New Hampshire, Maine & Vermont Fishing Report – May 19, 2016

Report Provided By Ron Powers

New Hampshire Fishing Report

According to Jason of Suds ‘N Soda, the state of the striper in New Hampshire has gone from idle to redline as there are now 36” fish being caught. Not surprisingly it’s a case of find the herring, you’ll find the bass. I have some experience in this fishery having made successive trips years ago with Kyle Walsh, who worked in SNS years ago. Quite frankly I was floored at the size and quality of the fish that were available in the Great Bay in mid-May! Kyle would launch before false dawn and time the assault on upstream locations of the Lamprey and Oyster Rivers just as the rising tide would breach ledge, riprap, boulders and other structure which would stymie the upstream migration of the river herring. The fishing was spectacular for fish up to 36” but casting accurately and allowing your wares to touchdown just before the structure, the herring and the bass were located was the key. Not surprisingly the biggest bass bit before first light and subsequent fish were smaller. I tossed a red/white Yo-Zuri Hydro Pencil while Kyle worked a bronze Yo-Zuri Mag Minnow and we both caught! Those fish are there now and with ideal tides this weekend it’s your turn.

The flounder fishing continues to be in fine form in bays from Seabrook to Kittery Maine as well as adjacent beaches.

Haddock are hitting purple SeaWolfe Norwegians at The Curl on Jeffreys Ledge and the word is that limits are no problem. Mackerel remain east of Isle of Shoals. Tim Moore is setting his sights on the eventual striper surge into Little Bay which should be imminent. He’s also hearing that while most of the mackerel are offshore, schools are occasionally popping up inshore. Before you make a haul check out the 2KR Can and nearby lumps and bumps when the tide is cooking.

Al from AJs in Meredith said that things are really popping on Winnipesauke. Salmon and rainbows are still in the bays as opposed to open water and with ideal water temperatures – 55 degrees – the fish are on top and aggressive. The shop is done with smelt for the season so most are catching with shiners, streamers and spoons. Colors that are working are white and pink! Smallies are in pre-spawn mode and by this weekend may be working on their beds in shallow, sun-swept, dark shorelines. Another fishery to consider is the white perch spawning run which often happens along the shoreline of Weirs Beach between now and Memorial Day.

Southern Maine Fishing Report

Brandy from Webhannet Marine said that locals are welcoming the return of the beloved striped bass. Anecdotal evidence points to long hours required for a few schoolies but take heart knowing that each passing day will bring more bass! So far it’s a river affair with Fin-S Fish and soft plastic shads catching best from the Mousam, Webhannet and Kennebunkport Rivers. Groundfishing is a good bet right now off Jeffreys Ledge for haddock and then there’s the ever-present possibility of a halibut. Recently a patron of the shop steamed out to southern Jeffrey’s with a boat load of boy scouts aboard. While the haddock were fun, when the skipper lucked into a halibut it really sent the crew into a tailspin. The scouts remained transfixed as the angler cranked up the mighty flatfish until it was right at the surface only to have it shake free just as it was ready to be brought aboard.

Kenny from Saco Bay told me that it’s a veritable free-for-all at the Saco River Dam where anglers can catch shad and striped bass! The Camp Ellis Jetty has been good for clam and sandworm bait fishermen. Kenny suggests you cast your bait on a sandy bottom. If you’d rather throw lures, travel upstream where they‘ve been catching on Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnows, especially those with golden or brassy hues which mimic river herring. Kenny’s heard that the haddock are hitting impressively on Tantas Ledge as well as Jeffrey’s Ledge in 175-225’ of water.

New Hampshire, Maine & Vermont Fishing Forecast

If fishing for you is not all about the salt, then consider Winnipesauke where you can troll up a salmon on top, jig up a smallie from the shallows and just maybe whip a few white perch from Weirs Beach. And then there’s the others for whom May means striped bass! In pre-dawn darkness intercept stripers at the Great Bay tributaries as bass push the herring up against upstream structure. Your odds of duping them on an artificial are far better in the dark, come sun-up opt for the real thing – a river herring. Flounder are feeding well in the bays of New Hampshire as well as the beaches and for groundfish they’re jamming them on Jeffreys Ledge!

Report Provided By L.L. Bean’s Matt Bickford

Freshwater Trolling

Ed Gauvin, Freeport Hunting and Fishing Store Assistant Store Manager

With water temps hovering in the mid 50’s Brown Trout continue to be extremely active. Smelts can be located in large schools in close proximity to inlets where water depths exceed 20 feet. These are ideal locations for targeting big browns in the early dawn and late afternoon hours. Being equipped with electronics that have sonar and GPS capabilities will make locating and recording exactly where these schools of smelt are extremely easy. This will also give you the ability to focus your time on the water in the most productive areas. Stick baits are very effective for replicating the action of a wounded or vulnerable smelt. My favorites include: Rapala Husky Jerk 4 ¾” in Silver, Smithwick’s Suspending Rattling Rogue Minnow 4 ½” in Tequila and large Mooselook Wobblers in gold, silver and copper. Effective speeds will vary; I find the best result with stick baits to be around 1.5 mph and spoons closer to 2mph to get the desired action. Downriggers are extremely effective for precise presentation for fish at staggered depths. When using lead core I figure approximately 6-8 ft. of depth per color, this will fluctuate depending on speed and drag of the lure being used.

