Merrimack River Report #8 June 26, 2006
Merrimack River Report #8 June 26, 2006
I am starting this report on Saturday June 24 because my memory is not what it used to be. The Merrimack estuary has been returning to a more normal June pattern.There are still lots of small “twinkie” stripers but the big ones are showing up in increasing numbers out on Joppa Flats on the high tides. My clients enjoyed catching lots of schoolies with an occasional heavy hitter. Some of my experienced friends have caught and released stripers between 30 and forty inches in length.
Today I guided for two young anglers with a little fly fishing experience on fresh water. One of them was a natural at casting with the fly rod. He soon switched entirely from light spinning gear to the long rod and caught several mid-twenty inch stripers. He also battled and lost a very large striper when he stressed the 18 pound test leader which was probably frayed during the early fight. I didn’t see the fish but it had little difficulty going well into the backing on the reel. It stayed deep although we were only in about eight of water. The struggle between fish and angler went on for about five long minutes before it broke off. As I told my young client we all suffer through that disappointing experience at times. It is part of the game.
The bluefish are outside the river mouth according to the folks going outside. So far I have not seen or heard of any being taken inside the jetties. But I expect they will move in any day.
We had some unusual activity on the flats when we found schools of big carp swimming around on Joppa Flats. They must have moved or been washed down the river with the floods of May. They were big (at least twenty inches) and a few of us were wondering about what kind of fly might work. They like corn so a fly that looks like a corn kernel might work.
The harbor seals are back in the river. I have seen them out on Joppa on the high tide.
The weather continues to be wetter than normal but the fishing is getting better for bigger stripers.
Sunday I hosted a grandfather, his son, and his grandson. The weather was dull and damp but the rain of earlier in the morning had stopped. Grandpa fly fished while the others used the light spinning gear. We left the marina relatively late in order catch the incoming tide. I had hopes of a big striper or two as the tide approached high. Well, they didn’t get a big striper but had constant action on schoolies up to 18-inches until we quit. The fish may have been small but they sure fought on the light tackle. All three had a great time! That is what I like.
I am looking forward to good fishing ahead since it looks like we missed the heavy flooding rain.
Merrimack River Report #7 June 19, 2006
Merrimack River Report #7 June 19, 2006
The fishing in the area continues to be abnormal in terms of fish size. Normally we are catching a good mix of small and big stripers this time in the season. The water has been improving in clarity each day. I have seen cormorants coming to the surface with what looks to be large sand eels. The mackerel offshore have been dispersed by the first bluefish arriving in the near shore waters. So far there haven’t been any blues in the river or out side the jetties.
Last week my clients caught and released many small schoolies. It has been the situation all week except for on day when my grandson caught using herring chunks off the boat while it was tied up at the marina. There are small schoolies everywhere. They are aggressive and take on flies and fairly large soft baits offered via the light spinning rod.
On Tuesday my clients enjoyed fast action just off of the north jetty while we drifted out on the low out going tide.
Occasionally a big striper has been caught after many small schoolies were brought boat side. It seems that the big ones are few but present among the small schoolies and will often chase after hooked schoolie right up to the boat.
We are all waiting for the influx of big stripers onto Joppa flats. They are over due.
Merrimack River Report #6 June 12, 2006
Merrimack River Report #6 June 12, 2006
Last Tuesday, I had three clients out fishing on Joppa Flats all morning after a late start (their choice). One fly fisherman and two using spinning gear with jig heads rigged with soft baits (sluggos,Fin-S). It was of our rare (lately) days with sun and relatively light breeze.
There were around ten other boats on the flats. Everyone, including my guys were catching those small schoolies. We fished until noon with more or less constant action. We didn't see a fish over 18-20 inches. That was the case for all the other catches I saw in the other boats.
The previous day, one of clients did catch an "almost" keeper bass using an olive/white clouser after they caught about fifty "twinkies".
Mid-week we had more lousy weather that continued through to Saturday. The river rose and turned muddy again. I didn’t go out fishing.
Merrimack River Report #5 June 5, 2006
Merrimack River Report #5 June 5, 2006
The past week began with some good inshore fishing. There were lots of small schoolies with an occasional keeper sized fish. One Tuesday morning a friend hailed me as he was fighting a decent striper on Joppa Flats. I got close enough to take some video footage and then a photo of his 32-inch fish.
As the weekend approached so did some heavy tropical type rain. I managed to get out Friday in the early morning and although I got caught in some heavy down pours I managed to get lots of schoolies and missed a big striper when my fly line knotted as it was pulled up off of the deck. The knot got caught going through the guides and the fish had no trouble breaking my 15 pound test leader.
The number of big stripers coming into the river has been less than normal for early June. The high fresh water outflow has definitely affected the usual pattern. Apparently it has not bothered the small schoolies that much but it has affected the bait fish and thus the bigger stripers are not enticed into the waters (at least that is my theory).
This morning my clients Jim and Frank enjoyed plenty of schoolies. When we began fishing just after 5 AM Jim was using a light spinning outfit rigged with a sluggo attached to a jig. He was into fish right away. Frank was using a fly rod with an intermediate line. He had little action so I suggested a fast sinking line and he immediately began to get fish, especially after he changed flies to an olive white clouser. Later Jim switched to my 8 WT fly rod and once he got used to casting the sinking line he caught his first stripers on a fly. He was using one of my special flat wing flies. Both guys started fishing near the bottom using the flat wing flies and were both catching fish. After the tide was falling enough for good current we drifted on Joppa where Jim hooked a nice 27-inch striper. We photographed Jim and his catch and then released it. All of the fish were caught with lures and flies that had the barbs bent down.
