By Captain Jason Sawicki
Another year in the books… as I winterize the boat and another saltwater season winds to an end, I was recalling some of the great fishing we had this year and how it compared to the last several. With the cod closure in place in State and Federal waters this spring and the haddock take reduced to a mere 3 per man it really made no sense to even target these to start the 2015 season. So this year we focused on other fisheries that could provide action and be productive early in the season on the North Shore and greater Boston area. How very fortunate we are to have tremendous offshore and inshore fisheries here in New England where if you are willing to adapt to the existing conditions and do some homework a good fisherman can easily turn a rotten egg into one of gold.
For me the early season focus shifted to schoolie striped bass up in the estuaries and the Boston Harbor winter flounder fishery. We had a lot of fun mixing things up and actually caught a lot of fish after a couple of recon trips to get them dialed in. This fishing was still going strong into early July when I moved the boat down to Mystic, CT where we targeted doormat fluke in RI waters and the larger striped bass moving into their deeper summertime haunts. Fishing was very good in July and into August for big bass and fluke. As August progressed, jumbo black sea bass replaced the fluke and limits were easily landed well for bottom fishers. I also spent a couple weeks on the South Cape this August targeting hardtails and we had a couple of lights out trips on the green bonito around the vineyard.
While looking back on the 2015 season, there were a lot of great catches to remember, including Kale’s fluke.
While 2014 was an incredible year for false albacore, the areas I fished were generally not as productive in 2015. However we did spend several days hunting the speedsters down and ran the beaches with light spin and fly gear. There were several epic battles had and some nice photos to match. On the south coast, I feel the better fishing was a bit further to the East this year for most species but especially so for the albies. I would attribute that to the abundance of forage fish being flushed from the salt ponds. There were some impressive bait piles inshore in the late summer and early fall from the R.I. shore and eastward this season.
With work and family obligations I did not pursue the bluefins much this year but there was some epic fishing being had for all size classes of fish from 40 lb chunks to big commercial sized fish. Most of the action was off the Cape and the southern end of Stellwagen where the jig and pop boats have had consistent action well into November. Lastly I should mention the steady blackfish bite and the new Connecticut state record being landed out of Niantic. The hardcores are still out there catching nice tog. We had a couple good days with steady action on both short and keeper size fish.
Things certainly vary year to year and when 2016 approaches trust in what you know but also be observant, flexible, and adaptive enough to keep the rods bent on your boat when familiar tried and true methods don’t produce. Happy Holidays!
FORECAST BY: Jason Sawicki is a USCG licensed captain who pursues many of the great fisheries that exist in the North East. He trailers his Mako CC “Megabite” throughout southern New England, targeting multiple fisheries with light tackle – knowing that being mobile is a huge advantage towards being consistently successful.