How they bitin'? Fishing Reports

[Topside2]

This forum has been pretty quiet.  I am wondering how anglers are doing out there of late?  

 

From my experience of late, it's been pretty good.  I often use live bait, but mackerel have been extremely hard to find in the Harpswell area.  So, I quit wasting my time looking for bait and fished exclusively with artificials.  Amazingly, I had a 20 fish day the other morning with all stripers coming in between 20-28".   I had a follow, hit or hook-up on the majority of casts.  While the size of fish isn't overly impressive, I have had several very large fish follows right up to the boat.  Very fun.  I am fishing ledges and having success with surface poppers, 7.5" sluggos, and SP Minnows.

 

   

[RAW]

Chunking has been good, fresh is best early. The bite inside has died , a few here and there. Beaches , jetties and of course boaters are doing fish. Nice mackeral have moved in  and that’s the ticket. Friend just little earlier drifted from jetty to marker with fresh Mack and float , 12’ leader got 5 , biggest was 26”.Others all low 20’s . Done in bright sun and sabiki’d the bait

[Roccus7]

3 hours ago, Topside2 said:

This forum has been pretty quiet.

Not sure why you think that, been plenty of posts as updates in existing threads like North of Portland.  Fishing's been good for me, now over 250 fish YTD, 25 of which being of 28+", and disconcertingly, only 19 fish 19" or less; I'm seriously concerned regarding the long-term future of stripers.

[RAW]

I’ll take what we’re getting happily, To be sure there are less guys, boaters and reports. The gas cost, parking availability, and some just more family time after 2 years of crap. I do see a few more kayakers.Lots of guys just don’t want to get up and go at 3:30-4:30 am. 

[Topside2]

18 hours ago, Roccus7 said:

been plenty of posts as updates in existing threads like North of Portland

Really, you're promoting the thread you started - complete with a hyperlink - in another thread?  I stopped reading North of Portland because it's dominated by a guy who is verbose and who constantly brags about how many fish he's caught.

[MainelySmallies]

20 hours ago, Roccus7 said:

Fishing's been good for me, now over 250 fish YTD, 25 of which being of 28+", and disconcertingly, only 19 fish 19" or less; I'm seriously concerned regarding the long-term future of stripers.

The results of the recent SBT C&R tournament seemed telling. Lots of 40" + fish were registered. It was a four fish limit: first place had four fish over 40", third place had 3 fish over 40". Which is awesome for everyone getting into big fish, but to your point it seems like there aren't a lot of smaller guys swimming around. My YTD is much less impressive than yours: I'm in the 60s with a dozen in the slot. (The biggest being 33": can't seem to break 35!). But I've caught maybe 10 fish under 20. This is my first season going after striper so I don't really know what a normal or healthy fishery looks like since I have nothing to compare it to, but I definitely have not been encountering a lot of rats. Which is concerning to your point.

[jimbighead]

This season has been really solid and seems to be getting better by the day with even larger fish arriving to mix in with the rest (bulk class of 26-30" fish).  Night bite has been amazing the last 14 days.  As usual this trend mid summer.

 

I do live/fish north of Portland as well.

Jim

[zwiggles]

I am new to the forum, and this is my second year really fishing for bass and in the salt (first year really catching was this year). Admittedly I’m in NH, but I have caught a lot of smaller bass in the sub/low teens. The first batch of fish I saw in NH was dominated by the 20+” fish, but the rats came in strong about a month back. Friday we ignored smaller fish, and hunted for bigger ones. They are around.

[Skunkoff]

Slow morning for me.  Got 1 good hit and nothing for an hour or so.  Then what made the whole morning worth it was a nice fat healthy sea-run.  It flopped back into the water before I could get a pic or measurement.  Estimated 25-27"!!  They are truly special fish. 

[Topside2]

1 hour ago, zwiggles said:

I am new to the forum, and this is my second year really fishing for bass and in the salt (first year really catching was this year). Admittedly I’m in NH, but I have caught a lot of smaller bass in the sub/low teens. The first batch of fish I saw in NH was dominated by the 20+” fish, but the rats came in strong about a month back. Friday we ignored smaller fish, and hunted for bigger ones. They are around.

I have a buddy who fishes Great Bay pretty hard and has been for a long time.  He's seen tons of schoolies this year...more than in a long time.

[drmevo]

1 hour ago, Topside2 said:

I have a buddy who fishes Great Bay pretty hard and has been for a long time.  He's seen tons of schoolies this year...more than in a long time.

I fish NH as well and have been having a banner season compared to the last few years. I've been concerned like most of us that the fishery is not in good shape, but I have witnessed good numbers and a wide variety of sizes all season, from dinks through over-slot. I'm not saying things are great but maybe a little better than we all thought? 

[Scott Charlton]

Last night was the first time I caught a fish less than 20" all year (I promise, I won't like the video of it). 

 

This year is definitely the best I've fished since moving in to Maine in 2001.  Positively fantastic.

[MainelySmallies]

Anyone heading out to fish the “super moon” tonight? Was out last night and got skunked. Clear skies and the moon was like a giant spotlight. Not even a tap. Hoping the big moon plus cloud cover/crappy weather we’re getting turns them on tonight.

[Topside2]

I wish I could go out tonight.  However, I am back in NH for a bit.  I did hit my secret spot last nigh and caught 6 northern pike.  Nothing huge - about 28" tops, but still very fun.  Those toothy critters are mean and tough.  I caught one and was holding him by the gill plate when he trashed violently and when he did two gills popped loose and were hanging out.  My mistake.   No blood so I let him go.  Caught him again 3 casts later.  Amazing.

[MainelySmallies]

24 mins ago, Topside2 said:

I wish I could go out tonight.  However, I am back in NH for a bit.  I did hit my secret spot last nigh and caught 6 northern pike.  Nothing huge - about 28" tops, but still very fun.  Those toothy critters are mean and tough.  I caught one and was holding him by the gill plate when he trashed violently and when he did two gills popped loose and were hanging out.  My mistake.   No blood so I let him go.  Caught him again 3 casts later.  Amazing.

Nice! I’ve caught plenty of pickerel and musky as bycatch while fishing for freshwater bass but never any pike. It’s definitely on my to do list now that I live in Maine.