Starting in April, 2020, there were a few very successful haddock trips, not too far out of Boston and it seemed there would be no end to the fish. That is until the Governor shut down charter operations for the end of April through most all of May. What could I do? I went flounder fishing! Flounder fishing with Ron, flounder fishing with my wife, flounder fishing with Armindo (he is like my wife)....
The thing is, the fishing was nothing short of GREAT but I couldn't put my customers on them. We were getting "easy limits" in an hour or two most of the time (my wife does not like to be on the water much more than two hours and most of the trips with her we had the limit and we released a bunch, in spite of the short trip lengths).
Then, near the end of May I was able to take clients again but the fishing seemed "off" after a few good days.
There was nothing I could put my finger on and we did get limits still on most trips but something was not right. "The tell" was in between the good/great trips, there were some trips where we couldn't buy a bite. It seemed that the fish all but disappeared overnight at times. But it went like that for a few weeks, many consecutive good trips and then a bust or two.
However by mid June it was easy to see that something was very wrong. Typically the fish move out near the ocean around the end of June and early July but not this year. By mid June it was as if all the fish in the harbor were ready to run to the ocean as the water temps in Boston Harbor got "August hot" in just a few days. It was the fastest and most severe temperature spike I have ever seen!
The end of June is typically a great time for flounder fishing Quincy most years but this year, my last flounder trip was on June 25th with the few days leading up to it being quite dismal. I believe we had between 13 and 24 fish for each trip leading up to the 25th. On that Thursday, we tried three "ocean spots" that should have held flounder that "should" pause there on their way out to cooler water. We didn't even get a bite!
On my last spot "out there" I saw on my GPS that I was less than 9 miles from where I had done well on haddock about 5 days earlier so I said to "the crew," Ya wanna get some haddock? We ended up with 45 haddock in very short order and I heard that the haddock stayed at that inshore location all summer and well into the fall! Onward to Westport!
Westport, Ma. 2020
Little Sister launched in Westport just around the first of July and we got into a nice run of fluke right away. Not monsters but plenty of keepers and fish in the 4-6 pound range only a mile out the river-it was nice! Then, all it took was for one little dragger to make a few passes and there were no fluke to be found in the area for the rest of the season.
Fortunately, there were so many sea bass and they were so big that we hardly had the time or the inclination to sweat it much. In fact, the sea bass fishing was so strong all summer, both inshore and farther out that I doubt there were more than three trips the whole season where we did not get the full boat limit!
Bluefish and stripers were a bit of a disappointment around Westport as well as the fluke fishing off Noman's and Sakonnet/Newport though there were a few trips where we did catch "OK." There were also some "very fun and very busy" scup trips where we filled all the boxes with both scup and sea bass. I guess you can call that "meat fishing!" I know Tony and his friends spent 3 days cleaning fish (I don't clean scup)...
Coxes Ledge, The Trench and The Hills were all very active with a mix of bottom fish. Flounder, cod, scup and sea bass (OH MY) were to be had in "good to great number." There were also many of those trips that conditions allowed for up to cast at high-flyers for mahi with excellent results! The "spot lock feature" on the trolling motor allows for holding the boat quietly at the perfect distance for casting without spooking the fish that are hanging out on the spot. The perfect tool for the job!
And then came the blackfish...
Actually, I had been bringing green crabs out in limited supply most of the summer with "mixed results." There were some nice tog around the whole time but getting them, through all the scup, cunners and small sea bass was a challenge to say the least. I was the one who was mostly "fooling around" targeting tog (blackfish) while most everyone else was fishing for sea bass. I did catch some very impressive sea bass on the crab baits but for the most part, I caught far less sea bass to perhaps catch a keeper tog or two. I did enjoy the summer though and would hope to repeat the same in 2021!
For the fall, when we finally stopped bringing the clams for the sea bass (the sea bass season was extended for charter boats because of the spring charter boat shut down) we got really serious with the tog. When the limits went up to 5 per person on 10/15 we had no problem getting the limits most of the time. The few exceptions can be attributed to weather issues, which we did have a few of but for the most part, it was an excellent and very productive fall blackfish season for both bait rigs and jig fishing. Interestingly, most of our tog trips also included a cod (or two)!
2021!
I'm going to leave the prices as they were in 2020. Open boat trips will be $125/person/5 hours inshore and charters will have a base price of $500/5 hours for up to 4 persons. Extra persons and extra hours are at $100 each. Offshore trips or longer open boat trips will also cost a little extra (haddock out of Quincy, Coxes Ledge, The Hills, The Trench, Noman's Island, etc.)
We will be starting the season off out of Marina Bay from Mid April to Mid May with haddock fishing about one hour out where we have done quite well the past couple of seasons. As we get into May we will mix more and more flounder fishing into the schedule and by May 10th I plan on being on a full Quincy Flounder schedule of two trips/day, 6-11am and then noon-5pm. Tuesday and Thursday morning trips will be open boat trips (by reservation only). As always, bait and tackle are provided at no extra cost but you are welcome to bring your own stuff if that is what you prefer.
Little Sister will be looking to Launch in Westport around the beginning of July and we should look forward to that great fishing there again for the summer. Tripps Marina "says" they will be improving my dock slip over this winter to make for easier access but if that does not work out, I can continue to utilize the Gas Dock for coming and going.
Note that I have my 2021 Book and I am/have been taking 2021 reservations. In particular, if you need weekend dates for Quincy Flounder, those are very limited and you should schedule your trip as soon as you can.
Always feel free to email any questions to: fishinglsister@aol.com
Do not reply to this email (Littlessister1) address as it will "go nowhere"...
I wish you and your family a Great Holiday Season and Happy (and Fishy) New Year!
Captain Jason Colby
Little Sister Charters
fishinglsister@aol.com
617-755-3740
http://www.littlesister1.com
