Bait shops stock sea worm in April for winter flounder and early season striper. Below are some bait shops in North Shore.
Bridge Street Sports
280 Bridge Street, Salem, MA
Located near Salem train station. Sea worm is available year round and reasonably priced. The only choice in early April.
Al’s Bait & Tackle
24 1/2 Cabot Street, Beverly, MA
Across the R1A from Beverly Pier. Sea worm is available from the middle of April. Competitive price. Good variety of tackles, too.
Beverly Bait & Tackle
114 Bridge Street, Beverly, MA
On another Bridge street in Beverly. It is only for bait. Although tackles are no good, sea worm is sold at competitive price and some local information is available.
Three Lantern Marine & Fishing
7 Parker Street, Gloucester, MA
Convenient when you fish in Gloucester. Although sea worm is more expensive than shops above, the advantage is that you don’t have to drive away from the highway. They stocked all sizes of LavJigs in this season.
Tomo’s Bait & Tackle
104 Wharf Street, Salem, MA
I think this shop has some bait, too. It is open from early morning. Stocks excellent variety of squid jigs.
12/17/2013
12/14/2013
December Eastman’s Pollock
When I looked into the weather forecast, Sunday was cold but light wind. Report of Eastman’s for Friday trip was excellent. Lots of big pollock were caught. I made a reservation Saturday morning for Sunday allday trip. The man in the office said that they could add one. Might be they had good number of crowd.
Allday trip became 7-4 after summer time ended. I made lunch and left home at 5. When I got into the boat, cabin seats were not available anymore. It is not unusual for Eastman’s. Some fishermen drove more than 100 miles to the fleet. After keeping a spot at port side near the stern, I brought my cooler box to the cabin for seating. Several were at the deck but jumped into the cabin as the boat sailed out. Temperature was low 20s and it was very tough to stay out.
Lady Merrilee Ann 3 got anchored at 9 and we started fishing. There was no bait and all started with jig or flies on a high-low rig. I set a 14 oz LavJig and a pink hand-tied cod fly (6/0 O'Shaughnessy) to Ugly Stik BWB1140 6’6’’ and Okuma Classic Pro XP-452L. The spot was relatively deep, 300 feet. I got a hit at the bottom. It was a baby size pollock. After another small pollock, I got a keeper. It was not so big, 4 lb size. I found that I was only fisherman without gloves. Although heated rail helped a lot to warm up my hands, I should have prepared ones.
I realized that pollock was the only game that day. I tried squidding, reeling up 30-40 turns and falling to the bottom. I got hits during reeling, 20-30 feet above the bottom. In most case, the fish was hooked on the teaser. I kept 4 pollock up to 8 lb until 10:30. After a few resets, I got a double and a nice 13 lb one. Both came up with tangle. There were too many people. It was impossible to avoid tangle once you got a pollock. I had to cut braided main line twice. It was the last thing I expected in a trip in December!
Catch got slower before noon. The captain reset the boat. Small hake, redfish and cod showed up there. I wanted to catch redfish. Although I looked for Gulp in my jig box, I didn't have any. I changed a treble hook to a smaller one with an octopus bait and switched a cod fly with a gummy shrimp. As I stuck to the bottom, I felt like a snag. When I pulled the line, it moved. I thought it was a nice fish. I guessed it might be a cod because it didn’t run like pollock. After reeling in, what I found was a nice pollock, with tangle as usual… After another slow hour, fishing ended at 1:30.
I kept 8 and released 3 shorts. In the boat, some caught a dozen and others just got 2. Several per person was average. I saw several 20 lb up pollock, too. I had fish filleted and got some milt as well. Although it was not a super trip, I enjoyed steady catch with a few 10 lb class. Fish tasted good. I would like to thank the captain and the mates providing a nice fishing trip in this season!
Allday trip became 7-4 after summer time ended. I made lunch and left home at 5. When I got into the boat, cabin seats were not available anymore. It is not unusual for Eastman’s. Some fishermen drove more than 100 miles to the fleet. After keeping a spot at port side near the stern, I brought my cooler box to the cabin for seating. Several were at the deck but jumped into the cabin as the boat sailed out. Temperature was low 20s and it was very tough to stay out.
Lady Merrilee Ann 3 got anchored at 9 and we started fishing. There was no bait and all started with jig or flies on a high-low rig. I set a 14 oz LavJig and a pink hand-tied cod fly (6/0 O'Shaughnessy) to Ugly Stik BWB1140 6’6’’ and Okuma Classic Pro XP-452L. The spot was relatively deep, 300 feet. I got a hit at the bottom. It was a baby size pollock. After another small pollock, I got a keeper. It was not so big, 4 lb size. I found that I was only fisherman without gloves. Although heated rail helped a lot to warm up my hands, I should have prepared ones.
