# 54275: Subject: BOSTON HARBOR-stripers, Massachusetts

Submitted by B-Fast Charters (ip 70.202.8.30)

• Fished on 8/20/2005

• Report received: 8/22/05

Water Temperature: 58
Water Clarity: Clear
Seas: 1-2 ft
Weather: dense fog
Fishing_for: Striped Bass
Boat: B-fast & bay fly
captain: Capt. Mike & Tom

Report:
BOSTON HARBOR & SOUTH SHORE- Stripers 8/21/05

Striped bass fishing in the Boston Harbor area has blown wide open due to the start of the peanut-bunker blitz. These juvenile bunker added to the young herring dropping out of the harbor rivers are producing the best surface action for fly fishing and light-tackle enthusiasts of this season. These bait fish are staging in the coves, inlets and bays in the inner-harbor, the outer-harbor and the coastline of the South Shore.

On Friday, long-time fly fisher Bob Pike of Hingham, MA had a field day with breaking bass driving the peanut bunker and herring to the surface from first light through the first three hours of the flood. Acres of feeding bass were on the surface coursing though the fleeing bait-fish. The best fly pattern was a white slider (Winslow’s Afternoon Delight) fished on Wonderline. This fly has a conical foam head and is fished with a fast strip on the surface followed by an exaggerated pause. The strike usually comes on the pause.

School-size bass between 24 and 27 inches were brought to net and released. Big bass were mixed in as we quickly found out. One of these 40 inch-plus monsters took off and headed for the ocean quickly dumping 75 yards of backing before we could give chase with the boat. Unfortunately, the fish wrapped a lobster line and chaffed the 20 pound fluorocarbon leader. Before the morning foray ended, a few small legal bass were landed along with the largest striper of 36 inches and 18 pounds. My thumb was raw from releasing bass!

On Saturday John McNally of Rockland, MA along with his father, son Pearce and friend Rich had what proved to be the best morning of the year for both numbers of bass and numbers of big bass landed. The morning broke with an overcast sky and a light easterly wind ushering in dense fog by mid morning. As a result, the bass were crashing, non-stop on the surface from first-light until when we headed home for Cohasset. B-Fast’s BAY FLY picked up Scott Bourne of Lincoln, MA at Rowe’s Wharf and headed off to the blitz through the fog.

Smokin’ shad plastics on 3/8 oz jig heads matched the bait size well and produced multiple hook-ups—at times we were tripled. Epoxy-head herring patterns on the long rod produced well also. One again, most of the bass were between 24 and 27 inches, and both Capt. Tom and I stopped counting after releasing 40 school bass. However, mixed in were some awesome keeper-size bass. On the B-FAST, seven keepers were brought to net. The largest was 40 inches and 27 pounds with others of 35-38 inches. Capt. Tom, on the BAY FLY, had similar results with one bass of 39 inches and four others between 35 and 38 inches--and the fish were still on the surface when we left for home in the pea-soup fog at 10:30!

Capt. Mike Bartlett B-Fast Charters www.bfastcharters.com

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