaVee that he trailers from location to location putting anglers on their moving targets.

On this day, we launched out of Hyannis to target black sea bass in Nantucket Sound. On the way out to the grounds, we chatted about the success he’d been having with the Black Hole Taifun-v rubber jig combined with the Jigging World Fluke Candy Teaser.  I knew we were in for some fun when he turned to me with a smile and said, “this combination has been deadly, and I mean deadly in a jumbo way.”

Jimmy handed me some leader and I started to tie rigs based off of his setup. As a perpetual student, I can’t help but ask why something is done the way it is, so that later I can apply it to other similar situations.

When we started our first drift, we were marking some nice sea bass and sure enough, they started coming over the rail pretty quickly. Because I do a lot of ground fishing for flounder, my jigging method was to jig it up and pound it down. As I watched, Jimmy was out catching me 3 to 1. Little did I know, he was silently observing my technique and before my competitive frustration reached its peak, he said…”Allison watch how I do it. You gotta wiggle it quickly just above the bottom”. And before he even finished his sentence, his rod was bent over with doubles. So I watched him a few more times and began the quick-wiggle technique and started matching him fish for fish. I almost added something extra to the technique by singing the song “Wiggle it just a little bit” to see if that gave me an extra edge, but decided to spare the ears of the anglers and not scare off the fish.

After a while though, I began to see the fish that Jimmy was pulling over the side growing exponentially in size. And before I could even make a competitive comment about it, he says “If you want to catch the big ones, drop it to the bottom and slowly reel in until you feel them hit your lure. When you feel it, slowly let your line out.”

Once again, with a slight adjustment, my catch showed improvement. I spent the rest of the day laughing and learning with one the best captains there is. I was careful to pay close attention to the reasoning behind the methods.  Captain Jimmy, my “coach” on the water, helped me catch the biggest black sea bass and fluke I’ve caught to date and provided me with the knowledge to repeat it.  If you want to catch and learn, check out Jimmy’s website: On Time Sports Fishing Charters to book a trip. I’m telling you, that in itself will up your fishing game.

Published in Coastal Angler Magazine

I am a true advocate when it comes to “sharing” fishing knowledge and experiences with those who truly want to learn about the sport. There is a very special group of individuals that hold a soft-spot in my heart when it comes to this. All they have to do is walk towards me on the dock or beach with a fishing rod and tackle box tucked underneath their little arms and a smile on their face, and I will begin spewing fishing tips, tricks and spots without them even saying hello to me. These are the little kids and future anglers of America that are just getting into fishing and learning about the sport. I’m not sure if it’s because they remind me of myself. (Not because I wear juniors size Grundens or weigh the same as a 12 year old boy either!)

I mean after all, it was only four years ago that I was that impressionable sponge walking down the dock with a huge grin of anticipation for my day out on the water. I hung on every word spoken and watched every fisherman and angler while recording it in my memory bank to mimic later and see if I could repeat their motions and actions. That is the great thing about kids and sometimes their downfall. They are uber impressionable and always LISTENING. They watch your every move and can mimic them to perfection. By the end of the day, they become your mini-me. It is adorable unless you drop them off with their parents and they begin swearing like a green horn on the Deadliest Catch.

We introduced our nephew to fishing last year. I don’t have any children, but I know if I had a son, he would be identical to my nephew. My nephew is the spitting image of my husband. He is definitely his mini-me. Fishing is the ONLY sport that he continuously asks to participate in. He’ll do anything and is good at anything that he tries, but he always asks his parents if he can go fishing with us. He is only 8 years old, so when he brought his daily planner to a family dinner to book his next fishing trip with us, I almost fell over. This little guy meant business. We took him out earlier in the summer flounder fishing and he caught a State qualifying tournament flounder, a striped bass, mackerel and sculpin. Basically, each time we have taken him out, we’ve put him on fish. Let me be even more specific, we’ve put him on exactly what he asked to catch. This kid only knows “catching”. He has not been introduced yet to “fishing”.

