Fish On!: Quality stripers in local waters

The bite is back on, thanks to that nice stretch of cooler weather we saw last week, and along with a resurgence of baitfish in our waters, things are looking up. Those cool nights really did a wonder for inshore striper fishing, and some quality stripers have been caught recently to show for it. For the first time in weeks, I received reports earlier this week from fishermen filling their livewells with mackerel in short order, and tossing them to 30-40 inch stripers. We?ve got some true cows in our area right now, and just this week I caught wind of a 50 inch striper caught in Lynn Harbor. As we get into September, the fishing scene always lights up, as stripers put the feed bags on and fatten up for their fall migration South. So if you haven?t gotten out lately, the fishing is great, the weather is great, and Fall will be here before we know it!Here?s a look at our areas:Boston HarborRon Powers reported that the harbor has seen some nice blitzes lately, and while catching fish on topwater plugs is a blast, the larger fish came from the boats slow trolling live mackerel around the edges of the schools. Fish in the 20 pound class were taken on these. The Winthrop area has picked up, and from Yirell Beach to the inside of Deer Island has been good to the surfcasting crowd. Mackerel chunks and live eels have been the hot tickets. Pogies are slowly coming into Wollaston Beach, more and more, so hopefully soon they will ignite the Boston fishing scene.Lynn/NahantOur area his fishing pretty good right now. Revere Beach has been holding bass in the mid 30 inch range, and mackerel have seemingly made a return in some numbers around East Point, Nahant and around the mouth of Lynn Harbor. Word was going around this week of a 50 inch monster striper taken on an umbrella rig around Lynn Harbor. With all the bait around, mackerel, squid, little 5 inch snapper blues, it?s no wonder we?ve been seeing larger fish lately. There?s been a few lucky anglers snagging pogies in our area and live lining them to large stripers, so keep an eye out for these prized baitfish. If this year is anything like last year, it should be any time now. Last season, Lynn Harbor was just stuffed with schools of pogies and jumbo stripers right on their tails for the whole month of September. Hopefully we?ll see a repeat!Salem/MarbleheadSquid hysteria is the word around Salem/Marblehead! It got so intense in Marblehead that I heard the Commercial Street Pier is now closed after dark because of the amount of people fishing and catching squid there, as it became a safety issue. So aside from squid being virtually everywhere around here at night, mackerel are being caught out around the islands again, and there?s no shortage of stripers around. Surface feeds were reported in the mornings in Salem and Beverly Harbors, with bass in the 25-30 inch range. Both Devereux Beach and Marblehead Light were reportedly particularly “fishy” spots this week.Cape Ann/NewburyportI stopped into Surfland on Plum Island this week to see what was going on, and the word up there is, “Nighttime with eels.” They report that Joppa Flats is fishing well again, now that the water temp dropped thanks to the cool stretch of weather last week. Shop employee Tommy Kelly walked the beach along the oceanfront the other night slinging eels, and had “5 casts, 4 stripers!” Live mackerel are still producing for the boat guys at the mouth of the Merrimack, and those macks are being found around Breaking Rock off Salisbury Beach. The Gloucester breakwater, according to the guys at First Light Anglers, is giving up buckets of squid for anglers in broad daylight! Crane?s Beach is still holding fish for the night crowd, with bass in the mid 30 inch range along with some larger ones, cruising the beach after dark.Bottom LineIt?s picking up, so if you?re going out this weekend, you?ve got a few options. At sunrise, topwater plugs have been working great, and some large bass have been caught this way lately. I