Stripers from 24” to 48” long and weighing as much as 30 pounds spend the summer in the waters of the Kennebec River Watershed and surrounding beaches and islands. Striped Bass show up in good numbers usually during late May here in the mid coast area of Maine. The first to arrive are the smaller, younger fish. They show up in vast schools as the water temperature reaches the mid 50’s. These first arrivals are full of spunk and eat everything put in front of them. 12 pound class spinning gear and 6-8 wt. fly rods are the weapons of choice. Lures and flies vary from the smallest juvenile baitfish imitations to full sized offerings that mimic 12” Alewives and Herring.
Longtime client John Kern from Salt Lake City joined me Saturday on the Kennebec for a morning of striped bass fly fishing. We had a dropping tide as we left the marina at 5:30am. As we rounded Thorne Head the gulls were diving on bait, a sure sign the stripers were on the ledge. First drift through the gulls provided a solid hookup.
Steve Wrigley and his son had a great morning on the Kennebec. They caught a ton of schoolie stripers and some good ones too. We were fishing the rips on an incoming tide. Bait was being driven to the surface and gulls were diving while tons of stripers stacked up on the ledges. Caught most of them spin fishing with white bucktails fished slow.
Great meeting you guys! Safe travels home and I hope to see you again!
Jackson, David, Kate and Olivia had a really fun morning catching schoolie striped bass on the Kennebec. They caught and released 28 in 4 hours!
Conditions: We are seeing some of the very best early June striped bass fishing in years. Lots of surface blitzes on both the incoming and outgoing tides. Water temp is between 60* and 67* and water clarity is good.
Bait the fish are feeding on: River Herring, Alewives, Mackerel, Sea Herring and Sand Eels
20kt Northwest winds gusting to 35 and a sky rocketing barometer made for an interesting day on the Obsession. Got to the boat an hour before my clients to find a school of striped bass feeding like piranha around the docks (check out the sounder screenshot of the fish stacked up under my slip.
So what was I to do? Break out the 9wt fly rod and a folded foam popper! Went 9 hook ups for 10 casts and then decided I better get the boat ready. My three clients showed up and I did something I rarely do - I suggested they make some casts right there in the Marina. I assured them we were going to cast off and fish elsewhere on the Kennebec. After they caught and released several stripers we did just that.
Dr. Matt Budd (81) a long time client catching schoolie striped bass in the rips of the Kennebec River using a 9wt Helios2 and a 350gr Depthcharge line. The fish were holding on a ledge in 15' of water and feeding on 2" alewives.
Thursday morning proved to be the best kickoff to the striped bass season in many years. I was part of a four boat outing for folks from Sunday River Ski Resort. We had fish busting on the surface for two solid hours. Mostly schoolies but we managed to get two nice 8-10 pounders too. There's tons of small and medium sized river herring around for the bass right now. We caught them on light tackle using MirroLure twitch baits, sluggos, and bucktails. Video coming soon. I've got June dates available - lets go get em!
Thursday morning proved to be the best kickoff to the striped bass season in many years. I was part of a four boat outing for folks from Sunday River Ski Resort. We had fish busting on the surface for two solid hours. Mostly schoolies but we managed to get two nice 8-10 pounders too. There's tons of small and medium sized river herring around for the bass right now. We caught them on light tackle using MirroLure twitch baits, sluggos, and bucktails. Video coming soon. I've got June dates available - lets go get em!
The original Schminnow was created by Norn Zeigler a journalist and fly shop owner on Sanibel Island in 1995. It is a widely used fly throughout Pine Island Sound, Charlotte Harbor and most of Southwest Florida.
My version has a small Estaz body and tail of both bucktail and synthetics. I tie these flies with mono, bead chain or dumbbells eyes to allow them to be fished at varying depth. Hook size ranges from #2 to 1/0. The fly is easy to cast and fishes well at all retrieve rates. Though the Schminnow was designed to catch snook, it will catch seatrout, redfish, jacks, tarpon and even flounder. By the way, Maine striped bass and bluefish eat them too.
