Rhode Island, 8/27/05

1. BAY: Conimicut Point offers the best fluke fishing in the Bay, said Ken Ferrara of Ray's Bait & Tackle. The waters off Newport and Warwick Light also hold fluke, but Conimicut is the place to be, he said. The waters off Dutch Island also have fine fluke fishing, especially for anglers using live mummichogs, said John Littlefield of Archie's Bait & Tackle.
2. Surf fisherman John Lisi has been catching 30- to 35-pound bass nightly at Beavertail Point, said David Henault of Ocean State Tackle. Lisi casts eels and plugs between 1 and 7 a.m. Small bass are biting in the waters around Patience and Prudence islands, and there should be larger fish striking tube-and-worm rigs off Annawan Cliffs, Rose Island and Goat Island, where Ferrara planned to fish yesterday afternoon. In the upper Bay, bass are taking clam worms off Crescent Park in Riverside and the White Church Bridge in Barrington, said Littlefield. Schoolies have been nailing poppers at India Point and Collier Park in Providence, said Henault.
3. He recommended Sabin Point and Wickford Town Beach for catching blues between 3 and 5 pounds. Snapper blues are biting in the Providence River. The limit is 10 fish per day.
4. BEACHES AND SALT PONDS: Fishing a mile off Newport this week, Mike Macaulay caught an 8-pound mahi on a small Kastmaster.
5. Bass fishing has improved for boaters on the reefs off Washington County, said Ron Mouchon of Breachway Bait & Tackle, but you have to get your bait past all the big bluefish that have moved inshore. Al Stockton fished with Mouchon on Wednesday morning and took two bass, including a 33-pounder, as well as several large blues. They were fishing the reefs off Charlestown. For fly fishermen, the bass bite is almost a guarantee early in the morning at Napatree and Sandy points in Little Narragansett Bay, said Bill McEvoy of King Cove Outfitters. He also said that bass are herding baitfish in Cemetery Cove on the Pawcatuck River.
6. Tuesday, Mark Stockton took a bonito during a bluefish blitz just outside the Charlestown Breachway. Beardy Brown has been catching bonito on Deadly Dicks and other small metal lures off South County's beaches, said Bob Neilson of Wildwood Outfitters. "The avenues in Narragansett are holding fish, especially bluefish, during the day," Neilson said.
7. Fluke fishing is consistent, but relatively slow. Neilson has been catching them on whole squid with a live minnow in 40 to 50 feet of water off the center wall of the Harbor of Refuge. The sea-bass bite there is improving. Fluke fishing is getting better off the Pink House in Misquamicut, said McEvoy.
8. Scup fishing is excellent from Narragansett to Stonington, Conn., but the fluke fishing has slowed.
9. OFFSHORE: Anglers fishing aboard Fred Bowman's charter boat, Bottom Line, caught two mako sharks Tuesday. Bowman said he started the day trolling, but caught the fish after establishing a chum slick near the 750 line. Bill Sousa, fishing aboard Big Boy II, caught a 60-pound wahoo on the south side of the Dump this week, according to Elisa Jackman of Snug Harbor Marina. She said that mahi are biting in the same area.
10. Offshore fishing has been inconsistent generally, Jackman said, although the Fish Tails and Hudson Canyon have produced some yellowfin tuna and swordfish. Anglers have been catching yellowfin in the 500 square, Jackman said. Tuesday, Craig Snow of Block Island Fishworks covered about 600 square miles of water in a small airplane and didn't see any fish. Bowman said there is plenty of bait and clean water offshore, but gamefish are scarce, and when you do find them, they're concentrated in very small pods.
11. BLOCK ISLAND:Fishing with JM Swienton and John Swienton of Twin Maples Tuesday evening, Lauren Sheehan of Lincoln caught one striper after another on poppers right off Black Rock. "They would not touch an eel," John Swienton said, "but you'd throw a popper, and as soon as it hit the water, they were all over it." His son, JM, caught one fish that measured 50 inches. They were fishing over 17 to 24 feet of water, starting at about 6:45 p.m. "It was phenomenal fishing," the elder Swienton said, "and there was not another boat out there."
12. Bass fishing is great one day, but slow the next, said Snow at Block Island Fishworks. Surf fishermen have been casting pencil poppers and walking plugs to catch fish between 30 and 40 pounds off the south side of the island. Charter boats were catching bass on Southwest Ledge yesterday, said Henault, but they had to work for the fish.
13. Fluke fishing has been pretty good off Charlestown Beach and inside the Coast Guard channel when the boat traffic subsides, and bonito are beginning to appear inside the channel.
    
