New Hampshire & Maine Fishing Report 7-31-14

If you have stripers on your brain, then it seems as if the Saco Bay area is where you should be. Theories abound as to why this swath seems to be as hot as anything north of Cape Cod, but the folks beaching those bass are too busy catching to care why!

New Hampshire Fishing Report

Chad from Dover Marine told me of a particular problem that we’d all like to have while he attempted to jig up bait for bluefin. He couldn’t keep haddock between 18” and 25” off the line! The location was the Northeast Hump of Old Scantum, the depth of water was 213’ and the killer offering was pink and orange cod flies tipped with mackerel slivers. The haddock were so savage they were even slamming Sabiki rigs intended for sea herring! And just maybe best of all was that there were few if any dogfish.

While the tuna bite could have been better, blue sharks were observed chasing halfbeaks in the glow of the nightlights. Unfortunately the good times do not extend to striped bass fishing. Aware that the Saco Bay area seems to have the striper stocks cornered, Chad theorized that off shore conditions have spun pockets of abnormally cold water into the coast of New Hampshire and much of Massachusetts. As evidence he points to Maine, even more northern sections of Maine, where he has heard of fish up to 50 pounds being taken! Tim from Suds ‘N Soda said that stripers have virtually done a disappearing act. He still feels that the best bet is to target humps, lumps and clumps as well as depth edges in the Piscataqua River but be prepared to work for your catch. The cool water temperatures have even put squid fishing on ice.

Maine Fishing Report

Finally some serious relief from Saco, according to Kenny from Saco Bay Tackle Company. The groans of elsewhere give way to cheers up here. Hours before we spoke on Wednesday, there was a blitz in the Saco River with anglers catching consistently fish between 14” and 35”! Forage is juvenile herring and sand eels and the lure of choice is the 8-inch RonZ with a 1-ounce jighead, and the shop is struggling to keep them in stock! As I typed this I had visions of the late lure inventor Ron “Z” Poirier nodding in approval. Colors that are catching are silver, green herring and white shad.

The beaches are hardly left out of the Saco Bay hysteria as blitzes are the norm! Recent blowups took place at Pine Point and Biddeford Pool. The bait guys are scoring stripers even in mid-day with worms and especially clams catching well.

Those looking for a more intimidating adversary should live line mackerel or whiting while mixing in a malodorous chum slick to attract porbeagle and thresher sharks. Ken saw a picture of a monster thresher shark which was so big he was afraid of even putting an unconfirmed weight on the fish.

Brandy of Webhannet told me that those tube-and-worming are catching the most consistently. Surfcasters are seeing more follows than feeds even though they are seeing a lot of fish among the Drakes Island and Moody Beach areas. Those working the same stretches at night are also catching while casting eels. Every once in a while the stripers break free of the dog-day doldrums and anglers enjoy a genuine blitz. The go-to lure when this happens is the Gags Schoolie Popper. Bluefish are random at best and appear to be content to bite-off and then beat it leaving behind a shaken angler muttering, “bluefish!”

Fishing Forecast

Other than in Saco Bay, the linesiders appear to have lockjaw! Tim from Suds is convinced that they are in the Piscataqua River but just not very cooperative; he suggests adding some weight to a Daddy Mac Viper and working it low and slow among structure. For faster action drop a jig/teaser combination at Old Scantum where the haddock are not shy. Also in the not shy category are porbeagle and thresher sharks, which will come calling if you send out a nice gooey chum slick. But the striped bass best bet remains Saco Bay where schoolies are plentiful in the river and bigger bass are slamming RonZ baits in the suds.