I realized that pollock was the only game that day. I tried squidding, reeling up 30-40 turns and falling to the bottom. I got hits during reeling, 20-30 feet above the bottom. In most case, the fish was hooked on the teaser. I kept 4 pollock up to 8 lb until 10:30. After a few resets, I got a double and a nice 13 lb one. Both came up with tangle. There were too many people. It was impossible to avoid tangle once you got a pollock. I had to cut braided main line twice. It was the last thing I expected in a trip in December!
Catch got slower before noon. The captain reset the boat. Small hake, redfish and cod showed up there. I wanted to catch redfish. Although I looked for Gulp in my jig box, I didn't have any. I changed a treble hook to a smaller one with an octopus bait and switched a cod fly with a gummy shrimp. As I stuck to the bottom, I felt like a snag. When I pulled the line, it moved. I thought it was a nice fish. I guessed it might be a cod because it didn’t run like pollock. After reeling in, what I found was a nice pollock, with tangle as usual… After another slow hour, fishing ended at 1:30.
I kept 8 and released 3 shorts. In the boat, some caught a dozen and others just got 2. Several per person was average. I saw several 20 lb up pollock, too. I had fish filleted and got some milt as well. Although it was not a super trip, I enjoyed steady catch with a few 10 lb class. Fish tasted good. I would like to thank the captain and the mates providing a nice fishing trip in this season!
12/06/2013
Sabiki Rig 2
Tying Sabiki is fun for a winter work. I tried new combinations this year. Detailed procedure is described in another post.
Film
Mirror film for windows is available at Home Depot. It is excellent because it is shiny and transparent, mimicing bait fish very well. Another characteristic I like is that it can make round 3D shape which imitates bait fish seen from any direction. I remove clear film, then remove glue scratching with a finger. I do this worrying if fish may dislike chemical in glue. An hour of work is good enough to get film for 100 sabiki.
Silver holo ribbon is also good. I got the ribbon below at Target. It is sturdier than mirror film.
Fiber
Nylon hair accessories disappeared from stores this year because of the end of boom. However, I found an online store selling nylon hair for dolls.
http://www.dollyhair.com/nylonhair.htm
I got several colors of materials for sabiki rigs and cod flies. Items of 38" hank are good. These materials are soft and frizzy. Good for flasher type of sabiki. Below is a silver color one, called Moonlight. I think fly tying materials are also good.
Hook
I got made-in-Japan hooks this season. They are super sharp and bulk packs of 100 hooks are reasonably priced.
http://www.fishhook.co.jp/pricelist/index_1_5_tataki_barb.html
Ooaji(No.9747) #13 and Shinkairyo Chinu (No.6663) #8 are good size and shape for mackerel sabiki. O'Shaughnessy #2 is also available.
Sabiki made of Ooaji#13, mirror film and nylon hairs of Daiquari Ice (light blue), Pussycat (light pink), Mango Tango (orange), and Spring Meadow (green).
Film
Mirror film for windows is available at Home Depot. It is excellent because it is shiny and transparent, mimicing bait fish very well. Another characteristic I like is that it can make round 3D shape which imitates bait fish seen from any direction. I remove clear film, then remove glue scratching with a finger. I do this worrying if fish may dislike chemical in glue. An hour of work is good enough to get film for 100 sabiki.
Silver holo ribbon is also good. I got the ribbon below at Target. It is sturdier than mirror film.
Fiber
Nylon hair accessories disappeared from stores this year because of the end of boom. However, I found an online store selling nylon hair for dolls.
http://www.dollyhair.com/nylonhair.htm
I got several colors of materials for sabiki rigs and cod flies. Items of 38" hank are good. These materials are soft and frizzy. Good for flasher type of sabiki. Below is a silver color one, called Moonlight. I think fly tying materials are also good.
Hook
I got made-in-Japan hooks this season. They are super sharp and bulk packs of 100 hooks are reasonably priced.
http://www.fishhook.co.jp/pricelist/index_1_5_tataki_barb.html
Ooaji(No.9747) #13 and Shinkairyo Chinu (No.6663) #8 are good size and shape for mackerel sabiki. O'Shaughnessy #2 is also available.
Sabiki made of Ooaji#13, mirror film and nylon hairs of Daiquari Ice (light blue), Pussycat (light pink), Mango Tango (orange), and Spring Meadow (green).
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