14. BEST BITES:Narragansett to Stonington by boat: Bass, bluefish, bonito, fluke, scup & Block Island: Striped bass, fluke

Boston Waters, 8/25/05

Cooler days make for hotter fishing - The Boston Globe

Do Me a Favor, Protect my property value, make my stream "ecologically significant"

Of the seven streams that Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bradley M. Campbell has protected from developers by identifying them as "ecologically significant," at least four abut land owned by people with ties to the Democratic Party or to Campbell himself. In one case, Campbell's department banned developers from a stream running through the valley where former U.S. Sen. Robert G. Torricelli owns a circa-1730 Hunterdon County farm. In another case, environmental protections went up along a stream below the home and farm pond owned by Carla Katz, president of Communications Workers of America Local 1034, which represents about 9,000 state workers, including 2,379 of the DEP's 3,450 employees. The DEP also granted Katz an exemption from Highlands Act restrictions to expand and upgrade the 205-year-old farmhouse.

Katz, who earns about $90,000 a year, has been in the news lately after it was disclosed that her former sweetheart, U.S. Sen. Jon S. Corzine, D-N.J., forgave a $470,000 loan to pay off a mortgage on her property. Corzine is running for governor against Republican Doug Forrester and eight third-party or independent candidates, and, should the senator win, would have to negotiate salaries and benefits with his former lover, among others. A top aide to Katz is married to a DEP deputy. They live by a stream in Frenchtown that is also off-limits to developers. In a fourth case, an environmental activist who is a friend of Campbell's wife resides in Stockton. A stream at the north end of town won state protections, helping preserve the town's bucolic image.

A scientific basis. In an interview Tuesday, Campbell stressed that neither politics nor friendships figured in the decisions by his department to protect these streams. He said it was all based on science. "We don't decide whether to include or exclude based on who lives nearby," Campbell stressed. He later added, "This has been a program based very clearly on environmental criteria and science, and not any other consideration." The commissioner, appointed in 2002 by former Gov. James E. McGreevey, said it would make sense that people connected with state government would get to enjoy environmental protections on their Hunterdon County land. Campbell reasoned that the hill country north of Trenton is a DEP priority and is also favored as a place to reside by managers in state government. "Our priority has been to protect the upper reaches of the Delaware. We have protected just about every tributary. . . . And yes, because it is close to Trenton, you can always find state employees who are in that area," said Campbell, who lives in Lambertville.

Willow Pond Farm, with its long driveway and restored stone structures, sits on a forested hillside upcountry from Stockton and Lambertville, sloping down toward the Lockatong Creek, a few hundred yards from where the waterway empties into the Delaware. With the stream's DEP classification as "Category One," it means that Torricelli, who left the Senate amid ethical questions, can look out from his pastoral home there with the assurance his natural vista will be unchanged by any noisy bloom of suburbia. Torricelli did not respond to a request for an interview. Campbell said he never had a single discussion with Torricelli about the Lockatong or its status.

One of the ways a stream can win so-called C1 protections — which under state storm water rules means no new development is allowed within 300 feet of its banks — is to be a healthy habitat for trout. The state says the Lockatong is just that and stocks it with hatchery-raised fish. Mark Dettmar, who operates Delaware River Outfitters, a fly-fishing store and fishing-guide guide service in Pennington, disagrees. "At one time it was a wild trout stream. It had wild trout. It no longer does. It does get stocked. The problem with the Lockatong is it doesn't hold water any more. It dries up," said Dettmar.

Creeks rise to C1 status: Miles to the north, the meandering Harihokake Creek wanders down a leafy valley from a headwaters 100 yards or so beneath Katz's farm pond. Downstream, it flows through the center of Milford, where people feed the flock of ducks. Then, the stream enters the Delaware. "I am completely unaware of this stream. This is news," Katz said Wednesday. South of Milford in Frenchtown is Nishisakawick Creek. Jeff Scott and his wife, Jeanne Herb, have a home and barn on a sort of peninsula where the creek enters the Delaware. Scott is the political director of Katz's union. Herb is Campbell's assistant commissioner for policy, planning and science. A CWA receptionist said Wednesday that Scott is on vacation and unavailable for comment. Until McGreevey quit a year ago, Scott had been in line to become his deputy chief of staff. The Stockton stream is Wickecheoke Creek. Alison Mitchell, policy director for the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, advocated for its C1 status. Campbell said that decision had nothing to do with Mitchell's friendship with Campbell's wife. They married last year. A spokesman for the Conservation Foundation refused Wednesday to pass along requests to Mitchell seeking her comment, saying he first had to know the nature of the story in which she was to be mentioned. Said Campbell of Mitchell, "People aren't disqualified on an issue on the basis of where they live." Environmentalists such as Jeff Tittel of the Sierra Club and David Pringle of the New Jersey Environmental Federation said they are glad to see streams protected.

