Boston, MA

Smallmouth Bass

Micropterus dolomieu

Pound for pound the hardest-fighting freshwater fish in the Northwest. Smallmouth live on rock and eat crawfish imitations year-round.

Brook Trout

Salvelinus fontinalis

A beautifully marked char native to eastern North America, at home in cold creeks, beaver ponds and backcountry lakes. Brook trout are willing biters on small spinners, worms and dry flies, and a favourite of beginners.

Striped Bass

Morone saxatilis

A powerful migratory bass shared by both coasts — Atlantic beaches and rivers, and San Francisco Bay and Delta on the Pacific side. Stripers school on baitfish, feed hard at night and in current, and hit plugs, swimbaits and bait alike.

Summer Flounder

Paralichthys dentatus

Called fluke in New England, this left-eyed flatfish lies buried in sand along channels and inlets and ambushes bait drifting overhead. Drift fishing with bait or bucktails is the standard game.

Bluefish

Pomatomus saltatrix

Voracious, razor-toothed schooling predators that tear through bait schools in a surface frenzy. Bluefish hit almost any fast-moving lure and are a staple of New England surf and boat fishing.

Tautog

Tautoga onitis

Called blackfish in New York and New Jersey, tautog live in the rocks, eat crabs with blunt crushing teeth, and pull like no other inshore bottom fish. Precise anchoring over structure is the whole game.

Black Sea Bass

Centropristis striata

The blue-black reef fish of the Atlantic — bold, structure-loving and superb eating, from New England rock piles to Carolina live bottom.

Atlantic Bonito

Sarda sarda

The striped sprinter of the northeast — Atlantic bonito knife into sand-eel schools from Cape Cod to the Jersey Shore each summer, a fly-rod and light-tackle favourite.

Atlantic Mackerel

Scomber scombrus

The silver staple of Atlantic piers — Atlantic mackerel arrive in huge spring and summer schools from Newfoundland to New York and hit small feathers and sabiki rigs as fast as you can drop them. A perfect first saltwater fish and prime bait besides.

Winter Flounder

Pseudopleuronectes americanus

The cold-water flatfish of northeast harbours — winter flounder slide into shallow bays in late winter and spring and pick tiny baits off the mud with the softest of bites. Patience, small hooks and fresh worms are the whole game.