2004 Merrimack River Retrospective

By Captain Charles Crue

Channel Edge Charters

Last season, the migrating stripers showed up at mouth of the Merrimack River during the second week of May. It was later than in 2003. However, striped bass showed up in the Parker River in late April. My friends and I enjoyed some good striper action fishing from shore near the Route 1A bridge in Newbury. The fish had sea lice on their bodies, evidence that they had been at sea and had recently come into the river. There were typical 18 to 20-inch fish and some approaching keeper size. It was a good omen for the season beginning.

I didn’t do much shad fishing although I put my canoe in at rocks village several days in late April and early May. It seemed a bit slow. A few shad were taken but the overall activity was less than in 2003.

By mid-May there were lots of schoolie stripers in Merrimack River. They moved through hordes of harbor seals to go up the river chasing herring. We caught and released many of them near the Chain Bridge in Newburyport. During that time some large stripers were caught off the ocean side beach on Plum Island. Olive/white and white soft baits worked very well.

By early June the stripers had invaded the estuary and they were big! The striper season was definitely underway.

May

The season had begun! It looked to be a good one. The Parker River had produced early action at the end of April while the Merrimack remained inactive. I fished the Parker River to get my first stripers May 8. I caught five or six nice healthy fish with sea lice indicating that they were fresh from the ocean. Isolated stripers were also caught along the beach front and at the north end of Plum Island during the first week of May. The Merrimack action picked up around May 13. The river mouth was hosting hundreds of seals. They may have slowed the influx of stripers into the river. I caught several schoolies with scars that appeared to be from the grasp of a seal. The week of May 9 they began to move into the Merrimack River estuary in large numbers showing on the surface on May 13 and 14. I caught half a dozen schoolies off of the beach at the north end of Plum Island.

On Saturday, May 15, I fished up river from Newburyport. I caught small schoolies below the Chain Bridge. The action was slow but steady. It was a very bright and warm. . But, because of the very summer like weather, there was a lot of boat traffic. It didn’t help the fishing when a speedster went roaring by. That is one reason that I prefer the early morning for fishing there is less boat traffic. The following morning was overcast and threatening rain. I went out alone after my client had to cancel. I went up river to fish during the high incoming tide. I found a friend out in his boat. He said he had been getting schoolies. Based on his input I fished the area and picked a half dozen, or so, and then the light rain turned into steady hard rain so I opted to call it a morning.

There were reports of some legal size stripers that were caught off the beach and under the Gillis Bridge.

I took a client up river to fish around the islands. We did well in terms of the number of stripers caught and released, but saw no big ones. Most fish were schoolies in the 15 to 18 inch range. There were a couple of twenty inch fish. But, after a long cold winter those hard fighting little guys were great therapy as they fought hard taxing 8 and 9 WT fly rods. My client, Richard enjoyed using my new Sage Xi2 9 WT fly rod.

By the end of the month big stripers were showing in the estuary area.

June

June was a terrific month for striper action! Not only were large numbers of fish caught, and most released. My clients caught stripers up to 40-inches in length and considering that they were all caught using only flies and light spinning lures, it was an impressive accomplishment.

Spinning gear with white soft baits produced good action. On the long rod, white flies, clousers or deceivers attracted solid hits by some nice fish. The weather was tough with either wind, or cold rain, but the striper action was terrific.

We brought in a few striped bass that had the mycobacteriosis infection reported to be affecting striped bass in the Chesapeake Bay. The fish had pink lesions on their bodies. This problem is under study by marine biologists and has many possible causes, including a stressed situation for stripers due to lack of adequate food supply and/or lack of oxygen during periods of warm water in the bay area. It is recognized that some of the best food source for striped bass, menhaden, have been depleted by commercial fishing. Any or all of these things could result in poor health for stripers making the susceptible to bacterial infection. It has been recommended to avoid handling infected fish because humans could be infected. Recently I have learned that the mackerel are going to be targeted by the commercial interests. If the mackerel are depleted the stripers will have an even more precarious situation. Take notice my friends!

