| Good news and bad news here.....lots of stripers up inside on the flat, but real difficult to take on anything but a super long tube n' worm rig. Com guys accounted for more than 4000 pounds of stripers last week, all on the flats trolling tubes. Capt Al M. witnessed much of it while tossing flies that yielded a few real nice stripers to 40 inches. However, Al said he averaged maybe 1 striper/ 200 casts as the stripers were keyed in on a worm hatch occurring on the entire estuary. Al and others reported some good action at the rivers mouth and down the beach a bit. The mack live-liners also did well between the jetties. Jim C. on reliable source heard of several big stripers up to 45 inches taken on flies at the mouth. While it is good to see healthy numbers of stripers in the area, it seems, though, that is the only area nearby that is holding fish because there is abundant forage available. As of this morning, stripers are still there and would be the best bet for stripers this w/e.
Cape Ann Report
The fishing for the most part continues on the slow side. Many hours and miles will yield 5 or 6 stripers per outing at best. Same goes for the shore guys, Steve P. reported. The main problem for Cape Ann is the lack of substantial baitfish inshore to hold stripers. There is plenty of bait a few miles offshore and if that bait comes in, we should find more actively feeding stripers. Early in the week there was a huge school of bigger than average bluefish in the area of Andrews and Halibut Points....but even they were a bit less aggressive than I would have expected. We managed a few hook-ups only. Crane Beach is also fishing very slow according to Brian O'C. We gotta get some bait in soon!(pray).....
Jona R. with a fly caught striper
Steve M. with a sluggo caught striper
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