Pictured above: Capt Bob Weathersby of Seacoast NH Sportfishing took a busmans holiday on Labor Day offshore to beat the heat, besting this 71″ freezer filler bluefin on standup gear.
While adult pogies have been a fixture in big bass prospects for months, it’s the junior version – peanut bunker – that is now eliciting exciting blitzes. For bigger, however, it helps to stick with the schools of big pogies and occasionally even offering them something different, such as a mackerel.
New Hampshire Fishing Report
Zach from Suds ‘N Soda said that in addition to normal fare, there have been reports of pilot fish in the New Hampshire area. These unusual water temperatures have begat unusual visitors. Schoolie blitzes on peanut bunker have been daily occurrences among the “bays.” Bigger pogies are still around between the mouth of the Piscataqua River to Seabrook Harbor. Some of the bigger bass around are following the pogies but many are finding a mackerel in the midst of all those pogies is a magic bullet that the bass cannot resist. There are some blues around as evidenced by half-eaten pogies washing up on area beaches. The bluefin bite has been solid on Jeffreys Ledge with live squid the killer bait.
Chad from Dover Marine said that sharpies are searching out schools of pogies, which are holding over structure, and drifting live bait or chunk at the drop offs with outgoing tide fishing best. Additionally, there has been solid action in Seabrook Harbor as well as Hampton Harbor with whispers of a peanut bunker invasion making anglers anticipating an explosive fall run. Get your haddock fix now, since the season ends on the 15th of this month. You’ll find haddock as well as a gaggle of other groundfish in 220-230 feet of water on New Scantum.
Southern Maine Fishing Report
Finally, there’s reasons to be cheerful for the fly fisherman according to Josh Thelin of All Point Fly Shop and Outfitters in Portland. It’s September, and it’s finally fishing like it as anglers matching sand eels at the mouth of rivers as well as Scarborough Marsh are finding more aggressive bass. In more southern sections of Maine there has been the rumbling of peanut bunker, which are a lot easier to imitate with a fly than the adult version. Portland Harbor has been alive with busting bass, most of which are schoolies but there are a few corkers mixed in there. The wildcard never to discard are craggy coves which could play an important part of the fall run now that there’s the murmur of the arrival of peanut bunker. Peanuts are easily pinned among coves making for explosive shore action.
Brandy from Webhannet Bait and Tackle said that stripers up to 38 pounds have been caught during the last week off area beaches on pogy chunks. A few of the more productive spots recently have been the Piscataqua River, Cocktail Cove, Perkins Cove, Moody Point, York Beach and Cape Porpoise. A shop regular has been putting in the time after dusk with eels at river mouths and on some nights is tallying 4 to 5 fish over 40 inches! Blues have sniffed out some of the pogy schools resulting in occasional slaughters. If Brandy had to circle one slice of time over the foreseeable future for the best big bass potential it would be from midnight to 4 am!
New Hampshire And Maine Fishing Forecast
Short circuit your super-size striper search by finding a pogy school at the Piscataqua River mouth and fishing a chunk or live mackerel by drop-offs. Have some shad baits at the ready by Seabrook/Hampton Harbors for bass on peanut bunker blitzes. Eels at the mouths of rivers such as the Saco, Mousam or York remain a great choice for a game-changing fish but there is a price to pay, namely loss of shuteye since eels will always be most deadly between dusk and dawn!