Maine Striper Fishing Kennebec River Report June 8th 2015

This week, the Kennebec continued to fill in nicely with big schools of Striped Bass.   The area that I fish from merry meeting bay to the ocean is holding good numbers of fish and reports from upriver are very good as well. The beaches have not lit up but shallow mudflat areas and areas with heavy current and structure have been working very well. Key forage right now is river herring so we've been doing well with a variety of 3-6" baitfish imitators. For light tackle it's tough to beat a sluggo, fin-s fish or soft plastics like the strike king Shadalicious. We use the keep it simple approach and rig these soft plastics with 1/2-2 oz jig heads or we fish them off a Carolina rig to hit the deeper structure...This morning a bone colored jumpin minnow  topwater spook drew attention on almost every cast...but I think we could have caught them on a soda can...they were so lit up by the big tides & stormy weather!!! Metal jigs like crippled herring are deadly...and we always have at least one rod rigged with one AT ALL TIMES!!! by varying the retrieve we can fish water depths from 4' to 40' with ease. If you are a fly fisherman...this is no better time than the month of June to get your fix of slinging bugs to hungry bass. Again my approach is simple fluffy deciever or clouser half & half...white with a little olive topping... An 8,9 or 10wt rod with A 300-400 grain fly line or intermediate sink line ..this time of year, fancy leaders are not necessary as most of the time you are casting to aggressive fish.

Reports from eastern casco bay have been solid with the best action centering around estuaries and shallow mud flats & marshy areas. All in all we've had a pretty good start to June and within 2-3 weeks the exposed oceanfront beaches should start to produce good catches of big stripers. Mackerel reports have been sporadic but they are here and if you get out on their habitat and chum the water a bit you should be able to fill the livewell or  at least get enough for a session of chunk baiting your favorite spots

Our schedule is filling up but we still have some prime tides each month so get in touch ASAP if you would like to lock down the best tide

Stay Salty, Capt George

Maine Striper Fishing Report June, 6th 2015

The first week of June has brought us a nice run of Schoolie Stripers into the Kennebec watershed...the morning tides have been fishing great for fly and light tackle anglers. Working areas of heavy current and shallow structure, we've had great success working soft plastic swimbaits, on lead head jigs, through the current rips. Topwater plugs have drawn some explosive strikes at first light. 1/2-1 oz bucktail jigs have been killer as well.

Most of the stripers have been schoolies but there are some bigger fish to be had too. 

Maine Striper Fishing May, 2015 Kennebec Report

Well folks...it's been a long time since my last report (I'll blame the brutally long winter) But I'm happy to report that our season is now underway here on the Kennebec river system.

Ocean fresh migratory Striped Bass are trickling into the Kennebec estuary. Yesterday I found some aggressive fish feeding during the mid day outgoing tide.

I began my scouting trip by working the usual spots, throwing soft plastic swim baits, it didn't take long to confirm the presence of stripers!! The Kennebec is chock full of a variety of baits right now and is usually the case river herring is the prime forage. Soft plastics like slug-go, rubber swim shad, Bucktails or any variety of swimming should work well for the light tackle guys. Fly fishermen will do well with by keeping the flies basic...lefty deceiver, clouser minnow and other baitfish imitators. Good colors are olive over white,  chartreuse, black etc. locations are more important than color right now...areas with shallow mud flats are going to produce better as they are typically warmer than the surrounding deeper water...add in some good current flow and you should be able to find some stripers...in the next few weeks Maine waters should see a good run of fish show up in the usual spots. 

Also please remember to check the 2015  rule books as there are some regulations regarding Striped Bass & Cod

Have a great season everyone and we're looking forward to having many of you back on the water with us

Maine Striper Fishing Fall Run 2014

Sorry for the lack of reports on here...those who've been following our progress daily on Facebook know that we're on the fish. The past couple weeks have seen the Kennebec really spring to life with hungry stripers. It's not full blown fall run action just yet but we are getting good numbers of fish over a wide variety of habitat using an even wider variety of techniques...from fly fishing to drifting live baits such as mackerel, herring and eels. Topwater action has been good at first & last light with rebel jumpin minnows and storm chug bugs working very well. bouncing Bucktails and jigging spoons off bottom is absolutely deadly when the fish are schooled up in 15-25 feet of water..we simply mark the school on sonar and drop the jigs into them. Soft plastics like slug go and paddle tail swim shads are deadly fished on a lead head jig or Carolina rigged over the ledges. With 4 weeks of fishing left I'd encourage anyone who 'a been thinking about getting out for a striper trip to get in touch with us ASAP!!!

