Nichols candy house flats....May 20th...24 bass, 1 keeper ( 31 inches ) all plastic baits and in the evening 29 fish ( back side of Cranes beach , in the Castle Neck River), some nice fish mixed in , low 20's. About 100 yds off the sand bar of the Essex river mouth has really opened up...all the way to the green can, and then east towards the red/white can off the Annisquam river mouth, there are just acres of blitzing bass and birds...I was fishing my 20 foot Maritime Skiff, on May 25th we landed about 60 fish ( my brother and I ), with some really nice fish in the high 20's, 4 to be exact.....and then on May 28th, we got somewhere in the high 70's, not so many big fish that morning though...the tide was going out on both days, but I don’t think it had to much effect on the fish....we fished both days , starting at about 4 in the morning , and fishing till about 8 in the morning, when most of the blitzes " shut down " it also seemed, that the fish would start blitzing around the Essex, and as the morning progressed it moved towards the Annisquam, then everything stopped...same thing both days, .....we where using the same plastics, also the same plastics but in bigger size, and a 3 1 /2 inch Gags Grabber " schoolie popper " that has a blue head and white body.
Spent some time watching the guys out on Joppa flats, lot’s of boats and from what I could see from shore, there were fish being taken. I fished the Parker from kayak and took a nice bunch of schoolies on the fly. I heard a report that the guys fishing Grape Is. were doing very well. It appears that the striper fishing is off to a real great start just about everywhere in our area. The Merrimack River is close to normal in flow and color. Another week and it will be normal. The fishing has been getting better with each passing day. Stripers are being taken in all areas of the river from Joppa flats on up to the Lawrence dam. The Shad fishing is also in full swing at Rocks village on up to the Lawrence dam. Some very nice sized Shad up to 7 lbs have been taken. Be aware that there is a full ban on taking river herring or having them in your possession. I know that several fisherman were bagged by the state Environmental Police up in the Lawrence area. I fished the candy house flats on Monday and Tuesday. The numbers of fish there was incredible! I hooked a fish on seven of ten casts both days. I landed several fish that were 25” or better, all on flies. The fishing pressure was light and I only fished the last two hours of the outgoing tide. I returned to the flats on Thursday and Friday to find that the large numbers fish from earlier in the week had disappeared. I managed maybe a dozen fish both days, fishing the same part of the tide. Judging by the reports from Porter and Jim, it looks like the majority of the fish are moving northward, as expected. But at this time of year, I expect new schools of fish to be moving into the Annisquam system on a regular basis. I have had reports of 40+ inch fish being taken on cut bait inside Gloucester harbor. Beginning this week, I will be fishing the Merrimack regularly. So for next week, expect my first hand report on the striper fishing up on the Merrimack.
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