So as the final couple of months of the season approach how has your season been so far? Has it been "Epic"? Has it been just "OK"? Have you been fishing more or less?? Any milestone moments??

Also how are you going to approach the rest of the season???

Rest of season...golf. Cheaper than running the boat for nothing.

I'm having a terrible season fish wise. Don't really care as I just like to fish but for example, my nephew and I spent 4 hours pulling tube and worm and bunker spoons on Brenton Reef.....NOTHING. It's OK we had a good time.

My numbers for big fish on the season are pretty good but the average trips are really slow going. From what I am experiencing and from talking with a few other guys there is absolutely no consistency to the surf fishing this season, just have to keep at it and hope to cross paths with a few fish. Not many resident fish in several areas that usually have a pretty good population of them.

Wow those are depressing reports from 2 guys who know what they are doing?

My season started out good! Small fresh run schoolies at my usual spring haunts...great light tackle fishing! Then as I shifted gear into big fish season........I found all of my spots poor to say the least! No large and void of any smalls at all! Lots of bait though?? So I saw the writing on the wall and decided to shift gears and spend more time kayak fishing my favorite sweetwater spots and I have been loving that! Lots of action, lots of fun and relaxing for sure! I did hit the canal a week or so ago one morning and struck gold with a few nice fish including a new personal best which was released! Went saltwater yak fishing yesterday and managed 1 keeper but that was the only fish I have managed in half a dozen yak fishing trips in the salt! So right now....freshwater is king but I will be on the attack in the next couple weeks in the salt as the season begins its end!:fishin:

My spring was good, June ok, July and August terrible. Can't even compare this season to last. I don't have a single fish over 30#. My regular haunts have been really slow. Im already hunting hard tails. Bring on September.
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Excepting for a few exceptional nights... River fishing has been sub par to terrible ( 3 years running now..). Unless you like schoolies... the beach front has been steady and sometimes on fire but only on certain bars along specific sections of beach... but most nights.. it's a few teenagers and "students" in most areas... but if you stay with it, you can scratch a large or two out of the mix.. you need to be patient and work real hard.. something I'm less inclined to do as I get older... maybe I've just been spoiled by the last decade or so because it's been relatively easy to find and catch large every night I fished........so due to the lack of quality fish...price of gas and the distance needed to go find them I'm only fishing 1 or 2 nights a week now until I find what I'm after.. when I do... I fish them hard until they move...but most of the usual haunts are barren...unless again you like catching little guys...

Funny note though.. usually slow times mean less boats...most years by this time I'm the only one fishing... the last few times out I've had to deal with multiple boats.. of coarse.. running right over the fish... I sure wish the guy's with 4 strokes realized that just because the engine is quiet above water.. it is still has LOUD exhaust and a bubble trail under water.. something large fish in shallow ( 3'_) water( especially when it's loaded with fire) wont tolerate...last night was looking good until those monkey's trolled right over the bar... they didn't catch any fish .. and neither did I after they left...and the fish had high tailed it for a more peaceful area....:yak5:

on another (more related) note... I haven't seen a blue fish all season...not that I'm complaining but..it's worth a mention as I feel they too are a part of the equation...

I have not had a bluefish going on 2 years now.....talking spots that do generally have them??

Hey Joe - what's up with the bluefish - the prevailing theory seems to be that no bluefish means the big fish are "offshore" still on the bait, whereas bluefish usually scatter the bait and bring the fish in? Any truth to that? This season it seems like the fish were never inshore in big numbers..

Lousy...
But epic compared to what's coming for us greedy sons of bitches !

Odd how when fish are scarce the mentality is to keep as many as you can when you do find them. Because who knows when you'll get the opportunity to load up again.
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bluefish wolfpacks are SE of Noman's, they will eat anything coming up from the bottom!

