  |  |
      
|
Fishing ReportsAugust 20 2010    This past week we had a mixed bag of fishing days some good and some a little better. We started out in Wells, where my good friend Joe Herbert and his son-in law Tom Gibson landed a few nice fish right in the harbor channel on a out going tide. The rest of the week was spent fishing the Piscataqua River. The river is still holding a lot of small bait fish which the stripers are gouging themselves on. Nick Peterson caught a nice bass on a Slug-O followed by a few smaller ones. His cousins Luke and Buck tried there hardest to keep up with him but where only able to land a few fish. We ended the week out to the Isles of Shoals where Craig Weber and his son fished with me. Craig landed this nice 33” Bass on a swimming shad jig right close to the rocks. All in all it wasn’t a bad week, but we are looking for it to improve as September is just one week away. The blue fish have been spotty and most are caught by trolling deep swimming plugs. This week is going to bring in some unsettled weather but hopefully the end of the week and weekend will be great, so give me a call, and let’s go Fishing!
Capt. Dave August 5 2010   I'm sure all you folks in the Northeast have suffered thru this unusual hot and humid weather, some days it was almost too hot to fish! The fish don't seem to mind the heat and humidity as you can see in the photos. Liam McNeil caught his first striper and a few more on Monday morning, and it has definitely been a morning bite these last few weeks. Coming off the full moon and the water temps a little cooler has produced some nice fish. The Piscataqua is just loaded with small river herring and mackerel. Shaun Planky from Bristol NH caught this nice 33" bass on a squid colored Slug- O just up from the 95 bridge. August is usually a great month and the bluefish are in thick around the Saco Bay area so if you want to do some great fishing give me a call. Capt. Dave July 12 2010   With temperatures hitting the 90 degree mark most of this past week you would think the stripers would be going deep, but not the case. With lots of bait in the rivers and off shore the bass have been very active and getting fatter and fatter. Sunday was a belated Fathers day trip for Gary Stevens and his son Braxton. Braxton won the prize for the biggest striper but dear old Dad caught more stripers then his son. This week looks good for the weather, we had a big swell out to the Shoals on Sunday which made it pretty tough to fish the shoreline, and hopefully the seas will calm down later this week. We have reached the half way mark for July so if you haven’t booked a trip yet give me a call the summer will be over before you know it. Capt. Dave June 28 2010  What a weekend, the Dockside Striper Tournament got off to a real big Bang! Just as we started the live auction a Micro Burst roared down the York River with hail, rain and flying debris. In a matter of seconds we had eighty to one hundred mph wind roaring thru the harbor tearing down trees as if they were match sticks. Our tent was ripped from its tent pegs and tumbled down on our quests; fortunately only one brave young lady who was bartending was injured out of two hundred guests. The aftermath was quite a sight, torn trees from there roots, trees on top of cars, tables blown into the river along with a Port-a-potty and dishes all over the yard. Thanks to a great Dockside crew and other volunteers the area was back together and looking great for our awards ceremony on Sunday afternoon. The largest fish caught was a 44" 32lb striper caught on a live mackerel. My clients finished first and third in the fly fishing division, Joe Herbert took home $300.00 for the first place and his son-n-law Tom Gibson took home $100.00 for third place. We fished off of Plumb Island on Friday and Saturday, lots of bait mostly sand eels small mackerel and some big lazy stripers. The 4th of July is this week and as we all know the summer is half over, so if you want to get some fishing in give me a call.
Capt. Dave June 19 2010  It never fails when you forget the camera that's when the big fish are caught. This past week we fished the Merrimack which was very slow on Tuesday both on Joppa Flats and the mouth of the Merrimack. The water temperature on Joppa was 67 degrees. It seems the big stripers have abandoned the flats for now. I decided to head north from the mouth of the Merrimack and as luck would have it I spotted a group of birds right off the Salisbury Beach Pavilion and Joe Herbert caught stripers for three hours on the fly. Luckily Joe was able to "match the hatch" as the stripers were feeding on small silversides and he had just the fly for the job, only thing was the smaller stripers 28" range beat the bigger fish to the fly. This past Saturday we fished the Piscataqua River with some luck using "Slug-O's that I altered to look like squid. The best fish of the day where caught along the coastline from Sea Point Beach to Brave Boat Harbor. Tracy had her hands full with a few nice fish.
This weekend is the Dockside Striper Tournament which I will be fishing in the fly fishing category. Looking forward to a great tournament and all money raised will go to local food pantries. See you on the water, the summer is going by faster than I like. Capt. Dave June 8 2010   
Sorry for no fishing reports the last few days but I was hit with a virus, I feel fine but my computer has been under the weather for a while, all is well now. The Merrimack has been very spotty, lots of bait but very fussy fish and big ones at that. The wind has been a big factor especially for guys throwing flies, but Bob Signorello managed to fool a few this week as you can see from the attached photo. The Piscataqua River has also had good days and not so good days but it seems to get better each day that we fish it, especially on the in coming tides and as the tide turns to go out. There is plenty of small river herring for the stripers to feed on. Two very good buddies fish yesterday with me and did very well, the largest striper being 33" followed by several in the mid twenties and a lot of misses. Pat Breen DVM and his long time friend Bob Physer had a great time catching and releasing fish in the Piscataqua. Everyday the fishing gets better so if your planning a trip, make sure you contact me so we can get out on the water.
