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!

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 »