Maine Striper Fishing

Maine Striper Fishing Report, smaller tides and very well feed fish creating a good but shorter bite on the bay over the past weekend,we still found plenty of surface feeds at most spots we fished but with a clearing sky at the beginning of the week we went looking for a change up! My angler and I took the little skiff out for some sight fishing! It sure is fun guiding well traveled fly anglers who are up to challenging themselves and sight fishing sand flats for striped bass or tidal Carp in skinny water will do just that! On Monday and Tuesday we spent a day Carp fishing in the MerryMeeting bay area and Had a blast!!! I think we will both loose sleep over the eats we got in less than a foot of water!!! on Tuesday we headed out for some sight fishing on the flats south of Portland, The light was trying for us but never lit up the sand that great, but we still found plenty of fish and shots, there are some very large groups of small fish mixed in with that upper slot to mid 30 inch fish.

Bait wise, kinda the same as last week just more of it, sand eels in the Saco area and not only bringing bass but also some bigger Mackerel and I heard my first reports of Bluefish in Maine waters  also a email report  from Jim Berstein down at the  Eldredge Fly Shop in Cape Neddic of a over 50 inch fish caught on a local charter, lets hope that big girl made it quickly back into the water. Every thing from 9 inch long hollow to 1.5 inch sand eel patterns have produced and so have the crab patterns. There is a mixed bag out there and you can choose the style of fishing you want by weather and tides there are plenty of fish both on the mud flats and fishy structure of Casco Bay and the sand flats to the south for the sight anglers.  
 

     
Also I would like to apologize to anglers who have been trying to contact me or book tips, My response time has been slowed by the quality  of fishing we are seeing here in Maine and I
hope I got back to you all and did not miss anyone..I have one or two AM opening in July a handful of evening / Striper or Carp tides open as well..Coming up when we have a little down time, I will be doing a bio on Coastal Fly Anglers new Guide, Capt. Mike Roy.I have seen him over the years poling the flats on his own getting to really know the water and when he approached me to buy a push pole a few ago I felt he had a understanding of how to approach
guiding light tackle anglers on Casco Bay so by adding Mike and working with a group of full-time guides throughout Maine's coast we offer one of the  best connections for Guided Maine Striper Fishing 207-671-4330

Maine Striper Fishing Reports by Coastal Fly Angler Guide Service and Capt.Eric Wallace

See our Website http://www.coastalflyangler.com/

The good stable weather of the past few days broke to the coldest high temperature reordered for Portland Maine on a June 22, East- North East Winds filled the bay and pushed some floating eel grass around from this past weeks big tides.With not quite as active of a bite as yesterday the fishing on the moving tides was not to bad at all and a few fish showed them selfs with small surface feeds. Looking forward we have other day of wind and cooler temps, then after the weekend looking  pretty  good for awhile 4-5 days in a row of 80 degree temps and we move into some early AM incoming tides, tons of fun on Casco Bay and later next week if we get a clean sky, great tides for sight fishing the sand flats.

Bait -- we have it, south of Portland there are areas covered with sand eels both Mackerel and a range of  striped bass from small schoolies to some very large targets cruising the sand flats. UP in Casco Bay near the rivers are large schools of Blueback Herring that have staged in the rivers of the Presumpscot,  Royal and Harraseeket, water temps along the coast are ranging from 55- 62 degrees, so the fish have not only plenty of food but also great water temps keeping them pretty happy.

Yesterday at the dock my anglers where sharing notes with another group of  anglers who struggled on what we found to be a pretty active morning, we got into fish at all of our stops and got treated with some great surface feeds in some pretty skinny water,even with a brighter sky by the time water had drained of the flats the fish kept at it.. What these guys where doing was fishing plugs and banging some larger lures around some happy fish - even with the active surface feeds these anglers where also running into, fish can be put down very
quickly! remember that they really don't need to chase down something, they have plenty of food right now and stealth can be key even on the flooded deeper flats.  What was working for us 4-6 inch  olive and chartreuse hollow style patterns on clear intermediate lines, some longer pauses on the strip was working yesterday and  kept us tight and active for about 4 hours of outgoing tide, The flats of Casco Bay will often do this, treat the fly anglers much better than the spin guys.Todays wind and rain was a much different story we where banging black large gurglers that moved a few fish and 5-7 inch hollows in olive and black where a
useful  weapon.

For the Spin guys the river systems have a been a totally different story and there are lots of great catch reports coming from those systems throughout out the bay and state wide from the Saco to the Kennebec River. I have not been fishing them much with the flats holding so many fish already so a first hand report this is not, but some honest anglers have shared some great reports and good catch photos. So if the only days you have open to fish are windy and raining go do it!!! there are lots of fish around if you can trade time this upcoming week is looking to be pretty stable and some fun tides I'm betting we are going to see and here about some very good fishing here in Maine...     

