It was a sunny Sunday in May. High tide was around noon. Although I had to go to the airport for a business trip in the evening, I had time before that. I thought I could catch some flounder. After getting two dozens of sea worms at Beverly B&T, I went to State Pier with my daughter.
When we arrived at the pier at 11, the spot I usually fish was open. Rigs are one-hook spreader rigs with 17 LB fluorocarbon leader and Aberdeen #4 hook. Sinkers were 1/2-2 oz. Main lines were 15-20 LB braided spooled on small spinning reels. I set 3 rods. The first fish hit on a 5.5’ toy rod. I asked my daughter to reel in. What showed up was a nice winter flounder, 17’’ one. I grabbed the gill of the fish and landed.
Soon after that, another fish hit on a 6.5’ freshwater medium rod. I had her reel again. It looked a little bigger. I picked it up from the water when she reeled it up to the surface. It was even better 18.5’’ one! Both fish hit near the pier. There was no action on a surf rod I casted farther.
As the bite became slower after high tide, I moved to Beverly pier. I wanted to consume the rest of baits. I knew there were lots of crabs so I thought fishing there was good to consume sea worms. I set the same rigs and dropped around the pier.
When I set the second rod, I found a strong hit. As I saw the rod tip bent, I thought it was not a flounder. After fighting carefully, what I found was not flat. I grabbed the main line and landed a black fish. It was a keeper tautog, 17’’ one! I was very lucky because I could catch it with a skinny Aberdeen hook. If I set hook strongly or I tightened the drag, the hook would bend and I couldn’t keep the fish. As it passed the middle of outgoing tide, I wrapped up.
I got all 17’’ up fish within 30 YD from the pier. Fishing in May is phenomenal!
If I choose top 10 tasty fish from species I have caught in NE, I pick up following.
10. Cod
White and flaky flesh with faint sweetness. Relatively small 20’’ size tastes best. Fresh is much better than frozen.
9. Smelt
Sweet white meat with moderate fat. I like baked one.
8. Fluke
Plain white meat, good for sashimi.
7. Mackerel
Super fresh one tastes excellent. Fall fish is the best with oil. Excellent source of omega-3.
6. Winter Flounder
Soft flaky flesh with solid taste. Good for everything.
5. Red fish
Flesh tastes excellent, faintly sweet. Sashimi tastes good, too. I would rank it in top 3 if it is not bonny.
4. Squid
Tastes excellent both fresh and frozen. Good for pasta as well as simply boiled.
3. Scup
Very strong savory taste with rich fat. Excellent fish-like fish especially when it is super fresh. Ice is necessary to keep them away from becoming fishy.
2. Blackseabass
Excellent white flesh with mild taste. Excellent for both sashimi and cooked. Frozen fish tastes excellent, too. I cannot find a weak point.
1. Tautog
It is hard to describe precisely. Simply I love it. Moderately fatty, moist and flakey, perfect balance. Excellent for both sashimi and cooked.
Although I wondered if I should include haddock and striper, I couldn’t drop cod and smelt.
I planned on going to allday cod trip with my friends. Weather looked OK so it was the matter of fleet choice. I heard they wanted to jig. Drifting boat works better for jigging because you don’t have to cast a jig. I reserved spots at Clipper Fleet. Clipper fleet always tries to drift as weather permits.
I got a few Lav Jigs of 12-14 oz at Three Lantern before the trip. Weather forecast for Saturday was few showers. During summer time, this forecast is very good because it usually reduces crowds and most likely shower doesn’t matter if any.
We kept 3 spots at bow. As I expected, there were only 20 on board and only 5 on port side. It couldn’t be better for jigging, super spacious. Challenger left the dock at 7 and started fishing at the first spot minutes past 9. I brought Ugly Stik and Okuma reel with level wind as usual. The rig was 14 oz Lav Jig and a yellow cod fly as a teaser.
All three of us started with jigs. We caught fish steadily but they were small pollock. Bait fishermen got some undersize haddock. I got a hit of nice one but lost it during the reeling. When I got another hit, I reeled it in carefully. It was a side-hooked whiting. Around 10 o’clock, the captain decided to move to deeper water.
After sailing 20 minutes, the boat started drifting. I got a keeper pollock soon. New spot seemed better. I kept 5-6 of pollock/cod/haddock mix during the drift. My friends kept some, too. When the fishing became slow, the captain reset a drift. Next drift started with dogs even on jigs. The captain gave up the spot soon.
I switched to bait around noon. I felt bites but couldn’t hook up. As the current got weaker, my friends started to try smaller jigs. After a short reset, I got back to jigging, seeking for the pool fish.
Cusk were caught during the new drift. It seemed like rocky bottom. A friend of mine caught a nice pollock on a jig. He said it bit 20-30 feet off the bottom. I tried squidding up to 30 feet and got a hit. Although I didn’t felt it big during reeling, what I found was a nice 10 LB pollock. It was the biggest of my catch that day. I got another pollock of just 19’’ off the bottom soon. I released it because I kept 10 or so at that time. The fishing ended a little before 2.
