 |
|
|
|
|
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||
|
207-363-9269 |
|||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
 |
||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
|
Be sure to bookmark this page so you can check back regularly for the latest conditions and tips. |
||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||||||
|
08-20-10 - Not much has changed with the local striper fishing. Still a good amount of stripers around. Lots of big fish sightings and about the same amount of reports about the bass being selective. Water temps have been fluctuating again between 57 and 62 degrees. There have been many reports of bluefish that won't eat. A buddy was into schools of them that were fining on the surface and were very spooky. Every time he landed his fly near them they blew up. After a few minutes they would be up on the surface fining again in a different area. Mark reported watching a seagull eat a tern on Wednesday. He said the gull was sitting on the water in a the middle of a big school of bait when the tern dove right in front of it. The gull grabbed it by the neck and shook it till its neck snapped then proceed to eat the tern whole. Boy, that has got to be dry going down! I've been talking to some guys who have been chasing largemouth on the fly all summer and they have all said without prompting that this has been the best year ever for largemouth. Most of them are using top water deer hair bass bugs. If you haven’t tried this sort of fly fishing you should. It's a blast. I fished with my friend Bob Bode earlier in the week and we had a great time. We each caught stripers, the biggest was 37+ inches. We also saw some big cows
that wouldn't eat. It turns out that Bob is a master at catching pollock on the fly. He couldn't keep them off his hook.
08-12-10 - Capt. Dave Gittins told me he found a baby bunker in his flats boat the other morning. It must have jumped in there while running from feeding stripers the night before which is fairly common. This is the time of year when we all start to anticipate the arrival of masses of baby bunker along the Maine coast. While I remain hopeful that they will be here in big numbers this year I am skeptical about it. Since the state of Maine has joined forces with other east coast states in allowing the devastation of these most important fish I find it hard to believe that there are enough adult bunker left alive to have a significant spawn. I am fearful that the massive schools of baby bunker could be a thing of the past. I sincerely hope that I am wrong. I want to give praise to Capt Mark Drummond who made the decision this year to make his charter business strictly catch and release for striped bass. When asked why he did this he replied, "I think that the striper population is being threatened again and I've decided that I want to be part of the solution instead of being part of the problem". I say AMEN to that! After much fluctuation in temperature our local waters seemed to have leveled out between 60 and 62 degrees. Striper fishing remains good for most anglers and we are getting reports of juvenile alewives starting to drop out of the local rivers. Some bluefish are still being caught but the catches are sporadic. Pollock are still abundant along our coast as well as mackerel. I fished yesterday and had some good luck with the stripers. In the early morning I
landed several schoolies plus a 27", 28" and a 38" fat bass that ate the fly at my feet then proceeded to take a few hard runs that got far into my backing. All of those
stripers ate a grocery pollock fly. I spent the rest of the day sight fishing with my buddy John trying to fool spooky fish in shallow water. John finally managed to catch a 26" in
ten inches of water on a #2 Guitar Minnow. It was very exciting to watch and the fight was spectacular for a fish of that size. Good luck.
