Fishing Conditions & Updates for Maine, New Hampshire & Massachusetts
Besides last weekend, great weather has meant great fishing for most. There are some questionable areas, like around Plum Island, where they are struggling with varied water temps, but the fish are still there and some nice ones. Most everyone is catching stripers right now, with many 40-inch plus fish reported regularly. Lakes and ponds have been producing lots of warmwater fish, like panfish and bass, as well as salmon, rainbows, and lake trout. More nice weather should make for more great fishing. Live eels have been the hottest nighttime and cloudy day bait for stripers, and we’ve got them!
Greg Cutting at Jordan’s Store in Sebago reported a slightly slower week for reports, but busier with the tourist anglers. “There are plenty of people out there fishing, I can see them. They’re just not coming in so I can find out how they are doing. I know of a few people who are out on the north end of Frye Island on the gut and still catching salmon. The tourists are doing excellent on the smaller ponds, like Peabody Pond, for bass and panfish. Hanco*ck is a great place for bass fishing. There are some serious largemouth in there. Tricky is still producing splake. The ones they have been catching are really decent fish. Trolling live bait is the ticket and there is the chance at some very nice salmon there,” he said.
Cullen at Saco Bay Tackle in Saco reported great striper fishing in their area. “There are a lot of stripers on the beaches right now. Live macks and chunk macks, any kind of bait right now, is doing very well. Any white topwater, like a spook, is hot right now. Scarborough and Old Orchard are hot spots,” he said.
Captain Tim Tower of the Bunny Clark Deep Sea Fishing in Ogunquit published the following report over the weekend. “The fishing was good. It couldn't reach the excellent category, mainly because the sea state wouldn't allow it. About half the anglers were down and out due to sea sickness. The catching was excellent for those who participated. Landings were very good for those anglers who weren't bothered by the mal de mer. They were back into the haddock again today in a big way. Most legal fish landed were, by far, haddock. The haddock were of larger sizes today as well. Legal landings also included three pollock and twelve cusk. Released fish included thirty dogfish, one cod of less than five pounds, five small cod, over one hundred and fifty sub-legal haddock, ten sub-legal pollock and a sculpin. Drifting was the method. It was a great day for drifting. Bait, by far, caught the most fish.”
“Ed van Lingen (NH) was high hook with the most legal fish. He didn't catch anything worth weighing. Cayden Ball (ME) won the boat pool for the largest fish with a 6.25-pound haddock. He also caught the third largest fish, a 5.5-pound pollock. The second largest fish was a 6-pound haddock caught by Lakyn Martens (ME).”
“Other Angler Highlights: Monique Roberts (NH) caught the first fish to be weighed to start the boat pool, a 5-pound haddock. Justin Brackett (NH) landed the hard luck award for being incapacitated by sea sickness to the point of not being able to fish. Justin had the hardest go of it today.”
Tim fromTim Moore OutdoorsGuide Service on Lake Winnipesaukee told us of some incredible salmon and rainbow trout trolling this week. “The smallmouth bass are moving deeper, which marks the end of my season guiding for them. The salmon and rainbows though, are tremendous. We’re seeing great numbers of salmon most days and some huge rainbows, up to five pounds. All our fish are coming on oranges and pinks. Some days flies produce most and other days it’s spoons. BB Guns and Mooslelook Wobblers have been my favorites lately. The fish are running 25-feet to 40-feet down, with a few fish deeper than that. The thermocline is setting up nicely, placing fish in a more predictable and easier to locate area of the water column,” he said.
Jason Brewster at Brewster’s Bait and Tackle in Portsmouth sent in the following report: “Stripers in all shapes and sizes continue to choke up the Piscataqua last week. Intermittent accounts of mackerel with pogies being the main course last week. Flounder is spotty with not a lot of size reported. Seaworms and Mack's are still the best sellers for bait, while paddle tails are flying off the shelf.”
Jason MacKenzie at Pawtuckaway Trading Post in Raymond reported a busy week of fishing in his area. “The fishing has been awesome. It seems like everyone I know who knows what they are doing is catching 45-inch and 50-inch fish. The mackerel have been spotty. The usual spots for them are hot one day and gone the next. We’ve been selling a lot of frozen mackerel as a result. I highly recommend bringing some frozen bait just in case you can’t find the mackerel. Live eels have been great at night. Haddock has been on fire still. I haven’t heard much of flounder in a while,” he said.
Lon Berry at Berry’s Bait in Alton had a busy shop when we called but took some time to give a report of the past week. “It was a crazy weekend. The pond fishing is just fire right now. All your panfish and bass fishing has been great. The big lake has been productive in the 25-feet to 40-feet depth range. Salmon and rainbows, and a few people even vertical jigging lake trout. I haven’t heard back on the lake trout jigging reports. Striper fishing has been hot. Frozen mackerel have been the best seller lately,” he said.
Pete Santini at Fishing Finatics was full of great info as usual. “There are some bluefish around up by Revere and Winthrop Beach. The fluke are starting to move up into the Pines River. The bass fishing has been great in front of the Amelia Earhart and Charles River dams. Tube and worm has been great around the usual spots, like Long, Spectacle, and Deer Island. Pogie schools are still inside the harbor. There was a great topwater bite off of Nahant and Salm, but it seems to have died out a bit. There are still a lot of flounder from Lynn all the way up into Nahant and into Gloucester. It looks like they’ll stick around until the bluefish find them.
Martha at Surfland Bait and Tackle on Plum Island says, “The fishing has been not bad. The ocean seems colder than it was two weeks ago, but the river is fairly nice. In some spots they are either finding too warm of water or too cold of water. Everybody is saying it. They’re having a hard time finding that magic 65-degree water. I have seen some fish come off the beaches. There have even been some shad and mackerel being caught off the beach. Little Ava Jigs have been great for those,” she said.
Because of inherent time restrictions of gathering fresh, up-to-date information, editing & producing this report in a timely manner, occasional errors or marginal information may slip by us. We try our hardest to provide accurate information. We urge readers to use this report as a tool to increase their fishing pleasure and not to rely on as their sole resource. First or second-hand information is offered by fishing guides, commercial fishing charters or party boats, bait & tackle dealers, well-known successful anglers, and state & federal fisheries and natural resources enforcement officials. We also welcome and use reports forwarded to us by fishermen that use this report. - Kittery Trading Post Fishing Report Editor
