Merrimack River Report #4 May 29, 2006

Merrimack River Report #4 May 29, 2006

Here it is, Memorial Day and I haven’t launched my boat yet, however the good news is that I will get it in tomorrow. I held off launching to give the marina time to get back to more normal condition and to allow for the debris to clear out of the river. The river is still coffee color but it is flushing out each day. The stripers are in the river. Most are still small schoolies (great fun to catch on a fly rod) and there are some larger stripers caught now and then.

I have been fly fishing off the beach at the north end of Plum Island and have been catching stripers consistently on the outgoing tide using an olive/white clouser. Bait fishermen have not been doing as well largely because they cast far out where normally some bigger fish would be but aren’t yet. I have been picking up most fish by letting the fly drift with the current until near the shore before beginning to strip it in. Sometimes a striper would hit on the dead drift but most often on the first few strips near the shore.

A couple of keeper stripers have been weighed in at Surfland. One was caught early Saturday morning off the south jetty.

Tomorrow I will do my first boat excursion looking for the best striper action spots. I have a couple of days to check things out before my first charter trip. It finally looks like the season will really get going.



Plum Island Beach Striper

Merrimack River Report #3 May 19, 2006

Merrimack River Report #3 May 19, 2006


Needless to say I have not been fishing much lately. The heavy rain and Merrimack River flood have shut everything down. The river is still near the flood stage. Many marinas, including the Newburyport Harbor Marina where I dock my boat, Have been had their dock systems devastated. Mckenzies Marina in Amesbury lost most of their floats. My marina still has docks but they have pulled the mooring blocks and pilings so that they are twisted from their normal positions. Fortunately no floats were lost so the marina should be able to get up and running again. Mackenszies will probably be closed for the season. Ferry Landing also suffered heavy damage and probably won’t fixed any time soon.

The river still has lots of debris floating down and the water looks like mud and it is running high and fast. I would not recommend boating for a while. I have already postponed one trip and may have to do the same for next week.

The beach at Plum Island is littered with debris and who knows what stuff might be hung up just below the surface. I saw many big trees float by Cashman Park.

I think it will take a week before the river is the least bit fishable.

Merrimack River Report #2 May 8, 2006

The new season is now underway. Shad are present in the Merrimack River. Striped bass have migrated into the local estuaries. Within the past few days stripers have been caught off the beach at Plum Island and near the river mouth. They have also been caught in the Parker River.
My boat is still on the driveway pending a better weather forecast but I have been doing well from the shore. Today I caught and released many schoolies, up to twenty plus inches in the Parker River using the fly rod and a tried and true clouser fly. The fish all had sea lice on them indicating they were fresh form the ocean. Although the action was a bit sporatic at times it was fairly constant . The stripers have been feeding on river herring or alewives around slack tides.
Sometimes they would follow the fly and hit as I paused my stripping. It was great fun.

Yes it is the new season and time to get out and fish!