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That reminds me of July 1990 when “Lowell” the humpback took up showed up in Lowell’s Cove on Orr’s Island. I think that I can take credit for being the second person to see him that summer. I was cruising out of the cove in my 14 foot aluminum skiff with my mother and wife aboard. We looked over and saw a lobsterman frantically waiving his arms at us. I couldn’t figure out why…I knew that there were no ledges nearby. Just then Lowell surfaced right next to our boat – and I mean less than a boat length way. My wife exclaimed “cool,” my mother said “get me onto dry ground,” and I said “I need a bigger boat.” We stopped and watched the show along side that lobsterman. That show lasted all summer as Lowell took up residence and became quite the attraction.

I am just back from a terrific week of fishing around Orr's and Bailey Islands. Lots of fish in the mid-20's to low 30's on both bait and plugs. I was bitten off several times by bluefish, but did manage to land one and it was a monster - he inhaled the back of my SP minnow which kept him from the leader. We were heading in one day and my son saw a Great White breach about 200 yards from the boat. He guessed that it was between 10-12 feet and it completely launched out of the water. I saw only the splash. We motored over to the spot, but couldn't see any evidence of a kill. My guess is that it was either a miss or he took the prey straight down deep. Unfortunately, I have a pretty full dance card this September so I hauled my boat yesterday. Pretty sad. A friend saw the boat on the trailer and said "that's a great looking boat." My response was that I think it looks a lot better in the water.

I use a 6" balsa cigar float and suspend about 6' of 15# flurocarbon leader to the 7/0 circle hook. I connect the leader to my 20# mono with a small (size 6) swivel. There are times when the flurocarbon leader makes a huge difference. I also think that the cigar shaped float helps a lot because it's very streamlined and offers only minimal resistance when the fish takes the mac. I peg it with a toothpick which allows me to adjust the depth easily. I am also a huge proponent of bait runner reels.

With blues around, try chunking those big macs. I'll bet it will work as the stripers will be seeing chunks naturally from the yellow-eyed devils. Luckily, most of the macs I have been catching are tinkers.

Interesting couple of days for me. I have been plugging the white water on ledges from a boat and having pretty good results. 8-10 fish per trip in the 22-30" range. However, yesterday I couldn't get them to hit. Lots of follows, but no matter what I threw at them they wouldn't bite. I had 8 live macs in the live-well and threw one in and it was inhaled immediately. The exact same thing happened with the next 7 macs...all in the same spot. I have also been bitten off by blues a few times, but seeing how picky the stripers are, I'll stick with my flurocarbon leaders and just keep another rod rigged with steel in case the blues swim by.

It doesn't matter because it's not in NJ, so everything else regarding your quality of life will likely to be much, much better. Yeah, I know that "there are some really nice places in NJ." I just don't believe it.

I am sure that they are great, but both of those shops are too far out of the way for me. I am mostly using online ordering for my tackle and when in a pinch, I stop by LL Bean. Not that I don't always have my ear to the ground, but I am to the point where I don't find value in the advice they offer at these shops of much use. Hell, I have a guide that calls me up to find out what's working.

I agree on Johnson's in Brunswick...they have no idea what they are talking about. Where is the Vacation Land store?

7 guys 2-3 hours early am beach, plugs, mackerel and clams.not a dam thing! That's depressing...hope things improve -dramatically!

He was trolling what appeared to be deep diving lures out in open water.

I can confirm bluefish are in Casco Bay. On Sunday, I saw an angler haul in 4-5 by trolling near where I was pounding the ledges for stripers. I was tempted to point my boat in his direction and give it a go, but didn't and continued my pursuit of stripers.

I am not sure that I agree with that. I have caught my 3 biggest stripers ever last week - 41", 43" and 45". Lots of folks in the Harpswell area are catching some really big stripers this year.

It's been back to reality. Everything that I have caught since Monday has been 18-27." I am hoping to find those cows again, but the little ones are fun too.

I hear that it's really, really fantastic in Mass and RI right now...just off the chart fantastic with giant stripers everywhere!

Epic day for us today, not in terms of total numbers, but the size of the fish was astonishing. We caught 9 total fish, all between 28-45" We had 3 over 41 and several high 30's. I lost two fish that I couldn't control...they went on runs and I couldn't stop them. One snapped my 30# braid and I am pretty sure that it did not hit a ledge. Maybe there was a nick or flaw in the line? We were fishing ledges and casting right into the foam super close to the exposed ledges. This photo is me an my son. We doubled on our first cast at this spot...it was chaos on the boat, but we landed them both. What a day!