My new job has me working as a contracter for a US company based in the Boston area. I've been over here working for the last week and I managed to get Thurs, Fri and Sat off to fish. I'd really been looking forward to fishing for stripers having been an avid consumer of US fishing mags for 20 years. I also felt the US NE coast fishery represented the kind of fishery we might have if we were to manage ours better. Obviously Dicentrachus Labrax is never going to grow to the 70+ lb that stripers are capable of, but there stocks were in a worse state than ours when they made management changes back in the 70s/80s.

However don't believe the hype or the negativity about our home waters. I fished Boston Harbor hard for 3 days in a variety of locations that I know for a fact have produced good numbers and sizable stripers in the past. And which were the home marks of the legendary Jack Gartside, may he rest in peace. I'd been hoping to get out for some wade guiding with the nearly as legendary Dave Skok, however he wasn't available. But I decided to base myself in his home town of Winthrop, a North Shore beach suburb of Boston, with access to the bay side and ocean front.

I fished several marks several times at the advised times and tide states and they all looked mighty fishy, containing the required features of structure, mussel beds and proximity to deeper water. However I didn't so much as see a striper or even any bait. Weather conditions were't ideal, they've been having a heat wave, then the wind started blowing from the wrong direction. I'm also pretty sure I was fishing the right sort of flys in the right way. But I firmly believe that had I been fishing similar locations in the UK, I would definitly have caught at least 1 fish. To say I am gutted is an understatement.

Now obviously I'm not saying that the fishing in Massachusets is ****, it's clearly not. And I probably should have bitten the bullet and paid to go out in a boat. Or tried a wider variety of marks, but I thought there was wisdom in trying to understand a small area well. I also probably should have headed down to the Cape, but those in the know really rate the fishing in the Harbor these days. I'll be back over in the Autumn when I will be taking a cottage on the Cape and pretty regularly thereafter. So this is just round 1.

What I am saying is that I am returning with a renewed appreciation of the value of what we do have, and perhaps even more the potential that it has if better managed. I'll see you all in Dorset and Hayling over the rest of the summer! I'm in Logan airport departures right now so can't upload any pics, but I'll do that once I get back. No fish porn obviosuly, but I have some nice shots of the Boston skyline across the harbour.

Striper fishing at this time of year can be really tough from the shore - even more so in the daylight hours. The water can be just too warm for them. Night fishing can be more productive, provide the temps drop down a bit.

I've even heard reports of capable anglers have 4 or 5 + blank days in a row in the fall....Like you say, alot of the time they're not exaclty crawling up the rods.

Boat Fishing at that time of the year is much more productive than shore fishing, and even if you had have traveled down to the Cape, you might have struggled a bit from the shore, especially so during the day.....Heat and the seals would be the main problems. Sport is normally infinitely better from a boat, or if you are shore bound, at night.

Just to put a further downer on things, you might find you struggle during the autumn, even down along the Cape, as mid September usually sees the beginning of the striper migration, and you would then have to look to Rhode Island, or Long Island, for the best of the sport with Stripers and Albies.

I have fished the 1st week of October off of Montauk for a few years now, and in all honesty most (But NOT all) years you can't call it fishing, for the only way you are not going to catch a fish, is to not cast your fly in the water or stay well clear of the blitz's...Great for a few days, but then you look to do other things like, fish deep to try and get some big mommas, or cut the bend off of poppers or crease flies and start ripping them back to see who can get the most hits in one cast!! .

I can absolutely assure you, unfortunate though it is, the fishing is infinitely better over there than off of our coast, and here are a few shots of blitzes taken over the past 5 years or so to perhaps whet your appetite for your next trip over....If time and travel distance constraints allow, you really should give either of these areas a try out.

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Brian G

Fantasitc photos Brian; I've heard about those, but first time I've seen any really good photos of the activity.

For fishing in that corner of the US, here's the board you want. All hard core salt water anglers. http://flyfishingforum.com/flytalk/index.htm

fae

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Fred,

Have lots of photos and a few videos of blitzes encountered over the past few years, but for some reason I can't seem to upload the videos. In the circumstances, have attempted to sort out the most appropriate of the photos, a couple of which were shot by Jim Levison (friend and guide on Long Island) which best reflect that which happens on a regular basis out of Montauk from late September through to the end of October, or a little beyond, depending on the bait fish migrations.

All these blitz pictures are of fish feeding off of the vast shoals of Bay Anchovies, which are migrating South, and are in turn being followed by the Stripers, Albies and Blues.

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Brian G

Puts a whole new diffinition to the term: "Feeding frenzy"

Strippers are literally out of the water chomping on 'lunch.'

fae

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"The problems we face today are there because the people who work for a
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I stayed in montauk for a week while attending my sisters wedding! lovely place, ian

Ian
Montauk is a great place in the Autumn, all the holidaymakers have departed and the town is turned over to rod and line anglers. A great atmosphere, real friendly folk, some terrific sushi and seafood, and the craic is top notch . I have made some good friends over in Montauk during the years I have been going.

Fred
Managed to get one short video on to You Tube....This was my first ever effort uploading video and I couldn't find how to edit the last bit....Got into a bit of a mess at the end of the clip as I had a fish hooked up at the time!!

At least it will give you a flavour of what it can be like, especially when these blitzes are going off all day long

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Brian G

Loved it Brian! Though just a second of same ... that's one hell of a bent rod.

Fred

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"The problems we face today are there because the people who work for a
living are now outnumbered by those who vote for a living." -- Anonymous

Who needs a rod?