Casco Bay
Maine's Casco Bay sits near the northern terminus of the legendary annual migration of striped bass along the Atlantic coast. It is the last, most consistent fishery for striped bass and bluefish on their journey north and arguably the best kept secret in East Coast saltwater fly and light tackle fishing. Known as the Calendar Islands, it is reputed to have 365 unique islands within its 20 mile span and remains largely undeveloped and undiscovered by fishermen. You'll share the water with lobster boats and bountiful wildlife -- seals, eider ducks, snowy egrets, osprey, eagles and porpoises — but almost no other anglers.
By virtue of sheer numbers of fish, variety of structure and natural beauty, the fishing is considered world class. Local rivers harbor huge runs of baitfish, providing abundant feed for striped bass and bluefish. As summer heats up and the baitfish runs have slowed, the action moves away from the rivers and onto the countless acres of mud and sand flats. For the skinny water fly and light tackle fisherman, ideal water temperatures keep an active bite in shallow water even during warmest of days, Casco Bay is host one of the largest flats systems on the east coast, and truly is a Premier skinny water fishery! where flat's skiffs and floating lines bring a wecolme change to big heavy boats and sink tips.For the angler looking to fish the rocks or for Tuna offshore once again this is a fishery with few peers and lead buy some outstanding guides, who spend there winters guideing in other area's, from the Lower Fl Keys to hosting travel trips to the Bahamas, Belize or Coasta Rica the full time guides of the Casco Bay area are some of the most hard working in the industry! Please feel free to contact Capt. Eric Wallace for more info on Maine Striper fishing.
Flats fishing report for Striped Bass: Capt Eric Wallace
From Maine to Cape Cod Bay there are both big flats and small shoreline pockets that offer good skinny water fishing, and big tides that average 8 to 10 feet. The coast from Chatham, Massachusetts to Long Island, New York offers the same type of water but smaller tides, only 2 to 4 feet or so. Only Long Island has tide ranges up to 7 feet.
The bigger the tides the faster fishing conditions will change. In locations with a 2-foot tide a flat might be fishable for the entire day; a flat with a 10-foot tide will be most stable around low tide, sometimes for several hours. Once the strong flow begins be prepared to move with the flow so as not to get trapped by the rising water when wading.
An early incoming tide will be the most productive in many locations. Stripers feel more at ease and as the flats cover there is food like dead sand eels, clams and crabs that are easy targets for stripers. This is especially true where tides are biggest. However, a falling tide in places that trap baitfish along edges and inside basins and drainage gullies can be excellent, too. Small creekmouths attract fish on a falling tide and they move upstream into the creek in search of food as the tide rises. Some small creeks are crystal clear and will remind the trout angler of Western spring creeks. Generally, big-tides mean a short fishing window.
Sand eels are the best baitfish for northern flats because they burrow and remain in the sand on dry flats through low tide. As water returns, some baitfish die and lay on the bottom. A flat where you see dead sand eels at low tide could be a hotspot, so stick around. Crabs are numerous on all flats and both crabs and shrimp are abundant inside creeks and estuaries. I do very well with a sparse, white Deceiver, and an epoxy sand eel fly made with purple Fluorofibre over cream Fluorofibre with some flash. Tie these flies 3 to 5 inches long. The lady crab, or calico, is a very important food source in the shallows; a reddish Del Brown Crab Fly is a good match for these. Any light tan bonefish fly 1 1/2 to 2 inches long will match both the common shore and sand shrimp that live on the flats inside most estuaries. And lightly weighted 3- to 4-inch Clouser Minnows in tan-and-white or olive-and-white are also very popular.
Top times for sight fishing are from mid May through early July. Then you can depend on good sunlight and the lower water temperature brings hungry fish onto the flats and into the creeks to feed. Some of the colder water locations from northern Massachusetts to Maine can have good sight fishing into August. In September and early October big flats might hold fish at times but the light is not as good as in summer. The key to good daytime fishing is cool water and abundant food sources.
In the spring there are places when you can sight cast and catch large numbers of smaller stripers, but the real fun begins when casting to big stripers. You will earn each fish, and you will remember each one long after the memory of a 20-fish day has faded.
Copyright Coastal Fly Angler Maine Saltwater Fly fishing Guides and Reports With Capt Eric Wallace.
4 comments:
The first fish to the boat for me in May over 30 inch in Maine, was a very bright purple back striper caught by a client.
We were fishing a river near Portland that gets a good Alewife run, fishing a 350 gr tip a 12inch hollow fle with lots of flash tied in. Very slow strips and almost acting like a dying bait fish got the eat. Plenty of rats would follow the large fly and hit the tail. But my angler was willing to play around and try for larger fish and we got lucky, (note: there where lots of spin caster around not doing crap It was fun to see the Fly anglers with plenty of hook ups) must be the slower strips and active materials of flies that got the eat.
(From Our website)
Fishing the spring Alewives, Look for man-made and natural structures that may slow the alewives' upstream movement – bridge abutments, rock ledges, small drops, i.e. lower falls on the Royal or Presumscot Rivers, and seams created by the tidal flow.
1. Mature Alewives are between 7"-11"long and while in the salt they are silver and purple iridescent in color. However they quickly take on a more yellow shade not long after moving into brackish water.
2. When fishing over an incoming tide into an outgoing, the water color may be off. It's important to remember that stripers are primarily nocturnal and as a result their lateral line is highly sensitive and can pick up vibrations for more than a 100 feet. It's best to use flies that move water and are tied with active materials.
3. When it comes to fly size and color, these are both vital although size seem to be the more important of the two. At times it's difficult to determine what size baitfish a striper or
4. bluefish may key into. Try starting out at the larger side and move to the smallest, then work back to the mid size and don't worry about using small patterns with stripers. As the saying goes, elephants still eat peanuts.
5. Remember that presentation with stripers is very important. Try different stripping techniques. Remember injured bait fish can't swim away and long pauses in your strip maybe the key.
Check out coastal fly anglers website
Feel free to call or email with any questions:
Capt Eric Wallace
207-671-4330
This being the last Kittery Trading Post Fishing Report of the 2008 season, we’ll be concentrating on not so much what happened last week, but keying in on the opportunities for late season angling, in both the fresh and saltwater, inland and coastal areas. Because information is a bit sketchy as fishing pressure has dropped considerably, this report will be a bit more compact. In the spring, finding water temperatures a couple of degrees warmer than the rest of a lake’s water will often find you the fish, as baitfish and other organisms are very temperature oriented. In the fall, it’s just the same, as the lakes are cooling down and fish will again seek a warmer pool of water.
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