But Tittel said other stretches of water are at least as worthy of safeguards. "They take care of their friends," said Tittel of DEP. "I'm more concerned with waterways where developers are going to be allowed in," said Pringle. Tittel cited stretches of the Ramapo and Musconetcong rivers. "We asked for about 300 to be protected," he said. Since taking charge at DEP, Campbell has protected stretches of 17 other streams for reasons other than ecological significance. These are because the streams are an "exceptional water supply," such as the Shark River; or because they are labeled just "water supply," such as the Manasquan and Metedeconk rivers. [org pub Asbury Park Press, by Tom Baldwiw]

Rhode Island, 8/15/05

BAY

Schools of skipjack bluefish and immature weakfish have moved into Greenwich Bay, reports Ken Ferrara of Ray's Bait & Tackle. To catch large blues, visit the waters around Halfway Rock and Gould Island in the lower Bay. From "Little" Gould Island to Nannaquaket Pond, there was a huge school of bluefish Wednesday. "It was the biggest school of blues that I've seen since I was a kid," said Joe Latinville of Riverside Marine. There are pods of blues off Barrington, too, but they're too far away for shore fishermen.

In the upper Bay, fluke are biting in the waters off Warwick Light and Conimicut Light where Pam and Frank Tameo are catching large fish on most mornings. John Littlefield of Archie's Bait & Tackle said the bite off Dutch Island is also good, but it's important to use live mummichogs as bait. Large fluke are also biting in the waters near Elbow Ledge and off Sakonnet Point as long as the tide and the breeze are flowing in the same direction. There have been a few reports of good fluke fishing in the mooring field off East Ferry in Jamestown, too.

Small stripers, with an occasional keeper, have been taking clamworms in the morning near the carousel in Riverside and the White Church Bridge in Barrington, said Littlefield. In the lower Bay, bass are taking tube-and-worm rigs off Rose and Goat islands, and on the reefs off Newport.

Scup fishing is good one day and poor the next throughout the Bay. Boaters have the edge over shore fishermen. Among the better spots are General Rock and Plum Point Light off North Kingstown, and Halfway Rock in the East Passage, Ferrara said.

BEACHES AND SALT PONDS

The big blitz of small bluefin tuna peaked on Tuesday and died Wednesday. "With the coming of the full moon, it's hard to predict what those fish will do," said Ferrara. "Some times the moon will turn them on, and other times, it will shut them off." Dean Hoxie and Steve Jordan found the fish off Scarborough Beach Tuesday, according to Don Cameron of Captain Don's Bait & Tackle.

Little tunny have arrived, according to Joe Latinville.

Surf-fishing was slow early this week, but it has been improving with the waxing moon. After fishing the Narragansett surf with Steve McKenna Wednesday night, Bill Nolan sent this report: "Steve and I had seven bass tonight and one bluefish. All the bass were 12 to 15 pounds and all were taken on eels. Things are on the upswing! There are just loads of very small peanut bunker everywhere along with silversides." Cameron said hot surf plugs are yellow Super Strike Darters and Mega Baits.

The bass are still biting for boaters fishing live bait on the reefs from Point Judith in Rhode Island to Fishers Island, N.Y. The reefs are clearly marked on nautical charts; on the water, lobster pots mark many of them.

Fluke fishing is good in the waters off the carousel in Watch Hill to the pink house in Misquamicut, said Don Michaud of King Cove Outfitters. "Fishing 30 to 60 feet of water is the ticket," he said. The bite is also good inside Quonochontaug Pond, said Cameron.

Scup fishing is solid on the reefs off South County and Stonington.

The charter boat Castafly is catching bonito on Zara Spooks off South County.

OFFSHORE

Dave Fewster took a 250-pound mako shark at the south side of the Mud Hole this week, said Al Conti of Snug Harbor Marina. There have been more sharks near the wreck of the Suffolk.

Anglers have been catching albacore and yellowfin tuna at the Fish Tails, Conti said, but there have been more yellowfin over the east side of Atlantis Canyon.

BLOCK ISLAND

The bass bite on Southwest Ledge continues to be steady, Conti said, and the action is improving in the North Rip at night. The charter boat Hula Girl is routinely catching fish between 30 and 40 pounds from Southeast Light to Southwest Light.

When the small bluefin tuna are around, they have been taking Mushmouths and Rays Angels, both big flashy flies, says Chris Willi of Block Island Fishworks.

The fishing vessel Rooster is catching fluke and sea bass on the wrecks around the island, Willi said. Yesterday morning, Susan Estabrook was catching sea bass just off Southwest Light before a dogfish broke her line.

FRESHWATER

The water is so low on the Wood River that stealthy wading is essential, said Ed Lombardo. "The good news is that the water temperature is a healthy 66 degrees," he said. He has been catching trout on imitation wasps, hoppers and beetles. Midges and Blue-Wing Olive mayflies are beginning to appear

BEST BITES

South County Reefs:

Bass, bluefish, possibly bonito and tuna

Block Island:

Bass, fluke, sea bass, possibly tuna

Lower West Passage:

Bass, bluefish, scup

THE TIDES

The moon causes tides and affects the activity of saltwater and freshwater fish as well as animals on land. Anglers generally find the best fishing two hours before and after a high tide, but fish and other animals also become active around the time of low tide. This table shows the height of tides in feet at Castle Hill near the mouth of Narragansett Bay. Recreational shellfishermen prefer to dig for clams when the tides are lowest, shown on the chart as "minus tides."