There is a big difference in Fishing vs. Catching. As we all know, fishing does not always equate to catching. With fishing comes disappointment and heartache. I give Charter Boats my utmost respect. It’s very difficult to catch what an angler asks for every time. No matter what the age or gender, if you’re looking at your fishing guest’s face filled with excitement and anticipation….all you see is pressure. The sweat begins to bead up on your face and your heart rate begins to increase. You gotta produce and you gotta produce big. They’ve been dreaming about their big day for days and have told all their friends they’re gonna catch a huge fish. You never want to be the one to dash that dream. We’ve been asked a number of times if we do charters. I’ll never say never on this one. To-date, we’ve only taken out friends and family and thankfully always produced. But at the end of each trip, we always say we’ll never do charters. Too much pressure!

Now imagine taking out an 8 year old who only knows catching and catching decent sized fish. Knowing how the bass fishing has been in Boston Harbor, I began my damage control early.

“Now you know your Aunt and Uncle don’t always catch, right?”

“Sometimes the fish just aren’t feeding.”

“The water has been really warm.”

I was pulling all the reasons out of why we may not catch. The previous days of fishing were very hard. This was not going to be like his previous trips and we knew it. Well we were right!

First spot we dropped anchor and began to chum. We taught him all about chumming and chunking. You could see the wheels turning and he began to recite EXACTLY everything we explained to him. The sponge was soaking it all in. 30 minutes went by and no fish. We pulled anchor and went out to deeper water. Because the water temps were high, the fish must be deeper. We found our second spot and anchored.

Our nephew began to chum. He said “I have a good feeling about this spot”. My husband and I looked at each other. Silently we both knew what the other was thinking. We’re screwed. We had never fished this spot and didn’t know if it was going to produce. Logically it should. Structure, water temperature, tide and current all pointed to our nephew’s prediction. You could hear the doubt in my Captain’s voice and tone. Meanwhile our nephew was befriending a bird with a broken wing by our boat. He began to feed it our chum and talk to it. We were chumming heavily, so the feeding of his new pet wouldn’t interfere with our feverish attempt at catching the little man a bass. If they were anywhere in the vicinity, we would catch em’. When it was time to swap out the chunks, we had him reel in the lines. First one he picked up, he began to say that he had a big one! Oh, the forever optimist. He had a big one alright. The biggest of them all….the ocean bottom.

The next reel in, he had a Starfish hitch-hiking on it. The oohs and aahs of that catch lasted 10 minutes. He said “Uncle I caught a fish. Star fish. It has the word fish in it”. Then he went back to feeding the seagull. After another starfish catch, we moved to our last spot. Time and tide was running out. After we anchored, he began to try and locate his pet seagull. He then said it again…”I have a good feeling about this spot”. Meanwhile, Captain and First Mate were scratching our heads and praying for a freaking fish. Any fish. Any size. Let the boy reel in something other than the ocean floor and a Cape Cod coffee table decorative item. Let’s do this!

Captain was working hard on the other side of the boat humming, hawing and casting. I decided to eat a sandwich to relieve one pain I had. Then our nephew says “What a beautiful day”. I was taken back and replied with a huge grin saying “You’re absolutely right. It doesn’t get much better than this”. It clicked. He didn’t care if he caught a fish. He just wanted to GO FISHING. He wanted to be out on the water, enjoying the day, feeding the pet seagulls, the star fish and being with his Aunt and Uncle. We were the ones putting the pressure on ourselves. We not once took the time to look around us and take in the experience.  The sunshine, lake-like conditions, and hilarious phrases coming out of our 8 year old-going on 40 year old nephew’s mouth. We tend to get into our competitive and perfection mode when we take others out fishing. When in reality, catching a fish is a bonus. Spending time with our friends and family is what it’s all about. After all, we’re not a charter. The funny thing is, we said we wouldn’t do charters because of this pressure, but mentally we are acting like a charter. A wave of happiness came over me, and just then the line went off. Coincidence? I’d like to believe otherwise.

Our nephew got to reel in a fish. He brought it to the boat all by himself. He caught himself a 32 inch Bluefish. He was ecstatic. He drove us back to the dock, letting the Captain relax a little and have his turn taking it all in. We were out there to teach our nephew how to fish. He did learn a new method of fishing, but he also taught us one of life’s most important lessons….find the good in each experience. It’s there, you just have to have your eyes open and seep it in like a sponge!

