A major push of pogies into Northern New England is the most important recent news! While that’s the present if we look backwards to last year it took a while for big bass to catch up but once they did the striper fishing exploded, so be patient!
New Hampshire Fishing Report
Zach from Suds N Soda echoed what most other shop employees throughout New England have been saying – there are a lot of pogies out there! Finding this most valuable striper bait is the easy part but so far it doesn’t guarantee you’ve found the cow pasture, at least not yet! Pogies have been numerous off Rye and Hampton. A little trick which is working for some sharpies is to toss a live mackerel into the pogy bait-ball. While there may not be bass quite big enough to dispatch a pogy easily, any “almost there” bass, will not pass up the mackerel! And should there be a 45-incher cruising wearily under the school it probably will find the mack too enticing to ignore. Mackerel can still be found with regularity within a mile of shore and you should find plenty of pollock also! Typical of mid-July, flounder are transitioning from inside the harbors to just outside by beaches, embayments and the mouths of rivers.
When I asked Chad from Dover Marineif he had caught any keepers lately, he said, “Does a 96 incher count?” The bluefin bite has shifted up a gear, possibly thanks to the appearance of so many pogies, close to shore! If you launch from Great Bay, begin looking almost as soon as you clear the 2KR Can. The Isle of Shoals should be looked over too! Farther out, expect tuna to be feeding on squid at night and then shift to pushing baitfish up against depth breaks, drop-offs and contour lines. Patrons of the shop have been sounding the pogy alarm as they’ve been spotted outside of Hampton, Rye, the Piscatagua as well as Wells and York.
Southern Maine Fishing Report
Not to be outdone, there are acres of pogies in Maine from Saco Bay through Richmond Island, according to Mitchell from Saco Bay Tackle Company. Along with stripers, all that bait has attracted blues as well, which have pretty much been absent through much of New England so far. There hasn’t been much in the way of big girls, however, on those pogies. The drill for the bigger bass lately has been equal parts eels, nights, river mouths and outgoing tides. If you had to emphasize one of the ingredients it would be the middle of that outgoing tide! Mackerel reports vary from very good to a struggle. Offshore reports include halibut, Mitchell knew of and 80+ pounder which was recently taken aboard the Bunny Clarke head boat.
Brandy from Webhannet boasted that bass fisherman are going bonkers over bunker! Bunker or pogies (the moniker New Englanders give them!) have been spotted off off Wells, York and a number of beaches and while every school doesn’t have bass following, if you search a bit you’re bound to find a school under duress! There’s been a lot of mackerel as well, some of which have been caught and live-lined successfully off the Wells Harbor jetty. Kids have been chunking mackerel right behind the shop and getting plenty of action on stripers up to 29”! Artificials which are working are the venerable tube-and-worm as well as Kastmasters. All that mackerel and maybe even the pogies has attracted tuna and some have been tanks up to 105”!
New Hampshire and Maine Fishing Forecast
Menhaden have many monikers depending on where along the Atlantic coast you find them. One apt nickname could be “game-changer”! That’s because when those big baitfish arrive, big bass are usually not far behind! Snag some pogies around Hampton Harbor or in Maine Saco Bay. If there appears to be no predators with the prey, search around for another school which could be getting walloped! If you have larger quarry in your sights than keep one eye out for busting bluefin; all that bait has put pelagics in close proximity to the shoreline!
Where the he’ll are all the squid??!