Kennedy Memorial Library, City Point and Pleasure Bay, are alive with bluefish and striped bass, a development the angler can investigate simply by installing a rod holder or two in his boat and rooting around the harbor for a couple of hours. One the one hand the rebound of striped bass in the area suggests that the waters of the Massachusetts coastline have grown cleaner; on the other, the resurgence proves that the ever-changing striped bass regulations, which set keeping minimums and fish per-day per-fisherman limits, have had good effect. Regarded as containing along its coastal borders the largest striped bass fishery in the US, according to Massachusetts's division of fisheries and wildlife management, the vitality of Boston Harbor's striped bass fisheries is apparent in the range and variety of places anglers have hooked into linesiders in the harbor over the past decade. Aside from obvious places like the mouth of the harbor, the Deer Island Rip, Faun Bar and the outer islands, Boston Harbor's inner waters reflect the health of the Boston striped bass fishery overall. In many ways the success anglers find here is less an indication of fishing prowess, more a reflection of the fish's …show more content…
By the yaw of my kayak I knew I had shipped a couple of gallons of water in the aft hatch where six hours ago I'd stuffed tent, sleeping bag, tarp food, camping stove and assorted fishing gear and headlamps. I'd stuffed the gear aft to hold my kayak's stern lower in the water and prevent weathercocking during the lengthy trip from Muskeget to Falmouth The wind was stiff out the northwest when we shoved off, the shallow waters confused and rough, and my kayaking buddy and I had agreed that by preventing the kayaks from weather cocking with whatever assistance we could, essentially with carefully-loaded gear, we could make the long trip a little easier. We'd spent the last three days and two nights fishing Muskeget and Tuckernuck Islands from our sea kayaks. The fishing had been quite good, especially in the fast tidal rips that run past and between two islands. Lots of bluefish feeding on sandeels, keeper-sized 28"-long and longer stripers prowling the eel grass off Muskeget. This was another fruitful offshore sea kayak fishing trip for us, another in a series I'd taken with increasing degrees of confidence: Westport to Cuttyhunk one year; Woods Hole to Penikese Island another; Rye, N.H. to the Isles of Shoals; Point Judith to Block Island, Rhode Island. As the westward set of the tide pulled us west, off course towards Woods Hole, we shifted our