Friday, June 11, 2004

Frank Dwyer
Columnist

Marblehead: Mackerel are in thick, and fishing the rocky beach line has proven quite productive for striped bass fishermen. Fly anglers do well with fast sinking lines when dropping their fly into the turbulent water. Riverhead and Devereux Beach continue to produce stripers for both spin and fly anglers. While larger fish have been caught, mid-sized schoolies seem most active. Castle Rock on the Neck has also been home to numbers of bass.

Salem: Both the North and Bass rivers have been fishing well over the last week with both spin and fly anglers reporting decent numbers of bass. The Danvers River has done well for anglers offering swimming shad plastics. Salem Harbor has seen steady mackerel activity with bass in pursuit. Flounder fishing has been consistent with many anglers catching their limit. A few bluefish have also have been reported to have been caught. Cod and haddock remain plentiful off shore.

Beverly: Beverly Harbor and the beaches have seen good fishing continue as many anglers have landed legal sized bass. Swimming plugs, shad imitations and popping plugs all produce fish. Kernwood Bridge and Ober Park continue to be fishy locations for both bait and artificial anglers. Flounder continue to be caught in numbers.

Cape Ann: Manchester-by-the-Sea beaches continue to produce for shore-bound anglers. Clousers, deceivers and herring pattern flies all do well on sinking lines for fly fishermen. Popping plugs and broken-back swimming lures have done well for spin fishermen. The incoming tide on the Annisquam River continued to fish well, as did the rocky shoreline in Magnolia. The Essex River continues to fish well, with some decent sized bass showing up. Cod, haddock and pollack reports have been good from the party boats.

Ipswich: Crane Beach and Steep Hill Beach continue to offer consistent fishing for striped bass, with most fish in the sub-legal class. Boat anglers fishing at the mouth of the Ipswich River report good fishing on the outgoing tide. Pavilion Beach also continues to be a good option for shore anglers. A few bluefish are in the mix as well. Anglers off shore in deeper water have done well live-lining mackerel for some bigger bass.

Newbury: The Parker River continued to produce striped bass this past week. Boat anglers fishing in the river and Plum Island Sound have reported excellent striped bass activity. Sluggos offered with little or no weight entice surface feeding bass nicely. A little twitch of the rod tip and hold on!

Newburyport/Plum Island: Some bigger fish have moved into the river and along the ocean front with a few 30-pound bass being landed. Large sand eels were present on Joppa Flats most of the week, with striped bass following them and enjoying the feast. Sluggos have been producing very well. Bait anglers have done well anchored just off the channel near the Toothpick. Clams, cut bait and worms all do well. (Don't anchor IN the channel!) Upriver, shore anglers fishing Deer Island and other accessible areas have landed stripers to 20 pounds. Mackerel are thick at Breaking Rocks and have made a few appearances at the mouth of the Merrimack. Flounder have also begun to show just outside the river and reports of a few sporadic bluefish have begun to pop up.

Salisbury: Surfcasters patrolling the Salisbury Beach ocean front have reported a few surface feeds over the last week, with striped bass taking anything offered during the frenzy. Top water plugs set off the most aggressive hits. Anglers fishing the river from the State Reservation have done well drifting worms with numbers of bass over 28 inches being landed.

New Hampshire Seacoast: Beaches from Seabrook to Hampton have reported good numbers of school striped bass being landed. Estuaries and river systems are all producing good numbers of bass for all who care to wet a line. Large stripers have begun to become more prevalent, and that should only improve as the water warms.

Frank Dwyer is the Fishing and Outdoor Columnist for Eagle Tribune Publishing and is a member of the Outdoor Writers Association of America. E-mail him at dwyer.f@comcast.net

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