Fish On!: Score big stripers at night

Summer is here! With daytime temps this week in the high 80’s and 90’s, the bass aren’t too different than we are after all. While most of us are sitting in front of the air conditioners, the bass are sitting out in deeper, cooler waters during the day as well, waiting for the cooler night air to venture into the shallows to feed under the cover of darkness. This is the time of year that most of us switch to the night shift, hunting stripers after dark, slinging eels along beaches or into boulderfields. This time of year big bass will come right into the surf in impossibly shallow water in search of food at night, so long casts aren’t really necessary, giving surfcasters a real shot at a trophy striper. So grab a headlamp and a bucket of eels, and hit the nighttime striper surf for your shot at a big bass!Here’s a look at our areas:Boston HarborFishing in the “Habah” still remains good. Stripers remain active, more so in the early morning and late afternoon into dark, and blues are in the mix. The bluefish aren’t in with any solid numbers yet, but that should change very soon. Pogies were reported at Wollaston Beach in Quincy Bay earlier this week in the morning, which is a great sign, as they’re a prime food source for large linesiders. So bring along a few snag hooks that you can pick up at any local bait shop. Some guys reel steady until they feel a bump and then snag, and others prefer to cast it just past the school and make sweeping drags through the school. Whichever you prefer, the almighty pogy is a top bait for big bass.Lynn/NahantRevere Beach is still fishing well, with many reports of breaking fish along the beach in the mornings. Lynn Harbor was a little slower this week, but a few days’ surface feeds were reported. Nothing huge, but bass mostly in the 15-22 inch range chasing bait around, with the birds right on them. Bass to 38 inches were reported around Bass Point, Nahant this week, with live mackerel working the best. Macks can be found at the mouth of Lynn Harbor, as well as all around Nahant. A beautiful 46-inch bass was taken along Lynn Beach this week by an angler fishing chunk mackerel from the open beach. Tom’s Bait and Tackle on Ballard Street reported slow fishing in the Saugus River, but better fishing out in Lynn Harbor.Salem/MarbleheadReports were steady this week from this area. Mackerel are still being jigged up out around Misery and Baker’s Islands, and bass from 32 to 38 inches were taken on them up against the rocks. Tinker’s Island off Marblehead is another place to find mackerel, and that spot fished well this week. The Danvers River has held some better fish lately, with morning surface feeds being reports between the Kernwood Bridge and Jubilee Yacht Club.Cape Ann/NewburyportThe folks over at First Light Anglers in Essex report solid fishing. One of their patrons caught a beast of a striper, measuring 48 inches and weighing 45 pounds on a live mackerel one morning this week. The bass was taken up against the rocky shoreline of Rockport. Macks can be found both inside and outside of the Harbor, and clearly there are some trophy bass hanging around those schools. Surfland Bait on Plum Island reported good fishing. Bass in the 15 to 20 pound range were taken all over the Island, both in the Merrimack River as well as along the oceanfront. Eels are working well from dusk to dawn, and seaworms and clams are still taking fish consistently.The Bottom LinePretty soon, the old saying “For stripers, nighttime is the right time” will hold true. The water temp as of writing this is 64 degrees in Boston Harbor. More and more, as we approach that 70-degree mark, daytime fishing will slow down, and the action will light up at night. If you’re going out this weekend during the day, look for the mackerel for a shot at a trophy. Tube N worm rigs work well during the day this time of year, but the real game in town is slinging eels at night, whether along the beach or drifting them over the rips and boulderf