Maine Striper Fishing Reports

Sorry for the lack or reports this week, the fishing has been great and combining filming with Chris Paterson for there new project to be released in the fall, featuring sight fishing for striper here in Maine, Permit and Tarpon in Cuba, Japan Alaska, Montana and Tiger fishing in Tanzania,the new feature film is called "Connect" we got some really cool footage on the sand flats the past few days and look forward to seeing the finished product. Chris has been the lead guy at Warren Miller ski films for the past 19 years and worked on the block buster hit in 2010 Inception, this is there third film and a follow up to Drift and Rise   http://www.confluencefilms.tv/

We have had some outstanding guide trips this past week, even with the bouncy cool winds on Sunday we had clear sky  and some great tides for sight fishing the sand we found some great eats in skinny water, Bait wise we have it all sand eels little spike macs, big macs, juvie herring and bluebacks, but our best fish in the past 5 days was on a crab pattern sight casting.Overall the fishing has been very fun, and with any stable weather a very active bite. I am doing a early AM striper tomorrow and back to the carp flats in the evening for more of that mental beating that a few of us find additive and keeps us  coming back. Then most of this week will be in Casco Bay witch is fishing the best I have seen in the past five or more years... Open dates are getting pretty thin through mid Aug but a handful of good tide are open, I also have a few guides  working with me, so if you are looking to fly or light tackle fish for stripers here in Maine give us a call at 207-671-4330 

Maine Striper Fishing Guide Reports

With only a two hour casting class from Lelands Fly Fishing in SF California this happy angler enjoyed sweet success here in Casco Bay, even with the crappy weather we found our way out of the wind but one of those spooky landmarks was still lurking in the back ground...Had to dig pretty deep today and search for some protection from the winds with a pretty big tide and wind from the get go, the cool thing is how spread out the fish are around the bay, from Harpswell to Portland there are not to many spots not holding fish,plenty of bait and some big groups of fish moving along the outer islands as well, Looking forward to some nicer weather but finding it hard to complain about the fishing.. RELEASE UM QUICKLY !!!!

Maine Striper Fishing - Guide Report

6-12-2011
This past week we got a short glimpse of the quality of fishing that is at our door steps, with a few days of light southwesterly flow a few warm humid nights the fishing on Thursday the hottest day of the year so far brought the hottest  fishing I have seen in years!!!! The fish in the morning where pretty snappy and very willing to eat, the afternoon tide even in the bright hot sun provided some very good sight fishing conditions with willing fish tons of fun.. The amount of fish we saw swimming in big schools swimming near the inner island beaches was crazy, big fish swimming high in the water column,looked like  groups of tarpon swimming up a backcountry channel edge during the migration... Well they did not swim to Maines water for  exercise  they followed  the bait and it's here!!!! there is plenty of small juvenile sea herring spread out in the Casco Bay- Saco Bay Area, but the big fish are looking for the Blue Back Herring and they have found it in the Freeport to Portland area rivers in pretty good numbers and I'm sure that area spreads farther north and south just given a first hand report here.. So we have lots of fish, lots of bait and good tides, but one of the big links  is missing, stable weather!!!! The  past few days the temps have dropped 25 degrees and the wind is bouncing NW- NE putting a little hiccup in the fishing, we are still boating a few nice fish on each trip but working hard for each, weather wise we are looking to be a little bouncy next few days, the fish are going to want to eat again so stay after it and you will be rewarded... RELEASE UM QUICKLY!!!!!!!          

Maine Striper Fishing - Guide Report

Photo.. Lefty Kreh Carp Fishing Maine..

Diversity, It blows me away the diversity of angling styles and opportunities we have in the Portland Maine area!!! This Past week was a great example as we started of with a hot humid  memorial  day and we treated Lefty Kreh to some skinny water Carp fishing in a tidal ravine, as the week cooled down the wind went nuts for a few days, blowing out the striper fishing so we took the flats skiffs to some  ponds/lake to sight fish small mouths on beds, Lefty loves those dam smallies and I heckled  him about that pretty hard.. As we approached this weekend the sun was in full brightness lighting up the sand flats in the Portland area  for some great sight fishing, the dark backs coming across the sand reminds me so much of fishing tarpon during the migration, The water temps held up pretty good from the 48 hr of hard northwest wind, it did move the bait around in Casco Bay but the bass foundit and are pretty happy and willing to eat. There is a lot of guys still struggling trying to chase around brids and what not,slow down and fish the tides so far we are off to a pretty good start, and by the sound of it plenty of big fish still working there way up into our water... release um quickly!!!!!   

Maine Striper Fishing - Guide Reports

Maine Striper Fishing Report June 3 2011

The past week has been interesting for me a mixed bag of fishing carp in a tidal ravine and chasing Stripers on Casco Bay,I was blessed with good casters this past week one  a guide from Emerald Water Guide Service in Washington state the other a man many of you know Lefty Kreh. Lefty Showed up late morning on a hot humid day, and by early afternoon we set off fishing carp had some great shots and a few come to the fly but no eats,throughout the rest of the week he repeated, this was the first time in years he had been introduced to a new style fishing that he enjoyed so much and is looking forward to doing it again next year.

Stripers in the Portland area are changing daily we have had a few tides that have been real producers and others that just not working as well but still found  fish just real light bite.
Fish size a week ago found some small fish the last few days avoiding the wind found some very large fish in  areas I just did not expect. Although the water temp is not bad it is still  pretty fickle once you get away from the flats or estuaries, I have been fishing some smaller 3-4 inch patterns tight to the bank in the estuaries and inshore islands when the tide is swamped out, on the sand flats, the groups of fish we are finding have been pretty schooled up and moving,have been able to move a few off the pack but there are moving and searching for bait as a group. There is some bigger fin bait moving into the rivers of Casco Bay and the lower Kennebec yesterday there where 6 or 7 ospreys working a condensed area out of the crazy wind and few scored and the bait look to be in that 5-7 inch range herring, dew point the next few mornings is a little lower than I like and I would not be afraid to fish the afternoon if you have to miss the early am fish these night time lower temp are dropping the water temp 3-4 degrees and we are still in the first week of june and that can be just enough to kill the bite. Hope for some stable weather and southwest flow to the winds, every report to the south is lot's of big fish we are already seeing a few up here and look for that to improve... Release Um Quickly!!!!!!