~Capt George Harris 

Maine Striper Fishing Report August 2014

Lots of great fishing taking place in the midcoast region and despite the heavy rains we had last week we are still on the fish... In the Kennebec and out off the beaches... Yesterday afternoon Alex Mckown celebrated her birthday with her family aboard the Super Fly and she was rewarded for her efforts with a jumbo striper ... Her first ever !!!

This morning we had a blast sight casting to huge schools of striper out off the beaches...bright sun helped us locate the dark backs of the stripers as the cruised and fed voraciously in schools numbering in the hundreds!! 

In the Kennebec the best techniques have been Carolina rigging with live or chunk baits over channel structure, skipping Bucktails and rubber baits off the shoreline rocks and around eddies has been productive as have flies fished off a sinking head line worked though the eddies and shoreline rips. Out off the beaches searching for birds diving into the Surfline has been a good way to locate stripers feeding on sandeels. Chunk Mack's tossed into the foam is a top tactic but be ready with a selection of small bucktail jigs, sluggo and sandeel imitating flies when the blitz is on!!!

Lots of good fishing left between now & mid October 

Get in touch soon if you'd like to reserve a tide or two

~CAPT GEORGE  

Maine Striper Fishing Report July 22nd 2014

Some great fishing this past week...Big Striped Bass have arrived and anglers from Saco bay to Kennebec have been having great success in the surf lines, estuaries and on the mud flats. We have been having some great trips into outer casco bay and have had some pretty amazing fish come to the boat... In the Kennebec, the stripers are piling up on channel structure in 20-30 of water which is great for light tackle fishermen but poses some challenges for the fly angler. Heavy sinking head fly lines 350grn and heavier will get you down in the swirling current of the Kennebec but that doesn't always mean the stripers are going to notice your fly with the water column solid with bait. Typical summer patterns are here so that means early starts for fly fishing with and working shoreline structure and rips is key...fishing deep during the daytime tides for light tackle trips... Live & chunk Mack's have been working great as have live herring!!! We have some great tides available and we are totally dialed in on our fishery. 

Get in touch with us if you'd like to reserve a guided trip between now and mid October 

~Capt. George Harris

Maine Striper fishing Report July 2014

The dynamic is defininitely changing on the saltwater fishing scence in midcoast Maine...An influx of stripers in both the schoolie size and trophy size have fueled some furious action lately and we are on the water everyday dialed in on all the habitat that these fish frequent!! Lots of cool stuff is happening on the kennebec river, it's surrounding waters and the outer reaches of casco bay...Loads of bait has been keeping our Striped Bass active and happy and when we use the right techniques our results are spectacular!!

We have been super busy this season and still have lots of opening with our second vessel & capt.

Please get in touch asap to reserve your tide...text us...call us...email us but do it fast 
207-691-0745

~Captain George Harris

Maine Striper Fishing Charters & Reports Kennebec River June 24th, 2014

Enjoy the short video of client Bill Farland using the GLoomis NRX 8wt to put the boots to one of several striped bass that we caught during his recent fly fishing trip with Super Fly Charters!!  We are rolling with multiple boats this season with 2 boats/captains operating Striper/Bluefish/Shark/Groundfish charters out of the Kennebec tavern & Marina in Bath and a third boat is available for small family striper/mackerel/bottom fishing trips in the Camden, Rockport, Rockland, Thomaston, Port Clyde area!! Give us a shout if you want to be a part of this action 207-691-07454

~Capt George

Maine Striped Bass Fishing Report Kennebec River June 22nd, 2014

(Maine saltwater fishing reports. & charters)

Anglers who have fished with us this past week have enjoyed some great Striper fishing here on Maine's mighty Kennebec river. Schools of Striped Bass have been feeding heavily during both incoming and outgoing tides. Huge patches of both juvie herring & adult river herring have given our stripers plenty to get excited about..flies, bucktail jigs, top water plugs and soft plastic baits like fin-s fish, ronz or sluggo have been great producers as usual. Paddle tail swim baits have been dinomite!!. Our favorite color has been white but we've had success with a variety of colors including black, chartreuse and bubblegum pink...In darker water Rattle trap type lures have worked very well....On the Kennebec... We have special regs in place to help protect our native fish during the spawn. Remember that it's Catch. & Release only, fly or artificial lures only and any lures must only have   one hook...Crushing the barbs down on your hooks is not a bad way to go when fishing over these big schools of stripers...Also remember that the use of bait is prohibited on the Kennebec until July 1st

 Our go to fly for the last two weeks has been an olive over white or all olive clouser...NO FLASH !! This fly has worked time after time... The retrieve speed has been SLOW...

