As the fall winds and dropping temperatures come cranking into the North Shore, the feeding habits and patterns of movement of fish start to change.
Good recreational fishermen change their tactics and locations to take advantage of these new conditions.
The big bass are starting to gear up for their move south. This means they are chowing down before they bogey on out of here. The major rivers like the Merrimack, Ipswich and others are disgorging the young of the year that were hatched out early this spring by the spawning runs in their waters. These youngsters, on their run to the ocean, are preyed upon by the big fish waiting for them near the entrance.
The feeding fish are now going to focus on these small fish. This means that smaller lures will be the order of the day. While during the summer the bass respond well to the big Rapalas, now they will be more receptive to Sluggoes and other lures that replicate the outgoing youngsters.
The best time to fish will be on the outgoing tide. Last year we really hit them right at the entrance to the Ipswich River for several days in a row. The fish were feeding so voraciously that the top of the water was boiling with action. In fact, you could hear the fish as they slapped and slurped without even acknowledging our existence.
We used fly rods with a white marabou fly. We often had two fish on at the same time. Now is the time to keep your eye on the weather and your boat near the mouth of the rivers.
Migratory Bird Seasons Set
The early season goose hunting has started and runs through Sept. 25. The bag limit has been raised to seven birds a day as the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife try to reduce the ever-expanding numbers of resident geese.
"Data collected from agency goose banding activities this summer indicate the early goose hunting seasons have kept populations stable in the central and western parts of the state and full bag limits are rarely reached," commented MassWildlife's Waterfowl Project Leader H Heusmann. "However, in northeastern and southeastern Massachusetts, where we find our densest goose populations, hunters frequently filled their five-bird limit. This indicates that the potential to reduce what are often nuisance population levels of resident Canada geese can be increased with a higher bag limit."
The real problem here on the North Shore is that there are so few places open to hunting. The geese are smart. They quickly learn where the safe havens are and move to them. They only move to the ocean in numbers after the local ponds and water sources freeze over later in the winter.
The second coastal season will run from Oct. 17-25 with a daily limit of two, with the central region open from Oct. 14-Nov. 29. The third coastal goose season will be open from Jan. 26-Feb. 14 with a five-goose daily limit. The North Central season will be from Jan. 26-Feb.14.
Hunters need to remember that after Sept. 15 you must wear a life jacket if you are hunting from a canoe or kayak.
The coastal duck seasons will be from Oct. 17-25 and Nov. 26-Jan 24. The central will be from Oct. 14-Nov. 29 and Dec. 15-Jan. 5.
The bag limit will be six birds of which may contain no more than one black duck, two hooded merganzer, four mallards of which only two may be females, two redheads, one scaup (two from Jan. 2-24), three wood ducks, one scaup, one pintail, one fulvous whistling duck, or four of all other species.
The sea duck season will be open from Oct. 6-Jan. 24 with a daily limit of seven birds. You can bag no more than four scoter, four eider of which only one can be a hen, and four oldsquaw. Seaducks can be only taken seaward of the first upsream bridge during the season for other than regular duck season.
The brandt season will be from Nov. 17-Jan. 24. with a limit of three.
Woodcock season wil be from Oct. 14-Nov. 13 with a daily limit of three.