I kept 11 fish, mix of pollock, cod, cusk, haddock and whiting. They kept several. It was very good for the catch of jig at this time of year. Bait guys kept up to 4-5 so jigs out fished. My biggest pollock won the pool. Steady catch, a bunch of species, drift perfect weather and super spacious boat all made the trip excellent!
I was interested in the scup fishing of spring run. I talked with the father of a classmate of my daughter and scheduled a trip for the first week of June. When I called Hyline in the middle of May, I heard they had a charter schedule on 6/2. Helen H didn’t have enough spots. I looked into options of Buzzards Bay and found Viking Fleet. Although the ticket price was a little more expensive, they had a reasonable child price and the vessel was huge 140’, which would help in choppy condition if any. I made a reservation. My friend living in neighbor also joined.
I picked up my friend in early morning and drove to New Bedford. When we got into the boat, there was plenty of space on the port side. I kept spots for five in the middle. Soon the father and the son arrived. I set rigs and told the boy how to.
I used a surf rod and an Okuma spinning reel with 50 LB PowerPro and mono leader. When I fished scup in summer, I felt it a little tough to reel in because scup was an excellent fighter. I brought a conventional cod tackle for my daughter. It should be easier to handle. In addition to them I prepared a light tackle. When I compared the sturdiness of light rods, I found Shimano Sojourn 7’ was the toughest. I set a medium spinning reel with 30 LB PowerPro and mono leader.
As for rigs I made a bunch with 30 LB mono. I wondered which size of hooks work best. Although baitholder #2 worked best for July scup, fish of spring run seem bigger. The recommendation of Viking was #1/0. For me, Baitholder #1 looked versatile and I mainly used this size. For kids, I made dropper loop ones for easy untangle. For adults, I made a kind of high-low rigs. At 12’’ below the end loop for connecting main line, I made a dropper loop of 1’’ for a branch. I put a swivel to the dropper loop and connected 5’’ of branch. Another larger dropper loop for a sinker was made at 20’’ below the branch. Another hook was tied at 10’’ below the sinker. This rig can minimize the twist of the branch. We started with 6 oz sinkers except for my daughter, using 8 oz because of the cod tackle. I put a 4 oz one to the light rod.
The boat left the dock at 5 and arrived at the spot around 6:30. As soon as I dropped the rig for my daughter, fish bit on. I couldn’t have time to set mine. She got a big one soon and it was a big seabass. Great start! I started fishing with my rod. We kept steadily and the cooler was filled in high pace. Average size was 12-13’’ and occasionally 15’’ size showed up. Fish filled 60% of cooler space in one and a half hour. It was still before 8! Others did well too. Although my friend wanted to catch a seabass, he continuously reeled in scup after every drop.
Around 9 o’clock, the wind got stronger as the weather forecast said. If the wind came from the bow, the boat would be pretty stable because of the size of the boat. However, the strong current that day also pulled the boat to the different direction. The wave hit directly to the side of the boat and the boat started to roll. The boy got sick after a while. My daughter also got tired of the fishing and went to the cabin.
Fathers kept fishing with mix of seabass. I switched to the light rod and enjoyed for a while. I found a little higher frequency of losing fish. Maybe setting hook was incomplete with the soft rod. Another con of light rod was that I had to grab the leader to pull fish into the boat. I switched again to the cod tackle and caught a seabass. Maybe 8 oz sinker worked better for seabass.
As the tide changed, the rolling got milder. She started fishing again. In the last 1 hour, there was very little space in my cooler box. Smaller keepers were all released. Hook up became a little difficult. She needed to set hook several times to get one. The fishing ended around 11. We all literally ‘filled’ coolers.
I and my daughter kept 52 scup and 3 seabass. Although the bag limit of scup for two was 90, a 50 QT cooler couldn’t hold that many. Fathers did awesome jobs! They kept catching all trip long, stepping on the lid of the cooler box in the end. I was impressed with the tremendous catch of spring run! I enjoyed eating for months, too!
Captain’s started halfday mackerel trips in the middle of May. As I checked the weather forecast, wind would calm down on Memorial day Monday. I made a reservation for the morning trip. I thought it was in the peak season and expected 50 fish. The only concern was the lower temperature during the last two days. I prepared the 6’8’’ Shimano Sellus and a small Daiwa reel as usual. A bobber stopper was tied on 15 LB PowerPro.
It had been a while since I went to Captain’s for a half day mack trip before. I got some cube ice on the way at Shaws. The boat was Captain George as usual. About a dozen of people were on board. The captain said the last trip was the last weekend and it was pretty good. Although wind blew at the dock, the sea was calm and flat once we sailed out of Merrimeck river. The captain said we would get to the spot in 30 minutes.
