2005 Season
6-20-05 Now that the weather seems to have stabilized the fishing has followed suit. River fishing is good and many of the old favorite spots along the shore are producing well. Many of the bass are 14 to 18" schoolies with a few in the mid 20 inch range. There were reports of bluefish 2 to 3 miles offshore a few days ago and yesterday they were right in close to shore. Mackerel fishing has been hot but is showing signs of the bluefish presence. Our water temp's are back in the high 50's to low 60's.
6-01-05 Our river fishing remains a bit spotty but some bigger fish are showing up. Now that the sea has settled from the nearly 3 weeks of steady rain there are pockets of fish setting up residency along the outer shore. We're seeing a wide range of sizes now from as small as 6" up into the low 40 inch range. There's no single species of baitfish dominating our waters that I've heard, and water temperatures are just creeping into the low 50's. Our weather patterns are forecast to become "more seasonable" which should crank up the fishing for June.
5-20-05 I fished in the York River with a friend today and between the two of us we caught about 18 stripers ranging in size from just under 12 inches to about 24 inches. The water temp' in the harbor was 46+ degrees and upriver where the fish were it was 53+. We have a pretty strong alewive run going right now so perhaps that will attract some of the bigger fish when they arrive. We didn't notice any of the smaller bait around, but the fly of choice was the chartreuse and white clouser, although they were hitting other small patterns. In another week or so we should see some silversides and sand eels showing up down river where the fishing will likely improve..
2004 Season
8-26-04 Not much of a change to report from last week. Perhaps the fishing has picked up a bit, there seem to be more bigger fish around but still no signs of the beginning of a migration yet. The tuna situation is status quo and still no signs of late season bait.
8-19-04 This past week stripers have been a little sluggish but we always manage to find a few pods of hungry fish. Not much going on in the tuna arena except for a few sightings in the Saco Bay area. We're just holding our breath waiting for that big charge of baitfish that has made the past few years autumn fishing the best time of the year.
8-12-04 Striper fishing was slow today but it has been surprisingly good this past week. Since the bluefish are still spotty inshore, there seems to be lots of bait around and stripers of all sizes have been plentiful. Reports of sightings of baby bluefin tuna are rampant. I heard a report yesterday of someone observing breaking fish along York Beach and surfcasters attempting to connect from shore. I have seen breaking fish three to six miles offshore in numbers that we were able to could cast to, but nothing like anglers were seeing off Gloucester two years ago. Still, we're seeing a lot more activity than ever before and if the bait comes in like it usually does, southern Maine could become a tuna hot spot.
8-05-04 Those bigger stripers are showing up again although they're not too aggressive, and fishing in general is maintaining well with both flies and bait. The river and shoreline have been producing some decent numbers of fish for fly anglers who can cast a long line. There's quite a lot of small bait that appears to be in the herring family and is apparently what has attracted some of those baby bluefin tuna to certain offshore points. We heard a lot about them a couple of years ago but they were pretty much a no-show last summer. This could be the year! Bluefish are still spotty even on the offshore shoal areas and water temp's have been fluctuating from the high 60's to the 50's and back again. I've gotta' say "still pretty good fishin"!
7-29-04 Bigger fish (over 40") are becoming more scarce and fishing/catching in general is tougher. We continue to observe stripers in their usual spots and this week we've seen several schools of bass on the surface that appear to be feeding on something tiny. Those schools with their backs out of the water and pushing the surface are very skittish and reluctant to grab a fly. Usually we can figure out how to catch a few of these finicky fish, but a lot depends on angler ability, weather, and luck. Bluefish are still spotty inshore and water temp's are swinging from low to high 60's and back again. As we slide into August, I'd not be surprised to see conditions to fall off for a couple of weeks before they improve.
