Recent rains turned Great Bay and much of the Piscataqua River into a muddy mess, which if anything concentrated striped bass toward the mouth of the river. Squid still cooperate most anywhere there is access to a lit pier among that same watershed at night. And there is sea bass scuttlebutt where the squid are. The Mousam has been impressive for mid-30-inch stripers with mackerel making for the perfect bait for bass as well as offshore for porbeagle sharks.
New Hampshire Fishing Report
Chad from Dover Marine told me that squid numbers remain fairly consistent by the PSH Plant as well as by the Rte. 1 bypass bridge. A neat surprise is that there are fairly good numbers of black sea bass lurking below the squid. Chad suggests that you target the black bass among nearby structure such as pilings with 45’ of water being the magic depth. Another place where you can find the calamari as well as the black sea bass is on the New Hampshire side of the Portsmouth Shipyard. Obviously squid works for the black sea bass but they relish artificials such as a Spro Jig, Shimano Lucanus and Luhr Jensen Crippled Herring. Most are struggling for stripers but the more consistent catchers are targeting the myriad of rips in the Piscatagua River. Bone Zara Spooks have been catching the schoolies but bigger are falling for mackerel which are no problem to catch with some even in the river.
Jason from Suds ‘N Soda said that recent rains have flushed much of the bay bait toward the ocean. Not surprisingly stripers are best found by the Coast Guard Station, Pierce Island and the Portsmouth Navy Yard. Vertical jigging with a Deadly Dick or Daddy Mac Elite is working well as is casting the metal up against shoreline rocks which hold silversides. Above all don’t overly concern yourself with marking bass just look for the bait on your electronics or visually spot the shimmer near the shoreline. Oftentimes the linesiders are lurking just out of view. There’s been a boom in black sea bass numbers throughout the Piscatagua River as well as Little Bay and Little Harbor. Jigs work well just be sure to sweeten them with a sliver of squid. Another option is the tube-and-worm throughout the bays and harbors with red and orange working best.
Southern Maine Fishing Report
Pine Point has been pretty fishy according to Ben from Saco Bay Tackle Company. Another good option has been Old Orchard Beach. The modus operandi remains the same with mackerel chunks and clams heaved out into the horizon any time of the day and shore, kayak and boat guys slithering eels among irregular bottom come dark. Other places to target, especially at the turn-of-the-tide, are the Spurwink River as well as the Scarborough Marsh. One plug which is putting a hurt on the bass is the Lonely Angler line of topwaters, especially those peppered with red or pink. Fresh or live mackerel off irregular bottom among the beaches is always a best bet and you should find mackerel just off the islands of Saco Bay without any problem.
Brandy from Webhannet B&T told me that just this Thursday morning there were several 35” stripers taken at the mouth of the Mousam River. Mackerel are still relatively easy to catch so that could be the bait to put you into similar sized stripers or bigger in this river. A big bluefish blitz took place recently off Bib Beach with some of the choppers real ‘gators. Brandy’s husband Scott picked up a quick six stripers recently on sandworms in the Webhanet River. Sporadic surface feeds pop up which makes it prime time for topwater lures such as the 5/8-ounce Atom blue/silver Striper Swiper, anglers are also doing quite well with SP Minnows in chartreuse lazer shiner. Offshore out by Jeffrey’s Ledge the shark fishing has been fantastic with a 400-pound porbeagle leading the catch and a number of blue sharks occupying runner up status. The best bait has been live mackerel. The groundfishing also has been good but unfortunately all that comes to an end in the GOM at the end of this month.
Fishing Forecast
As the Piscataqua River clears look for stripers to spread out throughout the bays but should it remain turbid focus your efforts by Pierce Island and the Coast Guard Station. Keep an eye out for the flash of silversides over structure or up against shoreline rocks and toss a slender silvery imitator such as a Daddy Mac Sand Eel to see if there are stripers home. Or jig near pilings for black sea bass. Maine still has the better of the northern New England striper fishing. Try tossing an eel among the Spurwink River or work a Lonely Anger top water among the Scarborough Marsh. Bib Beach is worth a look to see if there are any more big blues lurking but for something with even more bite, porbeagle and blue sharks are making short work of mackerel baits on Jeffreys Ledge.