Boston Harbor is one of the great urban fisheries anywhere. Its islands, drop-offs, channels, rips and flats concentrate bait and striped bass, and a boat can be into fish within minutes of leaving the ramp. From spring schoolies to fall cows crashing menhaden, it fishes all season against the city skyline.
The ground
Key on the islands, drop-offs and channel edges, President Roads, the Graves, the harbor islands and their rips, plus the shallow flats where bass can be sight-fished on a warming tide. Current and structure are everywhere; find where they meet the bait.
How to fish it
Work structure and current with soft plastics and jigs, throw topwater at low light, and fish the flats with light gear or a fly. When cows are on bunker, big baits and live eels produce.
Tip Let the tide pick your spot. Boston Harbor is all about current and structure, so fish the moving water on a given drop-off or rip, and follow the bait, birds diving over the islands are a dead giveaway.