striper quiz bowl question #8
Question... What are 5 names for striped bass?
Part 2...This is a 4th grade riddle popular in Wilton, Maine...."What company makes shoes for stripers?"
a new definition of perfection
Ignore the clues you already are picking up. It doesnt matter that there are VERY few posts on the blogs about striper fishing in Northern New England. It is irrelevant that the boat ramp parking lots are nearly empty in mid-summer. These and other usually eloquent markers do not apply to you.
Chart a new paradigm. Here's how...
Be at the boat ramp at 4am. It's dark for sure, but what was there yesterday at noon is in the same place now. Ledges, channel markers and moored boats dont move that much. Cruise slowly to the shallowest cove you can find. Maybe a cove where clamdiggers work at the ebb. Mud is good, but so is sand. Sneak in with the rising tide until you just hit bottom. Stop. Dont make any noise. Dont slurp that coffee, even. And wait. If you can hear the hermit thrush sing from a half mile away, then conditions are just right. Keep waiting. Do nothing. It's good for you to do nothing for a change. Listen with your mouth partly open...it improves your hearing. Filter out the noise your blood makes as it rushes through the little vessels in your ears. If you have chosen the right cove, you'll hear it. And if you are a fisherman you will recognize it. And if you have not, cannot, or might not, then call us and we will see that it all comes together. Believe us, it is what has kept us happy this season so far. We call it "Fishing for Striped Bass in Maine in 2008" and it works.
Capt. Gordon M. Gillies, (of the Silent Service)
The Challenging Fishing Continues
Our fishing has been slow compared to what we normally see at this point in the season. Summer striper fishing in Maine is often a good way to beat the doldrums that plague warmer waters to the south. We just don't have the usual number of fish here yet. No bigger fish on my boat to report recently - one 26" fish that ate an EP Floating Fly in one of my favorite color combinations – purple and black. Bill’s an excellent fly caster with lots of experience chasing steelhead and trout. He caught his first striper on a fly in three feet of water, casting to a “rising fish” just like he’s used to seeing in Idaho. As the tide drained off the flats and we started working moving water around the ledges, we both agreed that sight casting beats blind casting for fun every day.
A number of 25" stripers have succumbed to our tempting but most of the fish have been smaller than we’d like to see, averaging about 21”. The fish have been up on the flats early AM and again in the evening, pushing water, swirling and sipping. It's a hoot to cast to the v-wakes and "rises". The water around the mouth of the river has really cleared up from drier days, reduced river flow and weaker tides. Some mornings the window between having enough light to spot fish and no wind to ripple the surface has been a few hours long. One client this week landed 16 fish and had lots of other hits and short-term hook ups on the Lonely Angler spook plug. That thing is a fish magnet. A good fly caster would have done well that morning. Some days the mornings have been more productive than the evenings, but just when I think I’ve figured out a pattern the morning will be tough and the evening much better. Don’t ask me for any predictions on the Sox, the market or the sixth race at Belmont. I am sure that fog and clouds are good and a north wind and bright sun are bad. That’s a lot of help, I know.
The waters were busier with boat traffic yesterday than any other day I’ve seen this summer, but I was astounded at how many people were not out fishing early in the morning. If I get my choice, I have the boat in the water by 4:00 AM. There are times when I’ll plan trips around the outgoing tide, even if that puts us on the water midday, but I haven’t done so this year. Load the coffee maker and have the trailer hitched to the boat the night before. Set your three alarms and get up and go. The birds are sing by 4:00 and you can tie a knot without a headlamp by 4:30. It seems awfully bright by 7:00 when you've already been on the water for three hours. Just leave time in your schedule for an afternoon nap.
Good news comes from the south, with a recent push of fish into Long Island Sound. The water's been cool down off NY and NJ. It seems like the fish are just slow to push north, so I'm still optimistic about our summer.
Capt. Peter Fallon
www.mainestripers.com
striper quiz bowl question #7
three part question.....
#1 What is a double haul used for?
#2 Who owns the largest rental fleet in the world?
#3 What company rents more ad space in the yellow pages than any other?
striper quiz bowl question #6
Part A.....What is a 4" Grocery?
Part B....Cashiers and stock clerks make up what % of grocery store employees? (I actually know this!)