HOT weather this 2nd week of September is continuing to keep the striped bass deep. Good light tackle action is taking place on the ledges of the Kennebec River. The bite is not continuous but there there are lots of stripers to be found if you are persistent. fish deep and slow with worms or eels. I'm still confident that as the days cool off the fly fishing will be great.
Shark fishing is very good right now and will continue for the next 3-4 weeks. Check out the mako shark videos I posted on the Maine Fishing Videos Section of the website.
Everyone had fun on this late August morning on the Kennebec. The striped bass were holding deep and a bit fussy until the tide started running but then things turned on. Live bait on light tackle spinning gear is still the key but over the next few weeks we'll be getting them on lures and fly fishing. The young of the year alewives are starting to arrive in the lower river. Going to be a very good fall for stripers! Great getting to know the Woods family, hopefully we can do it again in the future!
I can't remember a year with this many striped bass staged on the Ledges of the Kennebec River. The action is still on Carolina rigged bait due to high water temps.
Over the next few weeks the alewives will be dropping down river and the waters temps will drop. That will bring the stripers up off the ledges back to the surface for what I expect will be the best fly fishing and light tackle lure fishing of the 2015 season.
Conditions: August conditions, High surface temps are causing the striped bass to hold deep. Offshore, the water temps are finally where they should be.
Bait the fish are feeding on: Atlantic herring, sand eel, river herring, eel, pollock
Species to fish for this week: Striped bass, Bluefish, tuna and shark
Fishing Tactics: Fish the shallows during low light and then fish deep structure where the water is cooler mid day.
My fly fishing tip of the week: August is tuff fly fishing but if you go early and work structure near moving water you can prevail... Sinking lines are a must.
My spin fishing tip of the week: Use your fish finder to locate schools of striped bass in deep structure.
7 day outlook: IN shore: Hot and humid with afternoon thunderstorms. Stripers are now into a night feed so fish early and late. Off shore: Tuna are still a no show but it could happen any day now that the cold water has retracted to the east. Shark fishing is heating up and should be very good.
Will Stobart (7) had a fun morning of Kennebec River striped bass fishing with his dad and granddad.
Longtime clients Larry and Celeste DeMarco from Brightwaters, NY joined me on august 7th for some great Kennebec River striped bass light tackle action. Larry prefers fly fishing (as do I) but whith the stripers holding deep in heavy current we opted for drifting live eels.
Graig White and his Dad Mike joined Capt. Dave for an early August morning of fly and spin fishing for striped bass on the Kennebec River. Fly fishing was a bit slow but the live eels worked just fine.
Nate Rubbo (10), his dad Mike, granddad Dom, and their fishing buddies Marty and Jarred joined me again this year for a great morning of Early August striped bass spin fishing action on the Kennebec River. An early start and cloud cover helped provide nonstop action until the tide went slack.
Conditions: The striped bass have moved upriver into their summer haunts. Water quality is good and the flow rate will subside this week due to the waning moon. The offshore shark and tuna fishing remains slow... Not sure why but it will turn on any day.
Bait the fish are feeding on: Atlantic herring, sand eel, river herring, eel, pollack
Species to fish for this week: Inshore - Striped Bass, Atlantic Mackerel, Offshore - Porebeagle, Mako, Thresher and Blue sharks
Fishing Tactics: August means focusing on deeper water. With surface temps upriver reaching the mid to high 70s the striped bass are holding deep on ledges and along the mud banks.
My fly fishing tip of the week: Two word: Go Early
My spin fishing tip of the week: Your fishfinder is your best friend. Look for schools of stripers in 15-30 feet of water. Use bucktails and metal jigs to reach them. Carolina rigged cut bait and live eels are producing.
7 day outlook: Hot and humid this coming week watch out for those afternoon thunderstorms.
Jack (five) and Will (four) help mom and dad land some Kennebec Striped bass on a beautiful late July morning. The last fish of the day was stolen by a 200 pound seal. The boys got a big kick out of that!
