Pictured Above: James Garland caught and released this 41 pond striper while fishing with Diamond Pass Outfitters!
If you’ve been reading with envy reports of the cow-fest south of the border, your redemption is at hand. Big schools of pogies have brought along 20-30 and even 40-pound stripers. There’s even talk of a far larger, challenging potential conquest – tuna!
New Hampshire
I almost felt like alerting authorities to issue a “missing captain bulletin” for Jon Tregea of Sea Run Charters I was having such a hard time pinning him down! Of course the truth is that he’s been so busy catching and treating charters into quality striped bass fishing he hasn’t had time to breath. “Gigantic” bass have stormed the New Hampshire coast, almost overnight and seemed to have been blown in by the last bout of Northeast winds/storms. His fly charters have been having a blast sight casting to some of the biggest bass Jon has ever seen throughout the Piscatagua River watershed, harbors and bays. The tinder box that continues to go off is the continual push of pogies inshore. Large crab fly patterns are working as are large topwater plugs and paddletails. Mackerel are a tough find, but a live one sunk below the pogy schools, weighted down with an egg sinker will not last long! Be prepared for anxious moments from having a 48” fish follow your offering. When that happens, compose yourself and do not change the cadence of the retrieve. However, if subsequent casts do not result in hookups try picking up the pace of the retrieve just a bit. I’m hoping that works for you!
Southern Maine
Captain Lou of Diamond Pass Outfitters said that what the “nice” bass standard has bumped up to the 20-30 pound and even 40 pound category! Not surprisingly the cows are craving pogies by day and eels at night. Additionally they still have schoolies in the 22”-27” range. These fish are happy to take soft plastics, top water plugs, and flies. They are still seeing a lot of juvenile or brit herring around, so the Albie Snax in pearl and the Fishin’ Magician Skid Sticks along with most any spook style lure have been effective. For fly fishermen, the 4-6” hollow flies have been the ticket. Fish are also all over the flats right now with crab patterns just the thing to entice those bass to eat. Anglers are in a good spot in the season and the fish that are here are aggressive, numerous and of mixed sizes! Beaches, bays, harbors all have fish now so enjoy! From Brandy of Webhannet Bait and Tackle came a mixed bag of options! More pogies have resulted in much bigger bass with the bar now up to 48” long! Schoolies and keepers up to 36” are falling for red tubes (and worms) trolled along the Saco River. Some of the bigger bass have been taken off and near the jetty in Wells and Moody Beach. A few flounder have been caught in Perkins Cove and York Beach. While mackerel have been tough, they have made an appearance by Boone Island. Cod have made for interesting news this week. Scott Lee jigged up and released a 48” monster on Jeffrey’s Ledge recently and Brandy’s 10 year old cousin caught a 21” cod at the mouth of the Mousam River. As a stone cold indicator of the times, the boy had no idea what it was until he showed Brandy the picture!
Fishing Forecast
Finding pogies from Portsmouth through Portland should not be a problem but poke around until you find the “right” school which has stripers! Surface feeds are still a fixture throughout Scarborough Marsh and the Saco River, making all manner of small, fun offerings perfect for those schoolies. Boone Island has mackerel and I have a hunch that if you dropped a live mackerel under a besieged ball of bunker than it would get hammered!
Thanks Jaden. So much info. Great photo of the bass. What are pogie?