Angling Publications - Index

Angling Publications - Magazine - Index

In the Outer Harbor, two scenic lighthouses—Boston
Light and Graves Lighthouse—
round out the picturesque setting. You’ll swear
you’re fishing off the North Shore, but you’re
really only a half dozen miles from downtown
Boston. And in 30 minutes from netting a bass
you can be on terra firma, trying to decide on
dinner at an Italian, Indian, Japanese, Chinese,
Vietnamese or New England seafood restaurant,
or head over to Fenway Park or down to
Gillette Stadium to see the BoSox or the Pats
play ball. Or you can keep fishing.
The South Shore
Running from Braintree south to the
Cape Cod Canal, the South Shore transitions
as it moves from an urban fishery near
Boston to an adjunct of Cape Cod. There
are inshore islands around Hingham, and
then the rocks and ledges from Scituate to
Cohasset. Around Hummarock, a hamlet of
Marshfield, you’ll find the noteworthy North
and South Rivers and beaches. Don’t forget
Duxbury’s beaches and extensive flats, which
adjoin America’s hometown, Plymouth.
Depending on water temperatures and
bait patterns, striped bass start moving into
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the Cape Cod Canal sometime in April. They
chase alewives that move into the North and
South Rivers. Silversides arrive in the shallower
waters of Plymouth and Hingham in
May, and the fishing picks up dramatically.
An early run of bluefish arrive in mid May
through June, with the big schools migrating
with the warmer temperatures in July and
August. Sandeels, shrimp and crabs are hot
baits beginning in mid May. And as with the
North Shore, the fishing around Scituate and
Cohasset heats up in June, July and August.
Here, you’ll find mackerel, pollock, and lobsters
as important food groups.
There was an initial movement of Irish-
Americans in the late 1800s and early 1900s
from Boston to the South Shore, giving rise to
the nickname the “Irish Riviera.” Regardless,
from the Pilgrim’s initial settlement to Presidents
John Adams and John Quincy Adams,
the South Shore has played a significant role
in history. Heck, Howard Johnson’s and
Dunkin Donuts both got their starts not far
from striper hot spot Wolloston Beach (Quincy),
and Toll House chocolate chip cookies
came from Whitman, the home of saltwater
angler/author/casting guru, George Roberts.
Cape Cod
Oddly enough, Cape Cod is directly connected
to the North Shore. The Labrador
Current that runs from north to south along
Plum Island collides with the Gulf Stream,
and that collision formed Cape Cod. It
might take a few years, but sand from Plum
Island on the North Shore feasibly winds up
on Race Point on the Cape.
It’s hard to go wrong fishing Cape Cod.
Each of its four sections—the Upper, Mid,
Lower, and Outer Cape—has a time of year
and a species, from April through December.
The Upper Cape starts early and ends late.
The first bass and blues of the season arrive
in Buzzard’s Bay and the Canal when the
herring arrive in April/May. Fishing continues
to improve on the South Side’s Waquoit
Bay and Popponesset (and all their various
creeks) when the silversides arrive. It’s hard
not to catch fish. Summer is the time for
stripers on the rocks off the Elizabeth Islands,
but also for bluefish, bonito and false
albacore in Buzzard’s Bay (so named by the
Pilgrims who had never seen wild turkeys
and thought the shoreline’s vast population
of same were buzzards).
DAVE SKOK PHOTOS (DWSKOK.COM)