Boston Waters, 8/19/05

After all that infernal heat, the nights have cooled down, and many old salts attribute the improved fishing in the Northeast to the cooler water. But in some areas, the bait has also improved and, generally speaking, the best fishing in midsummer is still at night, and still using live eels. There's plenty of evidence that striped bass forage for eels at night, sometimes close to docks, rivermouths, and in shallows over flats. Bluefish also continue to hit and miss, often early morning near shore, heralded by wheeling terns and gulls.

Area A: Much of the previously hot striper water in Maine and New Hampshire has slowed precipitously in the last week or so. But some stripers still come up at night around Saco Bay and the rivermouth, and the offshore ledges are still producing cod and haddock. Bluefin tuna is still the fascination offshore at Stellwagen. Piscataqua River and Great Bay are slow, and live eels at night account for most of the action. Out over the Canyons, big-time sport boats are doing well with southern migrants such as yellowfin tuna and white marlin.

Area B: Salem and the Parker and Danvers rivers have some small fish, and one angler off Singing Beach (a quarter-mile offshore) took a 38-inch striper this week. Some fluke at Point of Pines with bluefish showing lately off the B-buoy. Also, better action at Faun Bar and Great Brewster. A couple of big striper catches around the outer harbor at Boston Light, down at Bumpkin. A few smelts starting to show up in Boston and Hull, and they will be pursued. Across at Stellwagen, the bluefin (football) tuna action is still on, with a few small bluefish.

Area C: Relatively slow on the previously red-hot ledgewater along the South Shore, but nighttime anglers with live eels are doing well around Minots and Grampus, the Glades, and the Scituate beaches to the North River mouth. Action in Duxbury Bay to Plymouth and Kingston has picked up, with good, steady action on fish in the mid-20s. One guy hooked a 4-foot tiger shark off the Powder Point Bridge.

Area D: The Canal has improved for medium striped bass and some small blues providing topwater action. At the Buzzards end, the scup are holding strong with fluke at Mashnee, and a mix of small blues. The Elizabeths have some of the best striper fishing -- live eels again. One sailing friend reports seeing a sea turtle the size of his 9-foot inflatable dinghy -- a reminder that many visitors from the tropics abound in our waters, including false albacore and bonito.

Area E: The south Cape beaches are not too hot, but the water just offshore in Nantucket Sound -- especially the banks -- has a mix of small to medium game fish. Decent action at Wasque and the waters to Tuckernuck Shoals. Also check out Nomans on the other side.

Area F: Some decent bluefishing off the National Seashore, from Nauset to Newcomb Hollow and Cahoon Hollow. Some small blues inside off First Encounter and Kingsbury beaches, Pamet Harbor at Truro, Long Point Light, and Wood End.

Staten Island Striper Hotspots

Here's the hotspots from the article:

1) Old Orchard Lighthouse: Open bottom area around Old Orchard Lighthouse (GPS coordinates 40.51170/74.100000) east of Great Kills Harbor. This historic lighthouse is about three miles off the beach and is visible from the shoreline of Gateway National Park, which is adjacent to Great Kills. The 50- foot conical, white steel structure was built in 1893 and still has an active beacon, according to the National Lighthouse Museum. This hotspot can only be fished by boat. The best way to get there is to launch at Great Kills Park, head out of the inlet and travel southeast. The lighthouse will be visible on the horizon.
2) Lemon Creek & Great Kills: offshore of the beach houses, areas around Lemon Creek and entrance to Great Kills harbor at Great Kills Park.
3) Prince's Bay, the small cove that Lemon Creek empties into.
4) Round Shoal: look for small dropoffs over open bottoms. Round Shoal is across Reach Channel from Prince's Bay. From Lemon Creek, bear left into Prince's Bay heading south, cross the Reach Channel (buoy marker 33) and you're on Round Shoal.
5) Prince's Bay: The area is known as the Mount Loretto Unique Area (located off Hyland Blvd. close to Verrazona Bridge).
6) Great Kills Harbor area: including the back and the mouth. Bunker gather at the moth and can be snagged for bait. The sandbar along the mouth, the narrow channel leading into the harbor. From the beach, cast plugs and cut bunker, also try, jelly worms tipped with live sandworms.
7) Ocean Breeze Fishing Pier at Midland Beach is at Father Capodanno Boulevard and Seaview Avenue. Follow Hylan Boulevard to Midland Avenue. Turn right on Midland and then turn left at Father Capodanno Boulevard, then make a quick right, which leads to a well-marked sign for the pier and parking, according to DeBenedetto. Free.
8) Pier One on the east side of the Ferry Terminal. The deep shipping channels nearby attract big stripers. Take the Staten Island Expressway to Bay Street and follow it to the Staten Island Ferry. Park at the public parking lot for the ferry, where a nominal fee is charged.

