Maine Saltwater Fishing Reports

Fishing Charters For Striped Bass in Phippsburg, Maine And False Albacore on Cape Cod, MA

Saltwater Fly Fishing Charters For Striped Bass And False Albacore ~ Kennebec River, Phippsburg, ME And Cape Cod, MA

Thanks for visiting Maine Saltwater Fishing Reports. Here you'll find updates on shallow water striper fishing around Maine and beyond, updates on September and October false albacore fishing around Cape Cod and the Islands, insights into how I chase these fish, suggestions and techniques that may help you become a better angler, and recaps of recent charter trips. Scroll down for the the latest posts.

I specialize in shallow water sight casting to striped bass and chasing false albacore with fly and light tackle spinning gear. The only thing I love more than the challenge of hunting for these fish is sharing the elation that comes from playing this game. I guide a lot of experienced striped bass anglers who've never cast a fly or a top-water plug to a striper on a shallow flat that is pushing water like a redfish or bonefish. Watching the bass track the baitfish pattern or tail slap the spook and then (hopefully) eat your offering is incredibly satisfying and addicting.

I live in Phippsburg, ME on the banks of the Kennebec River, and guide full-time from May into November. Striper fishing in Maine starts in mid-May, with fish usually showing up just south of Portland before they start to fill into the Kennebec. To get a jump on the season I head south to Massachusetts to get onto bass before they arrive in Maine. I also plan a couple of weeks during May and June to target large stripers in Cape Cod Bay and around Martha's Vineyard. This is big water fishing and where I grew up and first started running charter boats. If I had to pick one week to fish the flats in midcoast Maine, it would fall in early July, depending upon the tides. Fortunately, our fishing holds up all summer and every year we have outstanding days when anglers to our south are lamenting the "dog days". By Labor Day I'm packing up to spend September and October fishing the south side of Cape Cod for False Albacore. 

If you're looking to improve your striper skills, or want to try to target them on the flats, or just become a better angler, I hope you'll read on and if you like what you find here, give me a call. Let's get out on the water together this season.

You can also see more frequent updates on Maine Saltwater Fishing Reports Facebook Page.

See the fish. Cast to the fish. Catch the fish.

Peter

Capt. Peter Fallon

Gillies & Fallon Guide Service

207-522-9900

pfallon@mainestripers.com

All Good News RE Stripers

I’m wrapping up the last day of a 4 day trip to the Vineyard where we’ve experienced some pretty fabulous fishing. All reports I’m getting from fellow guides at home are good, with a noticeable increase in numbers of fish - meaning more spots will be productive. I don’t have reliable info on the arrival of bigger bass in the Kennebec or Caco Bay, but I’m sure they are there. The great tides these next few days should have you planning time, making time, to fish. This is now peak striper season. Get after it.

I’ll add an update on our findings down here in Vineyard Sound along with some tips on how to best make this trip yourself when I get a chance to put in some computer time. We’re fishing our way back to Boston from Vineyard Haven today.

 

Fish more,

Peter

Capt. Peter Fallon

Gillies & Fallon Guide Service, LLC

False Albacore Cape Cod Week One

Week one of chasing False Albacore around Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard was filled with long runs, warm days, clouds of peanut bunker, and enough albies to keep us smiling and searching for more funny fish. We found fewer instances of wave after wave of surface crashing albies vs last two years and spent more time blind casting (and blind catching) than I ever remember. We burned a lot of fuel, covered a lot of ground, and learned a few things. And we caught fish.

A typical day would start exiting Waquoit Bay in the dark and running to Edgartown to be in place for the 6:08 bite. Once activity and tide slowed significantly there we began searching, checking the outlet to Cape Poge Pond, State Beach and then running the length of the eastern side of the island down to Wasque. Nothing happening there so back through Vineyard Haven Harbor and over to Wood Hole. A few hours in and around Woods Hole and we'd blast to the West End of the canal to work flats and beaches around Onset and Mashnee and then make the run back to Waquoit at sunset.

This past weekend required much less traveling as the albies really picked up their activity in and around Wood Hole. There were pods of fish hanging in Lackey's that were not crashing the surface or making single distinct splashed, but casting to very subtle signs such as nervous water or subsurface flashes really paid off. Wood Hole had both churning water voracious feeds and fish hanging out of sight in the strong current. A little farther down the islands towards Cuttyhunk, there were pods of false albacore happily cruising the surface of the still water. They were the most fun to fish. Make a good cast and you were rewarded.

