HOT SPOT OF THE WEEK:  Inside the North and South Rivers for stripers and bluefish. Nasty, wind weather – stay inside the protected bays and harbors. The North River is still good for Fall fishing.

COASTAL REPORT:  Cod fishing remains good in the deeper water east of Stellwagen. The bite here is best on jigs – with 21 to 26 ounce jigs needed to hold bottom with the fast running fall tides.

Tuna fishing for giants remains about the same at the whiting grounds with four or five hookups per day and most of the giants being real butterballs. Most of the fish are being taken hy live lining whiting and chumming. There are reports of fish over 100 inches to one of 120 inches with a girth of 89 inches.

Striper and bluefishing off the back side beaches remains steady with many stripers in the 32 to 38-inch range and blues around 10 to 12 pounds. Best bet here is wire line jigging and red and black or black and purple 4 ounce Hotjigs are best.

Over at the Race at Provincetown bass and bluefish are still hit or miss. Mostly wire line jigging here in 15 to 35 feet of water. Across the bay at the Plymouth and Duxbury Bay area bass and bluefishing remains okay with lots of small keeper bass and 8 to 10 pound blues. Mackerel can still be jigged up in 70 to 75 feet of water off the entrance sea bell to Plymouth.

There have been some reports of school tuna feeding on half-beaks close to Plymouth. Over at the Plymouth power plant, there are some small schoolie stripers and some bluefish. Best bait here is small umbrella rigs. Around Clark’s Island live lining mackerel will get you some keeper stripers at 28 to 32 inches. But even in 12 feet of water the area is loaded with dogfish. The channel leading up to Clark’s Island has birds working on bait but underneath the bait are dogfish. Over at the jetties off Green Harbor fishing for small stripers or bluefish is good, mostly with live or cut mackerel and live eels. Bluefish Cove has been producing a few keeper stripers also.

Over at Rexhame Beach schools of stripers and small blues have been on their Fall runs. Fishing here is hit or miss with the fish not stopping on their way south. Off the cliffs of the North River fishing was very dangerous with very heavy seas and waves, but fishing inside the North and South Rivers was very decent with lots of schoolie bass and some small blues too. Best bet here was trolling small umbrella rigs with all black worms. Water temperatures remain at the low 60’s mark but the wild winds have kept most anglers home. Soon the fun days of summer will be just a happy memory as winter starts its track toward us. Good Luck and Good Fishing as this week we will end our column until Spring. See you at the fishing shows and seminars. Thanks to all you readers from Gone Fishin’.