Fish On!: Dog Days Gone?

Finally, we’ve seen the stripers return to our beaches in some numbers!After a slow stretch of “dog days” there for a couple of weeks, local fishermen have enjoyed bent rods and good action this week. Maybe it’s because the water temps dropped a couple degrees, or maybe it’s because they sniffed out all this bait that’s in our area, but whatever it is, we’ll take it!Huge schools of adult pogies have attracted some trophy-sized stripers lately, and throw into the mix herring, peanut bunker (juvenile menhaden) and squid, and it looks like the saltwater scene is about to erupt.Surfcasters really have it good this time of year, because it’s the time of the season when big bass come close into the surf, into the range of us surfcasters. It’s way too early to talk about the Fall Run, but summer won’t last forever, so now’s the time, if you haven’t been fishing, to throw a line into the surf, because it’s just heating up!Here’s a look at our areas:Boston HarborThe “hahbah” is holding large bass around those pogie schools. That’s the name of the game right now in Boston, find the bait, find the fish. Look for pogies around Wollaston Beach, Quincy, and up the side of Deer Island by President Roads still.Live eels at night are taking bass all over the Harbor, and surface feeds fueled by bluefish are popping up in the mornings. Look for them from Castle Island to Winthrop at first light. Keep in mind the eighth annual Help Hook the Cure Boston Harbor striper tourney is coming up on Saturday, Aug. 25, and it benefits the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s disease. This tournament has raised $85,000 to date for this noble charity. For more info, call the Winthrop Elks Lodge.Lynn/NahantOur area has been great this past week. Particularly Lynn Beach. The time to be there has been at first light and from sunset on into the night.Bass to 40 inches have been reported this week, caught with chunk mackerel and clams along the beach. No live mackerel reports this week, but live Pollock are just as good, and can be jigged up with a sabiki rig all around East Point, Nahant.They’re right on the bottom, so let the rig hit the bottom and start jigging after a few turns of the handle. This strategy accounted for a few good bass just off Red Rock with the Pollock on Monday night. Lynn fisherman Josh Nickerson caught his first striper on a whole mackerel this week at Red Rock, a nice 30-inch keeper. The Red Rock crowd is still catching them!Salem/MarbleheadA huge mass of pogies have been in Salem Harbor for most of the week, being spotted still at the Wet Dock, the former floating restaurant. Live pogies were responsible for bass to 30 pounds this week, around the schools.Look for the pogies to snag with a standard weighted treble. One tried and true method is the “snag and drag” technique. Once you snag a pogie, open your bail to allow the pogie to sink below the school where cow stripers will surely be lurking.Devereux Beach in Marblehead has been hot this week, with bait fishermen reporting blues and bass off the beach.Cape Ann/NewburyportManchester Harbor had a few nice morning surface feeds this week, as well as Crane’s Beach, but the real action is starting to happen on Plum Island. The folks at Surfland Bait report, “Bass at night, bluefish in the mornings.” Surfcasters fishing at night on the Plum Island beachfront are having nonstop action on worms and clams.Mostly schoolie sized fish, but with occasional cows mixed in. One fisherman caught two thirty-pounders on live eels just off the beach this week, after dark. If you’re heading up there, which is only about 40 minutes, bring along some metals such as Hopkins, crippled herring jigs, and deadly dicks. Topwater plugs are a good idea as well, and make sure to have a few steel leaders on hand for those toothy bluefish in the mornings!The Bottom LineTonight brings the New Moon, which typically comes with strong tides and big fish. Moon phases have always been a huge factor in striper fishing