Bass Fishing

By Matt Bickford

Mid to late May is a great time to target both smallmouth and largemouth bass in southern and central Maine. Fishing weedless topwater frogs in weedy shallows can be fantastic this time of year and in my opinion is one of the coolest ways to fish for bass. Find areas with weeds just below the water’s surface and work a Spro Frog in varying colors over the structure. Frog eats can be extremely aggressive and sometimes the bass will not get hooked or more often than not the angler will set the hook too early. Having a second rod rigged up with your favorite soft plastic is key in order to quickly present a second offering to the fish. It’s almost a guaranteed hook up every time a wacky rigged Senko or Texas rigged lizard is presented to a fish that’s exposed themselves on the frog.

Anglers wanting to target smallmouth should focus on pre-spawn and spawn areas. Examples of these areas would be extended points with proximity to deeper water and drop offs near shallow flats that contain finer structure like sand and smaller rocks. Targeting these areas as fish are staging up or just beginning to spawn can provide some of the best smallie fishing of the year. Good bets for lures are Rapala Husky Jerks, lipless crankbaits like Rattle Traps and wacky rigged Senkos.

Report Provided By New Hampshire Fish and Game Department

NORTH COUNTRY

There is nothing quite like catching a fish on the surface. Some may say that the whole premise of angling is to make contact with a fish. If that is true, a fish breaking the water and rising for bait would seem to increase that very connection. Whether it is a big smallmouth smashing a popper or a 3-inch trout sipping a Royal Wulff, hooking a fish in this manner will bring a smile to anyone who witnesses it.

I put this theory to practice on a fishing trip last fall. It rained every minute of this three-day adventure, and the fishing was very slow. I was with some men who really know their stuff and we were trying every trick in the fly-fishing book. Some of us were fishing heavy nymphs, some of us were fishing droppers and I watched one of my friends tie on a big, ugly striper fly. Nothing was working and we were soaking wet. When my frustration had reached its peak, I decided that if I was unlikely to catch a fish and was essentially practicing my casting, I’d put on a big, dry fly and watch it move among the raindrops. I’d like to tell you that everything changed and I started catching fish on every cast. Unfortunately, that is not what happened but I did catch a few. The fish rose to the surface in a way that made me smile and forget that rain was running into my waders like a broken spigot.

Insects are hatching in northern New Hampshire right now, and I saw some fluttering caddis on the Connecticut River yesterday. I also had a few small, dark stoneflies land on my hat to keep the black flies company. This will all translate to some good dry fly fishing as temperatures warm into the weekend.

– Andy Schafermeyer, Regional Fisheries Biologist

LAKES REGION

In order to gather some baseline information (length, weight and age) on the white perch population in Lake Winnipesaukee, we recently placed nets in bays well known as areas used for spawning white perch. We were able to get a good representative sample of spawning adults this week including several fish in excess of 15 inches and two pounds. Despite the species being highly pursued during the ice fishing and the spring open water season, the population continues to appear abundant and healthy. White perch seek out the first areas in the lake that reach around 60° F to spawn. Females can have over 100,000 eggs and once fertilized, the eggs can hatch as quickly as a day or two. In some of our larger lakes, robust body condition in conjunction with large egg and milt masses can cause a disruption to swim bladder function. This will make some of the larger adults to float on the water surface.

Although the spawning run for white perch started over two weeks ago, the fluctuating weather patterns have likely extended the period where adult white perch congregate in the northern portions of Lake Winnipesaukee to spawn. During the recent cold fronts, the shutoff of the spawning run has been as instantaneous as a light switch. After a few days of warmer weather the spawning run picks up again. I predict, given the forecast for the end of the week, that the spawning run will again be in full swing over the weekend and early part of next week. This is a very popular time of year for some anglers. They use a variety of different tackle (small inline spinners and spinner baits, live bait with strike indicators, small jigs, spoons and streamers) to target these fish in parts of Moultonborough, Melvin, Nineteenmile, and Twentymile bays as well as around the Lees Mills and State’s Landing areas. Although Lake Winnipesaukee is perhaps best known for trophy sized white perch, both Winnisquam and Squam lakes also produce some quality fish. For these two lakes seek out shallow bays that could warm more quickly and larger inlets, such as where the Winnipesaukee Rivers enters Winnisquam Lake.

– John Viar, Regional Fisheries Biologist

MONADNOCK/UPPER VALLEY

My good friend and well-known local angler and hunter, Jean Goodell, just took a week off from work to turkey hunt. Luckily for me, he got a turkey on his first day off and spent the rest of the week fishing, passing along some information for this report.

