Observations, Reflections, and Lessons Learned of the Northshore MA 2022 Saltwater Fishing Season
Whelp, that's a wrap, folks! Sadly, I pulled my Pair Custom last weekend, and she is officially hibernating until next April. I still have another trip to Rhode Island for some toggin' in November planned and may switch over to some sweet water in the meantime. Still, my Merrimack River/Ipswich Bay season is essentially over for all intents and purposes. The 2022 saltwater season on the north shore of MA was full of surprises compared to recent years. I learned a few new techniques, reimagined some old-school tactics, and became more intimate with areas where I had to fish much more than I typically do. I have some random thoughts, ideas, and reflections from the 2022 season from what I saw running charters nearly every day from June - August.
Early Season Big Bass - The early striper bite was fire this year, but with a twist. A ridiculous amount of "over" fish showed up hungry around Memorial Day, where I caught my first over 40" for the season (45") on a Jigging Spoon. The great bite continued throughout mid/late June, with the most consistent bait for my clients this year being 6-inch or 7-inch Sluggo on a 1 oz jig head. We had a few on topwater, with the Nomad Sinking Riptide being a super versatile bait that yielded some impressive catches. One change I made this season was dropping my mainline braid on my spinning reels from 30# to 15# to get lighter jig heads down faster. I believe the line change was a significant reason for Mike and me finding such great success.
Stationary Haddock fishing > Drifting - Our haddock season was, once again, insanely productive. Typically, most of my haddock fishing has been on the drift, but this season I focused more on spots that have been good to me and utilizing my Minn Kota Ulterra's Spot Lock feature to get us to "anchor." When anchored on small pieces of structure, we were hammering quality and quantity of haddock. If we didn't limit out by the tide change, we would putt around slowly and find the school again and anchor right on top of them. I'm convinced that the scent of the clams/squid attracts the school to come right under the boat, like a mini chum slick. Having the trolling motor certainly makes this process a breeze. Early in April, the redfish we were getting were absolute monsters. It only sucked when I had to fillet 40 or 50 of them!
Slow Pitch Jigging for Haddock - I dabbled a bit in trying the new slow pitch style jigging for haddock. I found it to be less productive than using bait but much more productive than your typical Norwegian-style jigs. I scaled down my braid to 20# and used my striper tackle with 4 - 5 oz jigs. I must admit that every fish caught on that setup was an absolute blast! Haddock aren't known for their fighting ability, but with the light tackle, it felt like pulling grouper off a wreck in Florida!
Big Bass Disappeared by Mid July - At least for daytime fishermen. When the early push of big stripers started to transition out to the beaches, the pogies were just outside the mouth. For a week or two, those pogies schools were moving further up the coast until they were out of range. It was disappointing not to have the number of big fish throughout the summer, especially after the absolute madness of 2021. There were still big fish for sure, but the days of 20+ fish over 40" were not on the menu.
This was out biggest striper of the year that tapped out at 49” and 44# caught in 90 ft of water off a planer board. It looks small, but the angler is 6’7!
However, for a while, the deep water striper scene was FIRE for the first time in a decade. Some guys were anchored up and chumming while some trolled. We fished anywhere from 60 feet - 120 feet of water. I did most of my fishing on the troll to cover ground. I started to incorporate planer boards (next blog article) into my spread and found myself able to troll up to seven lines without tangles. We caught out top 5 biggest fish of the season using this method. Mike and Dan also played around with boards with tremendous success.
Are You Ready for Some Football (Tuna)? A fantastic surprise for 2022 was the re-emergence of "under" bluefin tunas to our local waters! They seemed to be everywhere and nowhere, which is typical. I never got a shot to get one on the spin rod, but we did troll up three this year on Sterling Wide Tracker Bars for the limited amount of time I could chase them. It was the first time I caught tuna on bars north of Cape Cod. Back in the day, wide trackers were nonexistent, and you needed outriggers to troll properly. We scaled down our tackle to 30 class reels, which handled the 42 - 55" without any issues.
Dan with the first tuna on his boat!
Giant Tuna - Although I never made it out there, it seemed like the easiest fish of the season to catch, particularly in the fall.
