Maine Fishing Reports

Fishing report for item #294.

Fishing Report:   MAINE: Donna at Kittery Trading Post’s fishing department has the cure
for those striper and blue fishermen that have been caught in the summer
doldrums. “You want to try fishing after dark, and for stripers or
bluefish, you can’t beat live eels. Live mackerel and pollock are
extremely hard to catch right now, in fact, mackerel are non-existent in
our areas. So you can either trap your own eels or purchase them from
live bait stores. If you trap, a great bait for your eel trap is often
found for free--cooked lobster bodies or other lobster waste. Or you can
use the rack of a fish that you’ve filleted. Another good bait for your
eel trap is mussels. Crack them open with a rock and throw them, shell
and all, into the eel trap. A regular minnow trap will work for eels,
but the ones with the extension will definitely hold more eels. Set your
eel traps out at dusk and pull them in the morning. Most slow moving
tidal creeks or ponds such as Portsmouth’s North and South Mill Ponds
hold a lot of eels.”
“Once you have a bunch of eels, they can be a problem to keep. If you
have access to a saltwater area that you can store them in, that will
work. Be sure that the water is deep enough so your eel keeper doesn’t
go high and dry at low tide. You can keep eels in your minnow or eel
traps by blocking off the exit holes.”
“An easier method is to keep them on ice. But you need to know that live
eels will drown in their own slime and ice melt, so the best method is
to use a cooler with the drain open and make sure it doesn’t get
blocked. Set the cooler up so that it drains into another container to
hold the ice melt. Another set-up is to drill lots of holes in a bucket,
put your eels right on the ice and set that bucket over another larger
one to catch the drain.”
“Handling iced eels is easy, as the cold numbs them a bit but they perk
right up when on a hook and in the water. Use a short shank hook and
hook them through both jaws. If there’s a lot of bluefish, you’re going
to get cut-offs. Try using a dropper hook near the eel’s tail when this
occurs.”
“Stripers will be on the flats at night looking for eels, so concentrate
your efforts there, instead of in the faster flows. Another good trick
is to cast your live eels up towards the rocky shoreline with a spinning
rig. Expect to catch some big fish at night when using live eels,” Donna
warns.
In other saltwater news from Maine, Garon at Saco Bay Tackle reports
that the sharks have arrived, big time, on the offshore ledges. “We
fished Tantas Ledge last week and caught several big blue sharks, fish
to about eight feet long. And there was a big thresher shark, 583 pounds
caught, that may end up being a Maine record.”
“This big thresher almost won the battle! The fish had been fought hard
on rod and reel and was within harpoon range. The harpoon struck the
shark but the fish took off in a sizzling run, wrapping the harpoon line
around the angler’s foot! Luckily, his shoe came off before the shark
took him overboard!”
Garon said that along with blue and thresher sharks, some poorbeagles
have been landed, and the fishing for giant bluefin tuna has been the
best in years, with a lot of hookups on Jeffrey’s, Platts and Tantas ledges.
“Our inshore fishing for stripers has slowed a bit, and the dogfish are
right in here along the beaches and jetties. Most of the decent sized
bluefish and stripers are outside around Wood Island and the other
islands,” he ended.
Carroll Cutting at Jordan’s Store in East Sebago was impressed by the
number of fishing licenses they’ve been selling. “It’s been a great year
for that. And we’re seeing a lot of vacationers taking up the sport.
We’re in the summer fishing mode here, mostly panfish and bass for the
tourists. A lot of the bass coming from shore are being taken on a
wacky-rigged Senko worm. The togue (lake trout) fleet continues to do
well out in the deep water. Pearl White and her husband caught eight
togue one day--fish from three to five pounds. They were trolling
sewed-on shiners with no spinners.”
“Most of the brown trout being caught here on Long Lake are coming from
up north on the Harrison end,” noted Dave Garcia at Naples Bait. The
fish are 30 feet down and taking both lures and bait.”
“We fished the ABA bass tourney at Little Sebago Lake yesterday. It was
a tough bite, with only one limit of bass taken out of a group of 12
boats. I finished fifth, out of the money with four keeper fish but
caught a lot of undersized bass. We were jigging and pigging. We also
saw several schools of big white perch at the northern end of the lake.”