08-06-10 - The past two weeks the local striper fishing has picked up. Many of those fussy bass started eating flies and we are even starting to see more bass busting bait. We've had several reports of bass over forty inches being caught on our grocery pollock flies but #2 guitars and Joe Calcavecchia's Baby Bunny Bunkers have been getting the most takes. Big bluefish were off the Nubble Sunday through Tuesday but otherwise they have been sporadic. Many striper fishermen fishing the shoreline have seen tuna feeding inside of a mile from shore and most reports are that they are feeding on spike mackerel. I had a report of a great white about 7 miles off in an area loaded with seals. I'd like to be there in a really big boat during feeding time. I had another hard core fly fisherman on my skiff this past week. My buddy Kevin had
some time off and his wife and kids were away for the week so I took 3 days away from the shop to fish with him and work on my sleep deprivation. The camaraderie, laughs,
fishing and après fishing made this one of the best mini vacations I've had in a while. We were on the water before first light, which was quite an accomplishment do to
nightly Corona poisoning, and fished hard for at least 12 hours each day. The stripers were eating pretty good and we had many hook ups and more than twice as many
shots, half of which were sight fishing in skinny water. Most of the bass we caught were slot size or smaller. We did have shots at some fat cows that wouldn't eat and Kevin
managed to hook up with one very large bass that made a story we will both be telling for years. The short version is, we were drifting across a shore line that was really
skinny water where I'd been seeing some little bass at that tide for the past few weeks. I suggested to Kevin that he try one of my rods with a floating line and a tiny #8 dink
popper. It's a set up that I had rigged with six pound tippet and a #8 guitar the week before to try to get some fussy little bass in about 10 inches of water to eat. I was in a
rush to get the small popper tied on so I didn't change the tippet. By not changing the tippet I broke rule number one which is, "don't be stupid". Well, you wouldn't believe the
size of the swirl that fish made when it engulfed the fly. I looked back at Kevin and his reel was singing. When I looked back towards the fish he had on there was a giant
wake headed for deep water which was about a 100 yards away and it was already half way there. I asked Kevin if he got a good hook set and he answered me by pumping the
rod a few times. I yelled, "Nooo, don't do that"!! That's when I told him about the 6 pound test. I'll never forget the look on his face and his voice screaming "Don't you think that
you should start chasing him"!!! By the time I started the chase the line went slack. It was a testament to Kevin's good nature when he immediately started laughing. I don't
know how much backing Kevin had to retrieve back on the reel but it was over a 100 yards. When I checked the drag it was set at about 4 or 5 pounds. Sorry about the
tippet and the big cow lost Kevin, this time it was my fault. I hope that everyone reading this has a chance to get out on the water with good friends and make some stories. Good luck when you do.
07-30-10 - I fished the last couple of days with my buddy Kent. Some of you may know
Kent as the tier who supplied our shop with guitar Minnows for many years. I always look forward to our time on the water together because Kent likes to fish hard, target
big stripers and he never gives up. Which is why I find myself so exhausted today. I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story. Get out there, it's pretty good.
07-25-10 - Wicked fussy. That's what I'm hearing from many of the fly fishermen chasing stripers lately. The bass are being very selective about what they'll eat. However, this past week many fly fisherman are reporting having better success. My friend Will sent me an email about finding big blitzing stripers almost everywhere he's been lately and he included a picture of his 6 year old son Owen holding up a 41" bass that is bulging out of its skin. Owen caught the bass all by himself fishing a live pollock but his dad said he'll be switching him over to a fly rod soon enough. Don't bother asking Owen where he caught that pig, he's been sworn to secrecy. Will's been getting many of his fly caught bass on an angel hair mushmouth. Floating Gummys have also been reported to be working well on the busting bass. I've only been able to get out a couple of times in the last two weeks but I've had some good luck. Like everyone else I'm getting many bass following my flies but most often refusing it. I truly can't remember ever seeing so many bass that I could not get to eat my offerings. It's ok though because I really love the challenge and this week I was rewarded with several eats and one was big. Most of the bass I'm catching have been taking small Guitars but the Grocery Pollock has also started to work ok. Sight fishing in shallow water has been very good for the amount of shots available but very poor for the amount of takes that I'm getting. One day I had at least 25 shots at single fish and only managed to get two to eat. For years I've said that stripers are more wary than bonefish when they get onto skinny water flats but this year I'd say that they are more wary than permit. Although I think that the striper fishing is pretty good right now I'm still concerned about
the lack of bass in the lower slot and under slot size, the fish we all call dinks. With all of the bait present in our waters we should be seeing these little guys busting it up every
morning we head out. I've heard some rumors about CCA Maine getting a rebirth and I would encourage everyone who cares about the future of our fisheries to do what ever
you are capable of to help out. Even if it means just buying a membership you'll be helping out. Also you can easily join Stripers Forever by going to their website and
signing up. It's free and it will help the stripers. 6 year old Owen and his first striper over 40" Way to go Owen!!!!
