I'm sorry to report to the bluefish fanatics out there that I have seen no bluefish this week! Not even a "bite-off" on a live mackerel. But I am still catching mackerel and I have found "keeper" stripers on every trip since the last day of  July's seven day heat wave! I am in unprecedented territory for my 15 years of charter and I am enjoying every minute of it! The stripers are feeding on both the out going and incoming tides. I have also found them in the Ipswich Bay area. I used to fish the Parker, Rowley & Ipswich rivers almost exclusively and still enjoy sneaking down there to find a few fish in the late summer. It is even more fun when you can go down there with live mackerel which are normally very hard to find this time of year!!

 I've read about surface feeds in Boston Harbor but have not seen any of significance for a while now. There are very warm temps forecast for the next few days and then a cooling off period. With the low light and cooler nights coming we should see the herring dropping out of the river systems soon. Plus there are a lot of 5-6" bluefish in the Merrimack ( I'm assuming other rivers north of the Merrimack too) that will be adding to the fall food supply for the hungry stripers getting ready to migrate south for the winter. 

 Once again I remind fishermen that there are stripers after June and this is shaping up to be a great Late August & September fishery! Get out there and wet a line!!!

 Try and tell these 13 year old fresh water anglers that these are not "monster bass"! It was a fun trip!

Good fishing

Capt. Scott