My season's going great but I don't solely target stripers, haven't had one of those since mid-June maybe or was it May? New species to the bucket list halibut (48", 53 lbs), tilefish, PB on a 65lb yellowfin tuna, and just caught my first mako on the BeeReel. Learned a lot catching one on the Valhalla R 2 yrs ago what to do, thx RIR & Tautog.

Pic is sampling of the notables from my last 30 days.

From yesterday on the mako:

http://youtu.be/Cje-zQMYX5Y


Oh yes, and I had Swimmer out for a day catching BSB! Think he said he got a PB. :)

Haven't seen you much down in my area Larry...but I also haven't been out there once from terra firma for a dawn session. :wave:

Been a frustrating season on the whole this year for my stretch of coastline (Scituate, N/S Rivers, Plymouth/Dux Bay). We had decent to tolerable schoolie action early on in the river, but never had the typical run of smaller 10-20# fish that makes for easy (read: repeatable) fishing inside the river and a couple miles upstream.

I have nothing to factually base this on, but this stretch of shoreline seems to really be dependant on a push of fish through the canal to hug the coastline and then set up residence in their "typical" haunts. Hearing rumors of the decent feeds early on around the south coast gave me the impression that the majority of the biomass took the route outside the cape and around P-Town and then moved west into Boston Harbor and Cape Ann...but also hear reports that they might have simply not come inshore up there en mass either :huh:

We have had very non-typical water temps inshore around my area- maybe a handful of days where the water in July hit 65 degrees...last year the water was steady in the 68-72 degree range for over a month. I still have a couple pics on my phone I took from July 16th where the water at the top of the tide near the NI can was 49.5 degrees...just bizarre! Temps have been pretty steady in the 58-61 degree range over the last couple weeks, but absolutely a solid 5-6 degrees below normal

Nights from shore have been dreadful as seems to be typical across the coast- I know a couple guys slinging eels who have got a few 25-30# a bit to the north of where I fish, but big rubber (9-12" slugs & hogys) and sp's/redfins have only yielded a few schoolies on my boulderfields. I have launched the boat for a handful of night sessions drifting/trolling over mudflats to decent results- no real bruisers, but fish in the 15-20# class that have made the effort relatively worthwhile...basically dragging eels off the back of the boat and casting rubber off the front and sides (rubber has been vastly out-performing snakes oddly enough)

A typical trip over the last 5-6 years for my home waters has been 15-20 fish, with a small (10# class) keeper or 3 and usually an opportunity at one quality fish (15# +...I know my definition of a decent fish is quite a bit different than most of you!). This year has been typically 6-8 fish and hopefully encountering a small keeper sized fish. Finally got a nice 42" on the edge of a set of breakers in < 3' of water 2 weekends ago...other than that I have one 36" class or better fish off the cliffs all year. I was at close to 30 fish 36" or better by this point last year

Couple trips down to the ditch in early/mid May were efforts in futility...haven't been back there since.

I have found some peanut bunker feeds over the last couple weeks, which is a change...it had been a while since I had bass spitting up peanuts on the boat, but good to see some around. Trying to stay optimistic that having some bait inshore will help with a fishable fall run :uhuh:

Haven't been out yet...:wall:

My worst season (surfcasting) since the 1980s but its been trending down for the last half dozen years. I fish live eels quite a bit but my first eel caught bass this season wasn't until the last week of July! Lots of bait but not many fish from the local Newport surf areas. A decent body of very small bass during the last two weeks - something I hadn't seen in summer for quite a few seasons.

I have not had a bluefish going on 2 years now.....talking spots that do generally have them??

were packed with bluefish. Had about 15 this morning. could have had as many as you could handle if you wanted to screw with them. I went through 12 eels in 30 minutes the other night. Pretty frustrating.

RI from shore has been terrible for me unless you're interested in schoolies. Worst season I've ever had down there. Had some good outings in the boat, but its been dismal from shore.

MA has been pretty good the few times I've been out. I've stayed away from the crowds for the most part and have picked away at 20-25lb fish.