The fishing in the Merrimack River Estuary continued to be terrific!! Stripers ranging in length from 30 to 49-inches were caught and most were released to grow even larger. Joppa Flats hosted some enormous fish. At times they were difficult to catch on flies or lures but persistent anglers were rewarded with some nice fish.

Off shore there were good catches of tinker mackerel. About that time there were reports of some bluefish off the mouth of the river. The inshore striper fishing remained good to excellent in the Merrimack estuary area.

One Thursday afternoon, at the end of the low tide, I lost three big stripers that hit sluggos on the surface near the AYC mooring area. They were savage fighters and were able to shake the single hook. It was a humbling experience for a striper guide!

Some days there was constant schoolie action on flies. My clients Ron and John enjoyed the specter of small stripers feeding on sand eels just off of the south jetty at the low tide. For a couple of hours they caught and released dozens of fish. Later as the tide flowed up river they hit the same action off of the sandbar at the north end of Plum Island. They finished with stripers hitting flies near the AYC mooring area and out on Joppa Flats. Two big fish were lost that morning.

One Saturday I hosted my son and grandson for a couple of hours before a mid-day charter. They caught and released a couple of big stripers that hit soft baits out on Joppa Flats

Then, later that day I guided for two novice 15 year old kids, Alex and AJ. After instruction on how to cast with spinning gear and then how to work the lures, they took up the challenge.

It turned out that they were very fortunate, and managed to get three big stripers after losing a mammoth cow that I think was between 45 and 50 inches. Alex fought it for 15 minutes and had it to boat side several times but the brut would not give in and finally shook the lure, slowly swimming off into the deep. That was a sad moment.

Surface spinning lures including sluggos and poppers were producing. Large flies of white with contrasting back colors of olive, blue or gray with some flash worked well. Out on Joppa the lures and flies needed to be worked aggressively to get strikes.

Later in the month the fishing slowed with mostly small stripers and blue fish caught off the north end of the island. One Tuesday morning my clients enjoyed steady action on stripers from the AYC area down to the south jetty. Most stripers were of the “twinkie” variety except for a few that were up to 29-inches.

There were reports of some tuna being taken off shore. Also one fisherman reported a huge basking shark surfaced next to his boat. It was longer than his 25 foot boat.

I hosted two repeat clients from Florida. Karl Wickstrom, publisher of Florida Sportsman Magazine and his friend Ralph. They are experienced fishermen. The fishing was slow on the first day although they did get a nice keeper. The second day, I chose to show them the beautiful up river stretch on the Merrimack River. Fishing was slow but the gorgeous day and scenic wonder of the area up to Eagle Island was worth the effort. Later we went down to Joppa Flats to catch the end of the tide and a hopefully a few stripers. As it turned out we found some big marauders prowling the area. Karl nailed a 37-inch striper and Ralph brought a 36-incher to the boat. They used light spinning tackle and surface lures.

The striper fishing continued to be outstanding in the Merrimack River Estuary. Some fish were taken with flies and others with light spinning tackle. I received reports of very good striper fishing from people who stopped by at Hudson’s Outboards and Bait and Tackle where I help out on Mondays.

A forty pound striper was brought to Surfland on Plum Island to be photographed. It was caught with a surface popper. If you get into the area stop by Surfland Bait and tackle and check the photo board. Kay and her staff will give you all the information on how, where and when to get big fish from the beach or boat. They are great folks!

One Saturday my clients Jeff and his son Jeff, Jr., had a banner morning catching four or five keeper stripers up to 36-inches. They also lost a few large fish.

Another day, my clients found a bright sunny morning. That, of course, is not the best weather for inshore fishing. However, Brian and his son and daughter did well getting stripers, snapper blue fish and one nice big shad. All of their catches were on spinning lures in the river and on Joppa Flats.

July

As July began we expected more blue fish to be caught. We had been catching snapper blues in the river. But, the big ones showed up outside the jetties in good numbers. I recalled catching a 13 pound blue fish out on Joppa Flats during the 2003 season. I was well aware that the big ones often followed bait into the river on high tides. It proved to be a repeat performance.

