As summer is ready to take a bow, the striped bass season is winding down. There are still plenty of schoolies around but bigger fish are now a tough find. However, with the liberalizing of cod regulations some have simply switched to groundfishing.
New Hampshire Fishing Report
When Captain Jon Tregea of Sea Run Charters report has more to do with a busman’s trip for funny fish in Falmouth Massachusetts than what’s going on in New Hampshire than it’s painfully obvious that the striped bass/inshore season is coming to an end. In between gushes about false albacore insanity down there he did tell me that valued sources of his who are still at it are now targeting that final big bass that doubtless has left its residence in the Piscatagua River and is now migrating southward. Chunk mackerel form shore is a best bet but so is eel/soft plastic casting off bridges in rivers, marshes and bays at night. Check out the shadow line on an outgoing tide sometime off these bridges and see if you don’t spot lurking linesiders waiting to pounce on prey. An eel or jig/soft plastic slowly dragged in front of those fish will elicit a strike. This time of the year the fish are far from fussy and more often than not, on the feed! During daytime, the action will be more weighted to schoolie surface feeds especially at the mouths of rivers which support river herring runs. Now through late fall a steady stream of herring fry will keep bass nearby well into October!
Roland of Suds ‘N Soda said that groundfishing is the current draw as patrons pack into headboats all along the New Hampshire coast in search of a keeper cod as well as haddock. Most trips take place on Jeffrey’s Ledge but for a closer-to- shore shot at a keeper cod, Roland suggests Scantum. Stripers are still around but moving quickly south. Roland is a guide and his gut tells him that chunking off Salisbury is the local best bet for a big bass.
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Southern Maine Fishng Report
According to Brandy of Webhannet Bait and Tackle/Boatyard the southern Maine surf is where the action is for striped bass. This week, chunk mackerel was the bait of choice. Mackerel is still abundant inshore and stripers are often not far away. Drakes Island jetty, at the top of the tide yielded fish ranging from 20-35 inches in recent days. The good news is that there have not been big feeding frenzies yet, which may mean that the fall run has not quite started! Topwater and slow-sinking offerings have been effective at Nubble Lighthouse around the top-of-the tide. Tandem-rigged white Slug-Gos, mackerel Cordell Pencils and SP Minnows have all been good for fish up to 38” long! Brandy and Scott trolled tubes in the Saco River on Sunday and caught schoolies with most of the luck occurring at the mouth of the river. River mouths will stage river herring fry now, making them excellent places to find bass. However, with the loosening of cod restrictions – 1 fish, minimum 21-inches per angler, per day – many are focusing on groundfishing at Jeffrey’s Ledge. Throw in a few haddock in the mix and you’ll have one impressive cooler to say the least!
Captain Lou of Diamond Pass Charters was in the middle of a respite when I contacted him the other day. Maine wanderings have temporarily given way to chasing Cape Cod false albacore! He did say that just before his departure there were nice bass cruising the flats but offerings tossed their way were quickly intercepted by schoolies. He’s hoping those bigger fish sit tight until he comes back and tempts them with topwater lures or the reliable tube-and-worm!
Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont Fishing Forecast
The proverbial “fat lady” may be warming up but she’s not singing yet! Along coastal New Hampshire a chunk of mackerel off the beaches may be just the thing to intercept a cow or two heading southward. The mouths of rivers are stacked with herring fry making a slim-profiled bait or the venerable tube-and-worm just the thing. However now that keeping a cod (until September 30th) is in the offing, the allure of groundfish action is proving for some just too hard to resist!