The two public boat launches:
- The free Lemon Creek ramp can be reached by taking Hylan Boulevard to Sharrots Road.
- Great Kills Park launching is free, but you have to pay for parking.

Rhode Island

BAY
Striped bass and bluefish have been biting in the waters off Conimicut Point, says David Henault of Ocean State Tackle. The action peaks between 4:30 and 6:30 a.m. Otherwise, it's dead in the heat of the day. John Lisi caught stripers up to 42 inches between midnight and 4 a.m. Tuesday at Beavertail Point. He was casting eels.

BEACHES AND SALT PONDS
"The big news continues to be the inshore bluefin tuna," writes Bob Neilson of Wildwood Outfitters. "Twenty- to 40-pounders are the norm with larger fish mixed in. They are chasing small fish, so metal lures -- such as Deadly Dicks, Kastmasters, Crippled Herring and l-Jacks -- are working. The fish are all over the place from Scarborough to Westerly. Just a reminder that permits are needed. The penalties for not having one are a fine up to $10,000 fine and your boat." Mike Neto caught 12 of the little bluefin about four miles off Newport, said Henault. He was using jigs and Tsunami plugs.

"Fluking has been hot right off the Center Wall of the Harbor of Refuge with fish up to 12 pounds being caught," said Neilson. "Mike McVeigh was out fluking and caught many skates which, he says, are surprisingly good table fare." Fluke fishing is also good off the Pink House in Misquamicut, says Bill McEvoy of King Cove Outfitters. Off Isabella Beach on Fishers Island, an angler caught two big fluke; one weighed 8.75 pounds and the other 9.5 pounds, McEvoy said. Wading anglers are catching fluke in the channel of Quonochontaug Pond, says Cameron. They're using small jigs with live mummichogs on the ebb tide.

Janice Lachance caught a 54-pound striped bass this week, according to Ron Mouchon of Breachway Bait & Tackle. Dan Lacroix caught his limit of stripers in 20 minutes Wednesday; he was fishing live bait at the one of the reefs off Charlestown with Mouchon. Keeper-size bass are biting in Quonochontaug Breachway and off the Weekapaug Fire District very early in the morning, said Don Cameron of Captain Don's Bait & Tackle. Here's an odd one: Angela Kelly caught a 20-pound striper on a tube-and-worm rig that she was casting in the surf. Tube rigs are made for trolling.

Mouchon reports that "acres and acres" of 4-pound bluefish have moved into the waters off Washington County's beaches. Scup are scarce off Point Judith, but they abound off Westerly and Stonington, Conn., according to McEvoy.

OFFSHORE
Ray Lasky and Steve Tezner had a 30-pound albacore on the line at the Fish Tales this week. The fish was almost close enough to the boat to grab the leader when a 600-pound blue marlin surfaced and inhaled the tuna. "They were still shaking the next day," said Al Conti of Snug Harbor Marina.

Not much is happening until you get 60 miles offshore, he said. Then the action is spotty with yellowfin, albacore and marlin on the bite.

BLOCK ISLAND
The North Rip has been producing a lot of striped bass for anglers fishing eels, said Neilson. The action on Southwest Ledge is still strong, according to Conti.

Aboard Wayward Sun, Mike Arsenault is catching mahi-mahi south of the island.

TUNA TALK
Three readers criticized last week's Fishing Report for saying that fishing for the small bluefin tuna is a catch-and-release proposition unless you have a federal permit. The readers noted that a federal regulation says it is illegal to even target bluefins without a permit. It's one of those rules created by bureaucrats who expect enforcement agents to be mind readers: If you're casting a Deadly Dick, Kastmaster or Crippled Herring, who is to say that you're targeting bluefins? At this time of year, metal lures are popular for catching bluefish, bonito, little tunny, and striped bass. If you do want a permit, it is available for $22 online at www.nmfspermits.com.

FRESHWATER
Jim Allen caught a 26-inch carp at Roger Williams Park in Providence this week, said David Henault of Ocean State Tackle.

Tom Babbitt landed a 5-pound largemouth at Canada Pond, the pond alongside Route 146 in Providence. On Stump Pond in Smithfield, bass as large as 4 pounds have been striking shiners.

BEST BITES
South County reefs:
Bass, bluefin tuna, bluefish
Block Island:
Striped bass, fluke
Providence County ponds:
Largemouth bass

Gear up for football bluefins

Because of all the lore about the giant bluefin tuna of decades past, the fish pushing weights of half a ton, inshore and coastal anglers sometimes exclude themselves from the fairly new excitement in our waters of schoolie ''football" bluefins, which often fall in the sub-hundred-pound range. No, your regular striper and bluefish gear is not quite enough to handle these powerful swimmers (picture an 80-pound striped bass on the gear you've got), but it's certainly not hard to gear up and get into the fun.

For example, you'll want at least 50-pound mono (or braid) and 100-pound shock leaders. Fast trolling lures and wet flies and even popping plugs work when you find footballs in a surface feeding frenzy.

