Complements of The Kittery Trading Post

Activity for the 1st week of September, 2001

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September 4, 2001

      Fishing pressure fell off dramatically today, after the crush of activity over the Labor Day weekend, but there were a lot of people out enjoying the water last week, and the fish cooperated in most areas. Low water flows and warm water temperatures continued to adversely impact the freshwater fishing, with the lakes and ponds providing more consistent fishing than the rivers and streams.

      Boston Harbor continued to offer the diversity and action that's been enjoyed by anglers there all season long. "It was great!" was Pete Santini's answer from his Fishing FINatics shop in Everett, Massachusetts.

      "The stripers were really on the move this weekend. Ted Cormier from Medford took eight keeper-sized bass trolling red and black Santini Tube-n-Worm combos along the wall at Deer Island and close to the rocks at Faun Bar. He said that if you got away from the shoreline, the fish just weren't there, so staying in shallow water next to structure was the key for him. Rich Raso found the same thing while fishing around the rocks at Graves Light. He caught a bunch of stripers in the 40-inch range and when they moved out a little bit, the bluefish found them--fish to twelve pounds.   Along the Winthrop shoreline inside Deer Island, a lot of nice stripers were being taken by anglers using whole squid for bait," Pete reported.

      "Stripers and blues weren't the only game in town," he continued. "Flounders are moving back into their fall feeding grounds. Stan Casey of Malden caught limits of flounder using the Chincoteaugue rigs and sea worms. He was fishing in 40 feet of water around Green Island. Smelt are starting to gather around the docks and pilings in the harbor. They've showed up in Hull and will soon be at Charleston and Winthrop. Out to sea, the cod and bottom fishing continues to be very good. Walsh's Deep Sea boat did an overnight trip to Cash's Ledge last week. A 55-pound codfish took the pool prize, and lots of other big cod, pollock, cusk and haddock were boated. It's really never slowed down here all summer long and we always have a great fall fishery," Santini laughed.

      Kay Moulton at Surfland Bait and Tackle on Plum Island was very busy, but she had time to say that the fishing had slowed appreciably in her area. Word from the Merrimack River and offshore was that the bluefish had moved out towards Halibut Point at Cape Ann, and stripers along the shoreline were scattered. Mackerel continue to be among the missing, and all kinds of live bait were scarce.

      Steve Courshesne at Steve's Sportsmen's Den in Hooksett, New Hampshire spends a lot of time in the Merrimack River saltwater area. "We were having some fine luck on stripers to close to 40 pounds, but then the dogfish moved in, and it made fishing with live or chunk bait almost impossible. Earlier in the season, the bluefin tuna put on quite a show for us while we were striper fishing. Several of the striper boats had tuna grab their baits, making for some pretty exciting moments. My son and I both had one on at the same time. It was unbelievable."

      Jim MacKenzie at Suds-n-Soda in Greenland, NH said that the fishing was mixed. "Some of the boats did well, while others were skunked. Bait was close to impossible to find, but my brother Howard was able to get a full tank of bait by fishing and chumming inside some of the islands and ledges, right in shallow, rocky areas. Apparently, the bluefish have driven the pollock from their normal feeding areas and into cover. There hasn't been any mackerel in weeks, but my son Jim says that according to his records, we should be seeing some mackerel returning this week. There's been some good bluefish action around the Isles of Shoals on some days, but on other days they are nowhere to be found. One tuna fisherman, Bob Rubino from Newmarket, said that on Old Scantum Ledge this weekend, you could catch all the bluefish you wanted. In fact, Bob ended up using live blues for tuna bait, to no avail.

      "The fishermen that know the striper's fall haunts started to pick up a few fish, but many of the fishermen sticking to the summer patterns went without," reported George Taylor at Taylor's Trading Post in Madbury. "There were some fish close along the shore on Friday, when the surf was kicking up a bit, and the water was a bit murky, but they moved out when the wind went offshore. From now on, you've got to watch the coastline for bird activity and hope to intercept a school of migrating fish," he ended.

      At Kittery Trading Post, Dave Ganter in the Fishing Department reported that a lot of their customers had been concentrating on both bluefish offshore around the Isles of Shoals and sharks farther offshore. "Since live bait has been so hard to come by, lots of the bluefishermen have found that using frozen chunks of mackerel or herring have been working well. Most of the fishermen have gone to using circle hooks, hidden in the cut bait. If you leave your rod in a rod holder, it avoids the temptation to set the hook, a no-no when using circle hooks. By leaving the rod in the holder, you watch while the fish takes the bait, and don't pick up the rod until the fish is taking drag, signaling that the fish has hooked himself. You need to use a short wire leader for the blues as they'll just keep cutting off mono leader," he instructed. He also likes the idea of using sliding sinkers and taking any other precaution to avoid the bluefish feeling too much pressure on the line.

      "First thing is to check the shallow depths around the ledges for the blues. If they're not in the shallows, don't be afraid to fish as deep as 60-70 feet. You just can't tell where they'll be on any given day. And move, move, move until you've found some active feeders. This time of year the fish are apt to be scattered, so you've got to work to find them," Dave suggested.

      Outdoor writer and Maine Registered Guide Stu Bristol added to Dave's remarks. "Don't stay in one place too long. If you don't get action in fifteen minutes or so, chances are you're not going to. Keep on the move until you find the fish--I'm talking both stripers and bluefish. They change their habits in the fall. Stick to the beaches and rocky shorefronts and get out there early in the morning. If you're fortunate enough to hit one of the famous bluefish and striper blitzes, you'll have some lifetime memories. These fish are apt to go really crazy when they corner a school of baitfish along a beach or shoreline this time of year," Stu said.

