06-19-2001, 08:40 PM
BOSTON HARBOR & SOUTH SHORE- Stripers 6/16/01<br><br>The fishing is really heating up in both size and numbers of bass in the harbor. Surface feeding activity both at first light and in the evening this past week was excellent with stripers feeding on the abundant silversides in the bays of the inner-harbor. On the ledges of outer-harbor islands and Minot’s ledge on the South Shore the bass are fewer in numbers but larger in size. One of the largest bass caught in this region—42” and 27 pounds—was caught off Minot’s on Wednesday afternoon.<br><br>Tuesday and Wednesday morning, Tom Keer, hosting his dealers with on the water demos of the new rods and reels in the 2001 line on his LIZA B, found the stripers surface feeding in Dorchester bay for the first few hours of the out going tide. Low profile poppers worked best with Wonderline. Keer’s best fish, a 32”, 10 pounder, took one of these surface presentations cast to structure on the edges of the inner harbor islands. <br><br>Our first afternoon trip of the season departed from Rowe’s Wharf in Boston. Reed Chisholm of Goldman Sachs , Client Matt Fritz and Co-worker Jeff Hamilton experienced great shallow-water surface action in Quincy Bay. The stripers were working silversides in 4 to 10 feet of water in the upper reaches of the bay during the last hour of the flood through the first hour of the ebb. Chartreuse or gray and white Half & Halfs produced a few fish including Matt’s personal-best and the best bass of the afternoon—31” and 10 pounds. With nowhere to go but out, due to the shallow depth, this fish was quickly into the backing. The new Vortex anti-reverse performed flawlessly on the first run, saving Matt’s knuckles. Surface presentations brought spectacular strikes and out-fished subsurface flies. 2/0 Chartreuse or White gurglers accounted for most of the bass between 20 and 27 inches for the fly casters on the platforms. The third angler, spin-casting from the deck, turned fish after fish with white Slug-gos. When the action slowed,<br>changing to sliders like Winslow’s Afternoon delight, low profile poppers or smaller gurglers in size 1/0 continued to raise the fish.<br><br>Dick Cook of Lowell , MA and friend Tom Crawford opted to fish the structure on Minot’s Ledge off Cohasset on Saturday. On the incoming tide, the wash on east face of the ledges produced fish in the 20 to 26” size class. Blanton’s SAR-MUL-MAC pattern in size 3/0 was the best producer. At the top of the tide with the water covering the ledges, bass were holding on the ledges..<br><br><br>Capt. Mike Bartlett<br>B-Fast Charters<br>www.bfastcharters.com<br><br><br> <br><br><br><br>Capt. Mike Bartlett<br>B-Fast Charters<br>www.bfastcharters.com