Maine Striper Fishing Report: May 31st 2012

Breaking News!!! Schoolie Stripers Invade Kennebec..
(5/31/12 Craig, Mark & Angie with one of many triple headers)

It's been an interesting Start to the 2012 Striper Season here in Maine...So far I've seen a wide range of sizes of fish from yardstik long jumbos to foot long micros....This morning I had a group from Minnesota aboard, we departed from the dock in Bath around 8am to catch the oubound tide...When I crawled out of bed this morning I had a specific game plan in my head...well you know how that goes...less than 5 minutes from the dock we run into a huge school of breaking stripers and wisely abandoned plan A in favor of Plan B...for the better part of an hour and a half my four anglers wailed on schoolie after schoolie...We lost count on how many we boated but it was a triple digit kind of a day. Double hookups were the norm, triple hookups common enough and even a few quad hook ups just to say we did it!!!...Although it was pretty remarkable, the most amazing part of the day was not the numbers of fish we caught, rather the size of the fish. Small schoolie stripers have once again pushed into Maine in big numbers and are now chewing their way up the main stem of the mighty Kennebec river...normally I would not get so excited about seeing small fish but Striped Bass have been in decline for a few years now and the lack of small fish was a cause for concern...The last couple of years have been great spawning years and I take this influx of young stripers that are showing up all over the north atlantic coast as a great sign for the resource...Also just a little reminder to myelf and everyone else, when you get into a big blitz of fish....crimp down those barbs on your hooks and take it easy on those little guys!!



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Maine Striper Fishing Reports

For me, The earliest part of Striper fishing season is not so much about the actual fishing as it is about studying the habitat and monitoring bait activity within the areas that I fish...The mission for today...cover lots of water...Mission accomplished!!!The morning started without much of a plan but after a few text messages and a dockside conference with my good friend Ray we sort of hatched a plan to try a run into one of my Merrymeeting bay early season honey holes...Hopping aboard Rays new weapon of a boat we Scooted a good distance up one of the many tributaries of the bay, we were on the lookout for striped bass chasing alewives...we didnt have much success with that venture as we were easily side tracked by a big school of carp that were feeding on the grass flats that lined the creek channel edges...It always amazes me to watch a school of carp, or any fish for that matter, actively feed in less than a foot of water...waking, rolling, slurping, smashing the the surface etc...they really are alot of fun and can be challenging even though many anglers consider them a trash fish...if you like shallow water sight fishing or just want to try something a little different from the norm, this is a good game for you to try...On this day, we were not properly geared to target Carp and we had bigger fish to fry...so we Moved on in the quest for Stripers. we made the decision to make the long run from Merrymeeting Bay to an undisclosed spot well west of the Kennebec that Ray had been exploring recently...As we neared the mouth of the Kennebec it was evident that there was alot of bait present...Curiosity got the better of us so we we slid in on the edge of an expansive flat and the amount of juvie herring we saw was jaw dropping, I'm talking national geographic type stuff...blitzing though the freakish schools of herring were ravenous mackeral...A few Stripers were also taking advantage of the buffet as well...the last stop on our journey was a pristine cove located on the eastern edge of Casco Bay...the Macks were there in force but after a full morning we decided we had seen enough for the day...Like a chain of dominos falling eastward the Striped Bass continue their march up the Maine coast...Southern Maine is seeing very good action, Casco bay is lighting up and in the coming days the Mighty Kennebec will also awaken...Stay tuned folks!!!

CALL OR TEXT THE MAINE STRIPER FISHING HOTLINE FOR RESERVATIONS & THE MOST UP TO DATE REPORTS ON THE ENTIRE MAINE COAST 207-691-0745
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Maine Striper Fishing 2012

Super Fly Charters OPEN For Business At the Kennebec Tavern Restaurant & Marina !!!

CALL OR TEXT THE MAINE STRIPER FISHING HOTLINE FOR RESERVATIONS & THE MOST UP TO DATE REPORTS ON THE ENTIRE MAINE COAST 207-691-0745
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Maine Striper Fishing Reports

Just a quick update...Striped Bass are now being caught in the Kennebec River which means that waters south of here are definitley seeing migrating fish as well!!!