Each year before the fishing season starts, anglers polish their gear, organize their tackle boxes and watch re-runs of fishing shows in anticipation of the months ahead. They envision this year being the year they join the “50” pound club. GoPogy is no exception to that. In fact, the wall space in my home is already reserved for my 50lb. mount.

The last month has been slow for catching large bass in Boston Harbor. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of blitzes and legal sized bass to provide eager anglers with excitement and physical “warm-ups” for what’s to come. Heck, we even caught legal sized bass on flounder gear in May. But I’m honed in on the heavy-weights and have been for the past couple of years. I caught my largest bass last year at the end of August and I’m happy to report that we are on target for the same trend this year. The larger bass are now making their way into the Harbor and I think it’s going to be another great Fall season.

Reports from Charter Boats and angling friends over the past two weeks have been consistent. No big bass in abundance. Catching a 36 inch was considered a stellar day of fishing. These reports have prompted us to get some “projects” done while keeping our ears out for some promising reports. I’m not sure if we were just amped up from shark week or possibly the report of the world record being broken for striped bass gave us that extra little push we needed, but we decided to get back into the game, however “small” it might be. Sometimes you just need to hear the scream of your reel, see your rod bent in half and get a work out in order to get you out of the lull you’re in. Well we went out and experienced just that. Our faith was back and so were the heavy weights. We caught decent 39-43 inch fish. Our first 30 pounder of the year broke the mold and told us, just like last year at this time, we should expect consistent heavy-hitters. The big bass are starting to move into the Harbor and I am once again dreaming of my personal best and 50lb club induction. (I will definitely take a 40lb+ though!) Gear up anglers, the season is just heating up and the smack-down is about to begin.

Every week we pinch ourselves and say “what a season”. Things are still shaping up to make this year the best it’s been in recent history. The numerous pods of various bait fish continue to amaze local anglers and cause feeding frenzies inside and outside the harbor. Many people didn’t even have to use their fish-finders this week, but rather secured their fishing spots by following the diving birds. The spike mackerel seem to be the talk of the harbor. It is the end of August and this baitfish is literally everywhere. Anglers have been able to Sabiki them up in large numbers and live-line them for bass & blues. Every fish we caught this week was so full of mackerel and herring that they were coughing them up on their way into the boat. The only complaint to the bait situation in Boston Harbor is the lack of top water pogy action. There are definitely pogies out there, they just aren’t in the large schools yet like past seasons. Gigantic bass and blues have been reported from Gloucester to Nantasket Beach. I was able to spend two hours reeling in over 2 dozen keepers in the midst of a 6 day blitz at Hull Gut. Biggest fish to come to the surface and hit my Yozuri Mackerel shallow diver was 38 inches. We were heading out of the Gut and I convinced my husband, as I do every trip, to just give me 5 more minutes. The water was so choppy, and the number of boats cutting others off was both amazing and frustrating at the same time. I threw out my yozuri shallow diving plug and I watched a huge swirl right around the landing spot of my cast. Oh yeah baby….it was on. As I willed the fish to grab my lure, it did. My little bait runner reel was peeling out. My pink flounder rod was bent in half. The entire time I was reeling in the fish, I was praying for my rod to just hold it together. “Please don’t break, please don’t break”. There was a charter boat right next to us, cheering me on. “That’s how its done!” they screamed. After 10 minutes of praying to the pink gods, I got the fish to the boat. The fish was 38 inches. Although I caught my biggest flounder on that rod this year, it was not even close to 38 inches.

Another great spot this week was Broad Sound. I have never seen bass chase and harass pogies across the top of the water and in such great numbers as I did this week. I literally watched the shadows of bass rise to the surface to chase my pogy. My pogy looked like it was running on top of the water with a huge surfer wave right behind it. I literally screamed “Go Pogy, Go!” and then the line just began to peel out feverishly. I had a circle hook, so although I wanted to cross the eyes and yank back on the stick, I had to watch the line go and go and go. Now I was praying to the line god. Please don’t let him spool me before he swallows the pogy. The pogies in the harbor this year are huge. This means the only fish that is able to take it completely is a big fish. So good news and bad news. If I lose it, I lose big. So as I watched the line go out and the sweat began to drip from my forehead, I waited for the fish to stop and shake its head. On the fourth run, I thought, “this is it”. I began to reel in and the fish didn’t fight back. It was tired out.  My husband was busy reeling in his own fish as I brought mine boatside. I kept yelling at him…”are you ready”.  He came over with the boga grip and hoisted it onto the boat. Once the fish was on the boat, the hook practically fell out of its mouth. If I had let the tension off at any point, this fish would have swam away. The fish weighed in at 37.2 pounds and measured 45.5 inches. Even though I haven’t fished as much this year as last, this has been by far, my best season yet and I’m just getting serious. These fish are feeding and feeding hard. We caught a 20 pounder and a dozen bluefish in the double-digits that trip. One day later I heard about the 61 pounder caught in Newburyport and I have to say, it didn’t take away any of the giddiness I felt for landing my 37. Not bad for a 90lb gal.