Area A: In northern waters, the chase for footballs is going on from around Isle of Shoals out to Jeffrey's Ledge, Tantas and Platt's Ledges, and Cape Porpoise. The ledges have also been hanging in with the usual variety of groundfish -- cod, haddock, and pollock -- still going strong. Though there's not much bait around, the Piscataqua River has some decent striper catches lately. The bluefish concentration has been around Saco River to the islands of Casco Bay.

Area B: Stripers have picked up just a bit this week, though most local anglers are still heading offshore, across to Stellwagen. North of the city, around Point of Pines, the fluke fishing has been steady. Stripers found in the Mystic River responding to chunk bait. Stripers also at Faun Bar and taken mostly at night around the outer islands.

Area C: As reported in recent weeks, the bass and blue fishing has been tepid at best, with blues hitting intermittently and bass remaining deep and rather finicky. Yours truly did run into some decent fluke yesterday around Duxbury and Plymouth Bays. The channel in front of Saquish heading down the beach has some response of late, as does the east side of the channel leading past Clarks Island.

Area D: Not much action from the east end of the canal. The west end has some scup, with fluke out at Mashnee, and some small false albacore in the mix. Some action in Buzzards Bay, but anglers fishing nights and mornings are doing best.

Area E: Bonito have shown up in these waters, and, with false albacore, change the whole cast of fishing -- as usually happens from midsummer on. Use light gear and, of course, on leaders for bonito and just hope your lure doesn't get bagged by a stray bluefish.

Area F: A few bluefish blitz reported along the back beaches in the early morning calms. Marconi Beach and Newcomb's Hollow had a fair amount of fishing this midweek. P-town and Herring Cove are still the best bets in this region. [The Boston Globe, by Tony Chamberlain]

Surf Fishing at Sunset & Sunrise

Magic hours fishing has all the advantages associated with fishing at sunrise, with a lot fewer anglers on the beach. The low light levels make the surf an active feeding zone for all types of predators.

Fishing the surf is always an adventure. The variables involved and the challenges that anglers must overcome are simply overwhelming. One of the many decisions that anglers have to make is when to fish.

Although fish can be caught at any time of the day or night, the consensus among surf anglers is that certain times provide the optimum opportunities to succeed. If surfcasters were polled as to their favorite time of day to fish, no doubt the results would show a definite preference for the early morning hours around sunrise.

Low-light conditions around dawn provide great feeding opportunities for predators that like to ambush unwary prey before the rising sunlight drives them into deeper water.

As an angler, it is also nice to get your licks in early and then have the rest of the day to do whatever else has to be done in our busy lives today.

Of course, fishing the surf at dawn has a built-in bonus: viewing spectacular sunrises. Even when the fish are not cooperative, the sight of the sun rising above the eastern horizon is an impressive sight that even the most veteran surfcasters never tire of seeing.

Many surf anglers are either unaware of or fail to take advantage of another opportune time of day to ply their trade: dusk. The conditions found along the shoreline at dawn reappear around sunset — but in reverse order. Instead of sunlight coming up, daylight gradually degrades into full darkness.

The hour before dawn and the two hours afterward are the most popular with anglers working the early morning shift. Later in the day, the two hours before dusk and the hour afterward (before complete darkness takes over) are prime time. I have found that there is something magical about fishing as the sun is going down, when predators dare to come into the surf to begin their overnight feeding on the abundant bait found in the wash.

Most surfcasters I know love to work the surf in relative solitude, with as few anglers on the beach squeezing their space as possible. If you fit this profile, then the magic hours of fishing around sunset are for you. You will find lots of elbow room and plenty of action under conditions that are very similar to those found at the same shoreline spots around the cherished sunrise hours.

Magic hours fishing is an option for the three seasons of the year that state anglers are able to work our saltwater waterways. During the spring striped bass run (when the fishing begins back in the rivers and bays), fishing later in the day is a decided advantage over early morning fishing. Water temperature often decides whether sluggish striped bass feed or remain inactive in this early season fishery. After a sunny day, the warmth generated on the shallow flats from the rays of the sun often spikes marginal water temperatures upward and in so doing energize stripers to eat. If you can match magic hours fishing with the time of high tide, expect good results.

One of the reasons the summer is not the best season for surf fishing is because the high water temperatures found along our coasts at that time tend to keep predators off their feed and in deeper water during the daylight hours. If you factor in all the bathers competing for shoreline space during the summer months, even gaining access to favorite fishing spots is tough during the daytime.

Except for fluke, sea robins, and shots of small bluefish, the daytime surf is relatively quiet all summer anyway.

Focus your efforts on fishing dawn and dusk, however, and your odds of encountering bigger bluefish, striped bass, an occasional weakfish, and even sporadic shots of such exotic species as Spanish mackerel, cow-nosed rays, bonito and false albacore are significantly increased.