I am a little bit behind my usual pace due to repowering my 21 Parker with the latest in 2012 Yamaha 4 Stroke technology...This new engine will be much more efficient as well as run whisper quiet at an idle...The Yamaha certifed sales & service staff at JEFF'S MARINE located on the banks of the St. George river in Thomaston handled the install flawlessly as usual!!! With the install complete and the "Super-Fly" ready to hit that water...This week will mark the Start of our season so look for regular trip reports and info as we fish the Special Kennebec river Catch & release season(fly and artificials only till July 1st)Of course for those of you who want fish fish livies for giant Stripers right from the gate, we will also be running daily trips into Casco Bay...Water temps are nearly perfect for this early in the season and almost every Alewive Herring run in the state is in full swing....the table is set for some good fishing....all you have to do is SHOW UP!!!

CALL OR TEXT THE MAINE STRIPER FISHING HOTLINE FOR RESERVATIONS & THE MOST UP TO DATE REPORTS ON THE ENTIRE MAINE COAST 207-691-0745
www.superfly-charters.com

Maine Striper Fishing Report 2012

Maine Saltwater Fishing With Super Fly Charters
It's official...After enthusiastically watching some very good reports come in from southern New England and tracking those reports as the Stripers quickly marched northward ...the Striped Bass fishing season has officially begun here in Maine. A boat overhaul including repowering with the latest Yamaha outboard technology will keep my boat off the water till towards the end of the month, however Southern Maine anglers are seeing the beginnings of the migratory push of Striped Bass into Maine's coastal waters. While this is exciting news...I'm not ready to do cartwheels just yet..due to the wildly fluctuating water temps caused by incoming tidal flows, early season is still hit or miss and highly unpredictable as the fish are moving quickly and do not stage in the holding areas for long... It's been my experience that if we focus on areas that have strong herring runs, then the likelihood of finding action is much greater...Over the course of the next 4-5 weeks we will see the Striped Bass migration build in volume and we'll also be able to better pattern the fishes feeding habits and movements. We also often see another big push of fish migrate into our coastal water mid to late summer...where that second charge fish exactly comes from is a little mysterious...most likely migrants from cape cod bay or even possibly from an offshore population of gulf of Maine fish....regardless of where they come from...they are always a welcome addition!! I'm ready....ARE YOU!!!
(photo by Got Stryper Baits)

This past winter I decided that I needed to introduce some new large profile lures to help better target the Jumbo Stripers that hang off the oceanside rocks and in the surfline...these bigger 36" and up oceangoing Bass behave differently than the smaller bass that hang on river structure...those smaller 20-30 inch river fish are greedy and compete for anything that washes past them in the current and will undoubtedly hammer these new baits into oblivion!!! The large ocean stripers are a completely different animal. The Jumbos are more solitary and more finicky as to which artificials they choose to hit...I needed a bait that draws attention to itself, a bait that pushes water creating fish attracting vibrations, a bait that had an irresistable action that would get a big striper to charge it from a laid up posistion...After much research and a rather enlightening conversation with my Temple Fork Outfitters sales rep, whom also reps "Got Stryper Baits" I was led to a small, family run, company based out of Chatham, MA called Got Stryper which manufactures "Pintail" & "Stubby Pintail" baits...The Pintail & Stubby Pintail can be fished in both salt & freshwater. It has caught; Striped Bass, Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Black Sea Bass, Pickeral, Pike, Musky, Cod, Haddock, Pollock, Bonito, False Albacore, Halibut, Fluke, Rockfish, Ling, Snook, Tarpon, Redfish, Cobia, Jacks, Grouper, Trevally, Yellowfin, Bluefin, Big Eye, Blue & White Marlin, Wahoo, Mahi Mahi, Roosterfish, Weakfish, Sea Trout, Bluefish, Barracuda, Wolfish, Got Stryper was founded by Cape Cod charter Capt. Alan Hastbacka and they produce an incredibly durable line of soft plastic baits in 7,9 & 11 inch models...The 9" & 11" Pintail models were the ones that interested me the most...large enough to get the full attention of a Giant Striper but still easy enough to cast on light tackle spinning gear. After receiving a few samples I knew they were the homerun I was looking for..So I got in touch with Capt. Alan and placed my order for the season...Looking forward to seeing you all again and also looking forward to putting some new products in your hands!!!

Check out the video that Capt. Alan Hastbacka recently shot while fishing his home waters around Cape Cod, using nothing but his Got Stryper Pintails(Video Courtesy of Got Stryper Baits)

If you haven't yet made plans to fish with us I'd advise you to do so as soon as possible because once the season starts...the best tides dissappear quickly!!

CALL OR TEXT THE MAINE STRIPER FISHING HOTLINE FOR RESERVATIONS & THE MOST UP TO DATE REPORTS ON THE ENTIRE MAINE COAST 207-691-0745
www.superfly-charters.com