The Harbor and adjacent crystal clear waters were alive with bait fish of all kinds and plenty of game fish to chase them this week. The bass and blues had a buffet of prey all week: bunker, herring, spiked mackerel and butterfish were hopping and popping all over the harbor, reaching out to Broad Sound and Nahant and extending to Nantasket Beach. Bluefish blitzes were going off at Brewsters, Graves Light and the BG Buoy. I caught an 11.5 pound bluefish slow trolling an X-wrap deep diver. All bluefish landed during the blitz were in the 10-11lb range. We spent 3 hours trolling and reeling in bluefish during the splashing action. The deep diver plug was definitely on their radar. Because the lure worked so well, a customer of GoPogy was having trouble catching. Now I know we are all in search of that 50lb bass and we don’t ever set out to catch smaller or to catch bluefish. I knew I had to send him out into the “thick” of it with a sure-fire lure to get his arm loosened up. 3 hours after I sent him on his way, it was time for me to go fishing. I left the shop with my fishing gear and was headed to the GoPogy mobile, when a car came pulling in to the shop quickly. I thought to myself, “well maybe this person ran out of bait and doesn’t want to miss the rest of the tide”. The angler got out of the car and called out to me. I came walking over as he was opening his trunk. Well not only did he catch a big blue, he also landed a 36 inch chunky bass. My intentions were to make sure he caught and had fun…and we all know that bluefish 90% of the time provide that to us. Other times, they just steal your bait, your tackle and your spirits. He told me he used the deep diver out at the Brewsters and landed the fish all within an hour. The look of happiness on his face made me so proud of him. He was so grateful for the advice, but little did he know, I was so grateful to see his catches and also know that he took the time to drive all the way back to share it with me.  Congratulations to Dan on this great accomplishment. And a big Thank you to him for sharing it with me.

And I guess what they say about Karma is right, because the next morning I caught a fat – 40 inch bass.

40 inch Striper - GoPogy

The Quick and the dead, or just being in the right place at the right time, was the theme here on the Winthrop side of the harbor this week. Fresh bait was key, however, many who chose the chunking method also made out. Shore fishermen did quite well applying their trade at the tip of the Deer Island jetty. This spot produced several large striped bass and a few blue fish. Yes, that’s right, the blues are starting to show up in larger numbers and many pieces of tackle went missing this week.
The night bite, for those willing to go out in the wee hours of the morning, was very active for many anglers. Large bass were around Boston Harbor, Hull Gut, Deer Island Rip, Pines River, and Egg Rock. Live eels, pogy chunks and herring all turned up success stories. As for those of you who have been following the top water blitzes the past few weeks, they have moved out away from the inner harbor to north of Graves and Nahant. Capt Norm Hyett of Flying Fish Charters ran into several morning blitzes Thursday & Friday, which produced numerous keepers while using The Lonely Angler Top water poppers and the Fin-S split-tailed plastics. Look for the birds, or find yourself a bait ball and try one of these top-water enticers.
The Niner Rigs, along with tube and worm, worked well for Mark Strand and Carlton Sewell. They landed several fish from 35 to 39 inches Friday & Saturday. Granville of Winthrop caught a ton of blue fish and bass on a bucktail jig, and Oscar, also from Winthrop caught a 44”striper near the ILS Pier by Logan Airport using a pogy chunk. John Seaburg landed a 32 inch bass using this off of the Salem Willows Pier. Nice Job John!
Anglers are still buzzing about the late season Flounder bite. Catches are still being reported at their regular hangouts: Deer Island, ILS Pier, Green Island and Faun Bar.  These family-favorites are making a lot of people happy this summer with some relaxing fishing and tasty dinners. Football tuna blitzes have been reported 6 miles off of Nahant with anonymous catches on live-lined mackerel. GoPogy was out Sunday morning and witnessed a tuna blitz over at Theives along with jumping dolphin. Quite an exciting day of fishing in Boston. The off-shore tuna bite is also hot right now.  Large fish are being caught on live bait, mostly pogies and mackerel. Macks also seem to be the bait of choice for those who are targeting sharks.  The crew of the Micky Fin hooked up with 3 blue sharks Saturday. All hit on live mackerel just outside of the SW corner of Stellwagen Bank.