Ninth Inning Update
It has been up and down this past week. Bright, sunny mornings haven’t helped. It is still slow compared to what we usually see the last week of June.
I just hauled the boat from a really fun evening of stalking fish on the flats. The wind was down and Fritz was casting to swirls, wakes, funny water, dimples and occasional splashes. The fish were fussy but it was all top water action which was a hoot even when they would follow but not commit to eating. We only landed ten fish but we had many more blow ups, misses and long distance releases. By the end of the night it was too dark to see the surface signs. Our ears were our guide to finding the fish.
The Sox are up 4 to 1 going into the ninth. Time to get to bed. My alarm is set for 3:00. We’ll go back out and do it all over again. Keep an eye on the horizon and an ear on the weather radio if you head out this weekend.
Capt. Peter Fallon
www.mainestripers.com
striper quiz bowl question #5
Part A...By what 3 other names are menhaden known?
(Rule recap....whomever answers the most questions correctly gets a $100 discount to be used this fall for striper fishing on the Kennebec.)
Part B. Who are/were Shoeless Joe, The Splendid Splinter, The Sultan of Swat, The Big Unit, The Yankee Clipper and Oil Can?
a guide who guides himself has a fool for a client
today I fished early, out of respect for my own recently published theory (see my recent blog). I launched at 5am, Monday, 16 June, in the drizzle. Very low light conditions. I did not care about the state of the tide (it was dead low).
I warmed up the big Honda, poured a cup of tea and blasted to Lee Island. I passed only one other guide all morning and he was on the other side of the River, well away from my flying hooks. I slowed into the spot and there they were, busting on the surface. Striper City.
I get such a kick out of stripers when they attack a surface lure. I retrieve, and they come at the lure from below and slap it with their tails. I retrieve, They slap. Retrieve. Slap. And then finally they take the lure and the fight begins. They slap so aggressively they send the lure flying. Once the lure was slapped into the boat!
I caught fish as fast as I could cast. It was chaos. I used sluggos, poppers, spooks, deceivers and jigs. It made no difference. I broke the tip of a perfectly good rod ( I dont know how) and I broke in (but did not "break") a new 8 weight fly rod. I drained the charge from my trolling motor, I burned plenty of fuel, spilled tea on the console, and the boat was a mess when I finished.
It was good fishing. But I should have used a guide.
theory of the week
Peter and I can set up our laptops in nearly any room of our respective houses. He lives down river and I up. And from each temporary desk we can look up from blog/email/yahoo-ville and see the River right there in front of us. This perfect distraction slows the homework progress, let me tell you.
Anyway, the theory that will guide me in the coming week...
Those few guides (and it is very few) who have spent lots of time on the River recently will agree that there is plenty of bait, and I mean plenty. We see the little herring bursting out of the water, silver sprays escaping predators from below. We see the dimples on the flat water in the coves. And we see the balls of protein on the wide-flat-HD-color-multi-channel-fishfinders mounted on our dashboards.
Stripers are very hungry when they arrive in Maine after their long commute from Havre de Grace and Hastings on Hudson. And they prefer to eat in low light, dawn and dusk.
Those same few fishermen who have been active this season will attest to all of this. More proof isnt needed.
And that is why I will be urging my clients to fish early and late in the day, no matter the tide, no matter the current. When there is so much food, the stripers will feed when they like. With so much food they dont need to feed all day. Ergo...
Big Improvements
After a wicked slow start to the striper season here on the Kennebec, the fishing has really picked up since the end of last week. Fritz and his son Alex were up for three days to mark the start of their summer. They will be here a number of times over the next four months, but that doesn't dampen their enthusiasm for this first outing. I made sure to give them a realistic picture of the slow fishing that we were encountering the previous two weeks. Saturday afternoon and evening we found fish in every location where we stopped. Sometime just a single fish, other times three, four or five. No blitzes but we did see a couple bass chase big bait right to the surface. The Rat-L-Trap was the hot lure that evening in the dirty water left over from the recent rain and new moon tides, but we also took fish on the surface and with the Storm Wild Eye Shads. It was nice to see a few fish 23 to 25 inches.
