McClory: Don’t give up on fishing yet

For The ItemFor many, Labor Day is a signal to hang up your rod and reels and break out the hunting gear. But if that is your plan, hold off.Don’t give up on fishing. September is one of the best times to wet a line, both in the fresh and salt water.Some of the largest fish of the season will be caught over the next few weeks. Fresh waters turn over soon and, as the surface water changes, fish move closer to the surface.Up north in the larger lakes like Sebago and Winnie, salmon fishing has turned on. At the inlets of rivers, salmon and lake trout are dining on baitfish migrating upstream to spawn.Streamer imitations like joe smelts and Meredith specials should be on the menu. As the salt water starts to cool, stripers will migrate south, chasing various baitfish to fatten up for the winter months ahead.Typically, during the migration, the stripers’ desire for food overcomes their trepidation of light and so the best daylight striper fishing of the year can occur. And don’t forget: fall trout stocking should start at the end of the month.uAntlerless deer permit notification cards were mailed to deer hunters in mid-August. Applicants not selected for their WMZ of choice were sent green postcards to allow them to re-apply in WMZs where allocations exceeded applications.Re-applicants may circle and rank up to three choices for Wildlife Management Zones. Due to a limited number of permits available in certain WMZs, re-applicants should send in their postcards as soon as possible since re-applicant requests are processed on a first-come, first-served basis.WMZ 9 permits are no longer available due to the re-application process. Re-applicants may choose from WMZ’s 10, 11, 13, and 14 only. The final opportunity for obtaining an antlerless deer permit, or acquiring additional permits, will be Oct. 12, when remaining permits will be available for over-the-counter sales. The only zones for which permits will be WMZ 10, 11, 13 and 14.Hunters will be allowed to purchase one permit per zone per day. The cost is $5 per permit in cash or check. Credit cards are not accepted at agency offices. Hunters must present their original license to purchase permits; carbon copies or photocopies of licenses will not be accepted.A person may bring the original license of another hunter to purchase permits for him or her. Once the quota is reached in a particular Wildlife Management zone, permit sales for that zone will end. Permits will be sold in MassWildlife’s Westborough, Ayer, West Boylston, Dalton, and Belchertown offices.uIf you are planning on kayaking or canoeing, remember that from Sept. 15 to May 15, all paddlers must wear their personal flotation devices. The Massachusetts Environmental Police say most boating fatalities happen to boaters who do not wear PFDs. This law also applies to waterfowl hunters using canoes or kayaks.uOn the salt water front, fishermen now have access to the beach on Plum Island for the first time now that Parker River Refuge Lots 2 and 3 are open. In Boston Harbor, Lovell Island, and Rams Head, the tube-and-worm rigs are working on large stripers. On Revere Beach, stripers are hitting clams in the surf, and there is plenty of bait being chased by bluefish in the Harbor, at Graves Light and the B Buoy.uNext Saturday, from 7 p.m. until 11 p.m. Ippi’s Bait and Tackle will be sponsoring a Night Striper Derby at Red Rock, Elephant Rock, and two beaches. Entry fee is $10, and the winner will take all for the largest length striper.Don McClory is The Item’s outdoors writer.