Fish On!: Big Storms, Big Fish

Tropical storms mean one thing for basshounds: BIG STRIPERS! Usually right around big storms, both before and after, stripers seem to go nuts, and the feed bags come on. Some of the best fishing days I have ever witnessed have been during some of the worst weather, with rough surf and strong winds. So with Hurricane Irene quickly coming up the Atlantic seaboard and poised to stir up the waters of the North Shore, look for the inshore saltwater fishing scene to really heat up. This weekend also coincides with a truly noble charity striper tournament. Saturday, Aug. 27, marks the 7th Annual Help Hook The Cure Striper derby, from which proceeds go to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. It runs Saturday from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. Fish weigh-in is at the Winthrop Elks Lodge. Call your local baitshop or the Elks Lodge in Winthrop for more details. Let’s hope the weather holds off until late Saturday night, well after this tournament for a great cause is over.Here’s a look at our areas:Boston HarborAfter a disappointingly slow start to the week, especially after all last week’s great topwater action, fishing improved each day as the week went on. Bluefish are still tearing up the Harbor, and everybody’s lines! Wire leaders are still a must, as blues will bite right through 60 pound test mono like it’s nothing, and you’re sure to bump into them. The striper bite is good all around Winthrop at the moment, with Deer Island and the Faun Bar being hot spots. Chunk bait, such as mackerel or pogies, as well as live eels are reportedly the baits to be using on an outgoing tide there. Pogies have finally showed up in the Winthrop Harbor, Crystal Cove area, though not in huge numbers, but still enough to easily spot and snag. Look for “nervous water,” large dark masses, or a bunch of small splashes to find them. A standard snag hook will do the trick for these prized baitfish.Lynn/NahantReports of Lynn Harbor were good this week. Stripers to 40 inches were taken by trolling orange Santini tubes with a fresh seaworm on the end. Packs of bluefish are zipping around our area, so make sure to have wire leaders on hand. Fluke fishing has picked up in the Pines River, and guys are catching these prized tablefish on squid or mackerel strips on the bottom. Mackerel have been spotty around East Point, Nahant, but can still be found by the red can off East Point using sabiki rigs, but you’ve got to put in some time. Bluefish are being trolled up with deep diving plugs around Egg Rock in the 60 foot of water range, and have been feeding on top, chasing small herring around.Salem/MarbleheadThe mackerel are getting harder and harder to find, and seem to be all but gone, traveling north. This is most likely due to all the bluefish in the area. Fishermen are having their fill of catching blues all over Salem harbor, Beverly harbor, and around Marblehead. Deep diving plugs are working the best, and the topwater pencil poppers are doing damage when they’re spraying bait on top. Surf fishermen report slow bass fishing, with most nights only producing a few stripers in the 30-inch range. Pogies have been reported in the morning around the mooring field in Salem Harbor. Look for them at first light with a snag hook, and live-lining them around any rocky structure in Salem Sound is a good way to land a trophy.Cape Ann/NewburyportCape Ann is loaded with blues and bass. The kayak crowd had a good week around Gloucester, with reports of multiple bass being taken over 42 inches, with the biggest being a fat 46-incher that won their annual Mass Bay Striper Shootout. The winning fish was taken just before first light on a live eel. I stopped in to talk with Kay Moulton of Surfland Bait on Plum Island this week. Kay, who always has her finger on exactly where the bite is and on what, said it’s been an up and down week around the mouth of the Merrimack. “The blues are in on one tide pushing bait right onto the beach, and the next tide they’re 3 miles offsho