Fish On!: Nasty weather means big fish!

The recent thunderstorms and pouring rain kept many anglers off the water this week, but those few diehard basshounds that did brave the weather were rewarded with some fantastic fishing and a few large linesiders to show for it! Nasty weather has always meant one thing for me, and that’s trophy stripers. The worse the weather is, the more big bass seem to love it! That was the case this week, and with this weekend’s weather looking like perfect summer days, look for the fishing to be excellent with those storms having stirred up all the fish! Bluefish have arrived, but haven’t invaded our waters just yet, but it’s a good idea to start bringing a few wire leaders, as their razor sharp teeth will cut right through the toughest leader. July is almost here, so get out there and catch that June trophy while you can!Boston HarborFishing in the “habah” is still very good. Mackerel have moved out of the Harbor, but can still be found out by the Outer Brewsters, Graves Light and out to the B-Buoy, and they still remain a top bait for big stripers. Winthrop is heating up, with guys fishing chunk bait such as mackerel, herring and seaworms around Deer Island doing well lately. Flounder are still being caught, but the deeper spots are producing more as the flounder head for deeper waters when the water temperature hits 60-65 degrees. Look for pogies at first light and sunset off Wollaston Beach. A standard weighted treble hook, or “snag hook,” will do the job should you find them.Lynn/NahantOur area, once again, is fantastic. While mackerel are becoming more and more scattered in most areas, they’re still stacked up in Lynn Harbor and around Nahant pretty good. A few nights ago, just after a nasty thunderstorm, I was out off Nahant with my father and Lynn fisherman Brian Nickerson. We had no problem filling the livewell with tinker mackerel in the 6-8 inch range on sabiki rigs just off East Point, Nahant, and proceeded to fish them around Egg Rock off Lynn Beach. The setup was an 8/0 circle hook on a 60-pound test leader attached to 20 pound mono, with just a balloon and a live mackerel. Brian Nickerson ended up having a 44-inch cow striper absolutely smash his mackerel as it swam on top, close to Egg Rock, and after a 15-minute fight, he landed his biggest bass ever! It was a beautiful fish that hit the scales at 36 pounds, 5 ounces. Tom over at Ballard Street Bait and Tackle told me that the Saugus River’s been quiet because of all the rain lately, but he says usually two or three days after the rains, the fishing picks right up again in the river. He also reports, “The Revere Beach guys are doing pretty good, taking good numbers of bass trolling Tube N’ Worm’s up and down the beach, in the mornings and afternoons. Red tubes seem do be doing the best.”Salem/MarbleheadTopwater blitzes were reported in the middle of the day this past week, with 25-30 inch bass chasing bait around. Mackerel have been hard to find around the Islands, and the guys who did get them were using chum bags and flashier sabiki rigs to fill their bait wells. Squid are virtually everywhere, around pretty much all well-lit piers at night. Just last week, guys were jigging them up with squid jigs and live-lining them for bass in the 30-inch range. Ron Powers, local fisherman and writer for On The Water magazine, reported that last week, one fisherman was pleasantly surprised when a 47-inch striper hit one of his live squids right off the Beverly Pier!Cape Ann/NewburyportThose yellow-eyed, toothy Bluefish have finally sniffed out all the bait around Cape Ann, and are almost there in full force. Bluefish, and big ones at that, are being caught all over Cape Ann, but particularly off Rockport and around Halibut Point. There, blues are in the 30-35 inch range, so bring a few wire leaders should you come across these gorillas! The crew at Surfland on Plum Island report slow fishing in the river due to the rains, but they did weigh in a few bass between 15 and 27 pounds, c