New Hampshire Fishing Report

Fishing report for item #252.

Fishing Report:   NEW HAMPSHIRE:


At Suds-n-Soda in Greenland, Jason MacKenzie reported
that they had an exceptional week of saltwater action, with flounder,
stripers and some bluefish keeping people pretty happy. "My brother Jim
had two days that he did really well, including losing one striper that
he says was about 45 inches that broke off right at the boat. On both
days, he landed six or seven keeper-sized fish while catching a lot of
smaller ones. He was using live pollock and was fishing mostly in the
Piscataqua River. He had to got out to the Isles of Shoals to catch his
pollock, as they are very scarce inshore because of the bluefish."
"We have our regular flounder fishing customers that come each
weekend, and they are having one of the best seasons in years. Again,
Pepperell Cove on the Kittery Point side and Little Harbor in Newcastle
seem to be the best spots, although we had one father-daughter team that
did well while fishing off the jetties at Rye Harbor, catching seven
flounder. Other spots doing well on flounder are off Hampton Harbor and
inside the bridge at Hampton. Chum and use clams or seaworms."
Dave Ganter at Kittery Trading Post says that when baitfish get hard
to catch, especially pollock, it's time to try some new techniques. "Try
trolling with small jigs and Sabiki Rigs over shallow, rocky ledges. Use
light line and keep near the rocks. The pollock are hiding in the rocks
to avoid the bluefish."
"Another technique that will work is to anchor near one of those
shallow ledges (Rye Ledge is a good example) and chum with ground up
chum such as Double Strike. Hook a tiny piece of cut bait on a small
hook-number six or eight. Use light mono leader-four to six pound test
and no weight. Some fishermen even use short mono hand lines tied to the
boat. Let your bait float down with the chum. Keep moving until you find
some willing pollock, and you'll also be surprised occasionally by
catching a few mackerel on this technique."
Ganter says that since live bait have been so scarce, they've been
selling a ton of frozen herring for striper and bluefish bait. "It's
foolish to go out there and spend most of your day trying to catch bait.
With frozen bait as a back up, you'll still be able to get in an
effective day of fishing if you don't find your live bait."
Captain Billy Brindamour called us to tell about the big stripers
being taken in the mouth of the Hampton River. "They're using mostly cut
herring and drifting with the tide. This week, they caught more big
stripers than we've seen in a long time. Since early in the season
there's been quite a bit of striper action on Hampton Shoals Ledge, but
bluefish and dogfish have made this fishing pretty spotty lately," Bill
said.
He reminded us that Hampton and Seabrook Harbors are closed for
shellfishing right now but it's legal for residents to take up to a
quart of seaworms with no license.
"We had a great weekend," was the word from George Taylor at
Taylor's Trading Post in Madbury. "The trout fishing has been holding up
pretty well but you've got to fish deep, in some places right on bottom.
Barbados Pond here in Madbury, Stonehouse Pond (fly-only) in Barrington
and Lucas Pond in Northwood are all doing well. Best fishing is early in
the morning or at dusk. Freshwater bass action has been hot lately with
all the local ponds doing well but crappie fishing seems to be a bit
slow. Swains Pond in Barrington and the Bellamy Reservoir here are two
good bass bets."
"Striper action has been unbelievable! It seems like everywhere--the
rivermouth, Rye Harbor, Rye Beaches--all along the shoreline. Flounder
fishermen are happy and there seem to be quite a few more that are
targeting flounder. Our bridge fishermen say that the bridges are
getting crowded, sometimes elbow to elbow and fishermen are even fishing
from shore around the bridges because of it. They've learned that a
piece of cut bait floated below a balloon bobber is a good way to catch
stripers. Our best bridge reports right now are coming from the Scammel
Bridge over the Bellamy River and the Newcastle Bridges in Portsmouth,
but there's a bunch of old timers that still are catching fish, and
usually larger ones, from the Old General Sullivan Bridge at Dover Point."
Don Miller and John Viar, NH Fisheries Biologists in Region 2-New
Hampton, emailed this report to us: "We hope everyone is enjoying the
tropical heat wave that New Hampshire has been subjected to this summer
(what a difference from the cool, wet spring)! Lake Winnipesaukee
surface temperature is currently 75+ degrees, but believe it or not, we
are entering one of the most productive times for big-lake trolling.
There are three major reasons why: the establishment of a solid
thermocline (horizontal "layers" of different-temperature water); a
burgeoning crop of young-of-the-year (YOY) rainbow smelt achieving such
size as to be targeted exclusively by salmonids (salmon and trout); and
salmonids on a pre-spawn feeding binge. Remember, these are fall
spawners, so mid-late summer/early fall is actually pre-spawn feeding
time!"
"In the last couple weeks, we have treated ourselves to some
trolling on Winnipesaukee and witnessed extensive surface activity by
landlocked salmon and rainbow trout in the area off Welch and Diamond,
and Mark and Timber islands, despite the warm surface temperatures. At
dawn and dusk, and surprisingly even at midday, we have witnessed
numerous salmon and rainbows slashing into schools of YOY smelt, driven
to the surface in feeding frenzies. Most of the salmon appeared to be
age 2 fish, approximately 15-16 inches; the larger fish seemed to be
staying in deeper/cooler waters of the thermocline."
"Both age 2 and age 3 salmon, stocked as yearling fish about 6
inches long, have displayed some impressive growth -- thanks to our
smelt supply (and importantly, sustainable stocking rates), which seems
to be excellent again this year. We will be performing annual
hydroacoustic (sonar) and trawl net surveys to monitor forage fish
populations over the next month and a half. It has become apparent that
in wet spring/summer years, our smelt benefit from better spawning
success and food conditions in our large lakes."
"Surprisingly, we did not have much luck on small streamer flies
imitating YOY smelt, which has been effective in the past. It is
important to remember these YOY smelt are extremely tiny (only about
1.25 inches at the time of this writing), which can make "matching the
hatch" quite difficult when the fish are keyed in. However, despite our
"match-the-hatch fears," various spoons including DB Smelt, Mooselook
wobblers, and smaller Suttons, 25-35 feet deep on downriggers, did
produce fish. A touch of orange/red either as part of the color pattern
or added (permanent marker or nail polish or one of the various sticker
tapes available) seems to trigger aggression strikes."
"We boated some solid age 3 salmon (adipose fin clip) to 3.25 lbs.
and rainbow trout from 13-16 inches long; all of the fish looked nice
and chunky! Lake trout to 22 inches were also in on the mix. Don's buddy
Jim broke the orange/red "phenom" by hitting a nice fat age 3 salmon
about 3.25 lbs. in size on a blue-green-silver DB smelt. (Report edited
for brevity. Thanks so much for the great report, Don and John!)
Paul Garland at Hotspot Outfitters in New Durham has been doing well
on the bass. "When the water temps go up and the boat traffic is up,
it's your time to go down for bass. Carolina rigged lizards and Yamamoto
Cut Tail worms are working for me. I stay off the big lakes because of
the big boat traffic. Try Crystal Lake in Gilmanton Iron Works, Lovell
Lake in Sanbornville, Conway Lake in Conway or Squam Lake in Holderness.
You should have a more peaceful experience there."

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