Fan Pier Fishing Tournament 2018!

I had looked forward to this week all summer for the Fan Pier fishing tournament! We made our way to Fan Pier by 7 in the morning and boarded our boats. I was on the Resolute commandeered by Tony and Tony with my brother Joe, Colin, and his guest.

We set off from the pier with our first goal being to find a school of pogies. Pogies are large schooling baitfish and are a favorite snack for striped bass. After searching for the baitfish with

no luck near Long Island, we decided to head towards Nahant to jig up some mackerel for bait. As we drove over to Nahant, it was cool to see Revere from the water when I’m usually looking out at the water from Revere. We also passed by Deer Island which gave us the opportunity to reflect on all of the work that was done to cleanup the harbor so we are able to enjoy it.

We got to Nahant and look for large marks on the fish finder, signifying a school of mackerel. Once these marks were seen we dropped down sabiki rigs, essentially a string of small hooks with some flashy material, and  began pulling up some mackerel. Once enough were collected we rigged up a couple of rods with fresh mackerel, putting a hook in the back of the fish and one in the head, for trolling. After the rods were set up we let line out and moved the boat slowly along to entice any bass that may be cruising about.

After no luck on a long trolling run past Egg Rock, we turned back toward Boston. As we entered the mouth of the harbor we encountered a large pogy school breaking on the surface. When striped bass or other predators feed on a pogy school, it’ll make the baitfish nervous and cause them to break the surface. This gave us the chance to snag a couple using weighted treble hooks and then live line the pogies. Although we had high hopes of hooking into a fish, our efforts were successful and we drove back to the pier.

Back at the dock Colin managed to catch a 28 ¼” striped bass which was the biggest fish of the day, winning the tournament. Even though not many fish were caught, it was still a fun day on the water! Hopefully next week will be just as exciting as heading out on the boats!