Monday, May 19, 2008

Maine Striper Fishing : Capt Eric Wallace




(Overview)

Large Bait is moving into the rivers of Casco Bay, the Presumpscot,Royal, Cousins and New Meadows all have large bait runs of river herring and alewives. These big bait bring some big stripers, big flies and sink tips fished in the river channels over structure are the norm. If you are like many of the flats anglers I fish and would rather watch paint dry then fish a 375 gr sink tip all day. The estuaries and flats of Casco Bay come alive with smaller bait and active striper feeds, much early then most other area's on Maine's coast. With flats that are measured in miles warming the water, and moving the Bass onto them and out of the rivers in search of the Tidewater Silversides, Juvie Herring and large Grass shrimp hatch all add to the early season attractions of lower Casco Bay.

As we move deeper into June a New or full moon brings the worm hatches of Casco Bay. These hatches or worm swarms bring good size happy stripers onto the flats, and there here to eat! The right tide and sun angle this can be some of the most exciting shallow water fishing there is on the striper coast. Remember to check out my web blog for other reports and to give some feed back on the fishing your finding. www.mainestriperfishing.blogspot.com



Mid Summer (overview)

Plying the shallows on a sunny day is another game entirely. This is as close as you’ll get to bonefishing north of Biscayne Bay and a big bruiser-cruiser can be just as tough to fool as any double-digit downtown Islamorada bone. These fish are stalking the flats in search of crabs, baby flounders and sand shrimp and the ‘ole white and chartreuse Clouser Minnow approach usually doesn’t cut it. A stealthy approach, a long lead with a drab, nondescript fly “It could be a delicious crab or flounder or shrimp” pattern and the ability to read and feed the fish will result in a tight line. This isn’t a numbers game, and for my anglers this could be the pinnacle of the striper fishing experience, with every fish caught sight-casting worth ten taken on the blind.

Fall (overview)
There resaons why Saltwater Sportsman Magazine 2005-2007 has called Casco Bay the best bet for action packed striper fishing in the month of September. As the dog days of summer slide into autumn, striper fishing north of Cape Cod usually means three things: baby bunker blitzes, sight-casting the skinny or hunting for Momma with flies the size of your average Maine brook trout. Come mid-August it’s common to see large schools of stripers (and blues, and occasional bluefin tuna) pinning nervous mossy-brown balls of immature menhaden against the shoreline or up to the top offshore, wedged by a crowd of cormorants. Wildly wheeling terns and gulls add to the carnage to the point where the whole scene is so dense it’s more likely you’ll hook a bird than a bass. Small (two to four inch) wide-bodied streamers, as well as surface offerings Making September fishing in Maine one of the truly must do for the traveling saltwater fly angler





Feel free to call or email with any questions:
Capt Eric Wallace
207-671-4330
eric@coastalflyangler.com
Posted by fish and ski at 12:46 PM

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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.