Beaches and bays remain your best bet for a New Hampshire striped bass, while walleye are a unique alternative in the Connecticut River. Saco Bay remains hot for striped bass, while in the Webhanet River it takes an eel or a well-placed fly to wind up a winner.
New Hampshire Fishing Report
Chad from Dover Marine told me that striper fishing has picked up since last week. The casters scoring best are running and gunning the beaches with eels at night. The gripe against Great Bay and the Piscataqua River is that the fish are all schoolies! The good news is that the schoolies have never really left since local water temperatures have remained comfortably in the lower to mid-50s virtually all summer. The countdown is under way for those Downeast bass to bringing their fight to the Granite State Coast.
There are some titanic tuna swimming around randomly near Jeffreys Ledge and Tillies Bank. Look for contour lines and a live mackerel or whiting to help hook one of these finned submarines. The bait may hook them but after that you are on your own! For sweetwater pursuits, it’s prime time for largemouth bass with hardbaits, especially chatterbaits, in Swains Pond, Baxter Pond and Pleasant Lake.
Tim from Suds ‘N Soda was fresh from a successful walleye outing when we spoke. Walleye aren’t exactly the first fish that comes to mind in New England, but the Connecticut River has a thriving population. Slightly dropping water temperatures are causing them to become more active between 14 and 24 feet of water. Curly-tail grubs were accounting for most of the catch. There’s a lot of potential walleye water to cover throughout Hinsdale and Claremont with special mention going to Bellows Falls. Tim and pal Rick also duked it out with northern pike, some of which smashed topwater lures. Closer to the salt, Little Bay has been the scene of some surface feeds with mid-20” fish falling for shad baits. Look for the action surprisingly close to the shoreline. Just maybe the best bet is the squid fishing which is making for tough going for Suds ‘N Soda to keep the sought-after Sea Wolfe squid jigs in stock. Tim suggests you snap up every jig you find because at this stage of the season odds are that they are not going to be reordered. Squid are still easy pickings from most any lit bridge, pier or dock throughout the Piscataqua River watershed.
Southern Maine Fishing Report
Kenny from Saco Bay Tackle Company said that the striper bite in Southern Maine continues to sizzle. With cooling water temperatures, estuaries, marshes and inner reaches of rivers often feature a high tide/turn of the tide bite. Artificials which are working well are the SP Minnows and Yo-Zuri Sashimi poppers. Two highlights are the Saco River and Scarborough Marsh. The red tube-and-worm has been productive in Saco Bay and Higgins Beach. There are no shortage of sharks to duke it out with among offshore ledges such as Tantas, Platt’s and Jeffrey’s. Most sharks are blue dogs but every so often a porbeagle, thresher or mako enters the picture.
Dick from Webhannet B&T gave me a refreshing perspective on striper fishing in Southern Maine when we spoke namely because he’s a fly fisherman. Above all, he recommends opting for slim-profiled offerings to match the silversides and sand eels which are so prevalent. A favorite of Dick’s is the Guitar Minnow made by local fixtures the Eldridge Brothers. Your best bet for bass is at the jetties of the Webhanet River with the mouth of the Mousam coming in a close second. For a shot at a cow try drifting eels at night in the rivers or casting them from the jetties. There has been an early morning topwater bite with Creek Chub poppers working well.
Fishing Forecast
If you’re looking for a schoolie fix, try a first light Little Bay trip and keep one eye on the shoreline, where there have been some blitzes in the shallows. For potentially bigger yet fewer bass, try chunking Wallis Sands or Rye Beach. The jetties at the mouth of the Webhanet River remain a winner especially at nighttime when eels are the bait. For some real fun target the Scarborough Marsh at night, two hours either way of high tide with a noisy popper often just the thing to tick those bass off!