Flounder fever has gripped the North Shore as well. A Nahant kayaker I know of, who like many of us lives to catch bass, has taken a striper sabbatical for a while to cash in on all the flounder he has been spotting below his craft by Bass Rocks, Saunders Ledge and off the Kerry Club. Generally, the water here is so clear you can see the flatfish lying around the ledges, sand and mussel beds. Harbor pollock on the North Shore, while still numerous, have slacked off when compared to the action a few weeks ago. When this happens, they seem to be more valued by stripers. I’ve found more pollock on the flooding tide than the ebb, and from shore they work well about 8-feet below an unweighted Styrofoam float, while boaters will do best slowly trolling them around areas such as the Shags, Tinkers Gut and Castle Rock...

Thatchers Island and Brace Cove have been good in Gloucester for tube and wormers and anglers trolling pollock for bass are catching fish from the 30-inch range and up. A brace of 5- to 6-pound bluefish have arrived, putting your soft-plastic shad baits in peril should you employ umbrella-type rigs. But probably the hottest area in the North Shore is the Plum Island area. Clandestine casters have been taking a number of 40-pound-class fish. Joppa Flats is jumping come nightfall for those slinging eels, trolling the tube and worm, fishing 4-ounce yellow-and-red StriperSniper Pencils and Bill Hurley Rat Tails. Moreover, the sandbar at the mouth of the Merrimack remains sizzling hot as stripers focus in on sand eels. Lot 1 off the Parker River Wildlife Reservation is delivering the goods for clam and sea worm soakers at first light. And guys continue to pick away at flounder from both shore and boat in Plum Island Sound. Those taking the steam out to the Northwest corner of Stellwagen are tempting pelagics with black squid bars and live pogies.
It’s chunking and eel drifting time in the Piscataqua River. An alternative is tinker mackerel, which randomly flash between the mouth of the river and Hampton Harbor. And if flounder are in your sights, a sea worm or clam gob in Hampton Harbor, Rye Harbor or Portsmouth is the best method. Breeder cod have ditched the Isle of Shoals and beat a retreat out to deeper water. Those making the trip out to Southern Jeffreys Ledge are finding market-sized cod, haddock, cusk and even the occasional wolffish. The fishing is very exciting in southern Maine, where casters are crowing about “common” 40-inch fish according to Saco Bay Tackle Company. Higgins Beach is hot for the tube troops, chunkers are taking nice fish from Old Orchard Beach and pluggers aren’t doing half bad from Pine Point. Offshore, it’s “football” season from Tantas to Jeffreys as school tuna bust on sea herring and mackerel. There has even been the arrival of a more sinister presence – blue sharks!

- Cold Waters