While beaches still run cold temperature-wise as well as in the catching category, bays and rivers swarm with stripers. A live mackerel is a hard meal for a bass to pass up, and in Maine they are catching both from the shore. While the boondoggle that is groundfishing has resulted in most dismissing it, a recent report of an 80-fish outing may mean it’s time to revisit!
New Hampshire Fishing Report
According to Jason of Suds ‘N Soda it sounds as if the Granite State could be nicknamed “Blitz State.” That dominant class of stripers born in the Chesapeake in 2011 has hit New Hampshire by storm and anglers are complaining of aching arms from catching so many mid-20-inch bass! The scene of the massacres has been at Little Bay, Newcastle and Little Harbor. The fish are not particularly fussy, but the Daddy Mac/Tim Moore Whisperer, either rigged with an inline hook or paired with a jighead, has been especially deadly.
If you’re looking for bigger bass, then check out the alewife runs upstream of Great Bay where 40-inch fish have been hooked on river herring. A word of caution: the taking of river herring on Wednesday is prohibited. Mackerel can be found by Hampton Shoals and the 2KR Buoy.
Flounder fishing is fine in most of the harbors around and there even is a shore bite off the Rye jetty! It’s shaping up to be a good year for black sea bass. Fresh from a personal account of them already in a Massachusetts North Shore river, there is now word from lobster fishermen that they are being caught and released from their traps throughout the Piscataqua River watershed.
Tim Moore of Tim Moore outdoors was into that big blitz from “little water” madness and told me that those who caught best were using something to distinguish their offering from all the bait. One of the go-to lures was the ubiquitous swim shad, which he felt stuck out from the slim-profiled forage. He found a few better bass by targeting rips; more experienced fish know how to use current cushions to reserve energy.
Chad from Dover Marine said that those catching the better bass are doing so by either live-lining or chunking mackerel throughout the Piscataqua River. Chad’s preferred method is to three-way mackerel; this method is also deadly at night with eels. Salmon Falls and the Lamprey River have been the most consistent locations to find stripers feeding on herring. Sharpies are focusing their efforts at the Lamprey at the drop-off about 100 yards downstream of the dam, where some of the bigger bass lie in ambush of the herring.
Southern Maine Fishing Report
Just when you thought it was wise to forget about groundfishing because of the landmine of regulations comes an awesome report from Brandy of Webhannet. It seems that her husband Scott over the weekend set sail for Jeffreys Ledge and caught 80 mixed groundfish! The bite took place in 300’ of water, pink teaser flies were what was working, and the catch consisted of short halibut (34”), 40” pollock, haddock and plenty of cod (which were carefully released). Closer to the coast, it is now no problem to catch a keeper striper thanks in part to the arrival of mackerel. In fact, mackerel have been caught from the shore of Kennebunk, Drakes Island and Biddeford Pool. Anglers are chunking or live-lining the macks right from shore and catching stripers up to 39”! There’s been accounts of 30” stripers being taken on clams and chunk mackerel from the shore of Ogunquit.
Curtis of Saco Bay said that the beaches are still running too cold – 50 to 52 degrees – for striped bass fishing. Fortunately there’s the Saco River and Scarborough Marsh, which run at least 5 degrees warmer and have much better fishing. Most fish are mid-20” specimens but bigger are now part of the equation with the top striper so far being a 30-pounder, which fell for mackerel. There are still some shad in the Saco River and the ones left are big! Mackerel can be jigged up outside of Wood Island as well as the backside of Ram Island. Groundfishing has been good at The Curl and Platt’s.
Fishing Forecast
If you’re looking for fast and furious action, look toward Little Harbor and Little Bay and hopefully all those schoolies have remained put! Larger linesiders are upstream ramming river herring against the dams of the tributaries of Great Bay. You can’t beat the real thing and fortunately in New Hampshire the harvesting of river herring is permissible, Wednesday notwithstanding. Mackerel can be found by the Saco Bay Islands as well as from the shoreline of Biddeford Pool as well as Drakes Island. If you catch from the shore than don’t hesitate to live line that bait, there have been fish of nearly 40” taken that way this year!