Capt. Dave posts his recent Maine fishing reports.
So you say August isn't the time to fly fish for striped bass? How about this nice 33" 9 pounder on a 9wt fly rod caught by Carson Marshal. There's three key steps: to success...
"Waiting 15-20 seconds seems like an eternity when fish are feeding around you but"...
Capt. Dave Pecci Orvis Endorsed Guide
August is time to make family memories on Maine's amazing Kennebec River with Obsession Charters.
Flyrodding for Striped Bass is always a bit challenging this time of year. Add in the heat and the big moon this week and you have a recipe for lots of casts and few results..
Conditions: The River has muddied up a bit due to a lot of inland rain from Hurricane Beryl's remnants last week. Flow is up slightly. Hopefully by mid week conditions will improve.
Bait the fish are feeding on: River Herring, Pogies, Sea Herring, Sand eels.
Target species right now: Striped Bass
Bill Farland with a nice 33" fly rod striper.
02-13-17 Obsession Charters Fishing Report
Friend and client Bob Emmons joined me Tuesday for a fun morning on the Kennebec River. Light winds and a perfect tide produced this beauty on one of our favorite spots above Bath. There was a small school of fish this size smashing adult river herring. We also had some action in the lower river where they were feeding on sea herring and pogies..We caught them on artificial lures and eels. Always a pleasure to have Bob on the boat, he has fished with me for more than 20 years!. Sorry that his fishing partner and granddaughter Nat couldn't come on this trip, she would have loved seeing "Bumpa" reel in this big one.
Natalie holds up one of the striped bass she caught on her mid June charter
Capt. Dave Pecci Obsession Sportfishing Charters
Despite the rainy weather we are getting some great fish this summer.
The excellent striped bass fishing on the Kennebec River is not by happenstance. It comes from decades of stewardship. I recently celebrated this amazing fishery with Maine's Commissioner of Marine Resources Pat Keliher, his wife Deirdre, and daughter Kaitlin.
"A great fishery needs healthy habitat and forage. The Kennebec has both in abundance..."
Capt. Dave Pecci 6-27-22
I returned from the heat of Pine Island Sound and Boca Grande two weeks ago and the Kennebec River striper season is already in high gear! The River is stuffed with stripers ranging from 16" to 32"
"One of the best starts of the Kennebec River striper season in years."
Capt. Dave Pecci
If you are fishing a rip or bank with other boat set up a rotation and drift through so everyone can gets an opportunity.
Capt. Dave Pecci
The fishing has been very good all summer so far. It been a bright spot in this summer of uncertainty...
We are catching 10-20 striped bass per trip on flies and lures. No complaints about that!
Capt. Dave Aug 2, 2020
Fishing Conditions: The striped bass have somewhat settled into their mid-summer habits. Water flow and clarity in the Kennebec River are both good. Water temps are 62*in the lower river and 78* near Merrymeeting Bay. This week will have morning rising tides.
Type of bait fish are feeding on...cont.
Now is the time to start paying attention to your fish finder.
Capt. Da e Pecci 07-29-19
We are settling into typical July fishing. Most of
Capt. Dave Pecci 07-08-19
the striped bass have now are staged along structure waiting for bait to come
to them.
"There's still some need for exploration but the
Capt. Dave Pecci 07-01-19
fish are settling down and becoming a bit more predictable."
"Today we caught somewhere around 40 striped bass up to 24" and, we also caught 5 20-22" shad!"
Capt. Dave Pecci June 19th, 2019
Conditions: There is a large abundance of bait in the Kennebec. Water temps range from 57* to 68*. Water clarity and water flow are average for late June. We are finding stripers feeding on the surface daily but the action is less predictable than in past weeks. The fish are ranging in size from 14"-30" with a few bigger ones here and there. We are averaging 20 fish per trip right now on fly and spinning gear.
Bait the fish are feeding on: Juvenile Atlantic Herring, Sand eel, Alewife, River Herring, American Eel, Mackerel
Target species right now: Striped Bass
The striped bass are becoming more selective due to the huge abundance of bit in the River.
Capt. Dave Pecci
John Kern and his niece Caroline fishing for striped bass on the lower Kennebec in June
Capt. Dave Pecci - Obsession Sportfishing
Another incredible week on the Kennebec River! Pretty much nonstop action every morning on flies and lures. No bate needed. Catching striped bass up to 32" in many spots on the River. Here's three videos from this week:
Bill Farland joined me again on July 25th for a fantastic morning of striped bass fly fishing. We caught over 25 fish and several over 24" the biggest one weighed in at 7 pounds and was 28" long.
The Striped Bass Fishing on the Kennebec River is HOT and shows no signs of slowing down. We're catching them on flies, lures and bait. Averaging 20 fish a trip right now. Keeper sized fish are a bit scarce but tons of nice stripers between 15" and 27". And many of them are fatties! The water temps are starting to rise causing the stripers and the bait to hold in deeper water. Surface action is sporadic but the fishing is excelent if you fish deep.
Reserve your fishing charters soon - I only have 14 open dates between now and Labor day. Capt. Dave Pecci
Micheal and his buddies caught somewhere around 20 fish on Friday using jigheads with Super Flukes tails. Micheal caught a really nice one on bait. It was almost 28" and weighed about 8 pounds. We had some sporadic surface feeds which is always a bonus in mid-July.