      "The sharks really went into high gear this last week," reported Captain Cal Robinson at Saco Bay Tackle. "Most of the boats were catching and releasing up to a dozen big blue sharks a day, and the makos were in good numbers. You want to look for 64-degree water temperatures--that's where you'll find the concentration of mako sharks. We had reports of six makos landed last week, one a 900-pound monster boated by Jim Tirie on the Orca. He was fishing well offshore in Wilkenson's Basin. The tuna bite has been slow but steady. There is still a two fish limit, and they've suspended any closed days until mid-September," he noted.

      Cal added that stripers and bluefish were both getting larger--with some stripers pushing 40 pounds and blues to the mid-teens. "The stripers have been staying with the sand eels. They will just ball them up and feed on them at will. You've got to be on sandy bottom, like the outlets of some of the bays and rivers. Most of the bluefish action here on Saco Bay has come on trolled Rapala and Yozuri types of deep diving plugs. We still haven't seen the return of our mackerel and probably won't until the schools of bluefish are gone, but Portland Harbor reports are all the mackerel you want," he ended.

      Freshwater fishing was in a transition period, with a lot of anglers hanging up their gear for the summer. The diehards that were looking for some relief from the low and warm rivers and were hoping for some heavy rainfall were a bit disappointed. Although some rain did fall in the north, only a few trout and salmon reacted to the short lived increased river flows, according to Guide Ray Soriano who works out of Rusty Harvey's River's Edge Sports in Oquossoc, in the Rangeley area.

      "We had some rain, the water levels went up a bit and a few fish came in, but it didn't last. The streams are still very low. Actually, the best fishing right now is happening in the ponds and lakes. Little Jim Pond in Little Jim Pond Township is one example. This pond has a great population of brook trout and the fishing will hold up right until closing. Rangeley Lake just won't quit this year, either. We took several landlocked salmon in the 4 1/2 lb. range last week. We've been using sewed-on bait with no spinners or dodgers and are fishing down to 50 feet and lower. We stack rods on our downriggers so we are actually covering a lot of the water column," Ray revealed.

      "There are some rivers that are tailwaters below dams that can provide some fine fishing, while the rivers with the natural flows are dead. Upper Dam has had a flow of 300 c.f.s (cubic feet per second) while the Magalloway below Lake Aziscohos has actual been seeing flows a bit too high for the best fishing--around 600 c.f.s. Over at Middle Dam and Rapid River, you can have some wonderful fishing if the flow is right, but when the dams slow down, the fish all drop down into the lake and the fishing stops."

      Ray is very concerned about the intrusion of smallmouth bass into some of these waters, done by an illegal introduction. He caught seven bass on one outing that were well up into the Magalloway system!

      "Those togue in the fairly shallow water around Frye Island on Sebago were there again this week," noted Dave Ganter at Kittery Trading Post. "The fish were in 35-50 feet of water and just couldn't resist hitting jigs," Dave said.

      Dave suggests that even though water levels are low, cooler nights are quickly dropping the water temperatures in some of the streams. "You can have some awfully good fishing by checking some of the more secluded waters this time of year," he suggested.

      Sebago Lake's trolling had been surprisingly active, according to Carroll Cutting at Jordan's Store in East Sebago. Cutting had just finished checking a bear into his tagging station when he came to the phone.

      "One boat that was out last week had a great day on togue, hooking 18 fish up to eight pounds in just the morning. Our two regular experts, Willie Wilkens and Roger Bacon continue to have a good time. Willie had a 12 togue morning last week, while Roger was continuing to catch up to a half dozen landlocks during his morning's fishing. Roger said that the salmon are getting larger and are in a lot better shape than he'd seen earlier in the season. The salmon really haven't started to hit on top yet," Carroll noted. He also reported that smallmouths had been providing a lot of fun around the docks at Hancock Pond.

      In the Granite State, there was lot of boat traffic hampering any serious efforts after mid-morning on most of the big lakes, but those that did get out early didn't suffer from lack of action. Steve Courshesne at Steve's Sportsmen's Den in Hooksett, said that one of his regulars had taken salmon while trolling in the 25 foot depth range off Ames Farm on Winnipesaukee. "He always uses nightcrawlers," Steve noted.

      "The rainbows have been unusual--way more than we've heard of in the past. The hot lure has been the Red Thomas Eel, a slim lure that seems to really turn these late season rainbow trout on."

      Tink Nelson at Nute's Trading Post in Wakefield, also had some advice, especially for those that like to fish the fly-only ponds in the late season. "As the water temperatures begin to drop, the hatches hold off until mid-morning, so you may be wasting your time if you hit the water real early. The mayfly type hatches are over, but in the fall, the midge hatches can really come on. They're not anywhere near as noticeable as the larger flies, but they do hold the attraction of those trout in the fly ponds. I like to slowly paddle or cruise with an electric motor and cast to rises in the shallows. If a small Griffith's gnat or similar dry fly doesn't work, switch to a tiny, sparse-tied nymph. Don't work the nymph very fast. You'll probably get most of your strikes just after the fly hits the water and is sinking. You've gotta be on your toes to not miss a lot of strikes," he warns.

      In Tink's area, some of the Ossipee area waters are the best. He suggests White's Pond, Big Dan Hole Pond, and Shawtown Pond. (Dan Hole isn't a fly-only pond but has a nice population of brook trout, along with some big landlocked salmon.)

      "The opposite is needed for fishing the big lakes. If you get out on Winnipesaukee early in the morning, you're apt to get into some great surface fishing. If you don't notice any surface activity, you still want to troll at least one surface line--a smallish smelt imitator streamer fly would be my choice. Drop other lines down to the 25-50 feet range until you find where the fish are," he ended.

                      Past Fishing Reports 2001

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