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Boston Harbor strippers

7K views 9 replies 9 participants last post by  jon006 
#1 ·
i am new to stripers and how/where/when should i catch stripers in boston harbor? Can i buy live eels around here or can i trap them?
 
#6 ·
Get Jack Gartside's The Fly Fisherman's Guide to Boston Harbor. Even if you are not a shore based flyfisherman, Jack's book will acquaint you with the Harbor from Hull northward toward Winthrop and environs like no other guidebook. There is also great information on fishing the Harbor Islands. Jack is a native of the Harbor area, and has fished there for the last 50 or so years. He knows his stuff.

As a newbie, you will learn where and when to fish, by tide and season, and what types of bait are found where and when. The pictures in the book are black and white, but once you've visited and area and looked at a few charts etc., you will be able to locate the areas he recommends in the book and the pictures and information will start to make sense.

You can order this guide, along with all sorts of other fishing info and fly tying materials and instructions on Jack's website, which pops right up on a Google Search query. Also to be recommended are his Striper Strategies, Secrets of a Striper Bum. Again, flyfishing oriented, but chock full of information about striper and fishing in general.
 
#7 ·
I fish along the South Boston shoreline and have had great results with worms. Just put em out there and they will come. Once the crabs are around though you will go through worms quickly. but if the weathers nice the sights on the beach can be just as fun as the fishing:sydan::a_goodjob:
 
#10 ·
This is ironic, I found this site last year when I first moved to Boston trying to learn the same thing you are.

My suggestions are:

1. For success at the harbor your going to have to devote some time. Without time on the water its going to be tough to figure out the odd patterns the harbor has to offer. It took me probably 30 to 40 hours of skunk time to finally figure out how to fish that area.

2. Fish the dams. These are interesting spots because of the herring run (river herring are protected and can not be in your possession) the herring can make or break your trip. Sometimes the wonderful operators of the dam will not open the fish ladder (this equates to a tough time fishing) the herring stack up and the bass destroy them against the walls of the dam. I was only able to find out one way to overcome that pattern and it only worked once so I won't go into detail.

3. 3-4 hours after high tide Charles town dam releases water, this can be promising as it pushes the herring around and the striper's will feed, however with the amount of herring around this year you will be hard pressed at times to trick a bass to taking a lure. Slug gos work well in the harbor.

4. Fish at night, but be extremely cognizant of your surroundings. I have seen some interesting things fishing at night around the harbor, be forewarned that there are a significant amount of poachers in the area and they are extremely serious about going about their business uninterrupted. Unfortunately dep is unreliable in responding to calls about the poachers.
(Officer contact info listed below) Also its really important to note that the demographic of the people who fish this area is diverse, quite a few guys fishing for sustenance and with that they are beyond serious when it comes to tangled lines ect. There have been altercations that I never thought would happen with a bunch of guys fishing (peak spring time fishing you will not be alone, I have counted 80-100 guys just at charlestown dam on some days.)

I think that covers the most important things I learned last year. I have more specific information but due to the pressure that the striper's face in that area I respectfully decline to comment on it. Not to mention I was nice enough to share my knowledge with a kid fishing at the dam, I brought him to all of my most productive spots on the premise that he would keep that info to himself and the next week there he was with bunch of other people...not cool.

So in short, time on the water, dams, watch out for poachers and fanatical meat hunters, and also read the stickied info in the forum for beginners you can apply the techniques in those thread to fishing the area.

Best of luck and tight lines.

DEP Officer Contact info:

Officer Mark Brighenti
Massachusetts Enviornmental Police Officer
800-632-8075

Keep this handy because if you spend enough time in the area you will need this number. Shorts are taken almost every night. I have provided DEP with a list of plate numbers last year of people seen taking shorts. You will also (if you fish late) see Asian men gill netting herring (be extreemly careful around these guys, if you are alone...leave and call the number above, tangling with them last year was almost a very bad idea for me (long story)

I am not aiming to scare anyone from fishing Boston Harbor but these are important things to know.

Now go out there and get some, feel free to PM me if your having trouble and i will try to help you connect.

Regards,

Jon
 
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