Some mornings it was so beautiful that fishing was almost been secondary to just absorbing the the moments.

Weekends became difficult for drift fishing. Large boats and other traffic plus anchored bait fisherman limited the areas to fish.

Offshore the dogfish were creating problems for the “would be” tuna catchers. Some of them resorted to trolling to avoid the dogs. Flounder were being caught outside the jetties.
There were reports of some big halibut being caught offshore.

During the winter the marina where I keep my boat had changed ownership. The new owners renamed the marina as the Newburyport Harbor Marina and said they intended to make it the premier marina in Newburyport. They installed a brand new dock system. It is first class. Those of you that charter with me will see the difference.

The local weather turned sour and so did the fishing. It was very wet with a strong wind from the north and northeast. Some bluefish were found near the jetties. The high surf light was on to warn small boats to stay inside. We fished from the north of Plum Island moving up with the tide and wind with little success. It was one of those off days, although rare in this area, but does occur now and then.

The fishing slowed down with warmer water and the large stripers moved further north. However, the schoolies stayed in the river and provided some good action on flies and light tackle. I did less fishing but I confess it was good to have a breather. One day I had a little time and went out in the morning to fish the end of the outgoing tide. I caught and released a bunch of small stripers and then found some hitting bait in very shallow water. I switched to a floating line and gurglers and enjoyed some great surface action!

I tried fishing up river between Route 1 and Interstate 95 a couple of times but found little going on. Even the blues had moved elsewhere.

I took my “veteran” 8 year old grandson out one afternoon. He caught a healthy 20-inch schoolie. We then tried some light spin fishing below the AYC mooring area. He caught 12 schoolies and I only caught 7. We matched our largest at 20-inches each. The stripers were hitting small white Fin-S softbaits rigged on jig heads. There were only a couple of other boats in the area. It was nice, quiet and enjoyable fishing. It was a good time for us to share our love for fishing together.

The bluefish moved back into the river. They were medium size, 5 to 8 pounds. We caught them outside the jetties followed them all the way up to Newburyport. It was fun fishing using the long rod. When they hit the fly they made strong runs into the backing and then it was battle time to bring them along side for a release. I used a 20 pound fluorocarbon leader with a 40# shock tip to keep from being bit off.

August

Early in August, my clients Rich and his 15 year old son Kevin enjoyed some lively schoolie fishing. Kevin caught and released the first striper he had ever caught and then proceeded to catch and release many more. They ranged from 18 to 20-inches. His dad did not do quite as well with the fly rod but had a respectable showing. They enjoyed steady action during the half day morning trip. The fish were not big but they were aggressive!

Small and big blue fish continued to provide some good action for young and old.

On a Monday morning, I had some time on my own and did a little fishing around the back side of Plum Island off of the Parker River. I found some breaking fish that turned out to be medium stripers, 22 to 27-inches. It was a run and gun game as the fish chased schools of bait. White sluggos worked on the spin gear and olive /white deceivers were effective when employing the long rod. It was great fun!

Mid-month, Eric, an ardent young fisherman who works at Hudson’s Bait and Tackle (also a boat dealership), caught a 47-inch, 46 pound striper using a Tuff Core Jig. The fish was caught on light spinning gear on 12# test line.

I heard about football tuna being caught around the Isle of Shoals. One guy had two strikes on fly gear (14 WT rod and lots of Power Pro as backing) he lost one but brought one in to the boat before releasing it. There were also reports of footballs being spotted just off of Salisbury Beach. There continued to be occasional catches of blue fish inshore and lots of blues off of Plum Island beaches.

During the month the commercial striper fishing wads shut down because the even higher quota than 2003 was exceeded (in my opinion, it should be shut down permanently).

There were wide water temperature variations some mornings the incoming tide was in the low to mid fifties while the river water was in the mid sixties. It made for some interesting fishing. Sometimes the bass were on one side and other days they showed up on the other side of the temperature line. There was plenty of bait around, mostly sand eels and grill shrimp. When the stripers keyed in on the minute shrimp getting them to hit flies became very difficult. They seemed to just ignore anything else as they slurped up the very small crustaceans.