Flats fish 29" check out the design on the pectoral fin, pretty cool
big headed 42 1/4" quickly measured, pictured and released
07-10-10 - Last Sunday the calls starting coming in about big blitzes of big stripers about a mile offshore feeding on 6" to 7" herring. My friend DJ was the first to call me about it. He said it was a jaw dropping thing to witness. His tally for the day was 2 @ 41", 1 @ 40", 1 @ 39" and a "handful between 28" & 30". DJ said that he didn't catch any of the really big bass that were feeding out there and the hot fly was a large olive backed deceiver. Up till that day he hadn't caught a striper over 40" so a big congratulations goes to him for getting three in one outing. That is one heck of a good day of fishing. On Monday those stripers weren't anywhere to be found offshore but with the reports that I've had this past week I'd guess that they all moved in shore. We've had many reports of big bass sightings all over our shores and rivers and the consensus has been that they are all being really fussy although persistence has definitely paid off for those willing to put their time in. Along with the arrival of more bass we are seeing more bait inshore and offshore. There have been some reports of small bluefish just offshore and I just received a report that 3 days ago there were a lot of blues in the 12 to 15 pound range along the shore. Water temps the last few days has been around 70 degrees so I expect to be getting more reports of bluefish. Whale, porpoise, shark, mola mola, and bluefin sightings have been off the charts. On Tuesday I headed north with my 13 year old nephew Brady who decided last week
that he wanted to learn to fly fish. He spent Tuesday afternoon in the shop with me learning how to tie X caddis and then we headed out. We hiked into some small
streams where I know there are plenty of small brookies and Brady did very well for his first outing with a flyrod. He landed 10 trout using the flies he tied and lost about 25 trout
and missed at least 40 takes. It was a thrill for me to watch him become engrossed in fishing a dry fly. Although I carried a flyrod with me I'll bet that I didn't throw more than 20
casts all day because I was having so much fun being there and sharing his enthusiasm. It was a trip that I'll never forget.
06-25-10 - There was a serious case of lockjaw that spread throughout the local striper population on Wednesday. I took my friend Chuck out that day and we couldn't buy a fish. Water temps were all over the place from too cold to too warm. I tried every nook and cranny that I know of to get Chuck a striper but it wasn't happening. We called it quits right after sunset and headed for Corona. As I walked up the dock I saw a lure land about an inch from an adjacent dock that was thrown by an unseen caster. The lure was some type of spinner bait with two metal propellers that went across the surface like an egg beater at half speed as it headed back towards the pier above me. The first thought that went through my mind was "yeah…good luck catching something on that pal". As I got to the top of the pier I found the caster and recognized him as a local bass pro. I asked if he had any luck. He said, "not yet" and then went on to tell me about the fishing there in the dark the night before. It was the best striper fishing he had ever had. Something like thirty stripers between 26" and 36" were landed. There were a "crap load" of bass under the light, some of which were over 40". I asked him what he caught them on and he pointer to the egg beater. My heart sank a bit. He said, "this is how I caught them" and proceeded to drop the egg beater in the water directly below us and let it sink. It sank fairly slow with the propellers barely rotating. He went on to tell me that when it got down to about 8 feet deep he jigged it straight up with a jerk and the bass would come out of the shadow line and either nose it or eat it. I kinda wished that I didn't know the guy because then I could have written his story off as, well, let's say embellished. But I do know him and I believe what he told me to be the truth. Chuck and I fished again on Thursday and the bass were more willing to eat but not
much. I landed 3 and Chuck landed 1. As I was fighting one of the bass I watched as three big bass over 40" were following it. We had a lot of refusals. I talked to a local
guide and he said pretty much the same thing. Whether he was using bait, lures, or flies the stripers are being really fussy this week. The fly fishermen who are reporting the
best luck this past week are all fishing at night under the lights. Small flies have been working best in our area. Good luck.
06-18-10 - I got out yesterday and fished with Todd Brown and the fishing was good.
