Maine Striper Fishing Reports


Well don't need to explain the weather to any of you, it's hot and the water temps on the mud flats near the river where 74 this morning at 4 AM, sure you can find cooler water and fish on the outer islands and the sand flats have not been to bad on the incoming tide, but a big majority of the larger bait is near the rivers and larger coves and flats. This amount of bait has kept the interest of the bass and we are finding them in some pretty warm water. The bite has a pretty short window, either first light or the first hour or so of the tide change. We broke a fish of yesterday morning that ate my anglers fly is some pretty skinny water that was in that 35-40 inch range and next fish was a bright sea lice cover 14inch striper so mixed bag of sizes, fish seem to be pretty spread-out just not always feeding heavy and if you miss the short window you may think it a dead sea out there..Blue fish have showed there toothy self throughout the Casco Bay area so have some wire with you plenty of little mackerel around. Some areas really took in a lot of floating eel grass after the stronger afternoon sw winds the past few days making some of the area with cooler water holding some active fish pretty tough to get any clean retrieve's, Today my angler came down from his house on the Kennebec for a change of pace and a little skinny water fishing, he was on a pretty long drought getting a striper to eat his fly on the big river and was sick of his kids heckling him for out fishing him with live bait. Having the bow to himself he was treated to a unreal amount of fish high in the water showing themselves but also showing us there tail-using it as there middle finger!!! we where able to move a few and hit a quick photos for his kids.... Release un Quickly this warm water is not easy on them!!!!!
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Prizm said...

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August 3, 2011 6:27 AM

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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.