City Fishing – At Night

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I received a text from my buddy Jay Alves late Friday night letting me know that the tide would turn at 10:30pm. This meant it would be possible to catch large saltwater fish from shore in a few local city locations with access to deeper water at low tide.

Lately, because we’ve both been busy with the kids, we haven’t been able to get out much during the day but have mastered the Boston “night fish.” This normally means we meet at one of our houses between 9pm-11pm, head to a local Boston spot and fish until ~12am. After the last cast, we find a bar to have a few drinks and discuss next steps in our fishing strategy.

Mystic River Dam – Somerville, MA

Night fishing the Amelia Earheart dam in Somerville, MA

Night fishing the Amelia Earhart dam in Somerville, MA

Cigar store indian at The Tavern At The End Of The World - Charlestown, MA

Cigar store indian at The Tavern At The End Of The World – Charlestown, MA

Charles River Locks – Charlestown, MA

Boston Garden Bass

Caught under the Zakim bridge in the Charles River locks behind the Boston Garden.

Jason Alves with Charles River striper

Jason Alves with Charles River striper.


Take one for the table

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I went trout fishing with Jay Alves at an old favorite spot west of Boston. It was the first trip of the season for us both. We used live meal worms from Arlington Bait & Tackle topped with a little chunk of yellow power bait, and fished the pond’s cold water area. We caught a few Rainbows and missed a few as well.

1st trout of the season.

I hooked one deep so I decided to keep it for the table. I normally don’t eat freshwater fish, but Trout are really good when you roast them slow with fingerling potatoes and fresh vegetables. After cleaning and gutting the fish, I line the inside with garlic, butter, salt and pepper. I also sprinkle lemon juice over the fish, and then dust it with bread crumbs. I bake it whole at ~450 degrees with the potatoes and beans right in the same dish.

Pre-oven Trout

Nantucket Blues

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We fished some rough water out at Great Point on Nantucket for Bluefish in late September. There were bait, fish, and seals everywhere.

Headed out at the crack of dawn.

The sea was angry that day my friends.

 

We caught a dozen or so fish and had a good time.

The Bluefish were feeding on Peanut Bunker.

Nantucket harbor is full of great scenery.

 

Garbage Fish

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Duxbury Bay, Duxbury, MA – Spring 2010

Over the years I’ve probably caught hundreds of Skate, Dogfish, and Sea Robin, all considered “trash fish” or “bait stealers.” These are the nasty bottom fish that steal your bait when fishing for something else, normally Stripers or Fluke. Recently I read an article in On The Water magazine that changed my out look on these guys. It talked about how Skate and Sea Robin are actually phenomenal to eat. This season I’m going to make it a goal to fish only for the table, or add these tasty morsels to my list of targets.

It is hard to imagine that these Sea Robin are good to eat.

Served at some of the finest establishments in the world.

New York Strange

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Great South Bay Babylon, NY September 2011

When the Striper fishing was slow, and the Fluke weren’t around, my father-in-law, brother-in-law and I tried some good ole’ snapper fishing down by the Babylon town docks. We didn’t catch any Bluefish, but I did manage to pull a random Kingfish and American Eel on clams. I hadn’t caught and Eel in ages and I’d never even heard of a Kingfish. Such a weird day.

Weird looking fish.

Connecticut Ice Time

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Lake Waramaug Litchfield County, CT – Circa January, 2004

I recently stumbled on this old photo. When I was in college in CT I worked nights a liquor store. One of the regulars always bragged about the monster trout he’d catch through the ice up in the northern part of the state. So, one Saturday morning I took him up on the offer to come along. We fished in sub zero weather using a manual auger, tip-ups, and live shiners. I caught a nice 18″ Brown. I need to make an effort to get out on the ice more next season.

Good Neighbors

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Duxbury Bay – July 31, 2010

SeaGrape in "The Nook"

The original plan was to head to Saquish Beach, a private spot past Gurnet Point, to play Bocce in the sand. I walked down to the marsh at 12:15pm and the tide was still quite low. There was almost no wind and the water was like glass. On the way out, just in front of Clark’s Island, we passed a boat whose lone passenger was in the throes of battle with what appeared to be a very large fish. I slowed Seagrape down to almost neutral, and watched for another ten minutes or so until this guy pulled up what looked to be a monster.

He was signaling to us that it was indeed a fish worth seeing, so I began to move toward him. He held up the fish to show us for as long as he could and then dropped him to the deck. He scrambled around for a bit, then reached up with a tape measure and said “he’s 42”.”  He was visibly out of breath from holding the fish, and sat down for a moment to collect himself.

42'' Striped Bass

After we spent a few minutes admiring the fish, and congratulating him for the catch, he asked us if we had a camera. We took a few shots and asked him for his email address. He paused for a second, and said “I know you, where do I know you from. After some back and forth we realized, that this was Griffen’s “father” who has lived down the street from us for thirty years. Griffen is a Golden Retriever who has been known to wrestle with Hero and Maybe during their walks around the neighborhood.

Before he left to prepare his catch for dinner, he asked me if I was planning on fishing today, and if i wanted the rest of his bait (chunk Mackerel). At this point, I knew the Bacce game was at risk, as I had a new task in front of me – Catch the other fish in the school lurking 40 feet below the surf.

The fish taking line...

Long story short, we both ended up with a solid bag today, and I drove home with the livewell full, and passengers, who never got to play Saquish Beach Bocce Ball.

To the surface from a hole ~40ft deep

After gutting the catch and preparing the fillets, I cooked them on the grill with some lemon, butter, and panko on top. Everyone was happy.