High Hook Blog

Striped Bass fishing is hot in the Bay

Capt. Willie — Tue, 08 May 2012 18:40:31 +0000

The Striped Bass have been everywhere in Duxbury Bay for the last week or so. There is plenty of live bait right off of Gurnet at High Tide. At a lower tide just work towards the deeper water and you will find all the Mackerel and Herring you need. If your spot in the Bay is not working for Striped Bass, try looking for some birds working. For the last week I have seen loads of birds along the edge of the channel with keepers underneath them. Throw a mackerel under the birds and it is a guarantee fish. Matt Carnuccio with a 35in Striped Bass. This was one of eleven keepers we caught the other day on live Mackerel.

Striped Bass fishing should start any day

Capt. Willie — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 14:55:42 +0000

Once the rain and wind settles down mid week, I am expecting the mackerel and herring to be around Gurnet Point. We went out on Friday to see what was out there in the way of bait and we came up empty after about an hour of jigging. Some Striped Bass have been down towards the canal for some time now, so I am expecting them in Duxbury Bay any day now. Some early season Striped Bass fishing with live mackerel on light gear is always fun for everyone. If you haven’t booked a trip for May, do so before we fill up.

Capt. Willie with a Striped Bass from the Casey Roberts trip last season

Seeing all the sand eels, mackerel, herring, whales, and hundreds or dolphins out at Stellwagen the other day got my hopes up that it will be an early start for Tuna fishing. Get ready, they will be here in no time..

Mackerel and Herring are on there way

Capt. Willie — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 14:30:15 +0000

The Cod fishing right now is pretty bad. There were draggers all winter dragging the bottom of Stellwagon Bank, which cleaned them out for the most part. Still some keepers around, but it is very spotty.

The good news is the Southwest Corner the other day was loaded with whales and Dolphins. Schools of Mackerel and Herring were all the way from the SW Corner to the Eastern Edge.
On the way in I saw huge schools of Mackerel and Herring on Brewers ledge, which is a few miles off of Gurnet Point. By the end of this weekend you should have no problem getting mackerel close to shore.

As for Bass fishing, I have heard of one short Bass caught in the Bay. Once the bait moves in closer we should be able to see what’s in the Bay now. It won’t be long until we have some of those days where we are catching 20-30 keepers a day on Mackerel.

Cod season started up today

Capt. Willie — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 23:50:25 +0000

The Cod season started up today and the reports were that the fish were scattered all over the place, but not in big schools. The boats that went out today all got cod, but not in the numbers like we are used to. Some haddock could be found out on the Eastern edge as well as Red Fish in the deeper water. The mackerel were all over Stellwagon Bank which mean they should probably be off our coast by the weekend. I will be heading out tomorrow to see what we can find..

Good News for People Who Like to Eat Tuna

Capt. Willie — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 19:35:20 +0000

I have some good news for the clients who like to keep and eat Bluefin Tuna. For the last couple of years we have had to release any Tuna measuring over 59in or under 73in back into the water to swim another day. This was done to protect the 2005 football size Tuna class. Those Tuna are now around 73in so there is no need to have the slot on them.
I was at a seminar for the Stellwagen Bank Charter Boat Ass on Tuesday night. They brought Emily in from Tag a Tiny program to speak about the last ten years or so of Tuna tagging research. She had mentioned that the slot that has been in effect since 2009 will most likely be lifted this year, although it has not been done yet. Good and bad news. The good news is that you guys would be able to keep the Tuna…. The bad news… is that you guys will be able to keep the Tuna,, and I have to cut it up.

A small sized Tuna caught on High Hook in 2011

Giant Tuna caught in Massachusetts bay on High Hook (video)

Capt. Willie — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 14:09:50 +0000

Here is a video of a giant Tuna being offloaded High Hook and into a truck. We landed this 800lber during the Fall bite.

Another keeper Bluefin Tuna caught on the Stevens trip

Capt. Willie — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 17:48:08 +0000

After catching a 600lb Bluefin Tuna last year on their first Tuna trip, it was going to be hard to beat that. We had the kite bait in the water for maybe 10 minutes before hooking into the giant last year which both of them fought on stand up gear. This year, after catching a few blue sharks, we had a Tuna take the balloon bait around noon time. It took about 30 minutes for Luke and Ryan Stevens to reel it in. The fish was a little under 300lbs. One for the truck.

Ryan Steves with a Tuna just under 300lbs

New High Hook Shirts are available on the website

Capt. Willie — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 03:29:01 +0000

The High Hook shirts and sweatshirts featuring the new “High Hook” boat kite fishing for giant Bluefin Tuna can now be bought on the website by clicking here. The koozies and the new hats will be up soon.

Jason Trulby Striped Bass trip in Duxbury Bay

Capt. Willie — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 15:03:23 +0000

Here are a couple pictures from the Jason Trulby Striped Bass trip the other week. We managed to catch around 10 fish with most of them being keepers. The fishing had slowed down a bit but it should pick up again with the commercial season ending.

Footage of an 81 inch Bluefin Tuna caught last week

Capt. Willie — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 17:06:53 +0000

Here is some quick footage of one of the keepers we caught last week. This one measured 81 inches and weighed around 300 pounds. The fish hit a pogie off of the kite during an afternoon bite on the southern edge of Peaked Hill sandbar. Enjoy the camera mount on the T-Top