New England - South Shore Massachusetts to Maine Fishing Reports

The man himself, Pete Belsan, at Belsan’s Bait & Tackle said there has been a huge school of stripers moving south from Minot down to Egypt Beach and, when they are turned on, the bite has been good. The tough part is, a lot of the time, anglers are finding them and they just aren’t interested. There have been some good reports from the beaches of Cohasset, Hull and Duxbury, with surfcasting slinging plugs and plastics grinding out some nice fish. Bluefish have been absent all season long. Those looking to catch their 1 fish limit of cod will have a good chance at Stone Ledge or Flat Ledge. There are some very small bonito around, but Pete described them as ‘glorified mackerel’ so you know they are quite small. Giant bluefin are around, punishing the pogies, but rec-sized fish are nowhere nearby.

Capt. Tom Lukegord of Beauport Fishing Adventures said they have been doing well with various bottom species, cusk, redfish and pollock especially, the codfish have not been as prevalent as everyone was hoping when the Gulf of Maine season reopened. Bluefish have been extremely scarce, unless they are feeding with all the bluefin and no one has hooked one. September brings great fishing on the offshore grounds, give Tom a call to cash in.

Over at Surfland Martha told me hitting the Refuge after dark remains the best bet for surfcasters looking to connect with striped bass. Be warned that you have to be in before sunset if you want to fish the area and a permit is required. Those fishing the Refuge are reporting some good fish into the 40-inch class. They also saw a resurgence of reports coming from the river this week, it’s not putting out tons of fish, but definitely seems to be heating up. A few anglers reported some slot fish from inside the river and a few others caught mackerel at the jetties which they live-lined for a few stripers as well. With all the bait around, locals are just waiting for the huge number of bass feeding off the southern coast of Maine to drop down. One angler was out early one morning this weekend and found a blitz and landed stripers to 42 inches on topwater plugs. There have been many reports of sturgeon leaping out of the water throughout the area, anglers be mindful of the fact that these fish are endangered and you should not target them and if you do catch one accidentally, they need to be released without removing them from the water and photos should not be taken. Party boats are catching some haddock and pollock, codfish have been harder to come by, although reports coming out of Maine seem to indicate a recent uptick in cod catches there. Offshore, there are giant bluefin, no rec fish and tons of squid. Things are setting up for some great fall run action.