All in all, it was another great turnout this week. Sharks, Tunas, Stripers, Blues and Flounder all made it into the local fishing successes!

The waters around Boston Harbor came alive this week. We all knew it was just a matter of time with all the large pods of bait being sighted from Egg Rock through all of Broad Sound. The inner and outer harbor was loaded with herring, pogies, mackerel, squid and butterfish. The bass were on the rampage all week with blitz activity along Revere & Winthrop beaches with loads of activity in the main channel, the backside of Spectacle Island, and all around the airport Saturday morning. At least 50 boats were in the main harbor channel, all catching bass and blues and good sized fish to boot. I was also told that Friday morning was just as crazy. The late morning action moved closer to Long Island, and at one point it looked like you could walk from Spectacle to Long Island on Bass. Your best bet this week is to watch for the birds moving the bait and cast to the edges of the schools. This seems to be where the bigger fish are during all the top water chaos. The hot lure of the week for these top water blitzes was definitely the Shad. Pearl & Mackerel were landing bass one right after the other. Another lure to try when you see the top water blitz is the casting spoons. Anglers were landing keepers with these tiny, shiny plugs.
The Niner rig, an old time favorite around Boston harbor, continued to produce this week for Bingo’s, Brian MacDonnald & crew last Sunday. 30 hookups and 5 keeper Bass were a direct result of trolling the umbrella rig slowly. Ken Streeter Sr. & Junior also seem to be on a real hot streak lately, still grabbing macks out at Graves, resulting in gear busting sized fish. Using fresh pogies also turned in some spectacular fishing for a number of anglers. Adam Sullivan of Winthrop, fished the outgoing tide using fresh pogy chunks and he and his crew landed 30 plus fish. John Miller caught a “meaty” 43 inch bass, trolling a pogy chunk north of Graves.

The numbers and sizes of the Bass this week are back to weeks of previous. More reports of bigger fish versus the schoolies.  Another sea worthy catch this week goes out to George Bossell, Captain of the Micky Finn. He hooked up with a 7’ blue shark right before I started this report. He and his son Carl were Tuna fishing at the Southwest Corner. It’s not just the water that is heating up, the fishing is hot-hot-hot.

The warming water of Boston harbor has some crying the blues.  As Bass take refuge in deeper, cooler waters, look for the stronger tides to re-invigorate the harbor with the much needed cooler temperatures needed for bigger bass. We are still getting reports of mackerel in the harbors, out at Salem Willows pier and even Hull Gut. If you are lucky enough to hook one of these bait-fish, your best bet is to run for the rocks and let them swim for their life.

Anglers have been blasting the blitz this week catching smaller stripers in the mid to upper 20’s on light tackle and spinning gear. Try throwing the traditional shads or a shallow diver when you see the birds moving the fish. The birds are still feasting on small herring giving anglers a good indication of where to drop their lines. Don’t wait too long before you get in the mix of these blitzes, they can be short and sweet – lasting only a few hours. When it does shut down, take to the flats or sandy patches to get your flounder fix. GoPogy weighed in a 2.2 pound flounder caught off of Boston Light Saturday night. Blues haven’t moved into their territory just yet, so you don’t have to go into deeper water to land that sizable flattie. Jim Soper and his mother proved this as they turned in multiple flounder after a day of fishing Deer Island. A new benefit to flounder fishing has also been taking place for a number of anglers this week…landing mackerel on the grubbed flounder rig.

