Fishing Conditions & Updates for Maine, New Hampshire & Massachusetts
It’s not often we hear so many consistent reports from both freshwater and saltwater anglers and shops at the same time, but this year has been great. There are striped bass seemingly everywhere right now and with fish 35-inches and up needing to be released, reports of 40-inch plus fish are better than we have heard in a long time. Both live bait and lures are catching well. Salmon and lake trout fishing on both Sebago and Winnipesaukee have been phenomenal. Both largemouth and smallmouth bass fishing is taking off as well. Our live eel tank is running and full. Stop by our fishing department before you head out striper fishing to get geared up.
First, our deepest condolences to Greg Cutting at Jordan’s Store in Sebago who lost his mom last week. Greg said that the fishing has been tremendous on Sebago this year, and it continues to impress. “There was a guy out two days ago who had to bring in one of his two lines out, because he couldn’t keep up with both. He said he could have filled the boat with salmon. One of the guides was in and he was also catching a ton of salmon. Bait and spoons are working great right now. They’re doing the same things that usually work here. Looking for birds diving on bait or groups of boats. They’re still catching a lot of lake trout. Flatfish are working well for lake trout. Bass fishing is heating up pretty good,” he said.
Gavin at Saco Bay Tackle in Saco reported still-good striper fishing. “They’re still catching a lot of nice stripers in the Saco and some by Pine Point. There are a few at Higgins Beach, but not a ton. Al Gag’s, white paddletails, SP Minnows…the usual stuff is catching. Mackerel are not as heavy, but they’re still here. There are some pollack around too, but that’s more in the bay and around the mouth of the river.
Captain Tim Tower of the Bunny Clark Deep Sea Fishing in Ogunquit published the following report over the weekend. “The fishing was very good, knocked down a peg by the stronger than normal tide and our third best trip for numbers of dogfish. The catching was excellent. Landings were very good, despite the dogs. Most legal fish landed were haddock, by far. It's been a hell of a great start for haddock landings this season. This may be the best start for haddock in a season that we have ever seen. Legal landings also included eleven pollock, one cusk, a whiting and two mackerel. Released fish included an estimated one hundred and fifty dogfish, four good sized cod, eight small cod, an estimated two hundred sub-legal haddock, a handful of small pollock and a sculpin. They drift fished and anchored. Both methods worked well. Bait was the best.”
“Either Ed Martin (ME) or Dan Payne (ME) was high hook with the most legal fish. They were very close in numbers of haddock. Ed is a noted haddock killer from way back. He caught the largest haddock of the trip at 4 pounds. Dan has always been very good as well. Dan won the boat pool for the largest fish with a 14.5-pound pollock. This is the Bunny Clark's largest pollock of the fishing season so far. The second largest fish was a 13.5-pound cod caught by Roger Hopkins (RI). Roger fished with a jig for most of the day. So, he didn't catch the numbers of fish that Dan or Ed caught. But he did remarkably well with the jig, as he always does. I would never enter the boat pool if I knew I was going to be fishing against Roger in the process! Leo Lamoureux (VT) caught the third largest fish, a 7-pound cod.”
“Other Angler Highlights: Karen Atwood (VT), oddly enough, landed the hard luck award t-shirt for catching the most sub-legal haddock and, because of this, taking home the least number of fillets for a person of her fishing stature.”
Full-time New Hampshire fishing guide Tim fromTim Moore Outdoors on Lake Winnipesaukee reported excellent salmon and rainbow trout fishing as of late. “It’s refreshing to be back to more suitable catch rates on Winni. We are still rebuilding the salmon, so the numbers of larger fish are still down, but the numbers of keepers are way up from the past few years. The rainbows we caught in the past week have been impressive too. Most of them are in the 3–5-pound range. Spoons have been catching most of the salmon and flies have been catching the rainbows. 20–25-feet down with oranges and pinks at 2 MPH has been great,” he said.
Jason Brewster at Brewster’s Bait and Tackle in Portsmouth sent in the following report: “There were lots of stripers up and down the Piscataqua last week. Reports of fish being caught everywhere with sizes all over the board. Have heard a lot of big cod and little haddock recently with worms and clams being the big sellers at the bait shop. Pencil lures are also in demand as well.”
Dana Berry at Berry’s Bait in Alton reported a busy week. “Schools are out or getting out and things are picking up. Lots of people are coming in getting their spoons and the New England Smelt Trolling Flies that we recently started carrying. The Smelt Trolling Flies have been really popular. People who only buy one or two almost always come back for more. We are selling a lot of DB Smelts as always and the Northeast Trollers too. Dodgers are popular all of a sudden,” she said.
Alan Nute at Winnisquam Country Store in Belmont said that Winnisquam has been a little quiet, but Winnipesaukee has been great. “Winnisquam is giving up the occasional nice laker, rainbow, or salmon. When you get them, they’re usually halfway decent fish, but you have to put your time in on that lake. Winnipesaukee, you can catch all the fish you want right now. We’ve been catching a ton of those two-year-old salmon. It keeps people busy. There are some lakers and decent rainbows in the mix. Just about everything has been on spoons. Not as much on flies lately. Silver/copper and one spoon that I put a laser tape on has been good. Governor Aiken, Rangely with the pink/silver, and some orange has been working well too. Most of the fish are still up higher, but I’m getting fish as deep as 35-feet,” he said.
Jason MacKenzie at Pawtuckaway Trading Post in Raymond reported great saltwater fishing and slower trout fishing reports lately. “The striper fishing has been great. We’ve had a few places turn off, but most everyplace is hot right now. I’m hearing of a lot of fish over 40-inches caught and released. We have live eels now, so we’re getting a lot more striper reports these days. Haddock fishing is still on fire. The fishing seems much better than last year, with better weather. Flounder fishing in Hampton Harbor has been really good. The trout fishing is winding down a bit, but bass fishing is popular lately,” he said.
Martha at Surfland Bait and Tackle on Plum Island said that the fishing was typical for what they see around Plum Island and the Merrimack River. It changes from one day to the next. “Different reports from over the weekend. Saturday was good, Sunday was slow. Doc and Little Doc lures are good, Al Gag’s, Gravity Eels, and the Fish Snax are all still hot lures. There are pogies around, but mackerel are tough again. The night bite is good with eels. The flounder bite is good too,” 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
