Complements of The Kittery Trading Post

Activity for the 4th week of May, 2001

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May 28, 2001

            Although Memorial Day Weekend is usually the highlight of the trout and salmon fishermen's spring season, the saltwater fishing really stole the limelight this year. Leading the list of great fish caught was a 35 lb., 46.25 inch striper caught by Suds-n-Soda (Greenland, NH) staff member Kyle Walsh. Kyle was using a live mackerel while fishing off of Rye Harbor, New Hampshire.

            Suds-n-Soda's owner Jim MacKenzie added that he'd had reports of the Piscataqua River being full of small bait, and mackerel had been reported as far upriver as Little Bay, where stripers were also being take on live alewives--fish to over three feet long. Flounder had also been reported from Newcastle's Little Harbor and Kittery Point's Pepperell Cove areas. Offshore groundfishing also continued to be good. Mac said that one of his steady customers, Scott Kennerson, had taken an 18 lb. haddock on a recent charter boat trip!

            One of the most enthusiastic reports we've ever received just came from Captain Cal Robinson at Saco Bay Tackle. "For this time of year, the stripers in the Saco River are the best we've ever seen!" Cal reports with some emotion. "No kidding, the fish are big and fat, and up to 30 inches and lots of them. The river is full of small baitfish. I think that there's more than one species of them. The stripers will drive a school of bait up onto the surface and then just swim through them, munching them down in a kind of leisurely way. Out front there are schools of big horse mackerel. Out on Jeffrey's Ledge, the cod and other groundfish continue to hit well, but the better news is that finally some of the more inshore ledges have started to produce some good, steady fishing. Tanner's Ledge, usually a June ledge, has recently taken off. The only bad news we've heard is that we've got a few dogfish that are bothering. But we'll take that as a trade-off for all of the other stuff," Cal laughed.

            At the Kittery Trading Post, Dave Ganter in the Fishing Department, said they'd never heard of so much local shad fishing success (which was also echoed by Robinson and George Taylor). "The Salmon Falls and Saco Rivers have been loaded with shad. Darts and flutters have been working the best," Dave reports. "The shad are mixed in with alewives and stripers, so you may hook onto one of those. Striper fishing news has also been super all along the coast and into the bays here. Right across the street from the Trading Post, Spruce Creek is a great place to fish right now for stripers. Its partially sheltered waters make it a great place for fly fishermen. Out near the creek's entrance into the Piscataqua, you're apt to hook onto a real lunker. And there's also some great flounder fishing found in the channel in Spruce Creek near the inlet," Ganter revealed.

            George Taylor at Taylor's Trading Post in Madbury, loved the striper success he'd heard about in the Great and Little Bay areas. "The Salmon Falls River has been real hot, with a 38 incher caught last night off the Route 101 (Dover, NH/Eliot, ME) Bridge. There's been some very good flounder fishing reports coming from the York Harbor area. The shad seem to have dropped off a bit, but it could just be because there’s just so many stripers," he noted.

            News from the lower Merrimack River and Plum Island area were just as exciting. Bob Rubino, a boat broker in Newburyport and an avid fisherman, says that it's hard to concentrate on his work. "Every time I look out on the river, somebody has hooked into a striper. They're getting them from boats, docks and from shore--and it looks like some big ones," he noted.

            "We're seeing some catches of over 30 stripers by fishermen on Joppa Flats on a tide," Kay Moulton at Surfland Bait and Tackle on Plum Island reported. "The fly fishermen are having a ball, and the spin fishermen are getting them on topwater stuff. We've got schools of bait here, both outside and in the harbor. There's a lot of mackerel outside, and some big stripers are being taken using live macs. We've weighed fish of 21, 22 and 23 pounds this weekend so far. One fisherman reported he released a fish that was 47 inches long--that's a fish in the mid-30  pounds," Kay observed.

            Kay said that it looked as if the shad fishing had peaked, but that blackbacked flounder (winter flounder) fishing had started to pick up. "No fluke (summer flounder) in the harbor yet," she added.

            Scott Haight of Exeter, NH has been fishing the Merrimack Rivermouth off the Salisbury Reservation for about a week--a couple of hours each evening. He's brought ashore over 40 stripers so far and one that he lost was in the three-foot range. He's been catching fish on both flies and bait. Scott noted that that's the good news, along with the fact some rocks that were obstacles had finally been removed from the boat ramp there.  The bad news was that launching fees, both on a daily and seasonal basis, has increased considerably.