The most consistently productive locations for us for the week were Wood Hole, Lackey's, Edgartown, and Upper Buzzards Bay. The south shore of the Cape from Falmouth Inner Harbor to New Seabury didn't produce for us, a real change from previous seasons. Of course by today it could be on fire.

When the fish were down, we spent a lot of time fishing structure, working eddy lines, casting around rocks and pilings and boats and we caught a lot of fish this way when nothing seemed to be happening. The traditional small metals and Hogy Epoxies took fish in these spots but the real workhorse was the Albie Snax from Long Cast Plastics. More about techniques and lessons learned later...

Peter

Capt. Peter Fallon

Gillies & Fallon Guide Service, LLC

Ready for the Next Season - Bring on the Stripers

Monday, April 21 is the last day of skiing (and the free day) here at Sunday River and although I'll get in a couple more days on snow at Sugarloaf, I'm ready for spring and what follows. It was great to see Capt. Blaine Anderson of Connecticut Guide Service posting photos of striped bass caught on the Connecticut River this morning. The fish are on the move and will soon return to the Cape, Duxbury Bay, Scituate, Boston Harbor and eventually the Kennebec River here in Maine.

I've caught fish as early as April 14 in Duxbury Bay. No word from Capt. Dave Bitters on bass in the bay yet, but it will happen, and he will share the news. The earliest stripers I've found in the Kennebec came exactly a month later, May 14, but in a different year. I don't think we have a good idea of when the first striped bass arrive in this huge watershed as there just aren't many anglers on the water here in early to mid-May. It's a short trip to trailer down to Scarborough Marsh or the Saco River, and worth the extra effort prior to June 1.

Reels are back from winter service, rods are repaired and new fly lines sit on the tackle table, awaiting my arrival home to Phippsburg. The Maverick is in the driveway, uncovered, ready for a spring cleaning. I'm firming up dates to fish Boston Harbor and tying with a purpose. It will all happen again and I will be thankful.

Capt. Peter Fallon

MaineStripers.com

Gillies & Fallon Guide Service, LLC

Time to Head Home to Chase Maine Striped Bass

It's been a great couple of weeks fishing early season stripers down here around Boston Harbor but now it's time to head home to Maine to fish the Kennebec River and Casco Bay. I'll post a recap of adventures in urban angling soon but I need to hit the road. I'm excited to get back up on the poling platform of the Wasabi and work across mud flats, sandy bays and mussle bars seaching, searching, searching for those telltail signs of striper activity. I'm not looking forward to seeing the color of the Kennebec when I get back to Phippsburg. We need a halt to all of this rain. Reports from fellow guides in Maine are encouraging.

Capt. Peter Fallon

www.MaineStripers.com

Gillies & Fallon Guide Service, LLC

Back from Cape Cod, at least for this week, I spent today sorting through tackle, drying out gear, washing clothes and plotting the next albie trip. It won't be until mid-October when I can get south again, so we'll have to see where the fish are still showing. I'm thinking Stonington, CT.

I have been getting reports from friends who are finding more tuna inshore from New Hampshire to the Outer Cape. Mid-October can be prime tuna time in Cape Cod Bay, so maybe I won't stray far from Scituate.

Planning fishing trips in October is bittersweet. I'm not ready to give up fishing for the winter, but accustomed to shifting my focus to bird season as soon as September ends. I love to chase woodcock and grouse around the Maine woods and pine for a return to Montana and North Dakota, but my dog Hebie seems to be past the point of safely venturing out into even small local coverts. I love fall but this year the foliage makes me cringe. Time to drive south and get back out on the water.

Capt. Peter Fallon

Albies Around Cape Cod, Stripers in Maine

Every year I look forward to spending time down around Cape Cod chasing the funny fish. After four months focused on the flats and sightcasting to stripers, I really enjoy the change; of being on open water, of the faster paced hunt, of adjusting my mindset and approach.

And these fish, my god, they are awesome. The sensation of that tail set on super oscillate that travels up the line makes everyone grin. Figuring them out (or not, on some days) satisfies something that drives every passionate angler. And the runs, whoa. Too often we're all guilty of overusing the term "screaming drag", right? Set your fly into a 10 lb albie or drive a hook home on a 75 lb bluefin tuna and you can use the term all you want.

