Great Marsh Outfitters is a fly and light tackle guide service targeting primarily Striped Bass, mainly in Ipswich Bay and Plum Island Sound. 

Explore marsh channels tossing flies at eager schoolies, or run out to the bay to fish big flies, live bunker, and big topwater plugs for pelagic Stripers up to 50 inches. Your guide specializes both in teaching new anglers and pursuing trophy fish . Low pressure, high excitement, high reward! You’ll be treated with respect, courtesy, and patience. Success in fishing is 90% confidence, and should always be fun!

Trips usually depart around dawn. At this time, you will have the Great Marsh, Plum Island Sound, and Ipswich Bay largely or entirely to yourself. We can usually find feeding fish within minutes of getting on the boat. Return by 9 or 10 am, when the bite slows down, and the weekend crowds are just finishing their coffee.

There are unique and action-packed fishing opportunities year round. Feisty schoolies arrive in late April or early May, invading the great marsh.

Things heat up in May and into June with slot-sized fish feeding on Herring in the sound and rivers. July brings abundance to Ipswich Bay, with the arrival of the bunker schools, and the cow-sized Stripers, schoolie Bluefin, and even whales that come right up to the beachfront to feed. This is world class Striper fishing! If you’re lucky, you might even get a shot at hooking a Bluefin Tuna.

August brings the sand eels in thick on the sandbars and beach fronts of Ipswich Bay. Come September, we take our show on the road and target False Albacore and Bonito. These pint-sized Tunas provide intense action on fly rods and light tackle. Through the end of October, we’ll be chasing Bass as they move south in their fall run.