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Taking stock on trout MARC FOLCO, Catchin' Anything? MARC FOLCO/Standard-Times special Farell Plank of Freetown unhooks a 30-inch striper he caught on a ragmop and porkrind while trolling for blues off West Island recently. Fall trout stocking began in our Southeast District on Monday, and a total of 51,600 fish are being released statewide this week. The daily limit in lakes, ponds and major rivers is three fish, year-round. From Sept. 11 to Mar. 31, the daily limit in all other rivers and brooks is also three fish, but jumps to eight per day from Apr. 1 to Sept. 10. There are no minimum size restrictions. In Plymouth County, waters stocked in the fall are: Mary's Pond in Rochester; Big Sandy, Fearings, Fresh, Little, Long, Lout and Russell-Sawmill Ponds in Plymouth; Tack Factory Pond in Scituate; and Norris Reservation Pond in Norwell. Barnstable County (Cape Cod): Johns and Mashpee Wakeby Ponds, Mashpee; Baker Pond and Crystal Lake, Orleans; Hoxie, Pimlico, Peters and Spectacle Ponds, Sandwich; Great Pond, Truro; Gull Pond, Welfleet; and Long Pond, Yarmouth. Bristol County: Falls Pond and Whitings Pond in North Attleboro. About 140 broodstock Atlantic salmon, 18 inches or longer also will be released in the usual five ponds in our district: Peters Pond in Sandwich; Long and Little Ponds in Plymouth; and Cliff and Sheep Ponds in Brewster. The daily limit on broodstock salmon is two with a minimum size of 15 inches. About 3,000 tiger muskies recently were stocked in Nippenicket Lake in Bridgewater. The fish is a member of the pickerel and pike family and is a sterile hybrid between northern pike and muskellunge. The tigers stocked average 7-10 inches and should reach the legal length of 28 inches within three to five years. The Fisheries and Wildlife Board voted that herring may now be used as bait in the Connecticut, Merrimack and other coastal rivers and streams, but not in lakes and ponds. STRIPERS STILL IN SEASON Striper fishing is hot as the waters cool and the fall migration gets into full swing. Squibnocket, Gay Head and Quicks's Hole have been producing good fish. Closer to shore, Colonel Green's and the waters off West Island have been good, especially the rip that forms out from the tower on the beach. Trolling tube and worm rigs on wire line has been good, and live eels have been the hottest natural bait. Jigging on wire also is taking some fish. Big bluefish in the 9 to 10-pound range and larger are in Padanaram, Clark's Cove and off West Island, Sconticut Neck and Fort Phoenix. They're also around the Islands and in Quicks's Hole in the same spots as the stripers. Trolling ragmops or casting poppers should work. There's been a lot of bait around however, so they may be finicky and you may have to snag or net some baitfish and live-line them in order to get the blues to hit. Tautog fishing is steady at Cleveland's Ledge, off Mattapoisett, Penikese, and also in Quicks's Hole at North and South Rocks on either side of the hole. The Yankee Wreck and also Black Rock and Little Black Rock off Sconticut Neck hold some fish. Green crabs are the top bait. MYSTERY CATCH FOR MEDEIROS John Medeiros of Acushnet took his grandkids fishing for snapper blues off the Mattapoisett Town Wharf a couple of weeks ago and caught three odd-looking fish of the same species. Two were about 10 inches long and one was a little larger. They looked similar to a small bluefish but were different in that the two smaller ones had three dark, wide vertical stripes on their sides. The larger one also had the stripes but they were not as pronounced. The fish had been swimming back and forth under the boats that were tied up at the wharf, and were very aggressive feeders and fighters, Medeiros said. But what were they? Paul Caruso, senior biologist at the Division of Marine Fisheries identified them as rudderfish. "They're like a small amberjack," said Caruso. "We often get them up here in the summer, along with blue runners and Jack Crevalles." The rudderfish like to hang together under boats, hence their name. They also can be caught under buoys in bays and in the open ocean. The stripes on young ones are dark, but as the fish grows, the stripes fade. HOW TO DEAL WITH DERBIES Hooked on Fishing International (HOFI) invites qualified organizations and agencies to register now for a free kids fishing derby kit with a how-to handbook and almost everything else they need to hold a derby in 2004. More than 300,000 kids up to age 16 participated in 1,822 HOFI-affiliated Wal-Mart Kids All-American Fishing Derby events in 2003, in all 50 states. And organizers expect 2004 to be the biggest year ever since the program began 18 years ago. Applications may be completed on-line at www.kids-fishing.com. Marc Folco is the Standard Times outdoor writer. E-mail him at openseason1988@aol.com. This story appeared on Page B5 of The Standard-Times on October 11, 2003.
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