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!

Mike with a 46lb Cow

I went fishing yesterday with my friend Mike, who boats up in Newburyport. He belongs to the Freedom Boat club so he reserved the 25ft Bluefin for a day of fishing. Mike invited one of his clients to go out with us in hopes of showing him a thing or two about fishing the Merrimack River.

We made a stop to buy some tackle, re-spool a reel and get the lowdown on what people have been catching in the river. The guys at the shop said the mackerel were still out there and the Stripers close by them. Off we went, in search of the elusive mackerel. Let’s just say, after 5 hours of trolling, jigging, and tossing a few chunks we had hooked up with one sand shark, one sculpin, sighted 3 harbor seals and a crazy bluefish swimming circles on the top water. Sunburned and exhausted, we retreated back to the river in hopes of casting to some schoolies to ease our disappointment. Read the rest of this entry »

I have been told many times I am an anomaly. And for the most part, I have to agree with pride. I like unique styles of jewelry, cake frosting from a can vs. home-made, and a special date going out with my husband would be fishing. So as our 2^nd year wedding anniversary approached, my husband wanted to do something special for me to show his love. Although it wasn’t jewelry, the gift was shiny and beautiful and a gift I would always remember.

You see, we have been to numerous fishing seminars and lectures over the last few years. One seminar we took was on Blue-fin Tuna. The class was informative and scary at the same time. When you have a tuna on the line, you could literally work for hours and then lose it. Many things can go wrong. The lecturer told us you need to have a minimum of four crew members on board to properly land a tuna – one to navigate the boat, one to gaff the fish, one to handle the leader, and of course, the angler to bring the fish in. He told us many stories of anglers putting up the fight of their lives and having the line snap or the hook pull. These fish are so powerful, that they dive under the boat which causes a lot of lines to rub and snap off. The devastation in these angler’s eyes and the experience that would haunt them for years to come was a direct result of the rule of tuna fishing, “anything can go wrong”. Read the rest of this entry »