New Hampshire, Maine And Vermont Report
Report Provided By Ron Powers
If you prefer your fishing with the enviable combination of comfortable conditions and biting stripers with less competition, then welcome to September! The downstream migration of river herring fry is resulting in surface blitzes in Little Bay. The cooler water brought on by incoming tides has been a catalyst for better bass fishing in many of the rivers in Southern Maine.
New Hampshire Fishing Report
Chad from Dover Marine was busy this week chasing Charlie among the plethora of humps and bumps not long after he cleared the Isle of Shoals. His efforts were rewarded with 90 inches of tuna. Chad emphasizes the need to find less pressured fish; if you want to improve your chances of catching, stay clear of the fleet. Accounts are that nearly every storied piece of structure out there has a tuna or two prowling about, so find one with no boats on it and you’ll fare better. Whiting are plentiful and make the perfect bait. Regarding whiting and other groundfish, the catching has been good but beware of the shallows of Jeffreys since the dogs are swarming. Look for slopes into deep water for the haddock and cod, which are numerous.
With sky-high Great Bay water temperatures, the bay appears to be devoid of life. The best bass fishing is taking place close to the river mouth and off the beaches. Mackerel can be found, but they seem to be smaller tinkers lately. For a freshwater alternative, consider topwater largemouth bass fishing in non-descript ponds and lakes, which have most likely received less attention thanks to all the focus on the salt. A local derby was recently won thanks to a throwback – the good old jitterbug! Now’s prime time to toss out one of these staples; for color Chad suggests frog/white belly. Squid are still numerous throughout the Portsmouth, Elliot, Kittery area. You’ll need little more than a squid jig, nightfall, and a lit pier to catch your calamari.
I received two similar reports from both Rick of Suds ‘N Soda and Tim Moore of Moore Outdoors that herring fry are flushing out of their upstream nurseries and are the catalyst for blitzes throughout Little Bay. Small swim shads and Queen Cocahoe Minnows are killer herring imitators. Eels at night are a late summer staple but they are in short supply. In areas where I’ve done well with eels, I’ve often substituted new penny 7-inch Gulp Jerk Shads and sometimes found them out-fishing eels! I believe it’s a combination of the scent and distinctive action that separates this bait from traditional soft-plastic stick baits, especially at night. The “action” could more accurately be described as non-action since the stiff composition of the Gulp material makes this jerk bait track truer and more naturally in current. Incidentally, Tim is ready to turn his guiding attention totally toward freshwater with pike and walleye in his sights!
Southern Maine Fishing Report
Peter from Saco Bay said that there was an early September salvo of blues snapping everything in sight off Pine Point! Incoming tide has been best at the mouths of the rivers such as Saco River, the Spurwink, Kennenbunk and the Mousam. Some of these rivers have herring fry migrating downstream with willing stripers waiting. A variety of different sharks including makos have been cruising by Boomerang Ledge and Platt’s.
From Brandy of Webhannet came word of surprising numbers of deep-water blues well beyond port. Anglers steaming out for groundfish, shark and tuna are encountering them and some are 38″ jumbos! On calm days they can be observed finning on the surface. While blues are a blast, there’s good reason to ignore them and keep to the course – deep-water groundfishing is great! Be prepared to drop your line down to 300 feet since the shallower, warmer higher locations are under siege by spiny dogfish. Flounder can still be found off Parson’s Beach as well as the mouths of the Mousam River and Kennebunk River. Keepers consistently have been caught off York’s Long Sand Beach on clams and on seaworms in the Saco River. The kayak cadre are doing well with the tube-and-worm in the Saco River. While it’s been a super year, pogies are beginning to thin out!
New Hampshire, Maine & Vermont Fishing Forecast
L.L. Bean Midcoast Maine Striper Report
Report Provided By L.L. Bean’s Matt Bickford
Reports of bluefish from Casco Bay to the Popham Beach area have been coming in. This is no surprise as we’ve had a large biomass of Menhaden in the Gulf of Maine for well over a month now. Some of these Pogies have moved up into local rivers and bays with a larger size class of bass in hot pursuit. Pogies aren’t the only bait around as we’ve had huge schools of mackerel and sand eels inshore for the majority of the summer. This had made finding bass that aren’t over fed a challenge and timing your trips around the most productive tides critical to your success. We have a new moon on the first of September with a low tide at 6am. This will provide anglers some great early morning/predawn opportunities with larger than usual tides. I have been targeting bass with good success at the bottom of the outgoing tide around coastal inlets. As sand eels pour out of these inlets, the last 2 hours of the tide can be extremely productive. My go to presentation is the 5 1/8” Daiwa SP Minnow in sand eel, with slow retrieves across the current allowing the moving water to sweep the minnow along the sand. This will allow you to cover as much water as possible and the bass, in most cases, will see the side profile of the bait. Bucktails tipped with Lunker City white satin Monkey Grubs have also been extremely effective. The trick is matching the weight to the conditions. 1oz. is a great starting point, however with the big tides this week 1.5oz. or even 2 oz. is not out of the question. I find fishing these bucktails through the current with a slow retrieve, while working the rod tip from 10-12 o’clock allowing the jig to drop to work very well in these heavy current conditions. If the jig is into the bottom after each drop, switch to a lighter jig. The goal is to stay as close to bottom as possible without making contact.