I honestly think that the technique has been more important than the pattern...I can't stress enough that letting that fly settle in the water has been the key...be methodical and work the fly deep like a jig... Don't just strip it in quickly and your catch rate will sky rocket!! Same can be said for skipping Bucktails and sluggo..be slow and METHODICAL with your presentations...The last several days have been really productive even into the mid day hours so a crack of dawn start has not been necessary... I suspect that'll change but for the moment it's based strictly on tidal flow.Outside the river and along the beaches of outer Casco Bay has been a different story... Loads of sandeels and juvie herring are plastered everywhere but not much in the way of numbers of big stripers on them yet.. Even mackerel have been sporadic at best...these current conditions are going to change in a hurry...Soon we'll have nice striper action out along the oceanfront where we'll be targeting the biggest fish of the season!! We have some openings this coming week on both boats and the weather this coming week is going to be spectacular...Please give us a call ASAP to reserve your tides 207-691-0745 or for more info on the trips we offer visit http://www.superfly-charters.com

HAVE A GREAT WEEK~CAPT GEORGE

Maine Striper Fishing Reports Kennebec River June 18th 2014

The Kennebec region continues to fill in with schoolie striped bass... 

There are likely some monster fish migrating in too and as soon as July 1st rolls around we'll be targeting these big fish with our proven live bait tactics. Water temps are nearly perfect along the oceanfront and nearly all manner of baitfish have arrived..alewives, blueback herring, sand eels, mackerel etc. Yesterday I ran my first trip into outer casco bay as part of a 3 boat striped bass / cod combo trip... we started the morning picking away on stripers in the lower kennebec before Capt John & I ran the Super Fly boats to a grouping of high relief bottom on outer casco bay...we caught a pile of cod using schoolie striper gear..we iced a few for dinner for our guests and released the rest. Capt John has been doing a great job for us and we're thrilled to have him on team "Super Fly" please get in touch with us if you'd like to fish the kennebec region or the pristine outer reaches of casco bay. Our boats are conveniently located at the Kennebec Tavern & marina in Bath. Centrally located, we are An easy drive from the Portland, Boothbay harbor, Camden, Rockport or Rockland areas...give us a call or text to hop on the boat to fish for a tide or two. For more info please visit www.superfly-charters.com on the web ~Capt. George

Maine Striper Fishing Reports June 15th, 2014

We're off to a busy start this season and the stripers have been migrating into the kennebec in good numbers...This past week we've had some bumpy weather and a couple of tough days on the fly but the last few days have been very good to down right spectacular. Both tides are fishing well...Jigs, poppers, soft plastics on light tackle have been like dinomite!!When the fish are not showing we skip jigs off the bottom and find fish with good success...When they are all blitzed up on the surface...we throw the kitchen sink at them!!! We've also had a number of fly anglers on board recently and the go to fly has been either the old standby olive & white clouser minnow or an all olive clouser with no flash... Strippinf the fly slowly and erraticly around the grassflats and marshes will score some fish for you. Capt. John has been doing a great job running the "Super Fly 2" he's going to be a valuable asset for us this summer!! There are lots of cool things happening out there and as usual....WE ARE RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF IT!!! Give me a call ASAP to get in the action!!! ~ Capt. George Harris

Maine Striped Bass Fishing Report June 7th, 2014

This morning I had Chris back aboard for a fly & light tackle trip..

We departed the Kennebec Tavern at 5am and cruised down river to a shallow grass flat...the first cast with the jumpin minnow confirmed the presence of stripers...a good sign!! Chris worked this cove for the last part of the incoming tide before we headed down river for a quick breakfast at Popham beach landmark Percy's store...back on the boat we heard back upriver to fish the outgoing tide under a bright blue sky...we found found fish spread out over the flats & on rocky shoreline rips...The shimano waxwing jigs and Al Gag's whip it jigs were just what the Stripers were looking for. Overall the bite today was fairly slow but we were able to pick off fish here & there using smaller lures. The flats are clearing up nicely with some of them being crystal clear...tons of bait is in the kennebec and small crabs have been marching across the mudflats...here on the Kennebec the fishing is starting to get interesting but we're still waiting for that big push of fish to arrive from the south...Stay tuned because it could happen any day now. 

For more info on Maine Striper fishing or the guided trips that we offer, please call, text or email the Maine Striper Hotline or visit our web page at: www.superflycharters.com