Sunday morning was perfect - absolutely still, water just starting to move at dawn. Fritz and I were underway early, heading for our favorite flats. Our conversation on the run down the river was all about how much we'd looked forward to this event since the end of last fall. As we ghosted up onto the flat we could see a couple of stripers pushing water about 100 yards ahead. A perfect first cast by Fritz had the fish charging towards the Lonely Angler spook. Fish on, thank you very much. Perfect. Well, that was the high point of the morning , both emotionally and piscatorally. We were able to stalk a few more striped bass cruising in the shallows and convinced a couple to eat the spook, but the intermissions between strikes was way too long. As the current picked up we changed tactics and started to work eddy lines and ledges with good moving water. We found a few fish but it was decidedly slower than the day before. Once again, the Rat-L-Trap landed the fish of the trip.
After a midday break (nap, lunch, shopping run) we headed out for another afternoon/evening trip. It took us about an hour to get dialed into the fish but once we did it was a hoot. The stripers would pop up to the surface for ten seconds and hit anything if you could get it near their location right away. We had a good time with this game of hide and seek while we waited for the ebb to increase, anticipating that the flashes of surface action would evolve into full bore feeding frenzies. Our patience was rewarded by 6:30 and the next hour was non-stop, giddy fun. These fish were feeding out in the middle of the strongest current in 30 to 50 feet of water. We'd pick off fish popping tight to shore and occasionally one of the coves would erupt, but the bulk of the bass were coming to the surface away from the structure.
Starting off from Sebasco early on Monday morning we fished our way down to Hermit Island with no fish to show for our efforts. By 8:00 we realized why we weren't finding fish, so we blasted back to the resort to wake up Alex (he decided to celebrate his first day of summer vacation by sleeping past 4:30 AM) and get him into the boat. We ate breakfast and headed out again, this time on a long planned boat ride from the New Meadows over to Popham and back. We only stopped to fish long enough to catch mackerel at the fort at Popham - that's right, mackerel. After two years in a row of tardy arrivals, the mackerel are here in the Kennebec and in the New Meadows. Wow, did it feel like summer on Monday. Hot at Sebasco but reports from inland about the oppressive heat made us chuckle as we cruised past Small Point and thought about putting on a jacket.
I didn't fish on my way back up the New Meadows but I did stop into Cundy's Harbor to talk with some of the guys that I used to work for, hauling and tuna fishing. They were full of reports about stripers hammerin' bait up in Mill Cove every evening. There have been big pogies over in the New Meadows and like the Kennebec, the herring are now up into the river. After spinning our wheels in the mud the last couple of weeks our season is finally getting some traction. I know that it will happen, but it is awfully reassuring to finally see it in person.
Capt. Peter Fallon
www.mainestripers.com
The new arrivals
The fishing for stripers is still spotty, but we found fish two nights in a row. The conditions were perfect...low light (sun was set) , strong "going" tide...and the Sox were winning or off.
We can tell you this, in these uncertain times when your guides are searching the hundreds of haunts for the migrating stripers: the striped bass that have arrived in the Kennebec River, are VERY aggressive. Maybe they are the same fish who were here last year, but now they are a year older and heftier. Good sized fish. But so powerful...for a minute there I wondered if my tackle would be up to the task. And one fish, chasing a popper toward the boat and slapping at it with his tail, sent up such a wash of water, I had to stop and wipe off my glasses.
They're coming. We can feel it. The river is full of bait. And nobody is working more diligently to spot their arrival than the boys of Gillies & Fallon Guide Service, the saltwater fishing specialists. gmg
striper quiz bowl question #4
Question....what is the antonym of "Ebb"?
Extra credit...........name 4 recording artists associated with a song reminiscent of this question.
Hang in there...the fishing is still spotty, but slowly improving. And the discount you might win is just what your wallet will need come fall. gmg
striper quiz bowl question #3
Still in the easy category...what species (exactly) of fish leaps straight up into the air, out of the water, and poses a danger to the guy in the cigarette boat roaring down the Kennebec at 50mph? A guy in Florida was smacked by one and hit so hard in the chest...his heart stopped (the fisherman's heart).
email answer to ggillies@mainestripers.com
Striper Quiz Bowl Question #2
If you missed question #1, dont worry. It's the highest total of right answers that matters....
Here's question #2....Name three (3) fish species that live in the Kennebec River, in the summer. Real Fish, not little bait. Email your answer to ggillies@mainestripers.com. You might win a $100 coupon.
