Southern Maine Fishing Report July 23rd
Its been a while since we posted anything of substance on the blog, but life has settled down a little bit and we’ve been able to devote enough time to being on the water to put together a proper fishing report. I’m going to try and get at least one report out a week, as much for my own log keeping benefit as anything else.
The fishing has been good for the last few weeks, after a brutal June. As I mentioned above, my schedule has been beyond busy for the first part of the summer, but when I did get out the fishing was so bad that I didn’t feel like I was missing much. Things changed after what I think was a new wave of fish moved into the area and settled into some of their historic patterns. Part of my problem during June is that when I did go out, I fished the spots where I’ve always caught stripers even though they weren’t set up in those areas. But with more time to spend on the water, I’ve started to get at least some sort of picture of what the fish are up to. Here is what I’m seeing in southern Maine:
The Stripers are back to being fairly predictable in terms of being in their usual spots. What I’ve found is that they are moving around a lot, and once you find them they aren’t sticking around for long. This has been especially true in “micro” spots, whether that be a specific rock pile or ledge. They are there one day and gone the next. When we’ve been out on the boat, the key to catching fish has been a run and gun approach where if we don’t hook a fish in the first five minutes, we move on. Mackerel has been the key to all of this, and while it isn’t lights out, we’ve been able to fill the livewell on most trips. Portland harbor has been a dead zone for macks, but along the Cape shore has been decent. This time of year I like to go offshore a bit when I cant find mackerel in tight. The Cod ledges gave up really easy limits of mackerel anytime we went out recently.
There are a good amount of Pogies in Portland harbor, but the commercial guys have been hammering them. Its tough because by the time the bass pattern on the Pogies, they get scooped up before you can capitalize on the bite. I spent time searching Saco Bay, Scarborough and Higgins beach, and around Richmond island but didnt find any pods with bass on them. In Portland harbor, they seem to be more concentrated around Falmouth, Freeport, and Yarmouth, so looking around the Marinas is a good bet for scoring some bait.
From the shore, the chunk bite has been the most consistent action that I’ve found. I spoke with a friend who did really well in Scarborough on the latest tide cycle, with surf clams being the key to bass up to 40 inches. Our biggest fish this week was a 43 inch cow that was in a school of around 200 bass that were right up top, swimming in big circles. That was a really special fish, but it was definitely the outlier in terms of the size we’ve been catching. Most fish recently have been in the 25-35 inch class, with a few on either end. From the boat we’ve caught a lot of fish off the beaches, but we also had some success three way rigging mackerel on the bottom in 15-40 feet of water.
In terms of other fish, I don’t have much to report. We haven’t gotten out for cunner or black sea bass yet, but that’s high on the list for this next month. I’ve heard of a couple Bluefish being caught, but no reports worth chasing. Last year they were pretty thick by the end of July, and everyone I know is holding their breath for a repeat. There are definitely more Pogies than last year so I’m hopeful for some big feeds. With the full moon behind us, this week is all about getting out at night to hopefully find some big girls. I’m going to be going off the beaches, because the ledges just haven’t been producing for me.
-Grady