“My son Tyson didn’t fish this event but he’s qualified for the ABA
Fish-Off that is coming to Long Lake next week. Seventeen qualifiers
will fish the two-day event.”
Rusty Harvey at River’s Edge Sports in Oquossoc in the Rangeley area
reports he saw a five-pound brookie caught from Lake Mooselookmeguntic
Lake last week. “This fish was taken 40 feet down. He caught 16 salmon;
all undersized when that big brookie hit sewed-on bait. Another
fisherman had fished Rangeley Lake all week. He caught 40 salmon, from
two to three-pounds and a couple that were in the five-pound range. He
was also using sewed on bait and had his downriggers set at 42 feet.”
“The rivers mostly are slow, but when the water flow at Lower Magalloway
is 500 cfs or less, there’s some good fishing. We probably won’t see
much river action now until we get some rain in September, to bring in
the spawning fish,” he noted.
At Dan Legere’s Maine Guide Fly Shop in Greenville in the Moosehead
area, Bob Duport reports that the best fishing in the area at this time
revolves around the West Branch of the Penobscot and the East Outlet on
Moosehead Lake. “At the West Branch, most of the guides fishing drift
boats are concentrating on Big Eddy and downstream. Over on the East
Outlet, there’s decent flow but the water is warm so the fish are picky.
Try big stonefly nymphs, caddis emergers or at the end of the pools, try
a stimulator dry fly. There’s a few hex flies still hatching at dusk on
some of the ponds.”
“Moosehead Lake togue are doing okay but you’ve got to go deep. A few
salmon are being taken in the upper water column early in the morning in
the Spencer Bay area but you’ve got to go down to at least 40 feet in
the daytime.”
NEW HAMPSHIRE: Mike Racine, Fisheries Biologist, Region 4/Keene filed
this report with us: “Excellent fishing continues where the Cold River
feeds into the Connecticut River in Walpole. Trout were rising
everywhere and the banks were lined with fishermen. One man reported
almost catching a 5 or 6-pound brown. Don’t tell him that almost isn’t
good enough. His problem was that the brown just wouldn’t fit in the
net! The only option this fisherman had for this “mounter” was to
attempt to grab the gills or tail and hope for the best. Well the fish
got away. Another spot to try for trout is a mile or two downriver
around the Great Island Wildlife Management Area (also in Walpole).”
“The Connecticut River never ceases to amaze me! It has an incredible
forage (feed) base that feeds both the cold and warmwater fish species.
I have already mentioned two hot spots for trout, but smallmouth bass
are not nearly as selective in terms of habitat; you can fish for
smallmouths just about anywhere! Daytime work with Fish and Game’s
electroshocking boat took us to Charlestown last week. The estimated
minimum size smallie captured was about 13”, average size was 15”, and
maximum size must have been just over 20”. We turned over these beauties
every 60 yards or so, and we traveled roughly half a mile. As we were
not targeting bass, we easily lost count! We would either first run into
schools of hundreds of minnows with the bass hovering nearby, or we
would hit the bass first and in a matter of feet run into the minnows.
Either way, predator and prey weren’t separated by much distance!”
“To date, our warmwater surveys have taken us from Rindge to Gilmanton,
with several more waterbodies in store. The “young of the year” bass
have already grown to nearly 2 inches. We have seen both largemouth and
smallmouth, although largemouth are sampled more effectively. We
captured and released a 6+ pounder from Rindge and have seen others like
it. The big boys are around indeed!”
“The Connecticut River doesn’t have just trout and bass. It also has
superb panfish and pike fishing. These two extremes require much
different equipment setups. Panfishing requires a light pole, light line
(4-6 lb. test), and small jigs or spinners. Pike fishing, on the other
hand, requires a stiff pole, minimum 20-lb. test line, a steel leader,
and large lures. While panfishing, you may even get a surprise when the
pike attack your catch! The daily limit for these monsters is one fish
having a minimum total length of 28 inches. (Report edited for brevity,
many thanks to Mike.)