Striper Quiz Bowl Question #1
Whoever answers the most questions correctly over the course of the season/contest will win a $100 discount for a fishing trip in September '08. Post your answers before the next question is posted (approx every 10 days). Questions will increase in difficulty.
Question #1...Give the first and last name of the fisherman most likely to have been FIRST smacked in the side of the head by a Clouser Minnow fly. (Degree of difficulty...easy). Gordon
The Alewives are Running and the Stripers are Right Behind Them.
The annual alewife migration is in full swing. These anadromous fish run up the rivers all along the Maine coast in their effort to reach spawning habitat in lakes and ponds. The adult alewives drop back down the rivers to the ocean soon after they have completed spawning. The young of the year alewives begin their trip to the sea starting in July, peaking late August into early October. The large, nutrient-rich adults are important forage for early arriving striped bass. If you've fished with us in the fall you know how the stripers love to gorge on the juvenile alewives in preparation for the long trip south.
Watching the alewives navigate falls and fish ladders is an annual rite of spring for many of us in coastal Maine. The alewives are an important, early source of lobster bait when other fish are scarce. Some of the runs are managed by towns with rights sold to the highest bidder. The Department of Marine Resources works with a number of dam operators to ensure alewife passage at other locations.
At the Brunswick Hydro facility, the DMR moves these fish over the dam and also runs a "trap and truck" operation. Some of the alewives that ascend the fish ladder are held in oxygenated tanks and then delivered to pods and lakes via truck. The alewives reach spawning habitat where upstream passage is blocked by dams. The adults, and eventually the juveniles, are able to descend from the lake or pond to return to the salt water.
I stopped by the fish ladder at the Brunswick dam earlier this week. Here are a few updates:
- More than 6,000 alewives have come through the fish passage so far this season.
- The DMR moved over 80,000 alwives last year.
- The 3 to 5 trucks per day are delivering fish to Sabattus Pond, Taylor Pond, Marshall Pond, Bog Brook and other locations.
- Suckers and brook trout are entering the fish passage. No sign yet of atlantic salmon or striped bass.
- The run will peak towards the end of May. Florida Power & Light will open their viewing room at the fish ladder this week, Wednesdays through Sundays 1:00 to 5:00 PM.
Here are two links to more information from the Maine DMR:
http://www.maine.gov/dmr/searunfish/alewife/index.htm
www.fws.gov/northeast/gulfofmaine/
If you are around the coast during May, check out one of the alewife runs. You'll be fascinated as you watch these energetic fish clear ledges and falls or ascend a fish ladder. You'll also race home to get your striper fishing tackle organized or to tie up some alewife flies.
Capt. Peter Fallon
www.MaineStripers.com
FINANCIAL ADVICE FROM A MAINE SALTWATER STRIPED BASS FISHING GUIDE...
...RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES…
Any day now you will receive a check form our government as part of the economic stimulus package. Ignore the perforations in the check…those are not metaphorical holes in the value of the money. Ignore, as well, the spurious discussions as to whether this money will pull us out of trouble. Instead…cash that baby and, being the patriot you are, save 10% because if we saved 10% of all that we made we wouldn’t be in such trouble. And spend the rest!!
Here’s how…Drive or fly to Maine in June, July, August or September.
If you are a lone angler, stay Friday night in our fully equipped Guide Cabin on the River.
Have dinner prepared for you by Gillies & Fallon… on the grill overlooking the big creek.
Enjoy a fly-tying session or lesson.
Sleep like a log.
Eat a full fisherman’s breakfast prepared to order.
Fish your brains out aboard a trolling motor equipped lightening fast boat using a Scott/Orvis/Shimano rod that we provide.
Drive/Fly home with a memory that will long outlast the cash you have left-over in your pocket.
Capt. Gordon Gillies & Ben Bernanke
WHAT’S NEW ON THE BOAT AS WE GEAR UP FOR STRIPER FISHING IN MAINE
Last year, my elegant hole in the water into which is poured money, received a new fish-finder with a screen large enough, and boasting color bright enough to carry not only brilliant pictures of deep holding fish, but HD replay of the Red Sox.
This year I was reminded of a conversation I had back in the days when I worked on the edges of the ski industry. I asked, then, “Why is the capital expenditure budget always so big? Why not take a year off and pocket the extra profits?”
I learned.