The logistics involved in the trips sometimes seem foolish and the weather these months laughs at plans but when you set eyes on that first pod of busting fish and know that they aren't blues and they aren't stripers, all the worries and hassles melt away. I might have an opening towards the end of next week. Let me know if you'd like to join me.

Now, please don't take any of my comments as disparaging remarks about fishing for striped bass. No, no, no. And if you're thinking about fishing in Maine right now, there is some fabulous fall action in full swing. The reports that I've been getting from friends guiding on the Kennebec and Casco Bay are glowing. There are a lot of fish that have moved inshore recently. All of this weather has made fishing the beaches and outer points an on again/off again game, but the Kennebec and the flats in Casco Bay are fishing very well. Please let me know if you need a recommendation for a guide. I'd be happy to help you out while I'm down south.

Capt. Peter Fallon

Mainestripers.com

Scattered Fish Thoughts

Let's play good news, bad news. The good news is that there's great fishing all across Maine and New England right now. Name the species and and it's prime time for that gamefish. The bad news is that the days are now getting shorter. Takeaway lesson: Go Fish.

Just back from an amazing wedding on the Nantucket Lightship down on Martha's Vineyard. Who plans a wedding during peak fishing season? Well, I guess I'm guilty of getting married on the opening weekend of deer season. Sorry about that. And Martha's Vineyard isn't a bad place to spend four days in June if you like to fish. We got to Scituate and decided to avoid the Friday afternoon traffic to the Cape by running my father's boat down to Vineyard Haven. Very smart move. Most travel to wedding's involves flight delays, stops at DSW, searching for a gift. We tangled with bluefin tuna on the way down and back.

I have a tuna problem. I kept it in check last season, trying to stay on task and filling dates with as many striper chartes as possible, but I just LOVE the hunt for big fish.

Do you fish Hogy soft plastics? If not, you should. Both eats from the tuna came on Hogy soft plastic baits. We used Hogy hooks as well, and they stood up well. They've been a hot striper lure for us these past couple of seasons.

The RonZ jig caught multiple scup, bluefish and fluke on Hedge Fence. That lure does it all.

Be sure you keep spare fuel filters and a filter wrench on board at all times. A gallon milk jug is the perfect container for a spent filter until you get back to the dock or ramp. Leaving Vineyard Haven Harbor the On The Fly came up on plane and then slowed to 1200 rpm's on its own. A quick change of the fuel filter and we ran back through the canal, out to Ptown, back to the Gurnett and up to Scituate without incident.

If you are in Portland, Maine, go to Harbor Fish. Even if you don't plan to buy anything. It is the most impressive fish market that I've visited, save the Tsukiji market in Tokyo. Last night we grilled two pieces of sushi grade yellowfin tuna that were spectacular.

No morning trip today. We'll fish the dropping tide this afternoon and then look for stripers pushing up onto the flats with the rising water as the sun gets low. Hope the thunderstorms pass through early or hold off for us. Very busy stretch coming up. Time to re-rig some leaders and get to the grocery store.

Cam Arnett. Seven years old. Learned how to cast a spinning rod yesterday. He loved checking out the shipyard at Bath Iron Works and driving the Wasabi back to the launch ramp. First time he felt a striper hit his lure he said "It felt funny in my heart". How insightful is that observation? I loved it. "It felt funny in my heart."

Capt. Peter Fallon

www.MaineStripers.com

Striped Bass in Maine: Confirmed catches in southern Maine this week

Might be time to toss your rod tube, chest pack, stripping basket and waders into the back of your car or truck. I spoke with two friends who've been catching stripers in Maine waters this week. The reports from guides north and south of Cape Cod continue to point to a promising season.

This early and warm spring has the fresh water fishing in Maine peaking right now in many areas. If you want to chase brook trout and landlock salmon (and some browns and rainbows) you should get in touch with Greg Bostater at Maine River Guides. I teach fly fishing with Greg at the LL Bean Outdoor Discovery School. No matter your level of experience, you'll learn much from Greg and have a fabulous time doing so. He's wicked fishy too.

See you on  the water soon.

Capt. Peter Fallon

MaineStripers.com