August is a great month for fishing in New England, with new species moving closer to shore and the big fish becoming more active. This month offers countless opportunities to catch a diverse array of species. We spoke with three local charter captains to discover which products they're relying on this month. These captains are out on the water daily, so their recommendations are based on real, tested success.

Captain Ray Jarvis - Salt of the Earth Sportfishing

My go to setup this time of year is a 7’ medium fast action rod, 3-5000 class spinning reel. I personally run those VS50x2reels with 20lb braid.

Allows me to cast pretty much everything and I’ll change my leader from 12-25lb depending on the situation.

Lures I really like the versatility of the Hogy surface Eraser. This lure comes in a variety of colors and can be fishing in a variety of ways. One cool aspect is that you can change the hook from one end to the other. Allowing you to get more of a walking action out of it on the surface and a more irregular fall if you are jigging it or swimming it.

I also like the albie snacks in white and pink, I like putting these into feeds and almost just letting them sit. Allows me to keep a presentation in a feed longer, with a slower retrieval than I would an epoxy or small metal.

On that note I use a lot of the Hogy epoxy’s and metals. Again these come in a variety of colors allowing me to match the hatch as best I can and they too are versatile and allow me to present in a variety of ways.

In general I downsize everything this month, simply to match the bait that we see this time of year

Captain Brian Kelly - Rock Pebble Sand Sportfishing

It's been the Spring and the Summer for Pogies. Their offsprings are out of the estuaries and rivers. Coin purses for grabs for the game fish pushing inshore. 

Peanuts produce surface activity! The first sign of Fall Run Patterns I see in August. Get your Hogy Epoxies ready and the Fish Snax Albie Snax rigged. Don't forget about the XL Snax, they have been an absolute favorite of mine this year targeting Striped Bass. And will work well for the larger Bonitos and Albies. 

Hogy Paddle Tails from 1 oz to 3 can help get your presentation underneath the schools and help you locate some bigger fish picking up the scraps on the bottom. 

It's never a bad time to throw a Doc, especially with all these fish looking up now. Stay away from the birds and work around the activity to try to find those larger fish. 

It's time to downsize the leaders. If you've been fishing 30 pound go down to 20. Fishing 20 pound go down to 15. It's time for light tackle fishing to shine. There's no better time to throw a fly rod, epoxy flies,  Blaine Chockletts Gummy minnows, Bonito Bunnies and get ready for the Funny Fish. We've been surrounded by Bonito. Now we're going to be seeing our beloved False Albacore within a few weeks time..

But we can't forget about those big bass on their return migration home for the fall run. Big Game Changers and Beast Fleyes near those Pogie and Mackerel schools. 

Captain Rob Taylor - Newport Sportfishing Charters

Captain Rob's message this month was simple, fish Seaguar Premier "shit is the bomb!"

He can be found tuna fishing most days this month and his go to for that right now is a green or silver Big Game Ronz.