Groundfishing remains great with bottom composition often the indicator what anglers are coming tight to. Alewives running rivers as well as the countdown until the arrival of mackerel has many increasingly entertaining thoughts of striped bass! As for freshwater salmon, smallies and largemouth are all on the feed.
New Hampshire Fishing Report
According to Captain Bob of Seacoast NH Sportfishing the haddock haul this year has been impressive with many 5 pound specimens in the mix. Because they are a schooling fish they usually aggregate with similar size fish; if you’re catching nothing but shorts then move on! If your sinker or jig is clanging against hard bottom than you’re more likely to find cod there as haddock prefer soft bottom. Cod are out of season and anglers aren’t doing the future of the stock much good by attempting to release them in 200’ of water, especially with all the porbeagles around. While on the subject of sharks, with no dogfish to worry about just yet stick with clams which are consistently best for groundfish – the eventual arrival of dogs will necessitate swapping over to jigs/cod flies. Captain Weathersby’s time-line for striper addicts is with river herring present and mackerel ready to arrive, it’s only inevitable that their seven-striped predator will be here soon.
Captain Andy of Adventure and Catch Charters told me that the hardest part for him is finding a break in the wind – once out there he’s finding plenty of redfish and haddock at the Central Cove and The Prong areas of Southern Jeffrey’s Ledge. He’s having his best luck “on top” of ledge and humps and finding the fish while drifting. The redfish are big – 15” to 18” – and when found are tightly packed and aggressive. At his port at Great Bay Marina the talk is of the eventual arrival of mackerel and striped bass, all of which should happen soon.
From Gabe Gries: “Vermont angler Roy Gangloff scored big in the Ticonderoga section of Lake Champlain last week. In fact he caught a 7 lb 13-ounce largemouth bass, a new personal best for Gangloff, which couldn’t resist a ½ oz chartreuse black back Rat-L-Trap. Gangloff has caught hundreds, if not thousands, of bass on Rat-L-Traps over his 40-year fishing career, but never tires of fishing them. “Rat-L-Traps are one of my favorite spring bass baits. While they always perform well on southern Lake Champlain, this spring has been a record in terms of how many big bass I have caught on them. After reading this report and seeing the pictures, I began scrolling through my mind exactly where I have my collection of Rat-L-Traps!
Maine Fishing Report
Andrew from Sebago Bait and Tackle told me that freshly stocked trout have been the draw for many anglers. He’s been doing well with brook trout at Raymond Pond with other anglers having similar luck at Lower Range Pond, Worthley Pond and Trickey Pond with the latter stocked with splake!
Peter from Saco Bay Tackle Company sad that the wait is on for American shad to arrive in the Saco River. With the presence of alewives, their larger and more sporting cousins should be there soon. Groundifishing is impressive with Tantas Ledge producing a few haddock and pollock but the farther out Platt’s Ledge more reliable for most every species of groundfish. As for sweetwater, Pete’s picks are trolling for salmon with DB Smelt spoons in Sebago Lake as well as Lake Ossipee. The latter is also producing a solid smallmouth bite as the fish move shallow preparing to spawn soon. Perch-patterned and white jerk baits and swim baits are working well.
New Hampshire And Southern Maine Fishing Forecast
Soft-bottom areas on Jeffrey’s Ledge continue to hold haddock with Central Cove and The Prong a couple of standouts. Cod, cusk and redfish are more likely to frequent rocky substrate. Rivers throughout Great Bay and Maine are surging with river herring and with mackerel ready to move in, a certain seven-striped favorite should soon be in residence. Regarding freshwater, salmon are still on top of Sebago and Ossipee while smallies are in the shallows and willing to jump on jerk baits and swim baits.