New Hampshire & Maine Fishing Report - June 25, 2015

Talk in New Hampshire as well as Maine has turned from stripers measured in inches to fish measured in pounds. While “out front” has turned on in New Hampshire, there has been little linesider love among Maine beaches. However, the same cannot be said for jetties where the trifecta of pollock, mackerel and stripers make these spots the place to be.

New Hampshire Fishing Report

“Awesome” was the way Jason at Suds n Soda described the striped bass fishing in New Hampshire! A case in point was the 38½-pounder he weighed in for a surf fisherman who caught it from somewhere in the surf between Rye and Portsmouth on chunk mackerel. Odiorne Point is a good shore option according to Jason. The bulk of the beach-catching for bigger bass is happening at night. Jim Mackenzie took a 44-inch striper on an umbrella rig while trolling the Piscataqua River. Jim employs squids for baits on his rigs. Blitzes are so prevalent it’s hard to not spot a surface show throughout the Great Bay, Little Bay, and Piscataqua River area. River herring runs are thinning as is angling participation, however as long as there are some herring left, there will be bass cruising nearby! Flounder can still be found off the Rye Harbor Jetty with the bite beginning to switch from inside the jetty to outside of it, which is a result of warming harbor water temperatures. No word on squid as of yet, but one of their main predators is already present, namely black sea bass! In fact, according to Jason, Tim Moore from Tim Moore Outdoors just broke the New Hampshire state record! While you can use bait, black sea bass will hit all manner of jigs dropped onto their noses such as Crippled Herrings and bucktail jigs. Find humps or rockpiles while drifting the river to hook up with black sea bass. Tim took his fish in 40’ of water on a Daddy Mac Elite 1.4 ounce jig. He credits his new Minn Kota-powered Old Town Predator Kayak for allowing him to hover over the fish and focus on fishing rather than boat control. A tip from Tim is to jig sloping structure and emphasize the side or face of the structure which is most influenced by current!

Chad from Dover Marine said that striper hounds that are doing best are catching mackerel from shore and then chunking them. He mentioned Odiorne Point, Peirce Island, Prescott Park and Wallis Sands Beach as potentially hot chunking spots. Bigger bass are moving in and anglers are starting to reacquaint themselves with the sweet sound of a singing drag.

Southern Maine Fishing Report

Nick from Saco Bay Tackle told me that bigger bass are figuring in the mix and they are usually falling for mackerel. Seldom will you find bass with the mackerel so it’s best to get your supply off Eagle, Ram and Wood Islands and then toss them among the wash of jetties at the mouth of rivers. Effective artificial alternatives are RonZs and the tube-and-worm. Nick expects the beaches to bust open within the week with the nod going to Pine Point and Old Orchard Beaches. However, Higgins Beach (by the rock piles) has always been hot for a friend of mine who has caught cows there with live mackerel. Groundfishing has been great for haddock and pollock at Jeffreys Ledge. Just make sure you crank your catch in quickly, there are porbeagle sharks prowling around!

While some continue to mess around with mid-20″ fish, others are setting their sights on far bigger according to Brandy from Webhannet B&T. Exhibit 1 was a 46” extremely fat striper which the experienced angler figured was close to 50 pounds before releasing her to fight another day! How’s that for a sportsman? Brandy saw the picture and it was a beast. While the angler was expectedly lock-jawed over where he caught it, the fish fell for a mambo minnow in skinny water and in the middle of the day. Mackerel and pollock are plentiful enough to be caught and live-lined right from the jetties. Maine regulations are such that licensed anglers can harvest up to 6 pollock per day from state waters and they make excellent bait. Some are finding mackerel make more effective bait when weighed down with an egg sinker while pollock are better under a float with about a 7′ leader. The key to lively bait is having a live-lining rod at the ready so the transfer will be less traumatic on the bait. Most of the action is taking place at the mouths of the Mousam, Webhannet, York and Kennebunk River.

Fishing Forecast

Chunk mackerel from the beaches is a best bet for Granite State stripers with some of the fish pushing north of 30 pounds! If you’re looking for black sea bass, keepers have shown up in healthy numbers throughout the Piscataqua River and can be jigged up among the “current face” of sloping structure. In Maine the beaches are quiet while jetties are magical for mackerel, pollock as well as their striped predators!