Complements of The Kittery Trading Post

Activity for the 3rd week of July, 2001

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July 16, 2001

      It was a tough going for fishermen as a cold front lingered the whole week, with squalls popping up in the coastal region each day, and in the north, heavy downpours were the rule for much of the week. Lightning and hail accompanied many of the storms. Cold fronts and unstable weather disturb many species of fish and cause them to go off the "bite" for a while.

      In spite of this, from most reports the saltwater fishing was excellent. Giant bluefin tuna and some of the mid-summer shark species were in the news. At Captain Cal Robinson's Saco Bay Tackle, Craig Bergeron reports that Jim Hinkley took a 400 pound thresher shark that was over 13 feet long off Tanner's ledge while fishing on his boat, Maine Inspiration. "Thresher sharks are a wonderful game fish and put up one heck of a battle. They are also valued for their wonderful eating quality," Bergeron reports.

      "There's been quite a few giant bluefins reported from the offshore ledges--Jeffrey's and Platts, but there are also tuna well inside the ledges. One of our regulars, Chuck Driscoll, caught a giant [bluefin] well inside that went 450 pounds. The groundfishing off these same ledges has remained wonderful, with cod, haddock and some larger pollock making up most of the catch," Craig said.

      "Our striper fishing here continues to please most fishermen. In the Saco River, there's been no shortage of schoolies. Out in Saco Bay, we've got fish to over 40-inches, as our Wayne Jordan proved this weekend. His fish was among several other nice ones in the mid-30 inch class, all caught on live mackerel. We've got tons of macs, mostly tinkers here. Bluefish were outside around the islands last week on some days, and they also went up into the Scarborough River. It was a great week," Craig observed.

      "We've been having some magnificent fly fishing for stripers in some of the local tidal rivers," reports RJ Mere at the Kittery Trading Post's Fishing Department. RJ is a registered Maine Guide who gets out there whenever he can.

      "Our best luck has come at night. We like to hit the water around dusk and are apt to fish well into the early morning hours. The best flies so far have been the Popovic surf candy and schoolie fly, which is unique in that it is designed to represent two sea lances. The mackerel and pollock, which have been mixed into the schools of stripers, are also pouncing on the schoolie fly, so we've had a lot of action," he said.

      Kittery Trading Post's Chris Henson reports that small schools of mackerel had balled up the baitfish in Kittery Point's Pepperell Cove, but were skittish and hard to stay with. "Stripers seem to be more out into the deeper regions and off the Isles of Shoals. Those big guys seem to be changing their feeding patterns because of the bait situation. It's not unusual for charter boats to anchor in water depths of over 100 feet. Their method of operation is to chum like crazy to keep the mackerel and pollock around them. Sooner or later the stripers respond to the schools of baitfish, and the striper fishing can be world class, with several fish in the 40-inch or better range being caught. Good places to try are the drop-offs near ledges or some kind of bottom structure," he advised.

      This writer enjoyed some wonderful groundfishing last week onboard the party boat Yellow Bird out of Newburyport, MA. Rick LaPierre, the skipper, has been in the business since he was 14 years old, and at age 40, owns two party boats. Rick worked hard to get the boat onto fish when most of the party boat fleet were having a tough day. Our catch included haddock, cod and some large pollock. Most of the day was spent on the southern part of Jeffrey's Ledge, a two-hour voyage from the port. (Phone 978-462-8381)

      Steve Courshesne at Steve's Sportsmen's Den in Hooksett, NH has been fishing off the mouth of the Merrimack and Plum Island most every day. "We started off the week with only a couple of stripers, but by the end of the week, we were catching eight or more per day--fish all over 34 inches. We get our live mackerel near Breaking Rock early in the morning and then head out to deeper water where we anchor. We're fishing live mackerel at several depths and chumming like crazy. I guess that's the key. We've also seen reels stripped a couple of times by giant bluefins when they've come through. It makes for an exciting day," Steve laughed.

      Jim MacKenzie at Suds-n-Soda in Greenland, NH reports that stripers in the Piscataqua River and Little Bay have continued to be active, but that mackerel were still very skittish and hard to catch. "That shouldn't present that much of a problem, because there are a ton of small, bait-sized pollock. I personally like the pollock as they tend to want to stay deep where the larger stripers live," Mac said.