            On the phone, Pete Santini at Fishing FINatics in Everett, was going nuts. "It's just incredible. For the first time in over ten years, we've got tons of flounder back in their old haunts in Quincy Bay--off Hangman's Island and in front of the Red and White Tower. Some cod and ocean pout are mixed in. Flounder and cod are hitting like crazy at the # 4 Can in the North/South Channel. The cod are up to 15 pounds. For best luck, use sea worms on yellow beaded snelled hooks. Chincoteaugue flounder rigs are also hot rigs for both the flounder and cod, again, you gotta bait up with sea worms," Pete instructs.

            "Off the Charles River and the Amelia Earhart Dam in Somerville, the stripers have been unbelievable. There's a ton of fish there and they are getting bigger each day. We've seen a lot of fish in the mid-30-inch range--lots of keepers. Trollers using my Santini Tube-n-Worm Rig have been having some outstanding luck at Nix's Mate and around Charlestown--just about anywhere around the islands in Boston Harbor," Pete ended.

            There's enough good freshwater fishing news to fill a book! In northern New Hampshire, guide Tom Remick at TR's Bait in Pittsburg, said that he'd taken two clients out on the First Connecticut Lake and returned after only four hours of fishing, having brought ten lake trout to five pounds to boat. "It's just been fabulous," Tom laughed. "Salmon are hitting--they're fat and up to two feet long. We've talked to a lot of anglers that have caught limits constantly. The best bait right now seems to be trolled small sewed-on shiners. The lakers have been hitting sucker minnows, still fished and drifted. Some of these are going over seven pounds. Down on Lake Francis, the fish are also in great shape, salmon, rainbow trout and a few browns. About the only news that isn't the best is that the fishing on the Connecticut River here has slowed down, and that's because they've slowed the water releases in order to fill the lakes back up. When the flow comes back, the fish will move right back into the river," Tom forecasted.

            Tom is pretty excited about the 1st Annual Connecticut Lakes Fishing Derby, to be held next weekend. This derby, produced by the Colebrook Chamber of Commerce, will include prizes and trophies for brook, brown and rainbow trout caught from the Connecticut Lakes, including Lake Francis. Entries will be available until 11am on Saturday at TR's Bait and other local bait and tackle dealers.

            "We're seeing some huge brook trout coming out of Big Dummer Pond--fish to four pounds and lots of three pounders," reported George Malloy at River's Edge General Store in Berlin. "It happens almost every year this time. There's been a lot of action here on the Androscoggin River, also. Fly fishermen are reporting some good hatches have started and the state's stocking has been fantastic--brookies, rainbows and browns. All of our local bass ponds have produced action on smallmouths on their beds. It's been good," George said.

            Paul Garland at Hot Spots Outfitters in New Durham, also had plenty of good news about bass. He had one fisherman that caught-and-released 27 smallmouths to four pounds on nearby Merrymeeting Lake using gold-bladed spinnerbaits. "The bass are hitting topwater stuff, jigs, and just about anything you throw at them," Paul noted.

            "Lake Winnipesaukee trout and salmon will start to go deeper now, and because of boating activity, best time to go is early in the morning. We're getting reports that the salmon are much larger than those of the previous few years. Our unusual fish of the week was a bit of a surprise--a 26-inch hornpout caught by a youngster in Tuftonboro. It weighed over five pounds!" Paul added that local trout ponds, especially Club Pond in Farmington, had been very well stocked and that the fishing had been fast there. 

            "They did it again this weekend," announced Bill Martel at Martel Bait in Laconia. "We've had this group of very skilled anglers here each weekend (Lake Winnisquam) and since ice out they just haven't been able to do anything wrong. This week they've been coming in with limit catches of big salmon, big rainbow trout and some very nice lakers. The best method for them has been trolling number 5 and 61 Sutton Spoons. But I'm sure that their secret is that they've found the fish and are sticking with them," Bill observed. An eight-pound landlocked salmon, which is a very unusual fish, was caught from Winnisquam Lake last week. White perch are still running the Winnipesaukee River behind Martel's Bait, but their size seems to be smaller this week.

