Northeast - Any macs/pogies to be found down Scituate way?

Hey all-

I am "teaching" a friend some basics in fishing as he is relatively new to boating and fishing. I used to drive launch in Scituate in the mid 90's and knew the area well then as far as where to find bait and bass, but a wife, two kids later, and 20 yearsish (and 99% of my boating/fishing time spent in Boston Harbor, Q Bay etc) I could use some intel on IF NOT WHERE I can potentially pick up some bait to show my friends the ropes a bit. His goal is to be able to take his kids out and do it on his own. I know the SA gong has always been reliable for macks and do not recall seeing pogies down that way some 20 years ago...maybe things have changed. I used to look in the mouth of the North River for schoolies so I can do that but he is interested in the live bait scene for now. Thanks in advance for any responses.

Frank

they have been jigging up macs right outside the mouth of the river.

I would forget about pogies launching out of Scituate. I think Boston/Duxbury are a way better bet for pogies. There may still be some macs around, but with more reports of bluefish I wouldn't expect them to be thick in the regular early season spots (Scituate bell, North River bell, etc) You might do better pushing out a bit into deeper water than the 50' that seems standard for getting them in May/June. Probably more likely to get them at first light, rather than later in the day, too.

For consistent action I think you'd be best to focus on schoolies in the North River or maybe in Scituate Harbor. I caught a handful of 12-18" schoolies in the moorings in Scituate Harbor on Saturday morning. There's a ton of small bait in Scituate Harbor, and presumably the north river, right now. Those micros should be fairly easy.

I know that guys have been getting fish off Humarock Beach on clam baits the last few weeks, so those there are some resident fish around there and probably off the cliffs, too. I would troll tube and worm, or maybe chunk and chum along the cliffs and maybe in the structure north of the harbor.

I find this is generally the toughest time of the season to fish out of Scituate, unless your boat is capable of making the trip across to the race, north to Boston, or south to Dux/Ply. The open ocean just doesn't seem to hold fish the way the bays in Boston and Duxbury do.

Nelly