Fish On!: Bass still zoned in on mackerel

Well, despite the past two weeks’ erratic weather, with scorching days and seemingly nightly thunderstorms, the fish aren’t really showing any signs of slowing up. We’re still stacked with fish in North Shore waters, and a few mammoth stripers were taken over the past week in our waters. July is typically the part of the striper season where the action slows down, way down. Luckily, we haven’t seen signs of the “Doldrums” just yet, and fishing continues to be solid. Stripers continue to be zoned in on the mackerel, so aside from live macks themselves, all types of mackerel colored swimming and surface plugs have reportedly been working excellent lately. Get out there while the fishing is good!Boston HarborCastle Island is still a hot spot, as good fishing was reported there this week. Stripers to 38 inches and nice-size bluefish continue to delight fishermen all over the Harbor, and Winthrop had a few nice topwater surface feeds this week, particularly in the Deer Island area in the early morning. Flounder were still biting as of last week, and Ron Powers reported a few flatties of 4 and 4.5 pounds taken in the Quincy area. Look for fish around first light and dusk, with birds giving them away. The best time to be out, however, is looking more and more to be from dusk till dawn in the Harbor. Live eels and large wooden swimming plugs at night will be the key to trophy stripers this month.Lynn/NahantOur area, in my opinion, still stands as the best on the North Shore lately. If you were one of the lucky boats off Lynn Beach last week in the late afternoons, then you know what I mean. Lynn Beach saw four nights straight of epic blitzes, starting around 6 p.m. consistently, stretching from the halfway house to Swampscott, and lasting until dark. A huge school of all stripers in the 34-38 inch range hit our waters last week, all covered in sea lice, indicating that they came in from deep waters. The Gibbs’ Mackerel colored pencil poppers were reportedly irresistible to these fish and were getting hit almost every cast. On top of all this, we have some trophy stripers in our area as well. This week, Lynn fisherman Paul Whitten caught a massive 49-inch cow striper while tossing live mackerel into the rocks around Swampscott. He released it healthy to fight another day.Salem/MarbleheadMackerel are still readily available out between Misery and Bakers Islands, and anglers are having no problem most days filling their live wells. It seemed to have been hit-or-miss depending on the tide for stripers on those mackerel, though. Those that did catch were rewarded with some nice bass to 40 inches on them around the rocks. Surfcasters on Devereux Beach have had success lately also. Chunk mackerel as well as mackerel colored SP Minnows from the surf have reportedly done fantastic. Bluefish as well as stripers in the 35-inch range are hitting the sand.Cape Ann/NewburyportWhile the rocks around Cape Ann are fishing great with a variety of lures and bait, the Newburyport area has slowed down a touch. The folks at Surfland Bait and Tackle report the same, although the boat crowd is still doing well around the mouth of the Merrimack, with live mackerel acquired around Breaking Rocks off Salisbury Beach. My friend and Lynn fisherman Jay Ludwig fished the fabled Joppa Flats late one night this week from his kayak. He reported it to be a “Desert.” Nothing all night with live eels and a variety of soft plastics. But don’t count this area out just yet, as Joppa Flats has produced more 40 to 50 pound bass over the years than almost any place I know of!The Bottom LineIf you’re heading out this weekend, you probably won’t have to get very far. Some lovely afternoon blitzes have been happening most nights around sunset along Lynn Beach with quality stripers in them, and mackerel are still being jigged up at the mouth of Lynn Harbor and around Nahant. The “Hot Lures” lately have been the Stan Gibbs Mackerel colored Pencil Popper, as well as the Mackerel col