Beachfront Striper Fishing - While most days were solid with an abundance of schoolies, an over or two, and limits of slots, it never seemed to "pop" off with stretches of 40" fish like other seasons. I am thoroughly convinced water temperature is a huge predictor of success. The bite seems to die when the surface temp is below 60 degrees. My absolute cut-off is 57 when I won't even bother to put a line in the water. A lot of times, I cruised around looking for a 60+ temp and would start my fishing there (this applies to deep water as well). A strong westerly wind is a great predictor of a drop in water temperature, which, if you take note, can alter how you might plan to fish on a particular day.
Eight year old Samuel with a hefty 46” striper he caught 100% on his own
Shark Fishing Was Fantastic - The past two seasons showed a change with our shark trips. Most of the sharks we caught were smaller (80 - 150# range), which we countered by using extremely light tackle. The big boys came to play this year, and we hit double digits every trip. Not to mention a colossal mako that ate a tuna (Click Here for that story). It seemed there were more makos this year, which may be attributed to the previous harvesting laws the past few years. This summer, Makos became protected, and you can no longer retain them. With the recent bluefish revival, I expect to see them appearing more often in the next few years.
Bluefish Bonanza - Right in time, as the striper fishing was becoming more and more centralized and starting to bore me, the blues showed up! Typically, I would troll rapalas around 5 kts, but this year I was having a lot of success bumping it up to 6 - 7 kts. As usual, orange and purple tiger were my two hot patterns, followed by green mackerel.
Intimately Learning a Secondary Area - After the big push of spring stripers, the Merrimack seemed devoid of all life except the end of the outgoing tide in the mouth. With the beachfront temperature fluctuating constantly, I was forced to fish the Parker and Cape Ann more than ever. With all the time spent in these areas, I could explore new spots within the ecosystem and dial it in. All said and done; we discovered some distinct patterns based on tide/winds for about 11 new spots that would continue to produce. It is always exciting to try new things and find success. Of course, some duds were thrown in, but that's why we fish!
Boat Traffic and Respect - It seemed this past season, everyone knew how to drive a boat and give each other space. Some days trolling for bluefish, I counted 60+ boats trolling in a tight area, but there never seemed to be an issue with people getting into each other's way. It was such a relief to see people playing nice in the sandbox. I hope that continues.
It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows - This season had a different feel than others.
The lack of big fish after Father's Day in the Merrimack proper was mind-boggling. I didn't take any charters to Joppa Flats all year (minus spring fishing). The same can be said for the Salisbury side. Nighttime seemed to be the best bet, but it was wildly inconsistent.
The pogies were here for a hot minute before the bass/tuna chased them north out of range. For the second straight year, no other schools seemed to make it around Cape Ann for the remainder of the summer.
The lack of the banner day(s) of huge stripers along the beachfront was disappointing. My best day on fish over 40" was 13 in the deepwater, when last year we had double-digit days of fifteen or more over-slot stripers.
Mackerel was a pain in the ass once again. There were plenty, but man, they spent all summer evading the offshore stripers and football tuna. Tide lines were a HUGE indicator of mackerel this season, as opposed to the typical structure fishing. For the second straight year, I found myself mackerel fishing in front of Plum Island more and more.
Gas prices were ridiculous, especially in the Merrimack River. Running all over the place for mackerel and over half my trips offshore or in the Parker, we had to burn fuel to find fish. It sucked for everyone. I'm scared to tally up my fuel bill this year.
I want to say thank you to our members for their support in our first season. It was great meeting like-minded people. Seeing you guys on the forum, in the bait shops, or out on the water was a special feeling. I hope those who took advantage of our forum and the content feel the same. As it was our first summer running Mouths of the Merrimack, there were some hiccups along the way, but we are committed to bringing much more content for 2023. If I am being honest, I underestimated just how much time it would take to keep up with the content, and combined with the busiest season we have ever had (just over 200 charters for Mike and me), there just wasn't enough time in the day. I already have made adjustments to my schedule next year to give me at least one full day a week to work on MOM content exclusively and take it to the level I envision it and what you deserve. Thank you all for joining, contributing, and sharing throughout the summer. Let's keep this growing to advance our fishery and become an even tighter community.