7-22-04 Conditions are maintaining fairly well in spite of a couple of storms that have passed by over the past week. It does seem spotty for some anglers and not for others just by chance, not necessarily by angling preference of bait or fly, but I do believe that spin fishing has dropped off since June. Big fish are still around and blues have been more common inshore. With water temp's now in the high 60's, we may start to see blues and stripers teaming up on the few resident baitfish left in some of the coves and confining areas. It's time to break out the wire leader material.
7-15-04 It's easy to write a fishing report when you've had conditions like we have this past week! The river has been very predictable with plenty of schoolies (although big fish are always a possibility) and the shoreline continues to produce good numbers of fish ranging from the high teens to trophy's in the 40's inch classes. My clients from the Chesapeake area who say (of flies) " if it ain't chartreuse, there ain't no use" are extremely accurate in their assessment. Just about any fly tied in chartreuse and white works well right now. I'm playing around with some crab and lobster imitations that I'll mention later if they are successful. Anyway, if the nor'easter that passed by yesterday doesn't change things, get out and fish while it's still good. The dog days of summer may be close!
7-09-04 We continue to see plenty of fish along the shore. Flies and bait seem to be most effective with the larger fish falling for the bait as is typical this time of year. I had a trip two days ago with light tackle spin fishermen and we saw lots of fish from schoolie to 30" plus sizes but could only get the fish to follow their lures. This morning at the mouth of the Piscataqua River there was a blitz of stripers feeding on tinker mackerel with gulls marking the action spots much the same as in September. Bluefish are still very sporadic at offshore shoals which is good news for striper fishermen. When they venture closer to shore the baitfish seem to disappear and stripers become harder to find.
7-01-04 Good fishing along the shore with lots of smaller fish being taken back in the shallows. We're seeing many larger fish with them but very few will take a fly, however I've heard several reports of bait fishermen catching fish up to 46 inches. Water temp's are now in the low 60's and mackerel and herring seem to be in abundance. I'd have to say that conditions are generally pretty good right now in southern Maine and New Hampshire.
6-24-04 What a difference a few days can make! Conditions up river seem to have dropped off but are still favorable near the mouth of the river. This could be due to diminishing numbers of alewives and other baitfish dropping out of the estuaries after the spawning season. Stripers are showing up along the shore again and mackerel have reappeared. That's not to say that the bluefish are gone, so mackerel availability may be temporary. We've just had two tournaments earlier this week with several fish in the high 40's (inches) taking home trophies. This may be the payoff from water temp's now approaching 60 degrees and the absence of those spring rains.
6-20-04 Although the weather has become more stable and seasonable, water temp's are still very low (high 40's to low 50's) along the shore. I believe that may be why the fish are hard to find and seem lethargic regarding their feeding. To make matters worse, snapper bluefish have recently shown up in offshore waters and consequently many of the mackerel and other baitfish have vacated. Bait fishermen are lucky to find a few Pollock. Right now the rivers and estuaries seem to be the best bet in this area. The shoreline seems spotty. Flies more traditional to this time of year like deceivers and chartreuse and white clousers are working well.
6-08-04 Conditions are becoming a little more predictable now that the fish are settling in and water temperatures are rising above 50 degrees. Reports of bigger fish are more common and activity outside along the shoreline is heating up. Hopefully those heavy rains are behind us and the rivers will clear up so that the fish can see that there's still and abundance of bait. If the weather holds, the next few weeks should be great.
5-26-04 It would seem to be a typical spring here with cool water temperatures hovering between the high 40's and the low 50's so far. The fish are apparently sensitive to these temp's as they've been more commonly found in the rivers and near the outflows of estuaries where the water is warmer. Another factor to keep in mind is the presence of spawning alewives, herring, etc. that will attract larger fish to some places you may not find them other times of the season. There's plenty of that small bait around. It's hard to tell whether it is sand eels or silversides, but the flies of choice right now are the gummy eel and the rabbit strip sand eel imitation (about 2 inches long and in various colors) that works so well on albies and bonito in the fall. If you find a feeding frenzy, small poppers will offer some surface fun.