New England Regional Fishing with Tim Coleman | Soundings Online Column

Ready when the weather is? Fall fishing will reward you

Many of your neighbors have called it quits, but for you and others who still have a boat at the ready, November offers chances for a great day on the water. For those with the patience to watch and wait for that calm day between fall storms, there are rewards.

Want to catch some fish? Try a Yankee Capts charter

Steve Cannizzo, who organized the trip through his www.fishingunited.com, jigged up a nice cod on Fippennies Ledge, one of three spots fished.

It was the beginning of the Labor Day weekend, but we weren’t at the marina, the beach or a cookout. We were 80 miles off Gloucester, Mass., dropping lines as the sun came up on Parker Ridge, a rocky high spot that, along with Cashes Ledge and nearby Fippennies Ledge, offers anglers their best chance to catch a load of New England groundfish — a mix of cod, pollock, haddock and cusk.

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Hot spots are ripe as the weather cools

It's easy to fish for sea bass off Montauk, N.Y., in the morning, then spend the afternoon diamond-jigging for bass and blues in the rips closer to the point.

That cool north wind isn’t your imagination. Mother Nature has turned a page in her book, the summer heat is giving way to more bearable temperatures, and fish throughout the Northeast will respond to the changing seasons. Don’t touch that dial or take the boat out too early; we have plenty of fishing opportunities between now and Thanksgiving.

Little things can loom large; take the time to prepare

Before taking this 23-footer 40 miles out, the writer - at the owner's behest - bought a jumper that could get him home if the batteries failed. It was the biggest fish of the trip, and my friend lost it. Then he lost another that was even bigger, judging from the bend in the rod. A close inspection of the lure upon retrieval showed the culprit. An old treble hook on the cod jig looked as if it had been “sharpened” with a hammer — dull to the point of being about worthless.

Summer fishing: stripers, cod, fluke and T-shirts

The author and his friends have had great summer cod fishing in 160 to 200 feet east of the north end of Stellwagen Bank. Our fishing world is evolving, changing before our eyes, and smart anglers will adjust their tactics to the realities of the day. Those who do will reap the rewards; those who don’t probably will come home with less, or maybe an empty cooler.

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Tim Coleman

Tim Coleman died May 3, in Weekapaug, R.I., doing what he loved to do best at that time of year: scouting the salt ponds and outer beaches for spring striped bass. He was an exceptional saltwater angler and a prolific writer. Thousands of readers lost an advocate and authentic storyteller for fishing in the Northeast, and anyone fortunate to have known Tim lost a good friend.

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