We have heard good news from the lucky few that have been able to catch pogies. Slow trolling these bass magnets along the break lines will have your reels screaming for attention. Hull Gut, Quincy Bay and Graves Light are producing upper 30 inch bass with the outer Brewsters consistently turning up keepers. Shore reports have been few this week, with the largest landing going to Anthony Rosati and his sister. They landed a 34.5 inch, hefty Striper from Deer Island. Great job you two!

Hopefully next week’s theme won’t be “schoolies” but rather “hefties”.

Get out and Fish and keep the reports coming!

Once Again I feel blessed to live on the shores of Boston Harbor and Broad Sound. Great fishing is what it’s all about and that’s exactly what took place this week. Bass and Bluefish were being taken from shore, boat and kayak during flurries of bird action in the harbor and around the inner and outer islands. Broad Sound has been a virtual bee hive of activity in the late afternoon consistently all week with huge supplies of herring, mackerel, pogies and even a few rumored schools of butterfish. It looks like the big boys are going to hang around for a while. Speaking of big boys, Mark Arsenault of Revere caught a 48” 38lb cow at Headaches Ledge live-lining mackerel, while Captain John Dommings landed a 45” 35lb bass over at Middle Ground with many bluefish catches, the largest of the bunch – a whopping 17 pounds. And if that doesn’t get the excitement flowing, it looks like the pogies are starting to move in and in good numbers. Make sure your tackle box is stocked with snag hooks. Be ready, not sorry. There are some big fish out there that are looking for some big bait.

Live bait, however, has not been the sole producer of all big catches this week. John landed a 29.9lb 42” Striper from his kayak just off of Winthrop Beach using a rubber shad. This bass was so hefty it snapped his rod right in half. It was a true fight to the finish and we want to congratulate him on his prized catch. Joe Arria had a great week trolling his 9ER rig, picking up a 35” bass and a 36” bluefish.

Striper & Bluefish Blitz

And the flounder haven’t retreated just yet. The bite was on this week for Jim Soper and Pat Corkum, who caught 10 keepers off of Deer Island Sunday morning. So don’t give up on these guys just yet. If you haven’t hit the flats for the flatties, get out there.

Get out and Fish!

We can’t say enough about the Boston Harbor flounder fishing, so we decided to report on this fish first. They seem to be the fall-back fish of early season. Anglers targeting, but not catching bass, seem to always round out their fishing trips with some island flounder fishing to ensure their coolers don’t come back empty. Deer Island flats, Hospital Shoals, Green Island and Governor’s flats are still producing large numbers of derby sized fish. Your chances of catching these fun-tugging fish however, are lessening each week. Soon they will be retreating to deeper water and proving more of a landing challenge to anglers. Drifting sea-worms on the double-hook flounder rig with a 2-3 oz bank sinker is resulting in many fish over 16 inches.

Now let’s talk about the bait. Among reports of no more mackerel, reports of large numbers invading the outer islands came in this week. Another spot of “spotty” mackerel was Minots Ledge. Get out there early morning though before you’re dogged by Dogfish. Once they show up – your game is over. Team GoPogy snagged two large mackerel over at Deer Island flats while flounder fishing. The Esca lure rigged above the glo-worm flounder hooks secured these, proving the mackerel haven’t pushed out completely yet. Pogies are definitely here. The snagging has begun on the Winthrop side of Boston Harbor. No large numbers yet, but if you spend an hour dedicated to catching this bait, you can get just enough to land a few nice-sized bass. Eels seem to be the night-time choice of Kayakers. Fishing them live as well as dead are landing keeper fish.

Bridge fishing turned out a major success story this week for Winthrop. Bledar Naco landed a 42 inch striped-bass beauty. Bait of choice…..clams. Way to go Bledar!   Reports of multiple keepers came in this week from Danvers. Bass were enticed by the Green Mackerel & Oreo Cookie Shad Umbrella rigs. A huge Bass blitz was called in at the entrance of the North East Channel mid-week, providing excitement for over 20 boats.

Even GoPogy got in on the action this week. We married up the Esca light with the Shankas eel over at Deer Island rip and the outcome was 4 keepers, all mid-30 range…a blissful union indeed.

The fish are getting bigger and the fishing is getting even better.