Cooler temperatures have had an inverse effect on fishing, making it hotter! Better bass have moved into New Hampshire from Little Bay to Newcastle. For consistency, you can get your squid fix between Seabrook and Kittery. In Maine stripers stuffed with soft-shelled lobsters point to where the linesiders are groveling.
New Hampshire
Ink is the word and it has nothing to do with tattoos according to the folks from Suds ‘N Soda. Squid are leaving telltale signs of the previous night’s activity at Portsmouth Harbor, Hampton Harbor, Seabrook Harbor and piers and bridges in New Castle. When the calamari quota is filled, some are using the fresh/live squid on site and catching stripers. Many of those same spots are holding better bass at night with anglers targeting them with eels. Seek out shadow lines, especially off bridges, and picture stripers lurking just behind that shadow line and facing the current as they would more conventional “hard” structure. The beaches, especially where rockpiles are present, have been productive with bait ranging from eels to clams to chunk mackerel.
Chad from Dover Marine has been selling SP Minnows at a torrid pace as anglers target stripers at Odiorne State Park and Rye Harbor. Tuna are doing what tuna do best – swim really fast! And they are hard to pin down as they swim from bait ball to bait ball. Chad suggests you look for marked bait over humps and not necessarily tuna! Set up with a spread of staggered live bait and let the tuna come to you. It’s the ultimate roll of the dice but the pay-off can be very high! For a freshwater alternative, Chad suggests bumping the Live Target Yearling Bait Ball off rocks for largemouth bass. Chuck that crank bait out at Bellamy Reservoir, Wentworth Lake and Rust Pond.
Tim Moore from Tim Moore Outdoors said that the recent slug of cooler water temperatures has energized the striped bass all the way into Little Bay. Higher tides and dropping a white 6” Storm Shad into drop-offs has been the key to fish up to 33”. Some are finding the average size bass bigger closer to the ocean such as at Newcastle. Squid are present on most lit piers, docks and bridges from Seabrook to Kittery.
Southern Maine
Kenny from Saco Bay Tackle told me of some big news as in tuna big! And the activity is as close as 5 to 7 miles from shore! Anglers spotting fish are staggering live whiting or mackerel at various depths to see if they can tempt the tuna and some are accomplishing just that! The bite has been best just before sunrise. The beaches and jetties have been hot for schoolies which are averaging about 24”. When asked how to cull out the cows, Kenny suggested eels at night off the Camp Ellis Jetty as well as Pine Point. Effective artificials are the violet/white Bill Hurley Cape Cod Sand Eel and mackerel-green Swim bait. Regarding mackerel you can still find them out by Wood, Monument and Richmond Islands. Chumming helps as does an early launch for those seeking mackerel.
Brandy from Webhannet said that clams have been the hot bait and there has been an increase in better, 30” stripers. Anglers continue to report soft-shelled lobsters in the belly of harvested bass. This might tip off towards keying on bottom where there are a preponderance of lobster pots. Kayaks and the tube-and-worm go together like stripers and a tight line. Get all four at the mouth of the Webhannet River, Mousam River and Ogunquit River. With sand eels being one of the most common forage species, the Swedish Pimple is one of the best artificials. Soft plastic stick baits are a good alternative. There’s been some bluefish action off Boone Island where they have been observed spitting up squid.
Fishing Forecast
Head out during higher tides at Little Bay as cooler waters bring the bass in. Ink marks the spot where many a squid has been caught off the bridges of Newcastle and Kittery. Sand Eels are what’s for dinner for stripers in the Webhannet/Saco area making slim-profiled artificials such as Swedish Pimples and Bill Hurley Cape Cod Sand Eels money at the mouths of rivers and at beaches,
“money” and the fish are big