Capt. Dave May 26 2010 At last the stripers are back along the Southern Maine and New Hampshire coast. The bait started coming in a couple of weeks ago with the alewives heading right up stream to spawn and the stripers right behind them. The Merrimack was alive with stripers last week with a lot of fish in the low 30s being caught. Yesterday there was a good striper blitz at the mouth of the Piscataqua, so get ready for some good action as June is the best month to catch big fish on light tackle or live mackerel. We will be fishing Joppa Flats later this week and for the next few weeks. Get ready it that time of the year we have all been waiting for. Capt. Dave April 6, 2010 How early is early, well this just might be the year that beats them all. We are enjoying a very, very early warm spring this year as you all well know. The ice out in Maine fresh water lakes has been from two to three weeks earlier then anyone in these parts can remember and the ocean water temperature is already at 48 degrees. The stripers are on the move! Reports from New York, New Jersey and the Connecticut coast have stripers already. If the water temperature goes up another 10 degrees we will be fishing in late April for stripers. Lets hope this is a great year. According to the scientists from NOAA this 2003 class year is suppose to be the best since the 1998 class which we saw in 2003. The turkey season is next month, after that the Rip Tide will be in the water fishing for another season. Get your bookings in early this year. We will also be setting up a Pay-Pal account for those who wish to pay on line with a credit card. Hope to see you all again and tell your friends about us. Capt. Dave 
September 1, 2009After a disastrous summer for striper fishing they are back and waiting to be caught. Hurricane Bill didn't do much damage at all along the Northeast Coast but the force was enough to drive the fish back inshore. This past Friday just before Danny passed offshore which brought about 3" of rain to the area we fished out to the Isles of Shoals and the Piscataqua River. My clients where successful in the river using Slug - O's and catching a few stripers in the mid 20" range from there we headed out to the Shoals. The waves where starting to build up form the approaching tropical storm Danny just enough to make for a good mid morning trip. The boy's hooked on to a few nice fish but didn't land them and finally hooked on to and landed a nice 31" striper. There was plenty of bait both in the river and out to the Shoals, hopefully each day will get better and better as fall approaches and the migration starts. Give me a call and lets do some fishing before it's time to put Rip Tide away for the winter. Capt. Dave June 29, 2009   Rain, rain, rain and more rain. The few day's that the sun did shine we did OK, but not great. This past week I had the pleasure of guiding Mona Brewer from Key Largo FL. Mona caught her first striper on the fly, and also landed a tagged striper which was the first landed on Rip Tide. This past weekend we fished the Dockside Striper Tournament. This is a catch and release tournament for the benefit of York Hospital and CCA of Maine. We won the Fly Fishing Div. Joe Gibson from New Jersey caught a nice 37" beauty on a fly tied by his father in law and fellow member of our team Joe Herbert. Tom also landed a nice 27" striper but that was it for our team, but enough to win, which was great since the pressure was on me to find some fish, which I did. The summer is flying buy the 4th of July is this weekend. Hopefully the rain will finally stop and the fishing will turn on again. Give me a call and lets get out on the water. Capt. Dave 
June 15, 2009This is the way to start off the week. As you all know its been raining here along the Northeast coast for the last twelve out fourteen days. This morning was very overcast with a slight easterly wind, but this cow of a striper inhaled one of my special designed Slug-O's and the fight was on in five ft. of water. I was finally able to bring her along side after twenty minutes of battle. There were reports of some big fish being caught on Joppa flats this past weekend and the bluefish have arrived at the mouth of the Merrimac and some on Joppa. The tides are the best this week, so I'm looking forward to some great fishing. Give me a call and set up a day to fish with me, there's more big ones waiting to be caught and released. Capt. Dave June 5, 2009   Well here it is the first week in June, and the striper fishing along the Southern Maine, New Hampshire and Northern Massachusetts cost is getting better each day. As for now we are still fishing the Merrimack River. Joppa flats, was in a striper blitz early yesterday morning on the in-coming tide. Joppa Flats is one of the few spots around the Northeast where you can stand a good chance a getting a trophy size Striper on the fly. The clients that I had out yesterday, Jeff Peters and Peter Brown are avid fly fisherman and tie all there own flies. There flies worked very well for them as they each caught about a dozen fish each all in the mid to upper 20's, and one just touching the 30" mark. I talked with a few guides last night at the Fly-Fishing Film Tour held in Portland Maine and from all reports the stripers are in and around the Casco Bay Area and Saco Bay. This season is starting out great, so if you're looking to have some fun striper fishing give me a call June is just about filled. Capt. Dave |  |
||
| Web Hosting Provided by Maine Hosting Solutions | ||||