      "My brother Howard had a great day on the river on Friday, picking up several nice fish near the Navy Yard and around the bridges. Flounder fishing at Pepperell Cove is still decent. We've got one couple that fish there each Saturday. They've caught more flounder so far this year than all of last year."

      "They're sure into the stripers!" was George Taylor's first words when we phoned him at his Taylor's Trading Post in Madbury. "We've heard of a lot of fish that were up to 40 inches. Many of our customers are shore and bridge fishermen. They've been doing well at the General Sullivan and Bellamy River (Scammell) Bridge and even down in Newcastle, from the second bridge there. At Newcastle last week, you could catch pollock, mackerel and stripers, all on the same tide. Nights have been the best. Hilton Park at Dover Point has also been good. Some of the best fishing of the week came from the rocky shoreline along Rye, where two of our old timers had fish on each cast for a couple of hours. They said there were so many fish right at their feet that it was impossible to cast out past them towards the larger ones, without getting hit by the smaller fish," George said.

      "We're still seeing some good fishing, although it's slowed a bit," reported Kay Moulton, at Surfland Bait and Tackle on Plum Island. "We've weighed in fish of 17 and 27 pounds this weekend--the larger fish are being caught from the boats. Early this morning we had a fellow report that he’d had a blast fishing topwater plugs, but the fish quit as the sun came. We've got very few to no bluefish right now. The mackerel are quite flighty. They say that you get a couple and then loose the school and have to go find them again. Flounder off the beach can be hot. One guy got his limit of ten from the Plum Island beach one day, and on the next day in the same spot couldn't catch a single fish! There's still no legitimate report of fluke. A lot of the other flounders, especially windowpanes and sand dabs, get mistaken for fluke. They don't come in here every year, but when they do, it's usually mid-summer," she ended.

      At Fishing FINatics in Everett, MA Pete Santini's report was in depth, as usual. "Dennis DeCarney had a great limit catch of flounder off Greene Island using sea worms on the Chincoteaugue Rig, while Chuck Casella also took a limit of nice flounder between the #6 and 6A Buoys just off the North Channel. Chuck was using seaworms on a conventional flounder spreader. Ron Baralin from Medford brought in a 44-inch striper he'd caught off the Charlestown Docks. He was fishing with frozen herring chunks. They're tearing up the bass and a few bluefish around Gallups and Covells Islands using the Santini Tube-n-Worm rig.  Bluefish seem to be concentrated around the B Buoy, while cod fishing has been best in the North Channel, near flounder spots," Pete reported.

      Sweetwater fishing in Northern Maine remains at its peak. Dan Legere at the Maine Guide Fly Shop in Greenville has some suggestions: "It's time to head for the high country. Check your float tube for leaks, look over the maps where you marked places you've always wanted to try and make tracks for those high elevation ponds. The drake hatches should be just starting at Bluff, Notch, Mountain and Fog, and any other mountaintop ponds. Fish sinking lines and drake nymphs during the day and bring a tent and stay for the last light, when the big trout make pigs of themselves on the monster mayflies. Chances are you'll have the place to yourself and spend a night in some of Maine's remaining true solitude. The only thing that may break the night's silence is a moose plodding along the trail to the pond for an after-hours meal of water plants. You'll be right there for another round of fishing at daybreak," Dan suggests.

      Legere reports the East Outlet is at the best wading levels at 1,000 cubic feet per second (CFS) flow, where it's supposed to stay for a while. Pools that are usually not fishable should have plenty of fish in them. The Sluice pool below the bridge is one such pool. The lower flow allows you to properly nymph-fish the deeper pools where your fly would normally just sweep by. And don't forget the dawn and dusk times of day--the early bird does get the big ones, as will the night owl," Dan urged.

      The Rangeley area lakes and rivers are still doing well. Rusty Harvey at River's Edge Sports in Oquossoc, weighed-in a bunch of nice salmon from Rangeley Lake that were between four and five pounds. "Really nice, fat fish," he described them.

