Thursday, July 30, 2009

Merrimack River Fishing Report July 30, 2009

Merrimack River Fishing Report
July 30, 2009

The fishing continues to be good. I had some time off but went out Tuesday and Wednesday mornings on my own. The morning tide was high but outgoing so Tuesday I started by exploring Joppa Flats. It was pretty quiet. I couldn’t scare up a striper anywhere as I moved the boat around to various recent hot spots. I then checked the Salisbury side across from Buoy #13. Again, there was no action. I decided to move down closer to Plum Island and spotted some terns diving down to the water surface. Sure enough there were stripers attacking sand eels. I made a quick cast with my spinning rod with a sluggo. I immediately had a hit but lost the fish. After a few more casts and hits I brought in a 20 inch schoolie. The stripers were moving around fast but their location was given away by the birds. I changed to a rigged jig head with a Fin-S and had more success at catching the stripers. One measured 26 inches.

During the melee I had one very interesting thing happen. I had made a cast and while the line was still in the air a tern caught it with its wing. Some how it wrapped around and as the weighted lure sank the line pulled the tern under the water. As I was trying to reel it in so I could hopefully release the bird the lure was grabbed by a striper so for a brief time I had both a striper and a tern fighting the rod. Fortunately the tern freed it itself and I still had the striper hooked and was able to bring it to boat. I have had terns get caught before but never had to simultaneously fight a tern and striper. Strange things happen!

Later that morning I switched over to my 8 WT fly rod and caught several stripers. I would say that the average size of the fish was about 22 inches. They all looked healthy and well fed.

Thursday morning I went out later and went to the same area. This time I found the stripers further up towards Joppa Flats in about 3 feet of water. I caught a half a dozen when I could find enough water near them to get the boat in close enough for a long cast.

So, the stripers are around, and as I mentioned before, the season is better than the same period last year. I haven’t seen any bluefish but haven’t been outside the river mouth recently.

That is it for now.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

July 22, 2009 Fishing Report

Merrimack River Fishing Report
July 22, 2009

Fishing in the Merrimack estuary area continues to be good. Much better than this time last season. The stripers are around in abundance with many big fish in the mix. Last week we had some poor weather. However, it was not for a prolonged period. Joppa Flats produced some big stripers and continues to do so. Of course the bait fishermen have been scoring well outside the jetties. I heard that a striper weighing over 50 pounds was weighed in at Surf land. There is probably a photo on their fish catch board. I think it was a bait catch on a boat.

My own experiences included catching a hefty 40 inch striper on the flats last Friday. It was my best so far this season.

Last Saturday I took out a guy and his son vacationing from Germany. Fortunately he spoke pretty good English so it made for a nice trip. Both he and his 14 year old son caught stripers on Joppa Flats. He lost a really big striper when the fly pulled out as the fish neared the boat. They caught stripers using flies and light spinning tackle.

The last few mornings the high tide has moved into the late morning so the stripers have been much more difficult to catch. A friend who fishe very early this morning said he did very well with several stripers over 30 inches. I think he was using live bait. At times I am tempted but I still prefer to use flies or light spinning tackle.

The season is passing quickly it seems. The poor weather we had in June made for many fewer fishing trips. Hopefully we will have more normal weather for the remainder of the season.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Merrimack Fishing Report July 13, 2009

Merrimack River Fishing Report
July 13, 2009

The weather has turned nice. Since last Friday boaters and fishermen have been enjoying being out on the water. Outside of the river the seas have been flat. The morning tides have been approaching low at mid morning so most fishing action has been down near the jetties or outside the mouth. I have taken clients into those areas after finding no action in the river where last week we enjoyed good fishing but poor weather.

Friday was the first bright sunny morning. We had a difficult time finding stripers willing to hit lures or flies. I think that the bright sky after so many dark ones caused the fish to be weary. Bait fishermen drifting from inside the jetties did a little better. By Saturday the fish were feeding again and everyone was catching fish. We found snapper blues chasing sand eels. The rollers, caused by the low outgoing tide made fly fishing difficult but my client managed to get the fly out into the action to connect with the blues. Later we moved out near the sandbars off of the south jetty where they caught stripers and larger bluefish (4 or 5 pounds). The weather was great and it made for an enjoyable fishing experience for my clients from Utah. Stirling and his twelve year old son had a good time and I enjoyed guiding for them.

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Merrimack Fishing Report July 1, 2009

Merrimack River Fishing Report
July 1, 2009

Since my last report the weather has continued to dismal and wet. Some days were cooler and with wind out of the NE or E which only made being out on the water more unpleasant. Late last week my clients fished hard under the poor weather conditions for little reward. It was frustrating for me not being able to get to places due to conditions or getting somewhere only to find a few fish or finding fish but unable to get them to take flies or lures. I kept thinking that the weather and then the fishing would get back to normal soon.

The bad news is that the weather continued to be lousy through the weekend but the good news is that the fishing improved. Saturday morning one of my clients caught a “Merrimack Grand Slam” defined as a striper, shad and bluefish. The bluefish was a total surprise as it was caught on Joppa Flats. It was a nice 8 pound fish. I had heard reports of blues outside the river mouth but not in the river.

Monday one of my clients caught a really nice big striper that measured 39 inches and weighed well over 20 pounds. Wow, at last! They also caught stripers down river near Salisbury.

This morning, my clients had a real treat as we had striper action all morning out in the fog. One striper was a 28 inch keeper (that we released) and many smaller fish probably averaging a little over twenty inches. The action was pretty steady over the four

hours we were out. I now feel like it is becoming a more normal Merrimack fishing season.