As bathers leave the beaches late in the day, anglers regain access to the shoreline. With fading light levels and with diminishing winds, the surf often becomes very settled — on the surface. Underwater activity, however, can be hectic.

As daylight fades, bathing areas again become feeding zones for predators who return to the surf shallows to feast upon the baitfish hugging the shoreline and those seeking shelter around any underwater structure. Most species — especially the southern exotics like false albacore — are sight feeders so they use these low light conditions to their hunting advantage. Bluefish and bass can feed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but still find low-light conditions favorable to their ambush tactics.

Given a choice, I prefer to fish lures rather than bait. Still, I use whatever catches fish. In the springtime, I fish bait almost exclusively. During the summer and fall, I feel lures give me the best chance to hook up with some nice fish. Magic hours angling around dusk (two hours before sunset, one hour after) provides some great opportunities during the summer months to present my lures.

My best surf success during the first half of the summer is with bluefish and striped bass. They respond well in low-light situations to metal jigs, surface poppers and even swimming plugs. If a northeast chop is pounding the shoreline, I'll even revert to fishing clams in hopes of picking up an aggressive striper the roiled surf has stirred into action.

With the arrival of August, surf action begins to heat up around dawn and dusk. The species mix now includes the ever-present bluefish and stripers as well as Spanish mackerel. High water temperature and lots of bait in the wash also begin to draw false albacore into the surf from offshore waters.

An impressive false albacore run beginning in late August and lasting until mid-October in recent years has really spiced up late summer surf fishing. It is very difficult to get these southern speedsters to strike metal lures because of their extraordinary eyesight, but anglers have the best odds of doing so in the low-light conditions found around dawn and dusk.

Lots of anglers like to work the late August shoreline for fluke during the evening hours. The fluke they encounter are looking for that last meal before moving out into deeper water after fattening up all summer in inland waters. Using bucktail jigs or flutter baits, they do well as the fluke use the failing light to their advantage in ambushing prey right in the wash.

The best surf fishing of the season begins after Labor Day. As the daylight hours get shorter and nights get chillier, baitfish instinctively begin to school up and move out onto the oceanfront where they hug the shoreline on their long southern journey. The presence of these forage fish in the wash is the magnet that draws all kinds of predators into the surf during the fall run.

As the autumn migration gets under way, terrific blitzes of bluefish can take place at almost anytime but dawn and dusk seem to be the most common times for such spectacles to take place. These blitzes can attract crowds of anglers who lose all sense of reason as they try to get in on the action and maximize their catch. With all the lures and hooks flying about, caution must be exercised so as to avoid getting hurt. At the very least, anglers frequently get their lines tangled up with other surfcasters — an all-too-common annoyance along a crowded shoreline when the blues are blitzing.

With a lot fewer anglers on the beach in the hours late in the day, you can fish even a full-blown bluefish blitz in relative safety and with plenty of room to fight your fish. Fishing a blitz under these ideal conditions hardly ever happens around sunrise, or even during the midday hours.

When working lures in the late summer/early fall surf, I have a pattern I follow as the light level falls. I begin with metal jigs like Luhr Jensen's Crippled Herring and their Krocodile spoon, the Gibbs Minnow, the A17 diamond jig, and O.B. Fish Company's Brandy's Minnow. While the light is still up, I also like to work surface popping plugs like MegaBait's Bubble Pop, Tsunami Lures' Talkin Popper, and Atom's Striper Swiper.

Once the light gets low, I switch to surface swimming plugs like Mann's Super Stretch 1-Minus, Bomber's A-Salt and Luhr Jensen's Javelin Shallow Runner.

With the sun setting in the west, you do not need sunglasses while fishing the summer's magic hours. You can also skip the sunscreen as the sun's rays are not as penetrating as they are during the heat of the day. Do bring bug repellent, though, as flies and mosquitoes can be a problem.

Once all the other species (except for an occasional bluefish) have departed for southern waters, striped bass close out the surf season. Beginning in early November, these glorious fish can be caught around dawn, dusk and during the overnight hours until sometime in late December.

Magic hours fishing is a great time to tangle with these fish but different tactics are used from when they opened the fishing season way back in March. Lures, rather than bait, are the way to go.

Most of my late-season striper fishing is done with swimming plugs. My most effective plug colors late in the season range from bright shades in daylight to black in complete darkness.

For example, as dusk approaches I first use a yellow Javelin Shallow Runner, later switch to a school bus (black back/yellow body) color A-Salt, and finish with a black Super Stretch 1-Minus. It is important to retrieve your plugs very slowly since these end-of-the-season bass respond best to slow-moving targets in the late season cold water.

Conditions during this final stage of the season are pretty harsh for even veteran surfcasters. It is at this time that surf fishing closely resembles the personal satisfaction of finishing a marathon: just trying to catch striped bass and surviving the elements are almost as important as actually landing any.

