Pictured above: Greg Bockius caught the enclosed 37″ striper along with 20 others on a July 27 evening trip from Rye with Capt Bob Weathersby. His daughter Emilia, hooked up behind him, accounted for more than her share.
New Hampshire striper success has been the province of anglers working eels or mackerel from crunchy structure off the beaches or at the mouth of the Piscataqua. Big cod off The Curl and The Cove will hopefully stay put until August 1 when anglers can finally keep one fish in the GOM. And if you’re interested in a deep water freshwater diversion, lakers are on the feed in 100 feet of water.
New Hampshire Fishing Report
Chad from Dover Marine has been finding mackerel almost big enough to put a saddle on just outside of Rye Harbor. These are just the baits to take advantage of an improving tuna bite on Jeffreys Ledge and Platts. Another option for the mackerel is put a strip on a teaser ahead of a Butterfly Jig and work it by New Scantum, The Prong, The Cove or The Curl. For the time being, you may get frustrated by cod up to 38 inches, which are being reported there. Come August first through the end of September, you’ll be able to keep that one special cod! Meanwhile the haddock continue to cooperate.
The best bass fishing remains “out front”. The mouth of the Piscataqua River, Odione Point, the Hampton Jetty and most anywhere you find boulders and rockpiles odds are good you’ll find stripers, especially come nightfall. The most consistent catching upstream of the Piscataqua River is squid, even during the day.
I received two reports on one “dime” when I called Suds ‘N Soda as Tim Moore was pulling a shift in the shop. Tim’s optimistic about the nights ahead since it was last year at this time when he got into some serious stripers up to 48” while working eels from his Old Town Kayak in the Piscataqua River. With major tides in the rear view mirror, the water is cleaning up and he believes bigger bass will be putting on the feed bag. The best fish should be found along the ocean front at the mouth of rivers and from beaches. The shop is getting traffic from beachgoers who are incentivized after seeing stripers prowling the shallows of beaches such as Hampton Beach. Tim observed some nice fish recently chasing mackerel off Dover Point with the macks clearing the water. Bait is not a problem as you’ll find pollock, mackerel and squid.
For a freshwater alternative consider lake trout which are slamming spoons and jigs in 100’ of water over depths of 120’ at Squam Lake and Winnipesauke. If you’d like a tutorial on how to do this, you’re in luck as Tim is offering guided trips.
Southern Maine Fishing Report
Kenny from Saco Bay said that the area is swarming with 10” to 13” stripers, which have a lot of folks buzzing about whether they are locally bred bass. Massachusetts has the same phenomena and I posed the very same question to a local biologist. He, however, said that scale samples from those micros show that they are two-year-old fish, which are large enough to migrate. The opinion of him and other colleagues is that most are not “natives” but rather hail from more established breeding grounds down south.
Pogies are in big time in the Saco Bay! Some are loading up their livewells and chasing tuna, which is red hot right now off Jeffreys, The Kettle, “140” and Platts. Warmer water temperatures are luring in blue sharks and porbeagles. Haddock limits are no problem among the same offshore ledges where sharks are prowling; for inshore groundfish for the first time in years, anglers are successfully targeting flounder in Saco Bay! Your best bet for a bigger bass remains bait off the beaches.
Brandy from Webhannet told me that there are a lot of 25-27” stripers around especially in the Cape Neddick area. It’s easy to be optimistic about Ogunquit thanks to the 40” fish which have been taken by kayak on a tube-and-worm. Brandy said that there are a “ton” of pogies in close! Not surprisingly, big blues have been prowling just outside of the pogy schools with shore slingers hoping that they will get closer still so they can get a crack at them. Haddock have been found as close as Tantas and there have even been flounder taken off Kennebunkport.
New Hampshire, Maine & Vermont Fishing Forecast
Your fortunes are best for bass if you fish the “front” off the New Hampshire coast especially at the mouth of the Piscataqua and among rock/ledge and boulders by the beaches. Big mackerel have been the rule off Rye and make prime tuna and groundfish bait off Jeffrey’s. Some are saying there are more stripers in Saco Bay than in years with the bigger bass taking bait at night off the beaches. The crags of Cape Neddick are hot for kayakers especially those working a tube-and-worm.