Kayak fish outer Gloucester Harbor and its nearby hotspots Magnolia and Kettle Cove during the fall run for striped bass and you’ll likely lament your choice if you fish from a sea kayak rather than a sit-on-top or wide sit-in-kayak.
Here’s why.
Location won’t be the the problem. Nor will method. Tube-and-worm fishing for stripers off Gloucester is as reliable as it is anywhere in Massachusetts – as good if not better than Joppa Flats in Newburyport and the Faun Bar in Boston Harbor. But choose the wrong kind of kayak to fish from and you’ll be unhappy.
So do yourself a favor: fish from a wide and comfortable sit-on-top or sit-in, and leave the sea kayak at home. Productive tube-and-worm striper fishing requires slow paddling a length of lead-core line that sinks your trolled worm to depths of 6′ or more — and there’s no kayak in the world more uncomfortable when paddled slowly than a long, narrow sea kayak.
Issue sis, sea kayaks aren’t designed to be paddled slowly. They want the kayak-fishing enthusiast to rotate his torso, to use his core strength to create speed, and they want a kayaking enthusiast willing to wedge their rear end and hips into a narrow and shallow cockpit. That’s what makes sea kayaks the choice of kayak fishermen who like to chase fish – bonito and bluefish fishermen. But a design for speed is what also makes them a poor choice for fishermen targeting striped bass, flounder, haddock and cod.
Paddle a sea kayak slowly at trolling speeds and your weight is concentrated mostly in your butt, hips, and lower back. If you don’t rotate your torso, the strain becomes very uncomfortable after more than an hour.
So if you plan on kayak fishing Gloucester Harbor from West Gloucester’s Freshwater Cove to Normans Woe at Magnolia to downtown Gloucester’s Pavilion Beach and Rocky Neck, fish from a sit-on-top kayak. Your legs won’t get stiff. Your lower back and and hips and rear end won’t cramp. Sea kayak cockpits are small, and sooner or later, troll from one and you’ll wish you were back on land. Kayak fishing shakedown-trip problems for sure. But in a sea kayak, they’re a constant.First rule if you kayak fish for striped bass off Cape Ann. By all means, choose Gloucester’s inner and outer harbors between Stacy Boulevard and Rogers Street downtown Kettle Cove and route 127a to the west, in Magnolia. Choose a tube-and-worm if you have the patience to troll. Gloucester’s two harbors are easily accessible – they’re just an hour from Boston and route 128 north, and see little recreational boating traffic after Labor Day weekend. But at all costs avoid placing your rear end in a sea kayak, ditto if you plan to chum-and-chunk for your keepers.
Here’s where to fish: Cressy and Half-Moon Beaches at Stage Fort Park; Black Bess Rocks by Raymond’s Beach, also known as Lighthouse Beach, at Eastern Point; Norman’s Woe off Magnolia; Wonson and Smith Coves; the head of the harbor area at the State Fish Pier; the wharves off Cape Pond Ice and the Americold cold storage plants. Add in the mooring area at Eastern Point Yacht Club; the inner edge of Dogbar Breakwater at Eastern Point Lighthouse Coast Guard station. Once you’re trolled or chunked these areas, round the dogbar breakwater and troll its riprap and the ledges as far north as Brace Cove off Gloucester’s back shore.
To access Gloucester’s striped bass kayak fishing waters, launch during the non-summer months from the parking lot at the lighthouse at Eastern Point or from Niles Beach just a mile past Rocky Neck. Likewise during the non-summer months, launch from the public access dirt ramp at Freshwater Cove, near Mussel Point off Route 127 on the way to Magnolia and Manchester-by-the-Sea and Whites Beach at Beverly Farms.
Just remember to have your saltwater fishing license on board, and a tape measure or marks on your gunwale to be sure that your stripers are within the legal length requirements.