This year the big new deal will be the trolling motor. Designed for saltwater, coveted by all saltwater guides who chase fish onto the flats, this beauty will perform magic. In near silence, responding to a tiny hand-held remote control, with dual batteries, a recharger and all of the bells and whistles, this Minn-Kota will master the 8 foot tides and currents and slip the client to within sight of the tailing stripers.
If you are casting, right-handed, off the bow to starboard, for example, this motor will automatically keep the boat headed in the same direction all thru the drift.
So much better than a $2,000 deep fryer…and much less fat.
Capt. Gordon Gillies
www.mainestripers.com
IF YOU CAN'T FISH, AT LEAST READ ABOUT IT
After years of subscriptions, I have winnowed my list of approved magazines drastically. I have tried and canceled some beauties...FLY TYER comes to mind. Even though it comes only rarely I never seem to have the time to try tying enough of the gorgeous flies they feature. I end up cataloging the patterns and the edition ends up on the shelf. FLY FISHERMAN is another. I derive NO pleasure from reading about fishing in places I will never see. Those that have endured and continue are these:
ON THE WATER...this is a New England publication that has plenty of good stuff in its pages. I cant stand their TV program, but the mag is pretty good. Recipes for fish, tackle reviews, local columns (that tend to say the same stuff every year), and the best used boat classifieds. It's worth the price.
FLY FISHING IN SALT WATER...always an article about stripers, casting advice, and the most useful fly patterns I have found anywhere. I try them all. The gear reviews are a farce (how can you expect criticism of advertisers?); I read every page.
OUTDOOR LIFE and FIELD AND STREAM...I know, what a joke they seem at first glance. But they remind me of when I first subscribed at age 10. I love the survival stories with the cartoonish illustrations that always make the hunters look like they are right out of Marvel Comics. And you will find yourself tearing out pages from every issue especially if you get to fish for smallmouth now and then.
Best wishes Gordon www.mainestripers.com2008 Maine Fishing Season on the Horizon
We're looking ahead to another great season of striper fishing even though it still seems like winter here in Maine. Gordon is keeping an eye on the Kennebec River from his den in North Bath. He's trying to find space to store all of the flies that he tied over the past four months. I'm up in Bethel, working at Sunday River Resort, digging down through four feet of snow to get to my woodpile.
Spring is on the way. The Coast Guard is sending their icebreaker up the Kennebec. The sun is still bright when the chairlifts close at 4:00 PM. We're getting ready. Are you?
Capt. Peter Fallon
www.mainestripers.com
Saltwater fishing in Maine...as good as it gets right now.
I know...its bird season and bow season and duck season. Its time to watch high school soccer, rake leaves and plant bulbs. The hiking is gorgeous and I suppose that the golfing must be nice, but if you like to catch striped bass you don't want to miss out on the last days of the season. Our waters are still full of bait and the stripers are feeding heavily as they make their way south. There are fish up inside the rivers taking bait on the deep ledges and surface plugs and flies in the current. There are fish prowling the mud flats and sandy bays on the rising and falling tides. There are fish pinning bait against the beaches and driving bait up onto the ledges. If you have the chance to fish from shore or to launch your boat or go out with a friend, do not hesitate.
Capt. Peter Fallon
www.mainestripers.com
Fall Fishing for Maine Stripers Is ON
The rivers, coves, beaches and flats are loaded with bait right now. Peanut bunker, young of the year alewives
, mackerel, sand eels and silversides are everywhere from the Sheepscot to Casco Bay. There are a range of size classes of bass pushing bait up onto the ledges and shores and chasing black clouds of baitfish across the flats. The most consistent action on the Kennebec has been down river from Squirrel Point to the mouth and beyond, although things are picking up above Bath on up into Merrymeeting Bay. The New Meadows is just as loaded with forage. It is Olde Country Buffet all across our waters.
Capt. Peter Fallon
www.mainestripers.com
Coming Back to Earth - Maine Fishing Report
After a fantastic week of striper fishing we're back into the summer pattern over the past two days. On Tuesday and Wednesday of last week we found more surface action than we'd seen in all of July combined. We were able to start the days casting to fish in very skinny water. Swirls, v-wakes, funny water, fins and dimples provided targets. After the water had dropped off of the flats the fish would set up adjacent to structure and in the channels, taking advantage of good moving water. Sustained surface feeds were a treat and we were giddy with excitement. As the week progressed the surface action diminished in duration, partially a function of brighter mornings and prime tidal flow occurring later and later. We also didn't see as much bait later in the week, but that have been due to seeing fewer fish chasing the bait to the surface. We took lots of fish and some nice fish to 36 inches.
