longtime client and friend John Kern invited his two nieces along on a Kennebec River charter July 1^st. The fun and fishing was nonstop. Caroline Kern and Emily Roig had never fished with light tackle for striped bass before. As you can see they both took it quite well! Uncle John is excellent at fly fishing. He caught a bunch of stripers on a floating line and a popper and on sinking line with an olive and white deceiver. We lost track of how many fish we caught but none of us will forget the bigun that Caroline landed! This is a fairly long video (6 minutes) but hang in there to the end… The expressions on the faces are priceless! Safe travel home John, Caroline and Emily. I look forward to seeing you again in 2015.

A fun July 1st fishing for striped bass on the Kennebec River with Doug Bear from Orvis and his Dad. They both caught a bunch of stripers on fly rod and spinning gear. This is a short video showing two of Doug’s fly rod fish.  Dad out fished Doug 3 to 1 with his spinning rod and was texting the family back on shore to rub it in... The best early season fishing we have seen in years continues! Get out on the River and get in on the action!

Fishing Conditions: Wind and rain have clouded up the water a bit. The backcountry water has cooled off due to the rains.

Bait Currently in Pine Island Sound and Charlotte Harbor: Pass crabs, Scaled sardines, threadfin herring, glass minnows, pinfish, shrimp, ladyfish

Fly Fishing Technics: Summer fishing; go early and get in before the storms. Sight casting is tuff do to water clarity so blind casting is a viable option. Visibility is a two way street – the tarpon and snook can’t see you as well too!

Fishing Tip of the Week:  The backcountry is producing better with the rain cooled water fish the falling tides when the redfish and snook come out from under the mangroves.

7 Day Outlook: Snook will be more plentiful in the sound and on the beaches. The mangroves and oyster reefs will hold good numbers of redfish. Tarpon continue to in good numbers along the beaches.

Fishing Conditions: Water levels and flow are returning to normal. The River is clearing up from all the run off last week. Water temp is in the mid-60s. There is an abundance of bait throughout the lower river.

Bait the fish are eating: Sand eels, Juvenile herring, river herring, mackerel

Best Technics:Look for surface action early then fish the rips and banks when the sun gets bright. 

Tip of the Week: Rig up with both floating and sinking lines. Late June fly fishing provides a variety of situations from surface feeds to fish staged on structure 15-20 feet below the surface.

 7 Day Outlook: In a word – Great! We are seeing some of the best striped bass fly fishing in years here on the Kennebec. There are fish arriving in the River daily and the bait is plentiful.

Fly fishing on a windy and overcast June morning on the Kennebec River.  We had these fish all to ourselves for almost an hour. Fred boated over twenty fish before the tide changed and the school settled out. We were using an 8wt Orvis H2 with a floating line and 16# tippet.