New to Boston Spring Questions

Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont Fishing Reports and Fishing Information
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dipmiami
Fisher
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Mar 08, 2011 3:34 pm

New to Boston Spring Questions

Post by dipmiami »

Having moved from Miami, I tried fishing a bit in the fall and went 0-1 on striper before it got too cold for fishing and hunting took over my interest. Now that things are finally warming up, I was wondering how soon should I be looking for fish again. Like temp wise and bait, is there anything I should look for?

Albacized
Seasoned Fisher
Posts: 254
Joined: Thu Jun 25, 2009 8:27 am

Re: New to Boston Spring Questions

Post by Albacized »

Welcome to MA - where do you live? Anywhere close to either the Charles or Mystic Rivers? They both have good herring runs that draw stripers starting around the beginning of May. As you may know, herring are off limits in this state - but you can fish for stripers around the runs (large soft plastics, such as sluggos do well)....towards the end of that month, stripers should be spread around the harbor in earnest.

If you want an early jump on stripers (as in mid to late April) and you're willing to travel upwards of an hour and half or so, you can hit a few locations in South County (affectionately called 'SoCo') in Rhode Island - a well known spot down there that can get crowded, but does produce early is the 'West Wall' which is one of a series of three very long jetties that create what is known as the Harbor of Refuge in the Pt Judith area...small soft plastics of 4" or smaller are the ticket and these are generally schoolies. I normally don't like to burn spots in an open forum - but that spot is already so burned, it doesn't really even matter any more (kind of like the 'Sebastian Inlet' of RI in those regards...LOL)...but it still produces regardless and the fact that the water and hence, air temps are still low (plus you're only catching smaller fish) keeps the crowds at a more managable level....later in Sept, when bonito and false albacore show up, that place is a mad house (those species may confuse you a bit since what you call 'bonita' is actually our 'false albacore' and what we call 'bonito' is something you don't see very often down in FL, despite the fact that we dub them as one of our 3 'southern exotics/visitors' - along with the false albacore and spanish mackerel)...anyway, back on track - there are also some Buzzards Bay estuaries and south side locations on the cape that can earn you some early fish in mid to late April as well. You should note that points north of cape cod sport water temps that average some 7-10 degrees cooler than points on the south side and points south.

And speaking of water temps - many folks adhere to a 50 degree rule of thumb. However, if the bait is around, the fish will be there...so if you hear of herring that's been here in good numbers and for a sustained period of time (say..a week or two), stripers will be on their tails.

Lastly, there is a big striped bass show in Providence RI this weekend (the RIASS show)...it's in the auditorium right across the street from 'Providence Place' (big mall in Providence wiht Norstrums and other big anchor stores)...It would be a great place to gain some info

Anyway, this is just a high level version - once we're closer to show time and I have an idea where you might fish, I can chime in with more specifics (but some of that may come via PM)

Albacized
Seasoned Fisher
Posts: 254
Joined: Thu Jun 25, 2009 8:27 am

Re: New to Boston Spring Questions

Post by Albacized »

PS - there is a northeast based striper site called 'stripers on line' which is very much like this site...it would probably be worth your while to join that too. There are a few members here that are also members of that site.

dipmiami
Fisher
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Mar 08, 2011 3:34 pm

Re: New to Boston Spring Questions

Post by dipmiami »

Thanks man, that's def a lot more info than a Miami guy expects! I'm living in Southie and was fishing the castle with artificials which is where I hooked up. One thing I noticed reading around is that people are picking their license based on residency/where to fish. I have a FL license so I was thinking getting the RI license to get the most range. Glad you mentioned about the bait, even though I left my net, I could imagine being the guy in jail for catching bait :clown: but on that note, aside from lures, are there baits to buy and those to stay away from (as in Miami, yes on live shrimp/ NO for squid). I've poked around a couple other sites but saw everyone sticking to freshwater.

Albacized
Seasoned Fisher
Posts: 254
Joined: Thu Jun 25, 2009 8:27 am

Re: New to Boston Spring Questions

Post by Albacized »

Early on, you're probably better off sticking to artificials - either soft plastics for schoolies or larger rubber shads/sluggos/fin-s for fish that are hanging around the herring. Towards the end of May and beyond, a whole host of baits will work. For beaches, fresh sandeels or clams work well, although expect to pick off a lot of small fish with that. Fresh menhaden (called 'pogies' up here) are good cut up in chunks, fresh or live (if you can get them) mackerel is good for quality size fish in the earlier part of the summer. Live eels are always a prime bait - I fish them the same way I'd fish an unweighted plastic - if you just chuck an eel out there and let it sit, you'll end up reeling in a big eel/snot ball as eels are very capable of tangling your line basically forcing you to have to re-rig. I'd include sea worms in this conversation as they are also very good for smaller fish...but they are getting more and more expensive and you can do just as well with fresh clams for less money.

Artificals - I've already mentioned soft plastics. But you should have a few tins (different styles of metals as well - some thin profiled and others wide, as in a kastmaster...this is because later in the summer, both thin profiled sandeels, silversides, etc will be prevelent right along side the wider profile peanut bunkers and juvie herring. I also like bombers at night - most people like a dark color, but I like the pearl 'wonderbread' colors myself and you reel these in very very slow...so slow, you're just trying to avoid absolute stationary - in fact in a current, they'll still work stationary as well. Throw in some thin profile top water (pencil) plugs and you're golden:-)

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