Granite Lake has been hot for rainbow trout this year, and Jean hit it twice with good results. He limited out on rainbows before 8:00 a.m. on both days and had the bonus of catching a 17-inch lake trout on his second day. Lake trout are just starting to get caught in better numbers in Granite after many years of being scarce, so please release any that you catch so that the population can continue to rebound. Jean also met an angler from Greenfield, MA, who showed him pictures of a gorgeous 4-pound rainbow he caught in Granite the day before.

Silver Lake was a little slower with only one fat rainbow trout to show for his efforts, but Jean had his limit of trout in the cooler after only two hours on Forest Lake the next day. He finished off his week at Center Pond (Nelson) with a few trout on the fly rod. Most of his fish this week came on a copper spoon fished on three colors of lead-core.

I also received reports that Beards Brook and the North Branch are fishing well for trout and that some holdover browns were caught in both Whittemore Lake and Center Pond (Nelson).

I fished Forest Lake for bass on Saturday and saw what is being reported to me by numerous anglers from water bodies throughout southwestern New Hampshire — the spawn is on. While I did observe a few nests with both male and female largemouth bass in the act of spawning, there were many nests were spawning had already occurred and a male was guarding eggs. Bigger females were under docks and I had a great day using both small jigs and Ned Rigs. Remember that May 15 to June 15 is catch and release for largemouth and smallmouth bass and only artificial lures and flies may be used.

– Gabe Gries, Regional Fisheries Biologist

SOUTHEAST NH/MERRIMACK VALLEY

herringRiver herring restoration efforts are in full swing. River herring is a common term used to describe two species of fish: the alewife and the blueback herring. Both species migrate up freshwater rivers from the ocean on an annual spring spawning run. They can be difficult to tell apart, but they have similar life cycles. Both species spend about four years in the ocean, where they are preyed upon by everything from striped bass to cod, and even humpback whales. They lay their eggs in freshwater, alewives preferring slower moving sections of rivers or lakes and ponds and blueback herring tend to spawn in faster flows. Juveniles consume zooplankton and grow rapidly. By the end of the summer they begin migrating downstream to the ocean by the thousands. Both adults and juveniles become food for predators such as large and smallmouth bass and pickerel as they become concentrated in great numbers during their migration to and from the ocean.

The river herring run came on strong with last week’s warm weather. Counts on the Lamprey and Cocheco Rivers are approaching record numbers. Since river herring showed up at the Merrimack River last Wednesday, the count — which is at about 250,000 — is almost double last year’s total for the season. Because much of the spawning habitat in the Merrimack River is inaccessible due to impassable dams, we use trucks to transport river herring into waterbodies with suitable spawning habitat. Stocking locations include the Nashua River, Potanipo Lake, Pine Island Pond, and Lake Winnisquam. With the increase in numbers this year, we hope to include additional sites in the Suncook River, Contoocook River, and other locations throughout the Merrimack River watershed. For anglers in the aforementioned waters, a silvery lure, spoon or swimbait makes a good imitation for river herring when targeting resident fish.

This most recent attempt to restore the river herring run on the Merrimack River began in 2010. With help from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, New Hampshire Fish and Game Marine Division, and Maine Department of Marine Resources, we were able to obtain river herring from the Lamprey, Cocheco, Saco, Androscoggin and Kennebec Rivers for transport into Merrimack River stocking locations. At the time, the Merrimack River herring count barely topped 500 fish (historic fishway counts for the Merrimack River are available at: www.fws.gov/northeast/cnefro/returns.html). We still rely on other rivers for much of our stocking, but each year we have been able to capture more fish from the Merrimack River itself. This year we are beginning to see the potential of the Merrimack River to support a healthy population of river herring. With improvements in fish passage we hope to restore a sustainable population that becomes less dependent on trap and transport operations over time.

– Matt Carpenter, Regional Fisheries Biologist

SEACOAST AREA

The river herring are running up coastal rivers in record numbers this spring and the stripers have finally made an appearance. This early season herring run provides many shore anglers with their easiest chance of catching a large striper. The typical method employed is snagging a river herring using one rod rigged with a weighted treble hook or “snag hook” that is cast into a school of herring, allowed to sink a little, and then reeled in quickly or jigged. Then transfer the live fish onto a 7/0 or 8/0 circle hook, up through the lower jaw and out the head, on a second fishing pole.

Fishing with live herring can be very productive near the head-of-tide dams in Newmarket, Dover, and Exeter. This is also where the largest amount of river herring congregates. There are restrictions around the head-of-tide dams and fish ladders, as well as closed days for river herring. You can find these special restrictions in the Saltwater Fishing Digest on pages 7 and 19, (www.eregulations.com/newhampshire/fishing/saltwater/) . Alternately, swimming lures also work well and anglers have had some luck recently catching smaller stripers on sea worms, which are available at most local bait shops now.

– Becky Heuss, Marine Fisheries Biologist