Todd guides fly fishermen in Colorado and is home in York for vacation. We started fishing a bit past first light and got into stripers right off. We landed about 20 bass
throughout the morning the largest was in the high 20" size. Most were caught on guitars and Todd got a few on a small white clouser. Water temp was 58 degrees. We saw a
lot of bait, mostly baby atlantic herring, small Pollock, and some sand eels. As the day progressed the stripers starting getting more fussy. I've been hearing that from many
fisherman south of here too. Todd fished with Capt. Mark Drummond the day before and while fishing a Grocery Pollock lost a striper that Mark said, "was all of forty inches".
I took Todd back to that spot and you could see him getting all pumped up when he recognized where he was. It's great to watch a good fly fisherman when they put their
"game face" on. Sure enough, a big bass followed his fly but turned off when it got close to the skiff. Todd will have a whole year to think about those encounters until he returns
next year. That's all for now, Good luck.
06-12-10 - The striper fishing has been very good by most reports. Many happy anglers are coming into our shop with striper tales. I've had several reports of some bass over 50" being caught locally but all of those are second hand so I don't know if they are true. Some reliable fisherman have told me that they have seen bass over 40" being dragged off the water. Most of the bass being caught are in the upper 20" to mid 30" size but the last few days I've been getting reports of many schoolies between 14" and 18" showing up which is great news. I saw an old friend on the water last night and he told me that in May he found some big schools of small bass that were feeding on sandeels. He said that he caught at least a couple hundred schoolies between 14" and 16" and had the fishing all to himself. I was very happy to hear about those small bass and a little bit pissed that I never got a call. There have a few spotty reports of bluefish showing up. Still tons of Atlantic herring around, mackerel are inshore and a few reports have massive amounts of mackerel offshore. My skiff was launched on Wednesday and I did a short shake down cruise on Thursday
and threw some casts. I landed one striper just shy of 30" on a guitar minnow. Last night after work I fished for a couple of hours and missed three, had six on, and landed three
of those which were between 14" and 26". Several schools of bass were seen busting on juvenile Atlantic herring. All fish took the guitar in a 2/0 . Good luck.
05-24-10 - I've heard no bad fishing reports the last two days. The trout have been
cooperating by eating everything from streamers and nymphs to wets, emergers and dries. I just talked to a gentleman who said the hatches are coming off everywhere he's
been as though it was mid June. Smallmouth are on their beds, largemouths are eating poppers, the shad are still biting, alewives are still spawning, and the stripers are still
trickling in. I had a report that a 33" striper was caught in the Piscataqua yesterday and I've even had some reports of small 12 inch schoolies showing up here and there
although not yet in the numbers that we should be seeing. Most of the stripers that I'm hearing about being caught are in the high 20" to low 30" size and are looking very
healthy. I'm predicting a season of big striped bass for anyone willing to put their time in. I don't know why exactly, it's just a feeling I have. I hope I'm right. Good luck.
05-22-10 - I just returned home from my annual tarpon trip to Key West and this years fishing was the most challenging we've had to date. Anyone who has sight fished for tarpon will know that cloudy days are not good and we had more than our share of cloudy days. Fortunately our guide Michael Pollack had many tricks up his sleeve earned from 25 years of chasing the Silver Kings on the Key West flats and he served us up many shots at them. The problem I had was putting the fly where it needed to be. Tarpon fishing is a game of angles. Tarpon tend to travel in strings. What I mean by that is that they line up nose to tail when they travel like they are playing follow the leader. If your cast spooks the leader of the string causing that fish to take off, the rest of the pack follows suit. It is better if you can present the fly to one of the tarpon following the leader and it's best if that fly is in the path of the followers while being stripped straight away from them. The more of an angle your fly is traveling the worse your chance they will follow it let alone eat it. Heaven forbid your little 2/0 sparsely tied fly is coming straight at a 100+ pound tarpon because then your fly may as well be a 400 pound hammerhead, the tarpon freak out. Turns out I'm getting pretty good at freaking out tarpon. As a kid I played baseball and I spent a fair amount of time on the pitchers mound. Fly casting has always been a bit like throwing a baseball for me. I look at where I want the fly to land and I just put it there. I don't really think about how to do it, I just do it and most of the time it works pretty good. To compare my casting on this trip to pitching, I put a whole lot of balls in the dugout of both teams, a bunch in the stands, and one went over the backstop into the parking lot and bounced off Mrs. Smiths station wagon. To make matters worse Capt. Mike was looking at me like I was possessed. It was a puzzled look with a little bit of fear mixed in. Fortunately my piss poor casting didn't rub off on my buddy John and he made some beautiful casts and fooled many more tarpon than I did. Next year I plan on hitting the bull pen for a couple of weeks of practice before the trip.