Sunday, Monday and Tuesday of this week have been tougher days. The passage of the front and arrival of cool, dry, clear weather on Sunday seemed to put the fish down or off. On Monday we worked the flats early in the morning, seeing some small pods of very nice fish cruising inches under the surface. These were happy fish looking to feed, but cloud cover limited our light for sighting and the wind started rippling the surface by 7 AM. As the breeze increased our sight fishing opportunities ended and we stowed the fly rods. We worked the edges of the flats and then the channels as the current picked up. No surface action all morning and much less bait showing up on the sonar. There were fish that would still hit topwater plugs and Sluggos. We ended the trip running jigs over schools of schoolie stripers and blues holding in 15 feet of water. Yesterday we covered a lot of ground for only a few fish. We had little to no wind for most of the trip and poled the flats first thing looking for fish in 4 to 6 feet of water at the top of the tide. We were seeing some slow cruising pods and the usual v-wakes but the stripers were not feeding the way they had been last week. We had a couple of good shots but for much of the early morning it just didn't all come together. Once again, we finished the day picking up stripers holding close to the bottom in 15 feet of water. The 350 grain Rio line and a heavy Clouser variation did the trick.
Capt. Peter Fallon
www.mainestripers.com
A Change in the Game...Striper Fishing in Maine
Striper fishing in Maine is incredibly varied. We've moved away from drifting the deep ledges that hold blueback herring and onto the flats.The stripers are still stacked on the underwater structure and will eat both artificials and bait but it is so much more fun to pole across a flat casting a top water plug or floating fly line to the swirls, v-wakes and funky water and then watch the fish attack your offering. When light and wind conditions are right we are able to cast to individual and small groups of fish that we see. This is challenging fishing but can be incredibly rewarding, especially if that BIG fish eats your fly while you watch the whole thing.
Being on the water early has paid dividends this week. Get out when the wind is down and the light is low to start your hunt. There's plenty of time to sleep when the fish are gone...well, wait, that's gunnin' season and the ducks fly at dawn. Okay, set aside some mornings in January to sleep in.
Sluggos on the ledges...Maine Striper Fishing Update
No trip yesterday and too nice to not to be on the water so my wife and I went exploring and relaxing in Casco Bay. We didn't fish hard. My next charter isn't until Tuesday and it is back in the Kennebec, so I've got Monday to work to find fish. We stopped at Holbrook's Lobster Wharf for lunch, anchored in the lee of Ragged Island to read the Sunday paper and swim and worked a number of the islands and outcroppings looking for stripers.
There are plenty of pollack off the ledges. With the mackerel much more scattered, the pollack are the easiest live bait to find right now. I didn't put a circle hook through any yesterday, but the swell rolling up onto the islands was too tempting to pass up so I spent some time tossing Sluggos into the whitewater.
I tend to start with a white 7 1/2 inch Sluggo rigged with a tru turn baitholder and a 5/0 60 or 90 jig hook. I'll wrap solder around the shank of the hook and sometimes add Lunker City insert weights towards the tail of the Sluggo. If I have two anglers fishing Sluggos, I'll mix up the color to see if something else will out-fish the white. I keep a supply of 7 1/2 inch white, black, alewife, Arkansas shiner and bubblegum colors on the boat. Lately I've been experimenting with limetruse and the new squid colors. I find myself using the 7 1/2 inch size in place of the 6's almost all of the time. I like the 9's when I'm targeting bigger fish as opposed to prospecting for fish.
Yesterday afternoon some of the fish hit just as the Sluggo started to sink into the green, foaming water. Others whacked it after letting it drop with no retrieve. All of the fish that I caught where tight to the ledges. There was enough of a breeze that I often couldn't see if the fish were following it off the rocks but not taking it. By 6:30 PM I was finding fish that would chase the Sluggo as I twitched it right across the surface of the water.
After a week of mostly fishing deep (1 oz or more jigs or 450 grain lines with a cement Clouser) it was nice to be back working visible structure and whitewater.