      "Sewed-on baits have been good, as well as the usual spoons--Top Guns, Moosealoo's Chev Chase, and the DB Smelt. They're sending more flow down the Rapid River to provide enough water for kayakers, so that means more water through Upper Dam. This always brings fish into the pool below the dam, making for some great fly fishing there. We've had a lot of rain, enough so some of the fishermen at the local ponds are back fishing on the surface," Rusty ended.

      George Malloy at River's Edge General Store in Berlin, said that one of his customers that crosses the border to fish the Rangeley area boated a five and a half pound brookie recently from Mooselookmeguntic Lake.

      The Belgrade Lakes are hot for both bass and some huge brown trout, according to two sources. Regional Biologist John Boland said that several brownies in the ten pound size range and a lot between five and eight pounds have been caught so far this season from Great Pond. He suspects that the lake's big population of landlocked alewives has enabled that kind of growth. Dave Garcia at Naples Bait on Long Lake, had fished a bass tourney at Great Pond this weekend, with a total catch of over 20 pounds, gaining him second place. Most of the fish were largemouths. He said in spite of tough weather conditions, the fishing was very good, and there were some big bass taken.

      The rest of Boland's report noted that the Little Androscoggin River between Poland and Mechanic's Falls was producing surprisingly good fishing for this time of year with brown and rainbow trout hitting well. He also wanted to warn boaters that trailer their boats to be on the lookout for weeds attached to the boat or trailer. Maine's new laws have stiff penalties for transporting weeds on boat trailers. Next year, there will be a special fee for all boat trailers in Maine to help pay for enforcement of the no-weed law.

      Dave Garcia had some good local smallmouth fishing. "The crawl worm fished on a Carolina rig has been best for me. The best luck has been in about 20 feet of water. We've also seen some fine salmon taken from Trickey Pond. There's been two salmon of six pounds and one well over five pounds. Sewed-on bait behind a dodger with at least a four-foot leader has been the best method. Parker Pond in Casco has been hot for crappie. One eighth or one quarter ounce Road Runners have been the ticket there. Trout fishermen should be aware of the big caddis hatch coming off in our area. They're big, around size ten--brown in color. The hatch has been taking place in the last few hours of the day," he reported.

      "We've still got a couple of regulars that continue to catch salmon over here on Sebago," reported Carroll Cutting at Jordan's Store in East Sebago. "Roger Bacon does well fishing with six colors of leadcore line and lures or an occasional sewed-on bait, while Willie Wilkins is fishing with sinking fly line near the top with sewed-on shiners and doing well. They both say the salmon are in better shape than earlier in the year and schools of smelt that are responsible for this good shape have been reported by several boats. Togue fishing had slowed down a few days and then started to bite with a frenzy. I guess there's no end to them," Cutting laughed.

      Freshwater reports from the Granite State were a bit scarce, but from the northcountry, Cindy Caron at Tall Timber Camps in Pittsburg, reports that the Connecticut River is still providing some quality fishing. "The Trophy stretch and the area from Pittsburg to Colebrook have been the best. We've had some rough weather and too much rain this week for good fishing, but here on Back Lake, a few of the hearty fishermen continue to have good luck trolling wet flies--yellow Hornbergs and golden demons being two of the better selections," Cindy observed.

      George Malloy, at River's Edge Sports in Berlin, said that the big rains hadn't effected the Androscoggin River. "We've had some fine fishing for bass, rainbow and brown trout in the stretch near the store. Dummer Pond in Dummer, Success Pond in Success and Cedar Pond in Milan are still good. In spite of the rain, water levels in the smaller ponds and brooks haven't been increasing that much," he noted.

      "The bass fishing has been wonderful at Ossipee Lake, Balch Pond, and right across the street on Union Meadows," reported Eva Nelson at Nute's Trading Post in Wakefield. "Lovell Lake in Sanbornville has also been good for bass and an occasional rainbow. Crappie are hitting well in most of the border ponds," she ended.

      George Taylor at Taylor's Trading Post in Madbury, reports some big catches of crappie coming out of the nearby Bellamy River and that rainbow trout to three pounds have been taken from Barbados Pond, also nearby. "One three pound rainbow had ten crawfish in it!  It still was hungry enough to grab this fellow's power bait. Lucas Pond in Northwood has also had some pretty good evening fishing for trout," he added. 

                     Past Fishing Reports 2001

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