I will probably split my time in RI and MA for the next few months. Hoping for a RI fall run, but not expecting much...

Disappointing season to be sure. Biggest fish was 28#, back in June, other than that, all small fish. And not alot of them. Lotta fishless nights. Been battling ongoing shoulder/back issues, which has further added to my misery. Have taken the last few weeks off, other than a short trip last weekend on vacation. Work's been a bear, and I just haven't had the urge lately due to the lack of action. Hoping for a turnaround as we get into September, but who knows at this rate. I gotta say, i'm really enjoying these full nights of sleep lately... even though I know they wont last.
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Great season and a lot of $$$ spent on fuel. I know I have said it before , but why target only bass?Fish for what is there and be happy instead of frustrated. I fished for nothing but bass for years and then I got a boat....still fished for bass exclusively.....got another (larger) boat and started to branch out a little. Cod,tuna,tog,bsb.,,,,I fish for it all. Lately the bonito have shown and they are fun to eat and catch. I fished the lanes yesterday and the Sakonnet today with many species to the boat including BSB,blues ,bass,tuna,wahoo and mako.

Did I mention I love fishing?
catch and eat

worst season for me in 12/14 years, some of it from personal reasons and others from lack of fish

spring started out great fishing the east bay and back water areas, lots of schoolies on topwater and blues and shad too, but no keepers, very little bait for the most part, never managed a keeper in the back bays where usually its lights out fishing for schoolies to 20/25lb fish, we use to catch 20-30 each this year it was 3-6, think the best day was 13.

once those fish pushed out started targetting my local haunts, newport, jamestown, soco, the light houses, all misesrable fishing, had one night were we had 16 fish between my buddy and I, but they were 14-24" fish, not the usual 15-30lb fish like the last 5 seasons.

Cutty was a great trip, buddy stuck his pb at 29lbs and was/is pumped about it still. But even that trip was slower than usual, one hopeful sign was that fish all had sea lice so i was hoping everything was just a month or two behind.

since then its been a gring to even get a bite or solid fish, finally hooked up with the hardest fighting fish ive caught in years, i mean epic fight, pulling drag, pounding waves, was great, that fish was only 41" couldnt believe it when it got in, wasnt foul hooked either. been out a few times since then, nada, dirty water, small fish and small blues have killled my motivation to leave my bed at midnight or later.

Ive really gotten back into freshwater, throwing big swimbaits mostly and just having some alone time, its been great, have stuck numerous 5lb fish, a ton of 4s and a bunch of others. its been super relazing and no pressure. picked up a crawdad and trolling motor set up, can basically go wherever i want with little or no hassle of a trailer, fits right in that back of the truck

Just havent had the time with my pops recovery and the wedding less than 3 weeks away to concern myself with stripers.

on a promising note was at the beach in soco on sunday with the wifey and was watching good size schools of rain bait getting blown up by something close to shore and the birds were working then hard.

one can hope for an epic fall like in 2010/2011 when the sea herring showed up and the ganetts went ape #^&#^&#^&#^& and i fished til mid december, that would really help my mental state if that happened.

I have fished less than last year, but the bass have been bigger than I am used to catching I mean a 15, and a close to 20 aren't huge, and won't make me an internet hero but they are still nice fish, and are way bigger than the schoolies, I have been accustomed to catching. Oddly enough, I have only caught one blue this year, and that was during the memorial day period at south cape. Figures, I would buy a smoker for that very reason, and not catch any.

bring on the funny fish!

Hey Joe - what's up with the bluefish - the prevailing theory seems to be that no bluefish means the big fish are "offshore" still on the bait, whereas bluefish usually scatter the bait and bring the fish in? Any truth to that? This season it seems like the fish were never inshore in big numbers..

