Fish On! with Joe Holey: So far, it’s been a bountiful August

The dog days of summer are typically slow fishing times, but August so far has proved to be far better than recent years. Right now, marauding packs of bluefish are patrolling the waters of the North Shore, with gorilla blues to 17 pounds causing havoc and destroying fishing gear from Boston to Newburyport. These fish are keeping anglers busy by day, while keeper bass are keeping them busy by night. If it’s big bass you’re after, the theme right now is “Carpe Noctum.” Seize the night. Live eels, pogie chunks, and a variety of lures are producing quality fish when the sun goes down. These cow stripers stay out in the deeper, cooler waters during the day, and enter the shallows by night under the cover of darkness to search for food. Here’s a look at our areas:Boston Harbor: After a couple weeks of slowed down action, Boston Harbor exploded last week due to the enormous amount of bait around the area. Herring, mackerel, pogies, peanut bunker (juvenile menhaden), and silversides to name a few are causing topwater blitzes that rival the fall run. Look for the birds to show you where the fish are. Action is hot and heavy with blues and good-sized stripers hitting basically anything you throw at them. Stan Gibbs pencil poppers, Chubb Creek plugs and Storm Shads are all time tested fish producers. If you run into the blues, switch to wire leaders to make your day a little less expensive. The word is pogies are in the harbor in good enough numbers to snag them for bait using a weighted treble hook. Look for them at Wollaston Beach, Snake Island, and Crystal Cove in the morning hours. Flounder fishing surprisingly is still pretty good in the Harbor. Try a standard 2 hook flounder rig with a half a sea worm on each hook to catch these prized table fish. Deer Island’s Fawn Bar, Hospital Shoals, and just off of the Logan Airport runway pier are producing flatties to 25 inches. Black sluggo’s have been working great at night, but you can’t beat a live eel anywhere in Boston Harbor at night for a chance to catch that 50-pounder.Lynn/Nahant: Lynn Harbor has been great at sunset. Topwater action has been pretty consistent regardless of the tide if you fish at dusk. Again, look for the birds around the mouth of the harbor for some great fishing. If you can resist the urge to chase the fish, try dropping bait down below the surface feeds for some larger bass. Cows often lurk below the smaller fish and lazily pick up the scraps that fall down below the carnage. The Gas Wharf guys have been doing well fishing mackerel chunks on the outgoing tide. Nahant has been producing some monster bass if you’re in the right place at the right time. The 40 Steps area has given up some truly large fish on pearl 9″ sluggo’s, and live mackerel if you can find them. I saw a guy a few days ago at the Lynnway boat ramp with 2 fish, one a 44″, and the other was 49″ and easily over 40 pounds. This monster as well as the other was taken on a live mackerel off Nahant. Look for the macks from the Nahant town wharf to East Point, as well as Egg Rock off Lynn Beach with a sabiki rig.Salem/Beverly: Mackerel are still around the islands, surprisingly, since they typically stay with us from Mother’s Day to Father’s Day before moving North to cooler, deeper waters. The arrival of the bluefish account for this more than anything, so get ’em while you can because they won’t stay much longer. Sunset again seems to be the golden time for this area. Look for the birds and surface feeding fish from Tinkers Island, Marblehead to Beverly Harbor. The mooring fields just off Salem Willows are a good place to find them, usually with the flock of birds giving away their location. The outgoing tide seems to be fishing better. Look for the macks between Misery and Baker’s Islands, and either a Christmas tree rig or the sabiki is the way to go.Cape Ann/Newburyport: A 45-pounder and a 38-pounder were taken from the rocky shoreline of Cape Ann one morning this week as the bass had spike macke