As the month progressed, the Merrimack estuary area continued to have steady striper action. Most fish caught with flies or lures were small to mid size schoolies. They fought hard and provided graet action on light spinning gear or the long rod. The inshore blue fishing slowed down as the fish moved further offshore. Football tuna became a big attraction to anglers who were willing to spend the time and money for heavy fly fishing tackle.

There continued to be some keeper sized stripers in the area.

One day I had a re-learning experience that one should always be aware that a big fish could hit your offering. That day I had a free morning and decided to enjoy some fishing with the thought of exploring Joppa flats again on the high tide. It had been slow. I decided to put a jig on my lightest spinning rod and troll as I crossed the flats towards Woodbridge Island. My mistake was to assume that any fish would be small since that was all we had been catching on recent days. About half way across the flats my rod suddenly bent like it was going to either break. But the drag was properly set and it screamed as the fish moved in one direction while my boat was headed in the other. I quickly cut the engine in order to fight the fish. That was when I discovered that I only had a few turns of 15# line left on the reel and just as I reached to start the motor to back towards the fish it made a surge. Bang! The fish lure and line were all gone in an instant. I tried to console myself thinking that sometimes bad things just happen but I still think about the trophy that I might have missed.

September

I didn’t get out fishing much in early September. I was occupied with finishing painting the trim on my house. We were enjoying some unusually nice weather. I had a charter booked for a Monday so I went out Sunday morning for a couple of hours to check the fishing. It was slow. I managed to pick up some schoolie stripers on the early incoming tide in the “tooth pick” area. That was all. A friend reported getting one bluefish off of the north jetty.

One day I hosted my grandson Jacob, and his dad. Jacob had not caught a blue fish until that day.

The booked trip, with Larry and Bob, experienced fly fishermen, turned out better than I anticipated. They didn’t get any real big stripers but caught an ample number as we fished from the jetties up into the AYC mooring area, following the incoming tide. The olive/white patterns and one of my new special flies worked very well. I nailed a few stripers with my light spinning rod and a white jig as I tested each area to determine if we had fish there. The largest striper of the day was about twenty inches. We didn’t see any bluefish although we trolled outside the jetties for a while.

On a “captain’s day off” , after some rainy weather, I drove to the marina and found cloud cover and some fog but no wind or rain. It was a go! The tide was just turning to incoming. I marked a few fish in the river near the #15 buoy but did not get a response to a couple jigs so I decide to go down to the jetties and see if anything was happening. Conditions were ideal and there were only a couple of small boats in the area. A couple of guys fly fishing from a small aluminum boat were working the inside of the south jetty. I didn’t see them having any action as I passed buy to the end of the jetty. Then I spotted fish as their fins occasionally broke the surface. They were moving relatively slowly so I though what I might be seeing was just bait fish of some kind. I cast out a small white jig and I trolled through the area and had a solid hit but didn’t get the fish. Then I stopped the engine and took out my new Sage Xi2 9wt and tied on one of my special flies (unnamed as yet). I cast out a couple of times and then had a solid hit. The fish gave me a good battle forcing me to use the reel drag, while letting it run, several times.

It turned out to be my first keeper of several weeks. It was a nice healthy looking 30-inch fish. I laid it on the deck for a quick photo before releasing it.

I lost a couple of other stripers in the area when they threw the hook. One of them rolled near the surface and looked to be a legal fish. After that they disappeared. I fished up river with the tide a caught some mid-twenty inch stripers across from the tooth pick. Later I enjoyed lots of small schoolie action the AYC mooring area. It was good to see some of the bigger fish back into the inshore waters.

I did not get out fishing in the area after mid-September because I spent several weeks on Cape Cod. The fishing results down there are another story. When I returned the local fishing was shutting down and it was time to haul the boat out and wait out another winter season. But the memories of the wonderful season that we enjoyed on the beautiful Merrimack River would sustain me through the cold months.