....blue fish...like bass are cyclical...but it's been many ,many years since we haven't seen at least the snappers ..especially with all the bait around...... as far as the bass being "offshore".. there has always been a contingent of bass that hang out on stellwagon and offshore rips and shoals ..up our way... it's not as big a deal as it is down the cape or along the block.. they mainly use Jefferies as a travel lane between Maine and P-town. Not as a feeding station.. a few hang out there and are seen/caught by tuna fisherman( or on occasion get caught by a dragger)...it's a straight shot full of feed...that is my theory as to why we rarely
see those fish that stay in Maine late.. they high tail it for warmer water using the Jefferies ledge super highway ...everything they do is predicated on the sun...it is their clock...just like birds or any migratory animal... water temp. may effect their comfort zone and feeding habits but in all reality, has very little with their migration... and if time runs out for that long journey... they scoot...flipping the "bird" to Great bay, coastal N.H. the MM river and cape Ann as the swim bye... as long as I've been fishing bass... 42 years to be exact... we have ALWAYS had big bass all summer.. even when they were scarce else where.. August has always been a very good month.. as much as a lot of people do not want to admit it and try to cover it up with the "they are some where else" reasoning.. bottom line is there are simply less of them.. and the farther north you go,, the less of them there are...yes I fish from a boat.. but never fish for bass in anything more than 20' of water, and that is only in the mouth of the river running wire in the rips where the bottom can go from 4' to 20' in a 10' span... 99% of my fish come from the shore line or surf zone in 6' or less of water( I have in the past fished days on the ledges 1-2 miles off the beach... for every 1 fish I caught doing that..i got 15 at night in the surf zone)..... we all know that bass move "offshore" most of the time when the sun gets bright.. but once it darkens the surf zone/shallows is where the food is... My fishing "methods" are a hybrid boat/surf style adapted for my area...just like the surf men.. what they see is what I see...my advantage is mobility that they don't have. If things don't work out, it's easy for me to move.. several times a night if needed.. an option they don't have if they are on foot...
all that said... I've caught some real decent fish this season.. so I'm not complaining.. I'm just adding a perspective , most people would be ecstatic with the fish that have come over my rails... several in the high forties( one 2 ounces shy of "50" #19) and quite a few in the 30's...but these are not the numbers of fish I have been accustomed to...... I have maybe 30 or 40"spots" that can produce a big fish at any time... most, of these have been barren of quality fish... something that hasn't ever happened in my life time.. with exception of a few nights as I stated in an earlier post... all of them have been from one section of beach on one particular bar... and it's not about bait...it's everywhere... the Merrimack river has had a school of pogies all summer for the first time in over 20 years.... as well as river herring and sand eels...nothing but small and medium fish are on them.. and most nights/days they are un molested....fishing may be slow but if we remain humble and diligent there will be some nice fish caught on the next full moon... that I can almost guarantee...I've already booked vacation time...

I've only been out 5 trips, due to business, personal and some outboard issues. My typical day starts with plastic around ledges for stripers and then I will switch to targeting good eaters (black sea bass, fluke and tog), but getting a good hour or two of striper fishing used to be easy......no stripers in the past 3 trips. Overall my season is poor and that's being generous, still time on the water is better than time behind a mower, rake or computer.

Great season and a lot of $$$ spent on fuel. I know I have said it before , but why target only bass?Fish for what is there and be happy instead of frustrated. I fished for nothing but bass for years and then I got a boat....still fished for bass exclusively.....got another (larger) boat and started to branch out a little. Cod,tuna,tog,bsb.,,,,I fish for it all. Lately the bonito have shown and they are fun to eat and catch. I fished the lanes yesterday and the Sakonnet today with many species to the boat including BSB,blues ,bass,tuna,wahoo and mako.

Did I mention I love fishing?
catch and eat

Couldnt agree more. this year ive spent a ton of time toggin in the spring, BSB, fluking. The past week ive been running hunting bones. Unless i run to block the bass fishing just hasnt been good. Focusing my efforts elsewhere, an im good with that cause i just like catching fish.

