Merrimack River report #14 August 26, 2005
Merrimack River Report #14 August 26, 2005
Bluefish, bluefish, that has been the main action around here over the past week. They could be found outside the jetties and/or off the beach at Parker River Wildlife Sanctuary. Party boats anchored up just a few hundred yards off of the beach. Sometimes the blues were down and at other times they were busting the surface. They were feeding on baby bunker. There were pods of blues in the 6 to 8 pound range.
Stripers could be found in the shallows off of Cranes Beach as well as the usual haunts around Plum Island. They have also been coming up river on the incoming tides. I had a stark reminder of the need to be prepared for a big fish when my grandson, while fishing off the boat tied at my slip, put his rod down to check my rod. I was busy doing some small repair work on my bimini. I heard banging and looked up to see Jacob’s rod being pulled onto the bow. I made a quick jump and grabbed for it but it went over the side before I could get it. The rod, Penn reel and fish were heading up the river. Oh well, it happens!
The weather has been very pleasant to the enjoyment of those of us getting out fishing. Next week may be wet as the forecasts indicate rain and possible remnants of hurricane Kristen move up from Florida.
Merrimack River Report #13 August 18, 2005
Merrimack River report #13 August 18, 2005
Yes, it is August and the faint of heart think that unless you fish all night with eels, etc, you will not catch fish. My answer is that yes it is a tougher time for those of us that prefer the action on light spinning or fly fishing gear but we still have a lot of fun with an occasional surprise of a big fish. The difficulty is to be prepared and rigged for that big striper or bluefish. We tend to expect small fish. I recall an off day last August when I trolled a big Sluggo out on Joppa. My fish finder indicated some fish. Suddenly my rod bent and the drag was screaming. I stopped the boat and prepared to fight the fish only to discover that my light reel was almost spooled out. A couple seconds later it was, and my line broke. It was a something I will remember.
Monday the weather was poor with rain and wind from the north. I took out my son-in-law and his friend. It was tough fishing but we did get into some schoolie action along the Salisbury side of the river.
Wednesday morning was a complete turn around. I had an off day and went out to enjoy the beautiful weather and maybe get a fish or two. To my surprise, after noticing a couple of boils in the water near the AYC mooring area I had a hard hit. It was a very hard fighting acrobatic blue. After losing that one and a couple more I went to my heavy bluefish rigs and brought in a 6 to 8 pound blue. My tackle took a beating. Later I found the blues out on Joppa Flats along with some big stripers. I brought in 12 pound 32 inch striper to the boat before I released it as well as a few blues. It was a very good August morning.
The bluefish action continued Thursday morning with schools of big blues feeding on minnows (silversides?) and sand eels. I hosted my daughter and her husband. They enjoyed some spectacular acrobatics of bluefish after being hooked. It made me think of tarpon down in Florida. If you don’t bow when a tarpon breaks water they will often throw the lure. We didn’t get any stripers but saw two or three thirty inch or so caught on sluggos and poppers. It was a beautiful August morning and we all had fun!
Merrimack River Report #12 August 12, 2005
Merrimack River Report #12 August 11, 2005
The inshore fishing was very slow over the weekend. I had a report that even the quasi commercial striper fishermen did poorly. (that doesn’t hurt my feelings since I support game fish status for striped bass). The weather has been OK but bright and mostly hot so the river water at the surface is generally in the low seventies. Blues continue to invade the river.
I had my first good action day in a while Tuesday morning on the late outgoing tide. It began with schools of small stripers thrashing bait on the surface between Newburyport and buoy #11. They provided good action on soft bait jig head spinning lures and my McVay Special Fly on the long rod. Later I got some larger stripers and a couple of bluefish off of Plum Island Point.
On Wednesday and Thursday mornings the river continued hold lots feeding stripers on the outgoing tide. They have been slurping sand eels at the surface. The fish are very selective and won’t hit just any fly or lure. Most stripes are on flies or lures about 4 inches long. Most of the stripers were small schoolies but early Thursday morning there were large schoolies mixed in. They were 20 to about 26 inches long. There were also some bluefish as my clients found out after donating a soft bait jig to one. Over all the action has been great this week.
Merrimack River Report #11 August 5, 2005
Merrimack River Report #11 August 5, 2005
The fishing has drifted into the August mode. The water is warm with morning skies that are bright. Most large stripers have moved out side or further north. There are exceptions, of course, and some big fish are being caught, but not many on flies or artificials. There are still pods of very big stripers moving onto Joppa Flats on some high tides. I had a client out there on Tuesday and we saw some of those big fish but were only able to get one to hit and it threw the sluggo after a short hard fight.
Bluefish can be found all over the area. On that same trip, Tuesday, my client latched onto a big bluefish that gave an acrobatic display before getting off.
I have seen what appear to be schools of pogies near the marina in the early morning. A fisherman, who was fueling his boat, said that they weren’t pogies but very small stripers. He said they were so small, 8 to 10 inches that he wondered if they were spawned in the Merrimack. I wonder. I think I will make an effort to get a small fly into their midst to find out if they are, indeed, all small stripers.
Friday morning I took my clients down near the river mouth very early in hopes of some action. It was slow again. The bait fishing guys were doing nothing and I felt pretty good when my clients latched onto a couple of nice eating size bluefish. The morning remained slow with a few more blues and a single schoolie striper.
I have open dates in August and September so if you want to give it a try give me a call.
My number is 978-462-9212.