Jason MacKenzie at Suds-n-Soda in Greenland says that there were no
changes in the leader board for their All Summer Long Striper Tourney,
and added that the fishing seemed to slow down in the Great Bay and
Piscataqua River areas. “There were some smaller stripers being caught
on Santini Tube-n-Worm rigs around Goat Island in Little Bay but down at
the mouth of the river it seemed that small bluefish were the most
active fish. Even the flounder fishing tailed off this week. You can
still catch bait-sized pollock out around the Isles of Shoals but
there’s hardly any inshore. My suggestion is to use live eels after
dark. That’s been quite steady.”
Steve Courshesne at Steve’s Sportsmen’s Den in Hooksett reports that the
Merrimack River nearby has been incredible for smallmouths. “A lot of
bass have been caught on live bait, with crawfish being hot last week.
We also had a lot of reports of good salmon at Winnipesaukee. The fish
are in the 50 foot range there--a lot of nice three pound plus sized
salmon.”
“I’ve been having my best striper year ever, fishing mostly the humps
offshore. The key is to chum and you’re going to have to fight the
dogfish and bluefish most days. I use Polaroid sunglasses and often can
see the dogfish so I can pull the bait away from them. My largest
striper of the year was just under 40 pounds,” he laughed.
George Taylor at Taylor’s Trading Post in Madbury said things had been a
little quiet there, especially the crappie fishing but noted that the
bass fishing locally has been tremendous. “Bellamy Reservoir, Swains
Pond, Nippo Lake, Wheelwright Pond, Pawtuckaway Lake, Baxter Pond are
steadily producing bass in the three pound range.”
“The trout fishing has been holding up, surprisingly. At the Lamprey
River, cool inlets and springs are doing well. Over at Stonehouse Pond
(fly only) in Barrington, if you go deep you’ll catch some nice brookies.”
“Last week the fishing on Winnipesaukee really picked up, especially for
those that got out on the lake very early,” Alan Nute at AJ’s Bait and
Tackle in Meredith reported. “The best lures were the Smelt Gun in
orange with black dots, copper back. Red and white was also a good color
as was pumpkin yellow.”
“I caught a bunch of salmon on dodgers with my Mini Squid about a foot
behind. Dodgers and Golden Marvel flies also were working and I caught
my best salmon on a Golden Marvel down 45 feet fished clean, no dodger.
You should be on the lake by 5am. Fish around Welch, Sandy, Diamond
Islands or the south end of Rattlesnake Island.”
MASSACHUSETTS: Pete Santini at Fishing FINatics in Everett had an
exciting trip out to the canyons last week, fishing with Captain Ned
Kittredge on his 33 foot Hydra Sport. “This boat has three, 225 horse
outboards and will fly. We made it out to the area just west of Atlantis
Canyon, 70 miles, in just two hours. When trolling, Ned shuts down the
outboard engines and just uses the middle one, cutting fuel consumption.
We landed 12 yellowfins to 45 pounds, had a white marlin on for a
half-hour before the line parted. We also boated two big wahoos, two
nice albacore tuna and two mahi mahi. Most of our hits came on bird and
feather rigs, the rainbow colored, high-speed squid bars, or a yellow
and green jet head.”
“Locally, there’s still some fluke around the Point of Pines in the
Pines and Saugus Rivers. Bluefish are at the B Buoy and Three and a
Half-Fathom Ledge. Faun Bar has been on and off for stripers. One day
we’ll catch six or eight keepers using the Santini honey mustard, orange
or red tubes and another day we’ll struggle to catch a couple. Other
areas where stripers are being caught with regularity are Green Island,
Little Calf Island and the Brewster Islands.”
“It’s slowed down,” said Kay Moulton at Surfland Bait and Tackle on Plum
Island. Mostly tiny stripers around the jetties. Over at the Parker
River it’s full of bluefish but they’re small--in the two to three pound
range. The boat guys are doing well on big fish off Gloucester; some of
the commercial guys are catching 20 to 30 a day up to 40 pounds. You can
still catch flounder outside on the south side of the jetties but you’re
going to have to fight the skates,” she warned.

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