Depending on the season when you fish the magic hours, always dress for the conditions you will encounter. Waders keep you warm as well as dry. A slicker, warm clothes and gloves are often the difference between fishing and giving up. It is a good idea to have some kind of small flashlight (or head light) to assist you when darkness takes over.

Always observe posted parking restrictions; have any nighttime fishing passes required (such as at Sandy Hook and other parks statewide) affixed to your vehicle.

Magic hours fishing is a great time to catch fish in the surf throughout the long fishing season. You won't find lots of other anglers vying for space on beaches, jetties, and sea walls; you will find the fishing to be at least as good as that found around sunrise, or at any other time.

There's nothing magical about catching fish during this special time. You simply have to be there within the prescribed time frame. Your fishing instincts will take care of the rest. [Org Pub. Asbury Park Press, by Allen D. Riley]

Fishing off Pier A in Hoboken, NJ

On the north side of Hoboken's Pier A, a few miles south of the traffic-soaked George Washington Bridge, stands Herbie. He's facing toward midtown Manhattan, with the Empire State Building still reflecting summer sun even though it's near 7 p.m. Orientation is important to Herbie while he's fishing. "This spot's good," Herbie says, glancing side to side to ensure no other angler is within hearing range. "Got a 33 inch blue fish last week," Herbie adds with a conspiratorial whisper. "Right here."

Fishing life Just yards away, a disheveled man curses at a semi-submerged baseball cap floating along the Hudson's incoming western tide. He utters his last lurid oath at the drowning hat and trudges off. Herbie chuckles and shakes his head. He has coal black eyes, a wispy tuft of a black mustache, and a soft, inviting, well-tanned face. He's 64, lives in Patterson, New Jersey, and travels to Pier A to fish whenever he can get the free time. He comes in the evening, around dusk, when the fishing is best.

Herbie jams the butt of his thick, fiberglass fishing pole under his right underarm and deftly ties a red and white colored plastic bobber, a triangular metal sinker, and a gruesomely curved hook at the end of the almost transparent line. Herbie pulls a curled slab of bloody fish out of a shallow white bucket near his feet. He jabs it on the hook, wheels back the rod, and lets loose with a cast that propels the bait far enough into the water that one can barely make out the splash.

"You got to get it out there where they're swimming," Herbie says. According to Herbie, he hasn't caught many blues off the pier, but he caught a 35-inch striped bass a few weeks ago that was delicious. "The big ones come in from the ocean," says Herbie. "They're just passing through, so they're clean. I made steaks out of it and put it on the barbeque."

Bait Herbie and most of the other fishermen use bunker for bait. According to Ronald and Robert Loehwing, Hoboken residents, Moe's Bait & Tackle in Jersey City is the best place for bait. Ronald, a lifetime resident of Hoboken, has been fishing for 25 years. He fishes for recreation several nights a week after work and on the weekend. According to Ronald, the summer months are slow for fishing, with an average of a fish a day. However, in September and October, the number jumps to four or five fish a day. Ronald said most nights, there at least six or seven fishermen, but on weekends there can be as many as 150 rods in the water. He has caught striped bass, blue fish, fluke, and flounder. Recently Ronald caught a 3-foot striped bass; yet, that isn't the biggest he's caught off the pier.

Robert, Ronald's brother, has caught several bass that were tagged from the Hudson River Foundation. The tags are worth $5 to $1,000, with one for $100,000. Robert's tags were worth $10. According to him, some guys fish just to try to find $100,000 bass.

According to the brothers, they eat most of what they catch, but they wouldn't eat the crabs because they feed from the bottom. There are clear lines between the fishermen and the guys who crab. "I would never eat crabs from here," said Herbie. "They eat everything that's on the bottom. No way would I eat those. But people do. They eat them right up."

Crabbing Further down on the pier, away from the fishermen there was a man crabbing with three traps in the water, each affixed to a white piece of rope knotted to the pier's railing. He stands next to two companions. One has slits for eyes and a careless swath of thick silver hair, and looks quite inebriated. They're each wearing worn football jerseys and soiled jeans shorts. The taller one is missing a row of front teeth. The short one is barefoot. The men are crabbing for blue claw crabs. The barefoot man says he doesn't eat the crabs they catch, but his buddy does.

"They're good," says the toothless man. He smiles wide, his gums shining in the still strong light. "Nothing wrong with them crabs." Apparently, crabs aren't as particular as fish; they will eat an assortment of items. "Anything that's gone rotten - bunker, chicken necks, calamari," says the toothless man. The drunk nudges his head back in and says, "You a game warden? We ain't taking no short crabs."

At the end of the pier, there's a man lounging in a folding chair, his sandaled feet up on the rail, and a fishing rod to his immediate right. When asked if he had any luck, the man tilted his head, smiled and said "yup." "What did you catch?" I ask. "Blues, stripers, crabs maybe." "Not a thing," he answers. "Oh, I thought you said you had some luck." He smiles wider and says, "I did. My wife let me go fishing tonight."