Although the season is not over yet, the “fat lady” will be singing before long! I am here down on the Cape where I have been enjoying some vacation time with my wife and some friends. Of course, I have also been doing some fishing but that is another story. My objective here is to give my readers my perspective on the 2007 Merrimack River area fishing.

The season began in May as it usually does. Actually I was down here on the Cape the first week of May and got into the first stripers arriving in the Monomy waters. The first part of the week I found very few stripers but towards the end I had twenty and thirty fish days with a climax of over fifty stripers, including a couple that were keeper size. All were released. It was a great day and my arm was tired. I caught all of the fish using either light spinning tackle or the fly rod.

About the time I returned we had some heavy rain. After just putting my boat in the water at the marina I hauled it out. It was a good move. The heavy rain and resulted in local flooding. It is truly extraordinary that we had two major floods on the Merrimack in the span of a single year. I have lived and fished here for over thirty years and never experienced such high waters before.

About a week later I put my boat back into the water. The river water was warm, approaching 60 degrees. I left the launch ramp at my new marina and went across to an area that I have fished many times. I saw fish rises and sure enough the early season schoolies had arrived. I fished the local area for about an hour and caught and released 20 or 30 striper schoolies on my fly rod. They were not particular about what fly I used. They were hungry and hitting anything that looked like food. It was wet but warm and the fishing was action was great. My largest fish measured 20 inches. Most were 17 or 18 inches.

The striper season had definitely begun on the Merrimack River. Schoolies, ranging from about 17-inches to almost keeper length, were abundant. At times they were smashing small minnows at the surface or feeding on sand eels a little deeper. They could be found on any tide.

In early June, I stopped by Surfland on Plum Island (one of my favorite tackle and bait shops) to pick up some duo lock snaps and a few fly tying items. They told me that a 31 pound striper was caught off the beach near parking lot #1 on the reservation. There was also a 17 pound striper caught off the south jetty.

My clients caught several 3 or 4 pound, very scrappy blues. They destroyed the soft baits that they were using, but the flies did hold up pretty well. The blues were caught near the north end of Plum Island just off the sandbar where we have been finding good striper action. Other clients had some good fishing catching stripers up 26 inches as well as a couple of bluefish and one shad.

The weather in the middle of June was miserable for fishermen. There were strong winds from the Northeast and very cool temperatures. In spite of the weather conditions we did get some nice fish, including an 18 pound 38-inch striper that hit a large jig rigged Fin-S. There were 3 foot waves on Joppa Flats. They were very difficult days to fish. Even the deep water charter boats stayed inside as the Coast Guard issued storm warnings with strong winds. There were lots of bluefish around. My clients enjoyed battling 4 to 7 pound blues on light spinning tackle and Joppa, when we could get out there, produced some big striped bass.

At the end of June the weather conditions improved with much less wind. Fishing picked up with big stripers being caught out on Joppa. There were also many bluefish around.

The bluefish began dominating the local fishing. Stripers were still in the waters, but it seems that the blues were more abundant into early July. The blues foraged out side the river mouth and moved onto Joppa Flats on high tides. They hit jigs with soft baits attached (the soft baits only lasted for one or two blues) or deep runner lures and poppers.

We have also caught them on various flies rigged with 50 pound shock tippet.

The fishing was good! I heard reports that the striper fishing was not as good as usual. Maybe they were correct in some respects but personally I think a better description would have been “sporadic”. There were days (I am not referring to nights) where the morning fishing was been slow but, my clients experienced mornings catching many stripers 19 to 20 inches with an occasional big fish. The weather has been a factor. Cool air and cooler water had an effect. The bluefish moved out as the waters cooled down to the lower 50’s. That was the case when the tide was high. As the tide dropped the warmer water from up the river came into the estuary area and the fishing improved with some very good action on light spinning or fly tackle.

There were enormous stripers out on Joppa Flats but it was very difficult to get them to hit flies or other artificial lures. I saw the tails of very large stripers at the surface. One looked to be 10 to 12 inches, top to bottom. A striper tail, which is that big, belongs to a very large fish. I had my clients out trying to entice a strike from those monsters. They only got two or three close to keeper sized fish. I recall one fellow who got a 26 inch fish on the fly rod.

Mid July, fog was also a problem by restricting mobility. I don’t like to be out in the fog where there are inexperienced boaters. It isn’t worth the risk.

