HOT SPOT OF THE WEEK:  The Race Rip at Provincetown for stripers.

TIP OF THE WEEK:  Bubble Gum 10.5 inch Shankas and Red and Black Hotjigs for striper fishing at the Race at Provincetown.

COASTAL REPORT:  Wow! Even with the bad weather fishing is red hot, with lots of stripers around and some tuna. Cod fishing on Stellwagen Bank is still good. From the Southwest Corner to the Northwest Corner all the normal cod spots are real good (jigs are the best now). On Thursday I fished with Captain Erik Laudermilk on For Days Out II. No tuna, but heard some good reports. But striper fishing was real good. Lots of fish moved from the back side beaches to the Rip at the Race at Provincetown. The hot lure here was Shankas 10.5 inches in Bubble Gum and four ounce Hotjigs in red and black. On Friday, I fished with Captain Mark Hurley on Seaborne. We had the Chris Mulcahy charter on board. We wire- lined four ounce red and black Hotjigs at the Bath House area and caught everyone’s bag limit. The Charter kept five nice stripers for dinner and the rest were all released. We had fish from 28 inches to 40 inches all come on hotjigs. Over in the Plymouth/Duxbury area striper fishing is great.

Find some mackerel just outside the Plymouth Harbor entrance bell and live line them most anywhere in Plymouth (Brown’s Bank, near the old Burt’s Restaurant or near Plymouth Rock itself). In Duxbury Bay you can try Clark’s Island, Bug Light, Powder Point Bridge or, with no boat traffic, right up to the Harbormaster’s office in the mooring area. In the Cape Cod Canal striper fishing is the best in many a year and there are still lots of mackerel around for live bait fishing. Outside Green Harbor you can jig up some live mackerel and striper fish or head down to the back side beach area and find some tuna fish. Dan Sirignano did this on Wednesday and landed a 76 inch tuna and released a 59 inch tuna.

The mackerel were fished on kites and balloons. On Saturday the tuna moved more toward the Peaked Hill Area and the Southwest corner of Stellwagen, so this week there should be plenty of action in our area for bass and tuna. Over at the mouth of the North River striper fishing is also the best in some time with lots of really nice keepers. Most of the fish are coming on live mackerel, but some are being taken on 6.5 inch Shankas in white or bubble gum. Stripers are all the way up to the Union Street Bridge (best areas are from Mary’s Boat Rental to the Union Street Bridge). In the South River the fish are all the way to the Rexhame area, but there have been some good catches in the lower part of the South River. The Scituate Harbor area has some good flounder fishing and towards Minots Light there has been some good striper fishing.