Great season and a lot of $$$ spent on fuel. I know I have said it before , but why target only bass?Fish for what is there and be happy instead of frustrated. I fished for nothing but bass for years and then I got a boat....still fished for bass exclusively.....got another (larger) boat and started to branch out a little. Cod,tuna,tog,bsb.,,,,I fish for it all. Lately the bonito have shown and they are fun to eat and catch. I fished the lanes yesterday and the Sakonnet today with many species to the boat including BSB,blues ,bass,tuna,wahoo and mako.

Did I mention I love fishing?
catch and eat

it's a great point...but here's the thing... not everyone can afford a boat..( luckily for me I can).. or has the time or the monetary means to travel hundreds of miles to fish ... ... I've fished tuna... sharks and ground fish.. back before it was trendy to do so.. how are those stocks doing these days... Not everyone has Bonito, weakfish... albies or even a 'tog or scup to fish for..... the draggers have wiped out the flounder inshore... fluke rarely visit north of
Boston.. I guess one can put the down riggers on the boat ( if one has a boat) and go salmon fishing.. or peel the dust of off of a fly rods and head to the mountains... but all this avoids the real problem... fisheries management... anyone that wants to target a particular species ( any species ..not just striped bass)should be able to take up their favorite method and have a reasonable chance of catching fish... maybe not a P.B on every outing....but at least be afforded the opportunity at quality... obviously not everyone's skill set is the same... some have put more time in.. some have simply been blessed...it just saddens me to see so many struggling when I Know that it does not need to be this way... I hope I never see the day when a dog fish or a skate is considered a "good " catch...

Fished cutty Tuesday pigs and sows reef 2 bruiser blues and zero stripers with eels 5 am - noon. Great time with my son though before he heads off to college.
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it's a great point...but here's the thing... not everyone can afford a boat..( luckily for me I can).. or has the time or the monetary means to travel hundreds of miles to fish ... ... I've fished tuna... sharks and ground fish.. back before it was trendy to do so.. how are those stocks doing these days... Not everyone has Bonito, weakfish... albies or even a 'tog or scup to fish for..... the draggers have wiped out the flounder inshore... fluke rarely visit north of
Boston.. I guess one can put the down riggers on the boat ( if one has a boat) and go salmon fishing.. or peel the dust of off of a fly rods and head to the mountains... but all this avoids the real problem... fisheries management... anyone that wants to target a particular species ( any species ..not just striped bass)should be able to take up their favorite method and have a reasonable chance of catching fish... maybe not a P.B on every outing....but at least be afforded the opportunity at quality... obviously not everyone's skill set is the same... some have put more time in.. some have simply been blessed...it just saddens me to see so many struggling when I Know that it does not need to be this way... I hope I never see the day when a dog fish or a skate is considered a "good " catch...

I just returned from a week in Va Beach and was fortunate to get offshore for a day trip. It was slow..as is the trend in some areas. I have been going for 9 years and when I first started it was a slaughterhouse. Come December and January they had been filling dumpsters daily w racks of bass!!! They have not brought a bass to the dock in 3 years at the Rudee inlet. 12 miles out there are huge schools...sound familiar? I don't feel trendy just for fishing for ground fish,I just enjoy it. I haven't tried for bass in a month, but I know they are where I left them.
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Great season and a lot of $$$ spent on fuel. I know I have said it before , but why target only bass?Fish for what is there and be happy instead of frustrated. I fished for nothing but bass for years and then I got a boat....still fished for bass exclusively.....got another (larger) boat and started to branch out a little. Cod,tuna,tog,bsb.,,,,I fish for it all. Lately the bonito have shown and they are fun to eat and catch. I fished the lanes yesterday and the Sakonnet today with many species to the boat including BSB,blues ,bass,tuna,wahoo and mako.

