From Wentworth Harbor to Webhanet, the better bass are being caught off beaches and the mouths of rivers. Fresh bait rules, and with the preponderance of pogies and the reappearance of mackerel that hardly represents a problem.
New Hampshire Fishing Report
Headboats are reporting plenty of haddock with a smattering of catch-and-release cod among depth breaks on Jeffreys Ledge. Mackerel can be found at the mouth of Rye Harbor and the Piscataqua with harbors and bays holding pogies. Once you get your bait, beaches and oceanfront areas of the river are fishing best. Eels are money at night, but if you’d rather catch your own bait, then consider squid, which are ubiquitous around lit piers, easy to jig up with a squid jig, and best of all – stripers love them. All things being equal, cooler water will hold better bass, and you’ll find that after an east wind, a flooding tide or both. For locations, stick to the ocean side of bays, harbors and rivers. If you’re looking for a unique and potentially fast-paced diversion from the salt, then consider the lake trout of Winnipesaukee. Now is the time of the year when lakers are bunched up under smelt and are ripe to be vertically jigged. Just be prepared to yank them up from water as deep as 100 feet!
Southern Maine Fishng Report
The word from Webhannet Bait and Tackle/Boatyard is that while there are a lot of stripers, only a few are catching keepers. What separates the sharpies from the rest is often small details. Incoming to high tide seems more favorable for the bigger fish, and river mouths are spots to be. The Mousam, Webhannet, and Little rivers have been among the most productive. Some of the beaches where good reports are coming in from are Camp Ellis, Pine Point and Old Orchard, the latter of which has been best at night. Haddock fishing on drop-offs of Jeffreys remains hot with most fish keepers. Just steer clear of the top sections where dogfish are a nuisance.
Maine and New Hampshire Fishing Forecast
If you’re after size and not numbers, eels or squid at night in Little Bay and Little Harbor are a good bet. There still are plenty of pogies and some mackerel, making bait procurement easy in Maine. Toss out a chunk at the mouths of the Mousam, Ogunquit, Webhannet, and Saco rivers and see if you don’t catch far better than a mere keeper. Groundfishing on Jeffreys is good so long as you steer clear of the shallows where the dogfish are misbehaving.
Vermont not mentioned once again. I guess you’ve never caught a wild brook trout in the middle of nowhere with a moose watching. Or a lake trout from 60 feet of crystal clear spring fed water
They get reports from other people they don’t make them. If you really care about Vermont and spoiling it to the rest of the world go ahead and tell them about it
I guess you’ve never caught a wild brook trout in the middle of nowhere with a moose watching. Or a lake trout from 60 feet of crystal clear spring fed water. Give a little respect once a week to the green mountain state