Merrimack River Report #10 july 28, 2005
Merrimack River Report #10 July 28, 2005
I took out two dedicated fly fishermen last Thursday morning. The weather was great but bright sky prevailed. I didn’t have high expectations. The tide was approaching low as we began our trip. I took them down the river near the sandbar at the buoy #11 for some early tries but it was dead so we moved down to the jetties. There was not much going on even for the dozen or so bait fishing guys in the area. I moved the boat outside the jetties and saw some swirls at the surface so we drifted in the area. The swirls were from bluefish which my clients managed to hook up with and in spite of relatively light tippets they brought them to the boat they also managed to get a few stripers. The size of the blues and stripers was varied. The largest blue about 7 pounds and the largest striper about 23 inches long. As the tide rose, there was a decline in action at the river mouth, so we moved up onto Joppa Flats. Out on Joppa we found stripers, my clients could not get action on flies, but a nice keeper hit a big sluggo on the spinning gear. Overall it was a good morning considering the bright sky and near full moon the night before.
Sunday morning the fishing action was light but steady. We found stripers scattered across from the toothpick and down towards the jetties. They were hitting white soft body jig head lures.
After a couple days off I guided for a couple of fly fishermen from Vermont. The weather was clear and it was very warm at 6 AM and became down right hot as the morning progressed. Stripers were hard to find. We tried Joppa early without any luck. Next we tried the Salisbury side of the river without success. We moved to the sandbar near buoy #11 where they managed to catch three or four schoolies that hit my McVay Special fly. We tried between the jetties with no success before deciding to call it a morning. It was just one of those tough fishing days. Fortunately we don’t get many like it. They plan to come back and try again when the fishing gets back to more normal.
Thursday I hosted three nice guys for some fly and spin fishing. The morning began well after a change to cooler weather that moved in after some heavy thunder storms on Wednesday evening. We started on Joppa where Scot got a big striper to hit one of my McVay Special Flies. Unfortunately the striper, that I saw near the boat once, broke off the 18# leader. The fish looked to be about 30-inches long. After that the action was nil so I took them to some other spots, none of which produced action until we worked the drift near buoy #11. In that area they all caught fish including twinkie and large schoolies plus some snapper bluefish.
Merrimack river Report #9 July 21, 2005
Merrimack River Report #9 July 21, 2005
The inshore striper fishing has been very good this past week. There are still many “twinkie” size schoolies in the river and the big fish have moved back into the shallow waters on the high tides.
Over the weekend my clients warmed up catching and releasing the small schoolies and then were able to get some large schoolies and a few keeper size fish. I enjoy watching kids getting fish after fish, keeping a running tally of the number of fish released. Some of the excitement can be seen in their faces in the attached photos.
Monday I hosted my grandson, brother-in-law and nephew. They enjoyed a super morning of fishing catching small schoolies early and then tackling some monsters on Joppa Flats. Jacob caught the largest a 14 pound 33-inch beauty. They were using Sluggos and light spinning gear so each fish was a good fight. Later in the week as the days got brighter and a front came through, the Joppa fishing action slowed down.
There have been small snapper and larger bluefish outside the river mouth around the low tide. Stripers were also there.
Some flounder are being caught by bait fishermen off of the bell buoy outside the jetties.
Merrimack River Report #8 July 14, 2005
Merrimack River Report #8 July 14, 2005
Our weather this season has been quite changeable. Days of cool wet weather have been followed by bright hot ones. Through out the differing weather conditions the inshore fly and light spin tackle fishing has remained very productive. White and olive/white fly patterns have good to use. Sluggos and Fin-S soft baits work well for stripers and blue fish. In the latter case it can get expensive using soft baits when the blues are around.
On Friday last week, I guided for three spin fishing sportsman, two adults and one ten year old grandson. The weather was sour, with wet heavy mist and fog. Early in the morning they managed to get some small stripers. We fished around the inside of the jetties where I marked a lot of fish. After one chopped off a Sluggo I knew the fish were blues. As the tide rose we moved up onto the sand bar off of Plum Island Point. That’s where they connected lots of tackle busting bluefish. Two blues were kept for dinner, one a six pound fish and the other weighed eight pounds.
The early part of the week for inshore fishing continued to yield “twinkie” stripers. It is comforting to see so many small fish. Hopefully most will survive and grow. I always bend the barbs down on my lures and flies to minimize injury to these aggressive beautiful little fish.
Bluefish are around but they are in and out in the area. Pogies are showing in the river
So we may get an influx of bigger stripers in the days ahead. Boats drifting with mackerel or other bait have been doing well from the “tooth pick” to the jetties.
Merrimack River Report #7 July 7, 2005
Merrimack River Report #7 July 7, 2005
The inshore Merrimack fishing continues to be very good. We are still catching and releasing many very small “twinkie” stripers but there are also some big fish around. For instance I took a leisurely journey out on Sunday. It was an absolutely beautiful summer morning. After my coffee and muffin I caught 17 twinkies. I always have the barbs bent down on my flies to minimize injury to the fish. I want them to grow to keeper size! Later as the tide came in I fished Joppa Flats. I found some very nice stripers plus a couple of nasty blue fish. I brought five stripers to the boat that measured between 24 and 29-inches. great fly rod action! I used a fly of my own style made using synthetic material called Fishhair. I was broken off by a couple of blues. A friend fishing nearby managed to land a 10 pound blue.
Bait chuckers have been doing pretty well at the river mouth. I haven’t seen any extraordinary catches when I was in the vicinity.
Monday, July 4th, I hosted a grandfather, Jeff who lives in Florida, and his grandson, Jason. Jeff and some of his other young family members had fished with me a few years ago and had a great time. We began fishing at 7AM so that I could get them out on Joppa Flats when the tide was approaching high because of my experience on Sunday. They caught numerous “twinkie” stripers on Fin-S soft baits using the light spinning gear. Jason, age 9, had been up late the night before enjoying some 4th fireworks so he was not his usual sharp fishing sport. However, with my help casting for him he soon lead his granddad at 14 to 12 fish brought to the boat. When the tide got up I took them onto Joppa flats. The big stripers were there but not interested in eating. Josh wanted to take a break so I got out my fly rod and did some casting. There were boils from big stripers all around the boat at times. I connected with a relatively big fish (compared to the twinkies) and gave the fly rod to Jeff to fight the fish. Although not experienced in fighting a big striper using a fly rod, he managed to get it to the boat. It measured 27 inches and weighed about 8 pounds. Later I repeated the hook up on the fly and helped Jason bring another 27 inch striper to the boat. It wasn’t a bad morning for grandpa and grandson plus it was beautiful weather.
Wednesday I guided for two fly fishing gentlemen. They fished all day. The weather had turned unpleasant with rain in the early morning and then strong wind from the north with heavy cloud cover and drizzle at times. We fished from the jetties back up to Joppa Flats in the morning as the tide rose. It was slow fishing with a striper here and there, mostly small. Joppa had some large stripers around but they were not in a feeding mode. There were follows but no takes. In the afternoon we tried up river where thy caught some small schoolies as we drifted down with the out going tide. It wasn’t the best day for getting bigger stripers but there was steady action on small schoolies.
