Indian Head River
the Indian Head River is the main tributary and pretty much the beginning of the north river.
I launched out of Indian head/luddhams ford in Hanover a few weeks ago (public cartopper drop @ 42.099323, -70.818579) and went down the river almost to where the rt53/139 bridge is in Pembroke. Tide was high and going out, water was warm and pretty clear with a visibility around 3-4’. Its definitely a tidal river but the water up that end is much more fresh than salt. With the tide as high as it was the water was at least 7-9’ in most areas, deep spots being maybe about 15’?. Had luck on a 6†black with blue fleck havoc ribbon tail landing 3 small lmb. None weighed more than 1.5lbs. All of them were caught either just in, or on the edge of the marsh grass in about 6’ of water. Worm bite got slow and we switched to topwater. Landed a few small pickerels on the black jitterbug running it parallel to the grass with a constant retrieve. Didn’t get any pictures, none were really worth it. I wanna go back at a dead low tide (probably at least 4-5hrs behind scituate) and look for the pockets since I think with the tide that high a lot of fish are deep in the marsh grass and inaccessible.
Yes stripers are an anadromous fish species.... They spawn in the spring time. The young spend most of the time in estuaries. So if you get a bunch of small young stripers like I did last year and this year. There's a good chance the spawn and live in the river year round. Every year I hear of stripers being caught before the migrants. Plus the big stripers travel up river to feed on the herring. Even if they arnt resident fish they will still travel up river
hmm I definitely didn't know that about stripers. Good bit of info there! I'm pretty sure its stocked with trout in the spring but I may be wrong. There was a 6ft sturgeon found in there not long ago. It died shortly after being found though I'll find the article. I was gonna launch last night but the tide wasn't where I wanted it. Heading out tomorrow in search of some more bass and I'm gonna bring the fly rod to see if I can locate any trout!
Yes rt3 bridge looks nice... The stripers spawn in freshwater so I don't doubt if there are resident stripers year round. Not to many no about it. I want to go up the herring river also. I heard theres Brooke's in there. I wonder how the bass fishing would be in the winter since it doesn't freeze. You could do some open open water fishin in the middle of winter. Also heard there are smallmouths in there to.
i've heard some stories about big stipers that live up river all year but we all know how fishing stories go. if youre looking for someone to go with I might be down to launch the yak after work some night next week. I will probably also be picking up a trolling motor for the canoe on Monday or Tuesday and I’d be up to launch that too. I wanna get down far enough to the spot where the highway crosses, ive always thought it looked like a fantastic spot to fish and plan on getting down there very soon. Shoot me a message if you wanna get out some night after work next week.
I wouldn't doubt if there are hold over stripers there in the winter. I'm taking my kayak in there next week
Wow... I never fished marshes for LM and pickerel before. So did you have to paddle back up the river to luddhams? I've always wanted to take my kayak up the river. You think there's any trout left in the deep pockets?