During late July I found lots of stripers and bluefish in the river. There was some good action on the outgoing tides along the channel edge of Joppa. There was also lots of activity off the sandbar at the north end of Plum Island as well as between the jetties where some big bluefish could be found near the time of the tide change. The blues would hit surface poppers as well as flies and other lures.

The season seemed to be flying by. I guess it is true that time goes faster as you get older. In the first week of August there were reports of baby bunker showing up along the Maine coast. I didn’t spot any but I knew that as August matures I would. When one sees flocks of terns diving into the water mingled with the splashes of fish it is often schools of baby bunker that they are feeding on. It happens in the river as well as out along Plum Island beaches.

In mid-August there were some big bluefish in the river. One morning I found them in Newburyport near the Route 1 Bridge. It isn’t an easy place to fish because of the boat moorings and traffic, but in the early morning I could do it, with no boat traffic. I caught some 7 to 8 pound blues on my light spinning tackle. It was a challenge to keep the fish away from the mooring lines and the boat away from the moored craft.

Later in the week I hosted my friend Larry, a transplant to Florida, who spends summers up here. I fished with him and we caught lots of stripers. Most were caught down between the jetties where I could only find bluefish earlier that week. They were scrappy 18 to 22 inch fish.

I recall one Saturday morning when I guided for Jim, his son-in-law and grandson Brendan. We fished mostly between the jetties, catching many stripers. They were mostly around 19 or 20 inches and provided great fights on the light spinning tackle. It was difficult fishing because of the heavy boat traffic that forced me to maneuver the boat many times during a drift. All of the fishermen were steady on their feet and had no difficulty casting or fighting a hooked fish. I took them over to the sandbar located off the south jetty because I saw a few terns diving into the water. We just got to the spot and Brendan made a cast and hooked up with a strong fish. It stripped line off the spinning reel easily, so I tightened the drag as Brendan worked the rod. It took about ten minutes to bring the fish to the boat, as the fish and angler fought it out. Brandon said his arm was getting tired. However at 15, or so years old, he didn’t have any real problem mastering the fish. It turned out to be a 29 inch, 9 pound bluefish. Brandon was a very happy and proud fisherman as I congratulated him on his handling of the struggle. It is that kind of experience that highlights my enjoyment in doing what I do.

The last week of August I took out one of my clients, Charles, and a coworker who came here from India about seven years ago. She is an engineer with two masters degrees. She had never fished before and wanted to try catching stripers after hearing about and seeing the results of Charles’ fly fishing excursions. She did not know how cast or use a spinning outfit but after a few quick lessons and some encouragement she got it.

The tide was high and outgoing as we began the trip so I took them to the Salisbury side of the river near Newburyport. I hooked a couple of small schoolies and let her bring them to the boat. Then she started making casts and soon had a striper hit the soft bait lure. All the fish were small schoolies so I suggested we go down to the river mouth to where I had been having good action. We fished inside the jetties and although it was Sunday the boat traffic wasn’t bad in the early morning. Both she and Charles caught many 19 or 20 inch schoolies with an occasional mid-twenty inch fish. They also caught several small bluefish. It was a good morning. Charles told me later that she is now hooked on fishing.

September brought fall fishing. One morning my clients and I found hordes of busting stripers in the river near the Route 1 Bridge. The fish were smashing what looked to be baby bunker minnows. The guys caught a few on flies and then switched to 6-inch Sluggos. The action was pretty steady for well over an hour just before the morning high tide. Most of the fish were about twenty inches. As the tide slacked the fast action stopped. We found more stripers near half tide rocks and couple inside the north jetty. It was a good morning of fishing.

There were still plenty of bluefish around. Many fishermen were taking them by trolling umbrella rigs (that is not a method of fishing that I like, however).

There was a fishing tournament over the long Labor Day weekend and the winning stripers for boat and shore categories were both in the 50 pound range. One was weighed in at Surfland on Plum Island.

As I stated at the beginning I shut down my chartering in mid-September to send a few weeks vacation on Cape Cod with my wife. I always do enjoy the change and challenges of shore fishing when I am down here. I will probably post a report of my fishing experiences on the Cape later this fall.

Tight Lines!

Capt. Charlie Crue
Channel Edge Charters
www.channeledgecharters.com