New Hampshire & Maine Fishing Report - June 11, 2015

The anxiously awaited mackerel have arrived in both New Hampshire and Maine waters, and for many that is the key to a keeper striped bass…plus! While rivers are still your best bet, jetties are now a close second thanks to the mackerel migration. There’s still plenty of fun in freshwater, and it’s running the gamut from trout to toothies.

New Hampshire Fishing Report

Harold from AJs in Meredith told me that the hatches are bugging anglers. It seems that the salmon of Winnipesauke are so keying in on tiny insects that they aren’t interested in much else! If you’re a fly fisher, first light may be one of your best chances of catching a silver leaper on the long rod, if you can match the hatch. Smallie action remains fantastic as bedding activity has most fish inshore. Harold reminded me that there’s more than that big lake in this part of New Hampshire, in fact there are two gems in Gilford that deserve mention. Salt Marsh Pond and Gunstock both have brook trout and rainbow trout. A favorite technique of Harold’s is to paddle around towing a worm on a spinner/bead rig. Stick to the top section of the water column for rainbows but try deeper if brook trout are your target. A derby was recently held at Gunstock and as a precursor the place was freshly stocked with trout and many are still there!

Roland Groux of Suds ‘N Soda runs a charter business – Adventure Fishing Charters – and recently treated a group to a 20 striped bass outing in the Hampton River. The fish fell for clams and chunk mackerel and ranged between 25 and 38 inches with the bigger bass preferring the chunk. The word is that some 40” fish have invaded the Piscataqua River and the best bait is live or fresh chunk mackerel. You should be able to jig up a mess of mackerel by Breaking Rocks and Hampton Ledge. Eel casters are already targeting nighttime tides off the bridges of the Piscataqua River and doing quite well. The shop is selling quite a few seaworms for the flounder faithful who continue to find them in New Hampshire harbors. If you’re not chumming, give it a go! Anchor uptide of rockpiles, mussel beds and other types of “live bottom”, drop a weighted orange sack full of clams or even catfood to the bottom. Crabs will reach in, tearing off bits of the chum and help disperse the chum which will call in the fish. Do not shake the chum bag; it’ll only send clouds of chum up into the water column and could call fish away from you.

Tim Moore of Tim Moore Outdoors was putting a hurt on pike among the Belgrade Lakes when we spoke. The Tim Moore/Daddy Mac Whisperer was speaking most loudly to these fish. He’s rigging it with an offset TroKar hook and erratically retrieving it close to the surface. In the salt, he’s catching keeper stripers by vertically jigging 6” swim shad over humps and bumps in the Piscatagua River. The current in this river can really cook so you have to pick quieter stretches of the tide to pull this off. Chunkers and live-liners have taken fish here up to 42”!

Southern Maine Fishing Report

Curtis of Saco Bay said that a few 40” stripers have been taken off the Camp Ellis jetty on fresh mackerel chunk. Anglers have been able to jig up mackerel right from the jetty but chunking has been working better than live-lining. Boaters are loading up on mackerel by Richmond, Monument and Wood Islands. You’ll find no shortage of mixed sizes of stripers in the Saco River all the way up to the dam. The action has also been good at Scarborough Marsh as well as the Mousam and Spurwink rivers. The beaches are quiet still but look for that to change once the water warms up.

Brandy of Webhannet said that bigger bass up to 38” have arrived in local waters. Chunk mackerel and herring are hot off Moody Point as well as throughout the Webhannet and Mousam Rivers. Kayak anglers are reporting good catch rates while trolling the tube-and-worm in both rivers particularly at the mouth of the rivers. The catch of the week has to go to a fisherman who took a monster 22” American shad on a Fin-S-Fish at the mouth of the Mousam River! Don’t be shocked at the occasional ferocity exhibited by these “filter feeders”! The biggest shad I ever saw, which was even bigger than that fish slammed a Yo-Zuri Mag Minnow at the mouth of the Lamprey River! If you’re looking for mackerel you should be able to load up your Sabiki rig not far from the shore.

Fishing Forecast

If you’re looking to switch from any old striper to a potentially big fish than bounce a jig or swim shad over uneven bottom in the Piscatagua River. Another option is to jig up mackerel by Hampton Ledge and try chunking it in the Hampton River. The Saco and Mousam Rivers have no shortage of stripers with keepers steadily figuring into the mix. However if you fish the latter be prepared for something unusual such as a shad interloper!