Striper Fishing (Striped Bass)

A very busy guiding season is winding down. I've spent around 120 days on the water and I'll admit it, I'm a bit worn down. But there are things that recharge my batteries. Beautiful sunrises. Smiles of clients when the rod bends. Their wonderment when seeing eagles, seals and ospreys. Those strange and unexpected catches. Spending time with friends who were once just customers. I am a blessed man.

A very busy guiding season is winding down. I'll admit it, I'm a bit worn down but...

Fishing Report 09-01-16

The Dog Days of Summer are Here on the Kennebec River - Striped bass are into a fairly constant night feed because of rising water temperatures. We are taking advantage of this by leaving the dock at or before sunrise. There are fish blitzing on the surface almost every morning for an hour or two. They're eating poppers on both fly and spinning rods. As the sun comes up we change...

"We are taking advantage of this by leaving the dock at or before sunrise"

Fishing Report Aug. 15, 2016

​Guides including myself love to post "grip n grin" pictures. Nothing's better for entries in the booking calendar than a pic of a smiling client holding a big fish. You've seen lots of them from me this summer - like this one from back in June. But here's three pictures that from my perspective are every bit impressive...

"Nothing's better for entries in the booking calendar than a pic of a smiling client holding a big fish."

August 8,2016 blog post

Will kissed his first striper again this year just he did last year.

July 24th, 2016

Despite 18kt SSE winds and ripping out going tide the Coopers Get it done. 

Conditions: Water temps are now in the mid 70s upriver and in the low 60s downriver. Water clarity is slightly diminished in the River due to the runoff from inland rains. The clarity on the beaches is excellent. The River is holding several schools of striped bass ranging from 12" to 28". There are some larger fish staged up on the beaches and the south facing ledges from Indian Point to Cape Small.

Bait the fish are feeding on: River Herring, American eels, Alewives, Mackerel, Sea Herring and Sand eels

Fishing Tactics: Warmer water and bright sunlight is causing the striped bass to move into deeper water by mid morning. So go early, use topwater lures at first light and change to subsurface lures and flies as it brightens up. 

July Fishing is Looking Every Bit as Great as June!

Conditions: Water temps in the river range from 65*-75*. The beaches are around 60*. There's tons of bait everywhere so the stripers have full bellies by mid day. The best bite is really early and again at dusk. But, with some patience you'll catch fish from late morning through the afternoon in the deeper water.

This year the River is fishing so good my trips to the beach have been fewer than normal but when I've gone the action has been worth the 12 mile run.

July 11 Fishing Report

Normand Saucier and Bob Emmons with a striper caught on live eel

Ron and Karen Banas from PA enjoying a nice (albeit windy) day of striped bass fishing on the Kennebec river.

Longtime client John Kern from Salt Lake City joined me Saturday on the Kennebec for a morning of striped bass fly fishing. We had a dropping tide as we left the marina at 5:30am. As we rounded Thorne Head the gulls were diving on bait, a sure sign the stripers were on the ledge. First drift through the gulls provided a solid hookup. 

Steve Wrigley and his son had a great morning on the Kennebec. They caught a ton of schoolie stripers and some good ones too. We were fishing the rips on an incoming tide. Bait was being driven to the surface and gulls were diving while tons of stripers stacked up on the ledges. Caught most of them spin fishing with white bucktails fished slow. 

Great meeting you guys! Safe travels home and I hope to see you again!

Jackson, David, Kate and Olivia had a really fun morning catching schoolie striped bass on the Kennebec. They caught and released 28 in 4 hours! 

Conditions: We are seeing some of the very best early June striped bass fishing in years. Lots of surface blitzes on both the incoming and outgoing tides. Water temp is between 60* and 67* and water clarity is good.

Bait the fish are feeding on: River Herring, Alewives, Mackerel, Sea Herring and Sand Eels

20kt Northwest winds gusting to 35 and a sky rocketing barometer made for an interesting day on the Obsession. Got to the boat an hour before my clients to find a school of striped bass feeding like piranha around the docks (check out the sounder screenshot of the fish stacked up under my slip. 

​So what was I to do? Break out the 9wt fly rod and a folded foam popper! Went 9 hook ups for 10 casts and then decided I better get the boat ready. My three clients showed up and I did something I rarely do - I suggested they make some casts right there in the Marina. I assured them we were going to cast off and fish elsewhere on the Kennebec. After they caught and released several stripers we did just that.

Dr. Matt Budd (81) a long time client catching schoolie striped bass in the rips of the Kennebec River using a 9wt Helios2 and a 350gr Depthcharge line. The fish were holding on a ledge in 15' of water and feeding on 2" alewives.

Thursday morning proved to be the best kickoff to the striped bass season in many years. I was part of a four boat outing for folks from Sunday River Ski Resort. We had fish busting on the surface for two solid hours. Mostly schoolies but we managed to get two nice 8-10 pounders too. There's tons of small and medium sized river herring around for the bass right now. We caught them on light tackle using MirroLure twitch baits, sluggos, and bucktails. Video coming soon. I've got June dates available - lets go get em!

​Thursday morning proved to be the best kickoff to the striped bass season in many years. I was part of a four boat outing for folks from Sunday River Ski Resort. We had fish busting on the surface for two solid hours. Mostly schoolies but we managed to get two nice 8-10 pounders too. There's tons of small and medium sized river herring around for the bass right now. We caught them on light tackle using MirroLure twitch baits, sluggos, and bucktails. Video coming soon. I've got June dates available - lets go get em!