Big Bait…Big Fish…Big Accomplishment!


August 24th, 2010  |  Published in Boston Harbor, Fishing Reports, Fishing Stories, Striped Bass

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.

38 inch Striper caught on Flounder rodAnother 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.

37.2 pounds 45.5 inches

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