            Trout ponds in the coastal area of the state also had some great action. George Taylor at Taylor's Trading Post in Madbury, said that nearby Barbados Pond had been both hot and cold, with some days when limit catches of trout come easily--mostly smallish brookies but a few rainbows to 17 inches making up for the brookies. Stonehouse Pond in Barrington, a fly-only pond, had not seen the usual spring hatches, but wet fly fishermen had been taking some great brook trout. Lucas Pond in Northwood had been pleasing fishermen there with outstanding luck with tiger trout--a hybrid cross of brook and brown trout. The only lake that wasn't up to its usual fishing success was Bow Lake in Strafford, where low water has plagued fishermen all season long.

            Northcountry fishermen in Maine had plenty to catch and not a few black flies to fight with, according to reports. At Moosehead Lake, success has been picking up, according to Regional Fisheries Biologist Forrest Bonney. "On the larger lakes, the trout and salmon are concentrated in areas near recent smelt runs. Salmon are on or near the surface making streamer flies a good bet--the next few weeks will be the peak of this action," he reports. "Remember, the fish that you catch-and-release are the larger fish that you'll be catching next year. Let some go for improving next year's fishing. Togue (lake trout) are still on the surface on many of these waters but will go down as water warms. Bass fishermen in southern waters are finding good action, but the bass waters around Greenville will be slower, as colder nights have kept water temperatures down and have also impacted local white perch runs," he ended.

            Rusty Harvey at River's Edge Sports in Oquossoc, the center of activity in the Rangeley Lakes Region, was very excited about the fishing there. "We've had togue from 8-12 pounds in here this week. They were caught trolling sewed-on bait. Brookies are what are really catching attention here. We've seen a bunch of them coming from Mooselookmeguntic Lake over three pounds and some over four. Four-pound salmon are common coming from Rangeley Lake. Nearby Quimby Pond is still giving up an occasional big brookie--up to 19 iches. The fishing has started to pick up on the rivers. Both trout and salmon are being caught in the Kennebago River, at Upper Dam and in the lower sections of the Magalloway. At the Rapid River, brookies to over 20 inches are being caught. And at the Mill Brook inlet at Upper Richardson Lake, some nice brookies are being caught early in the morning. It' sure been a great week," Rusty announced.

            The Sebago Lake Region was more than holding its own. Bass fishing had really heated up with the smallmouths in full spawning mode. Dave Garcia at Naples Bait on Long Lake, reports that although the largemouths had just about finished spawning and were getting difficult, smallmouths, on the warmer days, were hitting with abandon. "On cold and windy days, they'll usually shut off," Dave warns. "The salmon remain unbelievable. We've seen some four pounders come from Pleasant Lake. Salmon to 20 inches are consistent for near-surface fishing on Sebago. Gray colored streamer flies are working and muddler minnow patterns. The Crooked River, which has a big population of native brook trout, is producing fish to over four pounds. There's even quite a few salmon that are holding in some of the upriver pools on the Crooked. Crappie have gone off their beds but are concentrating along shoreline drop-offs and weed beds. Best time for them is in the evening," Dave instructed.

            Carroll Cutting at Jordan's Store in East Sebago, added that lakers are still being caught on the top by salmon anglers trolling streamers or Mooselook Wobblers. Some anglers have had good luck using sewed-on pickled smelt. "The water temperatures are still pretty cold. All you need is a fly rod set up with a sinking line," Cutting advised. "Our fun fish of the week was a three and a half pound lake trout caught by six year old Tanner Bayer from Standish. He was fishing for perch and sunfish at Snug Harbor, a shallow, sandy bottom bay. The big laker was quite a surprise to the both of them," Carroll laughed. He added that crappie and white perch fishing on Sebago's Turtle Cove had been picking up and also crappie action in the Muddy River had been good at times.

            Kittery Trading Post's Dave Ganter had explored the backwaters of some of the local trout streams, finding some outstanding brook trout fishing on Little Ossipee River in North Waterboro, as well as catching a few brookies walking back into the woods at Swan Pond Brook in Lyman. Dave added that while he'd had a lot of reports about great smallmouth action on Lake Winnipesaukee, he'd had conflicting reports about the famous smallmouth fishing on Maine's big Penobscot River. "I'd guess it's just the kind of weather that you're fishing in. We found good action there earlier, during the warm spell," he said.

          Past Fishing Reports 2001

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