Did I mention I love fishing?
catch and eat

Chris, I have to admit, I admire your flexibility to change it up. I'm too stuck in my ways of being a Striperman for almost 50 years but I'm changing. I have been scupping and BSB fishing. I'm terrible at it as my technique and mindset is still "bass". I 'll figure it out on my own as that's how I learned to be a successful Striper fisherman. When I started there were no cell phones, internet or FB. You learned on your own by trial and error, listening to the sharpies and keeping your mouth shut. Most of all you put your time in.

I will never forget me complaining to Charlie Murat and Dave Hammock that I had never caught a 30# bass and they laughed at me. Charlie looked me right in the eye and said, "You haven't earned the right to catch a 30 in the surf cause you ain't put your time in yet".:uhuh:

I have been scupping and BSB fishing. I'm terrible at it as my technique and mindset is still "bass". I 'll figure it out on my own as that's how I learned to be a successful Striper fisherman. W

Can you even feel the bottom?:love:

April - late start getting boat ready due to family vacation but did hit the freshwater scene hard due to prompting by my youngest son. We fished a lot in April & May targeting bass, pickerel & even our first trout.

May - 60% freshwater fishing which was productive majority of the time. Really gives perspective to how much prep work is needed when you own a boat and fish saltwater.

Canal sucked for me the whole month.

Sea Bass fishing in Buzzards Bay was lights out! Personal bests for both my sons on 6+ lb Sea Bass and honestly they were everywhere I tried.

Massive amounts of bait everywhere.

June through beginning of July was very slow for me due to my Dad (age 83) being really sick. Miracles due happen and he's back doing everything 100% after 50 days in medical facilities.

July - Aug has been a mixed bag. Again, massive amounts of bait everywhere but catching has been strange. One day it's nothing but big bluefish, another day sporadic decent bass (15-25 lbers), another day nothing, another day schoolies.

Had quite a few good mornings down the canal which was nice.

Just hit Buzzards Bay again earlier this week with my sons and Sea Bass were everywhere, lots of shorts but for them it was non stop catching.

I haven't targeted tuna once, weather windows and my availability just haven't lined up. Still hoping to hit south of MV in the coming weeks.

We'll see what the next couple months hold.

Almost nonexistent. Sucks.
Got out on boat for just the tenth time this year. Had netted live pogies in the baitwell. Hit four spots that would have held fish in years past. Chunked up four of the pogies to get slicks in two of those areas. Nada..... Had one schoolie that was barely longer than the pogie take a look. Just four bass boated this season, all on day I first launched in early July. I used to routinely have four onboard by 7AM!!!!! Local comms are way down. Best local fisherman I know took bait into Boston Sunday, worked his way back towards Marblehead and found nothing.
Saturday I got to favorite local surf spot just after sunrise. Too late, as another guy had two 38" fish on the rocks. He said it shut down when sun rose. I did manage a fish though, and actually even landed it!!! All 27 inches of it. But I was grateful for the fish. Time to get on the rocks in the dark and save the fuel I guess.
I will be hitting some inshore cod spots in state waters as they have been holding cod and are not included in the Gulf of Maine closure.
Can't justify targeting bass right now. Hoping to bail out the season with albies..... I will go over to the Derby IF they are there in decent numbers.
All sorts of folks locally are asking what is going on and I have nothing to offer but my sorry numbers. Many seemed surprised, but I am useless to anyone looking for reports or tips in this neck of the woods. No chest thumping here..... Hero to zero.

shore fishing has picked up with a few nights multiple fish 28 38 inch I'll be doing some 3am yak fishing soon as for the Boat nothing since going to Block but I see what others are seeing Bait bait and more bait in the rivers and out front and its going to be about timing

ok ,, but I been fishing the canal plus retired ., I don't think the canal should even be considered in these polls and fish counts dismissed . The canal is a fish funnel between BB and CCB and doesn't reflect the real situation . If canal guys hoofed the beaches they'd be singing a different tune I'm sure . :uhuh: myself included ..

Only got to start August, so far I've found lots of bait eating bait but no real predators on them yet...