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This and that

admin — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 11:32:20 +0000

Been busy with work but finally got out the other evening on my neighbor’s boat. Livelined macks but only managed a few hits outside the mouth. Saw some other decent stripers taken.

As we were starting to head in upriver I saw a fish jump just in front of the boat. Tannish, not green/black; prehistoric-looking, not sleek with stripes. Sturgeon! It looked to be a small one, only a few feet long, maybe 30 lbs or so.

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Housekeeping note: Over time a number of user accounts have been created here by people who’ve never posted. You don’t need an account to lurk so I’m cleaning these out. If you want to post, create a new account and post.

Plum Island drive-on access closed

admin — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 05:24:39 +0000

Per Surfland Bait & Tackle, 4WD drive-on access to Parker River National Wildlife Refuge has been closed because of erosion from last weekend’s storms. Access was supposed to have remained open until Oct. 31. Walk-on is still possible from the refuge parking lots but few fish are being reported.

action on the reserve?

admin — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:08:38 +0000

Surfland B&T reports some small stripers from the Plum Island NWR beach at night — and small bluefin tuna just off the beach. I was up in the mountains this weekend but might try getting out in between the wind, before the season winds up.

Solitude

admin — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:51:14 +0000

Fished the sandbar in the mouth of the Merrimack from the surf (Plum Island side) this a.m. — perfect tide, low just after sunrise. I had the place to myself — not another angler there. Nor any fish …

Plum Island update

admin — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:22:08 +0000

Got out on the refuge beach Saturday night and before dawn today with nary a bite to show for my efforts. Tried dunking clams and herring and also cast a variety of lures. No birds working and didn’t spot any bait in the water. Some decent breakers (surf’s up!) this a.m. leftover from the weekend’s easterly blow, though the wind had shifted out of the west. Water was clear, no weed to speak of.

Heard of a 20 lber yesterday toward the southern end of the island and a handful of shorts to the north. Still seeing numerous reports of 40″+ stripers in southern Maine; don’t know if it’ll take a sustained cold snap to get them moving south; it’s supposed to be a bit cooler than normal Wed/Thurs though nothing drastic.

Meanwhile, news you can use:

The refuge gate now opens at 5:51 a.m. and closes at 6:15 p.m.
Also, 4WD driving is now prohibited on the refuge beach south of Lot 6/stake 56 (mile 5.6) because of erosion. There’s a big warning sign; can’t miss it.

Slacker

admin — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:09:14 +0000

I know, it’s terrible — we’re entering the heart of the fall striper fishing season and I haven’t updated this site in approximately forever. Sorry, been otherwise occupied. I’ve gotten out on the refuge a couple times recently with just one schoolie to show for it thus far. Surfland reports some stripers from the beach and with the weather taking a turn for the cooler, maybe the fish will become more active.

Unfortuntely I won’t be in a position to get out there again myself before early next week. The good news is my 4WD is not dead – an exhaust problem that well could have been fatal at its age (13 years, 238k mi) wound up costing me, incredibly, less than $100 to fix. So I will be on the beach again before too long.

Without divulging too much detail, my favorite spot usually is just south of Emerson Rocks, where Plum Island Sound/the Parker River empty out into the Atlantic. Typically there’s a long sandbar there, plenty of space and for various reasons few anglers make the shlep, so you don’t get the shoulder-to-shoulder situation you often see at the northernmost tip of the island. But the sandbar formation there is not optimal this year — even at the bottom of a moon tide there’s enough of a depression in one spot to preclude getting out to a long stretch where it’s shallower/wadeable. Ah well. There are a few other spots up the beach where a little bit of structure has formed, and I’ll probably focus more on those, when I’m not chasing birds.

Fishing report roundup

admin — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 13:31:26 +0000

Mixed reports on the striped bass front, which isn’t surprising given we’re in the dead of summer.

Surfland B&T gives a rundown on the recent ups and downs in the Plum Island/Merrimack River area.

Steve Hickoff of Foster’s Daily Democrat has an upbeat take on striper fishing along the coast from southern Maine to northern Mass. He also reports bluefish are mixed in.

I was a little surprised to personally get a report last week of substantial numbers of mackerel off the Isles of Shoals. Bluefish and mackerel don’t exactly mix …

Commercial striped bass fishing

mike — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 12:59:44 +0000

This thorough article in the Nantucket Independent reports on legislation that would shut the commercial striped bass fishery in Massachusetts. The bill is modeled on Maine’s commercial striper fishing ban but the article concludes it’s unlikely to get out of legislative committee without substantial changes, if at all.

My personal take: I consider striped bass a game fish but don’t have a problem with a sustainable striper harvest — both by recreational anglers and a commercial fishery, especially hook-and-line with little waste, and carefully regulated as it is now in Massachusetts.

Regulatory efforts have worked to bring the striper stocks back from their nadir in past decades and in fact not long ago there were indications of overpopulation. There will always be cyclical fluctuations in the stocks but I don’t think we’re seeing indications of the kind of collapse that happened two or three decades ago. Stocks need to be carefully monitored but as things now stand I’m fine with harvesting a fair number of stripers for the table. And my sense is that the current commercial harvest isn’t big enough to harm the recreational striper fishing industry, which is an important economic engine of its own.

I will say there are a couple parts of the proposed legislation that I strong support, as it applies to recreational fishing. I believe the catch limit per day should be lowered from two to one. And more importantly I believe Massachusetts and other states on the striper coast should standardize on Maine’s regulations, with anglers allowed to keep one fish a day that is either between 20 and 26 inches or longer than 40 inches. The “slot” of 26 to 40 inches protects stripers in their most productive breeding years.

What do you think?