I brought several sabiki rigs. At the beginning, I picked up a 2-hook rig of mirror film. The hooks are Chinta, super sharp one. When I started fishing, I found the current was very strong. I had a hard time keeping the right depth range using a 1/2 oz mackerel jig. I switched the jig with a 2 oz sinker soon. It enabled me to have an idea of the depth I was fishing. As I dropped the rig to the bottom, I got herring. In the meantime, people began to catch mack. I got a double of nice size mack in relatively deeper water. Although I thought they were regular size of the day, fish became smaller. Flurries lasted for 30 minutes and I kept catching doubles. After 1 hour from start, the catch became slower and the captain decided to reset. At that time, I kept 18 mack including several 12’’ class.
I thought a jig would work better than a sinker. I switched the sinker with a 2 oz Crippled Herring. It was affected more by the current. As I dropped it to the bottom, a sculpin bit immediately. I released it. I tried 15 feet range but it didn’t work. Others didn’t catch either. This spot was no good and the captain sought for the school again. At 10:30, there were 20 fish in the cooler box. I wanted a little more.
As the current was still strong, I got back to a sinker and switched the rig to a 4-hook mirror sabiki. I tried to make the most of flurries. The new spot was good and we had steady catch. I got full hooks of fish 3 times or so. The captain said fish were in deeper water. However, I got fish at both regular 15 feet range and deeper range around 30 feet. It was a little tricky. Finally the captain reset again and drifted for the last 15 minutes. As the wind became stronger, it was difficult to fish without heavy sinker or jig. I managed to catch one and the time was up at 11:50.
I kept 34 mack and 2 herring. There were only 7 good size mack and the rest were tinkers. They were still good for eating. We had missed super fresh fish for a while. Although there was slower time, I enjoyed the first mack trip of the season.
It was the first time I used the mirror film sabiki. The mirror film was sturdier than the iridescent cero film I used in the season before and I found no tear of the mirror film. Nylon hair was still disturbed after catching some but it became stable overall. I caught full hooks of fish when schools came and lost few. I was happy with the performance. I also found that the Sellus could make a difference. Light weight, superfast taper and perfect power for mack fishing. It was really a good deal!
Hyline Cruises has two different trips in summer time, bottom fishing and captain’s choice. When I went to the bottom fishing for scup, I heard at the ticket office that they were fishing blackseabass at the other trip and doing well. A fisherman I talked at the dock kept ten. It sounded very good. I planned the next trip for seabass.
Spots should be different from scup fishing, likely deeper water. Probably the boat fishes rocky bottom with drifting. I thought I needed 8 oz sinker and a rod which could handle the weight. I picked up the 9’ Shimano surf rod. The reel was Okuma spinning with 50 LB PowerPro and mono leader. I also carried a light tackle. As for rigs, I made a few high-low rigs.
When I got to the dock, I looked at a rental tackle. It was a bottom fishing gear similar to scup one but used a Shimano rod and a 12 oz sinker with a triangle swivel. What surprised me was the boat let fishermen/women fish only on starboard side. The boat would drift as I expected and limited the number of people to fill only one side of the boat. Excellent!
It took an hour from the dock to the spot. Fishing time was only two hours. Squid strips were the bait. I started with a high-low rig with an 8 oz sinker. Although regulars fishing at stern caught nice seabass steadily, I couldn’t get any. After a while, I got a small one. Soon after that, I got a better one, too. At that time, I found I always got hits during I felt the sinker bumping the bottom. I talked with a father of a family that it seemed like keeping the bottom was the key. After a few resets, I gave up a high-low rig and switched to a single hook rig with a triangle swivel. I also increased the hook size to 3/0.
I asked a regular catching many about tips to catch. He said that you had to keep the bottom. He used a 16 oz sinker but he lost it. Got it. Keeping the bottom was the key and the 8 oz sinker was too light for the drift speed of the day. The heaviest sinkers I had were 8 oz ones that day. I asked him if it was a good idea to put two 8 oz sinkers. He replied that I could borrow one the boat had for rental tackles. I asked a mate to allow me to use a sinker and set the 12 oz sinker to my rig.
Until this stage, I kept the rig ‘around’ the bottom once I felt the bottom. Considering the drifting situation, depth should change continuously. I should have released the line as I missed the feeling of bumping the bottom. I hadn’t done that diligently worrying about the tangle with others. I changed the handling of the rig to keep the sinker always bumping the bottom. After that, I began to outfish next fishermen significantly!
I brought some small squid I got at a local pier. This bait worked deadly as well. I had non-stop action with a few nice ones. Meanwhile, I tried the light tackle with an 8 oz sinker. It worked well as long as I could keep the bottom. However, the rod was too soft to reel in a big seabass against the drift. After getting back to the Shimano rod, I kept 2 more. The captain called the end of fishing at 11 o'clock. I kept 11 fish. Regulars kept 20, limited out.
The biggest fish was 18’, weighed 2.6 LB. As I cleaned fish, I found they ate mostly small crabs. They preyed on crabs swimming around rocks. It makes sense. If you pull out the sinker a few feet from the bottom, you have no chance.