Reports of alewives showing up in rivers along New Hampshire and Southern Maine have been coming in for at least two weeks. Shad showed up locally about a week earlier than they normally do. I haven't heard of any larger females being caught yet but it should be happening soon. I did talk to a shad fisherman who said that he thought the run of shad in the Merrimac was off again this year. Last week the reports of stripers showing up started to trickle in. As is normal they first
arrived in the Merrimac but started moving north very quickly. I've had at least 1 report of caught stripers from almost every estuary south of the Saco. I heard that there are
big numbers of seals around the Merrimac. A friend told me that his first schoolie of the year was taken by a seal that shot out of nowhere as he was releasing it. He said if
anyone was watching him release the fish they probably thought that he fed it to the seal. I had a report this afternoon that a striper over 40" was landed in the Piscataqua
and two buddies that fished the Merrimac yesterday said they saw busting fish and met a fly fisherman who had already caught 12 schoolies. Most years I would suggest that
many of the stripers being caught north of the Merrimac were holdovers but with the season starting earlier than normal there is a good chance that these are fresh fish.
04-07-10 - Even though we had a mild winter I never got a chance to get out and wet a line. The last chance I had was at the Annual Freeze Up. I'm someone who preaches blowing off lesser responsibilities to take the time to go fishing and this winter I didn't heed my own advice. All it took was a suggestion from Young Tom to get Mark and me to throw some gear in my truck, hook up the drift boat and head out after work on Tuesday. For Mark and me it was the season opener and man was it a good day. It felt so nice to be on the water with close friends while getting a winters worth of rust off my casting, mending, and presentation skills. If we had gotten skunked I still would have looked back on this day as a great one. We mostly fished nymphs throughout the day and most of the fish caught were brook trout except one damn fine example of a sucker. The flies that worked were natural hares ears, a psycho rubber legged crayfish thing young Tom had tied, and by far the hottest fly of the day was a Pink Juan Worm. It's one of those worms that we've been tying here at the shop for a few years using sparkle core braid.
The water temperature was an amazing 45 degrees. Maybe my mind is starting to go because I can't remember the water ever being that warm on the first week of April. It seems like everything is about a month ahead of time this spring. It will be interesting to see if the runs of herring, alewives, shad and stripers are early this year too. I hope so.
I have to apologize to the fisherman that have been reading my fishing reports for some
years now. While tying flies this past winter with a landscaping buddy of mine I mentioned how the runs of shad in the past few years weren't coinciding the forsythias
blooming which I have reported in the past as sign to look for to mark the start of the shad run. He pointed out that it isn't the forsythia bloom that marks the run, it is the shad
bush bloom. It is also known as shadberry, or common service berry. Now all I have to do is locate a shad bush and see if it works. Either way, the trout fishing is very good
right now so if you can blow of some of your lesser responsibilities, or greater for that matter, you should go fishing.
|
||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||
|
|
|
[Home] [About Us] [Services] [Products] [Seminars] [Guide Services] [Fishing Reports] [Photo Album] |
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
Copyright 2000-2010 by Eldredge Bros. Fly Shop. All trademarks and/or product names contained herein are the property of their respective owners.
|
|||