Saturday, May 23, 2009

Maine Striper Fishing Reports 2009



Cathy Beck casting to skinny water Stripers on Maine's Casco Bay

Stripers are Here
Many of you have asked me to drop a line when something good is happening on the water, well here it is. Yes, Cape Cod and Rhode Island are fishing well, but the real story is the Merrimack River to the estuaries near Portland, Maine! After a few scouting runs, I was willing to fish one of my repeat anglers and after what we experienced he's coming back for more the first week of June. Give me a call if you want to get out there, (207) 671-4330.

We started on an incoming tide but the fish were on the move and even with a quick cast and a good angle they just ripped past. No leans or love on the incoming. After the tide turned it got bright around 11am and we saw some pushes along the banks and in the deeper channels. I poled up-current in about 3 feet of water on a sandy bottom so my angler could cast into the deeper channels. Then we started to see fish right under us on the sand flat in the sun in Maine in May! I was in heaven! We worked on these fish about and hour or so, bringing in some nice ones. There’s something special about this after what we’ve seen the last two years----keep um coming!

The Fly Fishing Film Tour
This national festival is playing in Portland, Maine at the Asylum on Thursday, June 4, at 7pm. Hosted by Flies and Fins and sponsored by The Drake magazine, Sage Fly Rods, Patagonia, Scientific Anglers and others, The Fly Fishing Film Tour showcases some of the best cutting edge fly fishing films to date. There will be a pre- and post-show party with appetizers, beer from local brewing companies and outstanding shorts from 406 Productions, World Angling and Flies and Fins, to midnight.

Striper Tournament
Looking ahead, the Royal River Catch and Release Striper Tournament is set for Sept 12-13, 2009 with cash prizes for fly and a Captain/Angler pre-party at the Royal River Grill House. See www.royalriverstriper.com and feel free to e-mail if you’re looking for guides for the tournament.
Posted by fish and ski at 4:41 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.