Fish On!: Boston Harbor means big bass!

This past weekend, the 8th Annual Help Hook The Cure Striper Derby went off in Boston Harbor with great success! Over 250 anglers participated in this tourney, which benefits a truly noble cause, the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Disease. Sixty-five boats and 30 kayaks fished this event, which helped put the total amount raised for this charity to over $100,000! The fish that won the tournament was a beauty, hitting the scales at 40 pounds, 8 ounces, and was caught by angler Mike Conners on a live pogie. Special thanks go out to Nick Frasso of Winthrop, who organizes this great event each year. There were plenty of quality fish weighed in, proving that Boston Harbor is the place to be for big bass right now! This is great news for us anglers, as we went through a period of true Summer Doldrums for a while there. And now, there’s just a buffet of bait for bass and blues to gorge themselves on, including pogies, small herring, peanut bunker and squid, to name a few, and all this bait in our area should set us up nicely for a fantastic Fall Run! Get out there and wet a line!Boston HarborBait is all over the harbor right now. Herring, pogies, and peanut bunker are responsible for some nice surface feeds in the mornings and late afternoons. Look for this action from the Logan Airport runway right up the side of Deer Island and out to Graves Light, as well as around Castle Island. Live pogies are taking bass to 45 pounds lately, and Hull Gut has been a hot spot the past couple weeks. Winthrop is fishing well for the surfcasting crowd, with some nice fish being reported at night over by Deer Island.Lynn/NahantMassive schools of juvenile herring and peanut bunker have invaded Swampscott and Lynn waters this week. And to no surprise, snapper bluefish are right in the mix, being caught just past the boats in Swampscott Harbor, as well as along Lynn Beach. Bass and blues are being caught all around Nahant again, whacking topwater plugs. Pogie schools were spotted this week off Short Beach, Nahant, and in Lynn Harbor by the yacht clubs.Salem/MarbleheadSchools of pogies are still being reported in Salem Harbor most mornings, with bass under them. Peaches Point and Marblehead Harbor were reportedly good spots this week, with some large linesiders in Marblehead Harbor. Castle Rock, Marblehead is heating up again, as well as Devereux Beach and Preston Beach. Bluefish have been reported zipping around Beverly Harbor, chasing herring and peanut bunker. The area is loaded with bait, minus mackerel, but with all these small herring and peanut bunker, try throwing swim shads along with deadly dicks, kastmasters and Hopkins metals.Cape Ann/NewburyportThere are some nice stripers cruising the beaches of Plum Island this week. Bass to 25 pounds are being weighed in, mostly taken on chunk bait. Herring has worked particularly well lately, as well as clams and seaworms. And on a bright note, Parking lots 1, 2 and 3 are now open to surfcasters on the Plum Island Reservation. Bluefish in the 6-8 pound range are keeping anglers happy on area beaches, and swimming plugs are working well along with metals. The folks at Surfland Bait say that the time around low tide seems to be fishing the best. Bass to 35 pounds were reported around Gloucester and Rockport this week, and angler Kevin French was catching snapper blues off Andrews Point this week.The Bottom LineThere’s a nice high tide tonight at midnight, and with the fish those guys around Red Rock have been catching lately, I’d expect some nice fish to hit Lynn Beach. If you can get over to Boston Harbor this weekend, Hull Gut has been giving up bass to 45 pounds, and should definitely be on your radar! Good luck and be safe!Joe Holey can be reached at [email protected]