Dead last night. There were a few boats each place we fished, from bars outside Cranes to those by Sandy Point, and up inside towards Grape Island. No surface action spotted. Still all-in-all a nice night to be out and it was cooler being out on the water.

Nice sunset taken from the old ‘Knobs’ location, that used to be a slammer highway for blues. Hope they come inside this year … gone are the days when we’d get them right outside the Parker River mooring area …

Oh, that’s a buoy in the photo … not a seal

Wife is on vaca this week and next. Headed up to the boat early for a morning beach outing at Steep Hill. Naturally boat would not start. Have been having this problem with increasing frequency this season. Engine is 15 years old, time for a new one … put the deposit down today. Will be off the water for a week.

Ended up at the refuge beach, parking lot 1, around 11. A couple of cormorants working the edge of the shallow/deep pretty actively. Also terns working independent of the cormorants. Guy fishing a few steps up the beach from our spot caught a 20" on clams.

I hear on good authority that the night fishing off PI has been pretty good. Lots of fish around … getting them to eat another story. But they are getting them. Decent fish up to the mid 30"s, but many smaller. Most of the guys I talk to are slinging eels.

johnb wrote:Naturally boat would not start. Have been having this problem with increasing frequency this season. Engine is 15 years old, time for a new one … put the deposit down today. Will be off the water for a week.ls.

Good luck John!

Ouch, wished you had called me … I would have helped you out diagnosing on this …. as 17-yrs use is nothing on a 2-stroke! At least a properly cared for one that it.

FWIW I just did the impellers/waterpumps and thermostats service on 3 OBs this season, all mid 1990s vintage, and I expect one could get another 20-years out of them ("them" being the motors … not those consumable/replaceable parts. I do the full water pump service every 3 seasons, every 2 on V6s, or annually if a TON of hours on a V6 OB … as too costly otherwise not to do so).

Last few trips during the day has been poor with nothing over 20". Only decent fish was caught after was sunset on the way in.
Anyone having better luck in deeper water?

Delrake wrote:Anyone having better luck in deeper water?

Talked with a few guys from my boatclub. One guy was looking specifically for bluefish and didn’t get into them until he was in 100′ of water, in Ipswich Bay.

One brother is in Maine and he heard that a 48" fish was taken at the mouth of the Saco and that surfcasters off the southern beaches are having a better year than in many years past! Reports of bass even into Canadian waters abound.

Given that the temps here averaged as the warmest Summer ever recorded and the cooler waters up north of us … and I guess it’s no surprise points north are doing well.

Only reports I heard for bass where of a few schoolies around Middle Ground on one of the cooler evenings, I think last mid-week.

Beach outing yesterday morning with my wife. Eerily quiet out there. The terns are gone … seems a little early. Very few cormorants as well. No ospreys either. Numerous small balls of sand eels were seen along the edge of shallow water. No signs of any predators. Talked with a few fisherman and they do report pretty good results last week at night along the PI beach front, as well as some fish taken inside the Sound at dusk and after. Another beach outing planned for tomorrow. Will report. Also planning at least one morning fishing-only trip this weekend.

johnb wrote:Also planning at least one morning fishing-only trip this weekend.

Let me know what day you’re planning … maybe we can cover more water together …

How has the Macs been outside the Merr river.. looking for large ones..

I haven’t seen any significant bait coming down the sound yet.
usually this time of year we can see lots of small bait in the water when you shine a flashlight after dark.
I hope the dry summer didn’t interrupt that flow.

going to fish the outgoing tomorrow night.

Fished this morning 0530-1200. I’m hesitant to get too excited, but based on what I saw this morning (compared to the last few weeks), some better quality fish have moved into the Sound. Its still the land of 10,000 dinks, but there are some bigger fish mixed in now. Got a couple 25’s, and a nice sturdy 27". Couple low 20’s and a bunch of dinks. Big body of smaller fish hanging in the shallows at low slack tide in one spot. At least I thought they were all small until I saw some pretty hefty wakes as fish spooked and adjusted. Difficult to provoke a strike – big or small. Once tide turned, a very brief, but lively surface feed about 100 yards from where I was. By the time I got there, it was over, and I couldn’t find them. But decent sized fish going airborne. Another mini-blitz back in the shallows, lasted a little longer, smaller fish, but they hung around in that area so I could get strikes even when the air show was done. Hit another incoming spot where I got the 27. Hit the oceanfront, very quiet. Ground swell from Gaston made it a little too uncomfortable to fish Emerson’s or the PI beach front. Ocean was beautiful, but near shore was a bit squirrely. Headed back into the Sound after getting a few dinks over the Sandy Point bars. Saw some bigger fish (some 30") in the shallows (tide very high now), but could not spark any interest. Loads of sand eel balls around.

My son and I fished Sunday morn … very slow. But I dd get a 28" off the rocks on Grape. And I spoke to a fisherman at the dock on Saturday and he had been out since very early and reported it was slow, but he did get two 30"’s, one off the mussel bed at mouth of Eagle Hill, and the other I forget where.

Bring on those cooler Temps!!

Was out there Friday night and finally saw some bait in there,. Spooked a few groups of fish as we drifted with the tide. But all the big fish were up in the shallows, probably chasing bait. They are there.

johnb wrote:Headed back into the Sound after getting a few dinks over the Sandy Point bars.

Took the afternoon off (last day before the kids start school again) and the family wanted to spend it out on Sandy Point. Must have passed JohnB somewhere in the sound, as we beached at Sandy 12:30ish. It was a family trip but I managed schoolies from the out-going, right off the beach. The girls got a kick out of the colors on these stripers, bright silver & white, with the black stripes, where everything else they’ve caught have been the green to olive drab-backed ones.

Fishing should improve! Lynn to Nahant to Boston is ON FIRE for big bass if you haven’t heard the reports! My brother’s been nailing 3 to 5 bass to 48" over the pogie school everytime he heads out. Said it looked like the ‘old days’, including the boat to boat combat fishing on past SUN, once the word spread that tons offish were caught on SAT. Another friend has been fishing Nahant every day and got 8 to 46" just yesterday.

But they have the pogies to bring the bigger fish in – and hold them. Us? Not so much … but will be out on SAT.

maybe we all should join menhaden defenders.org…..

Have been waylaid for a bit. Heading out tomorrow. Any action in the sound? Thx. Elu

Fished this morning, 0600-1130 ish. Everywhere I went was deadsville. Got a few very small fish in the Sound, that’s it. Only bright spot (besides the sun) was large amounts of sand eels. Over the Sandy Point bars and in the Sound along Grape. Water very clean. Stalked the shallows at top of tide to see if any bigger fish hanging around resting … nada.