Fish On! It could be the best time of the year for fishermen

It’s time to talk about the Fall Run. Within the next couple of weeks, Mother Nature is going to tell our summer residents, our beloved striped bass, that it’s time to start heading South for the Winter.While this is a sad time of year for striper fishermen all over the Northeast, it’s also arguably the best time of year to be a fisherman. Every Fall stripers and blues put the feed bags on, making for some spectacular fishing before heading South towards the Chesapeake Bay.It’s the time of year when the surf is filled with hungry stripers and frantic baitfish, when it doesn’t matter whether you’re fishing from a boat or with your feet in the sand, it’s likely you’ll catch fish. I quote Hemingway every fall, because I think he had it right. He said, “Anyone can be a fisherman in May, it’s the fall that counts,” as well as, “September is the month of the great fish.”In my experience, I’ve often taken my season’s best striper in September, as well as a lot of the guys that I fish with. So now is the time, get out there and make this years’ Fall Run the best that you can, and if you put the time in, chances are that you’ll take your own seasons’ best fish.Here’s a look at our areas:Boston HarborAfter that great run of trophy stripers in the Harbor about a week and a half ago, it’s slowed down a bit, probably due to the pogie schools disappearing that were so thick.But my buddy Jay Ludwig had a great night slinging live eels this week, and totaled 10 keeper size bass in the low to mid 30 inch range fishing the Winthrop area. Bass and blues were reported this week, with the blues in the smaller “snapper” size.Herring are showing up, so look the for Harbor to really get going as we get further into September.Lynn/NahantA lot of “slow fishing” reports this week, but surprisingly there have been a few reports of massive stripers taken in our waters recently, mostly in the Swampscott area.Two bass were reported this week out of Swampscott that pushed the 50 pound mark, one taken on a live mackerel, and the other on a topwater plug.So there are some cows in our waters right now. I stopped into Tom’s Bait on the Saugus River this week, and he reports that our area has had a nice push of perfect sized herring recently, and that he also reports that there are some quality fish in the Lynn area right now.Salem/MarbleheadMackerel have dried up around Misery and Baker’s Islands lately, but there are some guys finding them out at Halfway Rock. The fishing has been on the slow side in the Salem/Marbehead area, with a few reports of skunkings (no fish caught) as well as a few mixed reports of stripers in the 30-35 inch range taken on chunk mackerel, mostly around Marblehead.Squid are still being jigged up from the Beverly and Salem Willows’ Piers. The Lynch Park area of Beverly had a few good reports this week, with stripers in the 28-38 inch range taken on mackerel chunks from the rocks.Cape Ann/NewburyportThe fishing was pretty slow in this area as well, but one exception was the monster bass taken at the mouth of the Merrimack River about a week ago. Fisherman Bob Roy, Sr. was drifting a live mack at the mouth when it was slammed by a 54 pound Trophy striper. He weighed the fish in at Surfland on Plum Island.Other than that fish of a lifetime, the guys at Surfland say it’s been pretty slow. Not too many reports out of the Cape Ann area this week, but that will change as we get further into the month.The Bottom LineWith the Fall Run fast approaching, it’s always a good idea to change the line on your reels. In the Fall, I usually go a little heavier, going from 20 to 25 pound test mono, and going to 60 pound test leaders. And like I mentioned earlier, September is usually the month when we see our seasons’ best striper come, so you want to be prepared when it does. Sometime soon Mother Nature is going to flip that switch, and we’ll see the ocean come alive with fish, hopefully bringing with it those epic topwater Fall blitzes of past years that