And so it starts. The stripers are now moving through the river systems, chasing the spawning herring upstream. The weather has been really iffy and looks like it may stay that way for the rest of the week, making it hard at times to get out there, but it doesn't stop the fish from following their basic instincts.
The Merrimack River is the biggest river system in our area and consistently has the best fishing this time of year. This morning by 8 a.m. there have already been three fish weighed in at Surfland that ranged from 8 pounds, 8 ounces to 10 pounds 10 ounces. Using sea worms just off the jetty, these folks reported that there was a lot of bird activity for a while. They couldn't tell if it was glass eels or herring, but they said there were hundreds of birds pounding the water.
Other folks are reporting in that they have been doing really well on Joppa Flats with fish ranging from 24-36 inches. Live bait, cut bait and a variety of jigs seem to be working well. Fly fishermen are using blue/white or green/white deceivers and clousers.
If you are looking for really big fish early, go fish the river just below the dam. Here the big sideliners are working on the bait fish trapped in the waters below the impoundment. You have to be careful as the water can be tricky here, but the rewards can be great when they are feeding.
Around Cape Ann the usual haunts such as behind the candy store, the mouth of the Essex, Parker, and Annisquam Rivers have been giving up a few fish. The guides at First Light Anglers in Ipswich have been having some luck in the Parker River using a Ray's feather-wing fly. They tie it with a blend of white, yellow and olive on a 1/0 hook. Type that fly name in on Google and you will find several references about how to tie it yourself.
My friend Seth Legere who works at the Kittery Trading Post tells me that the herring runs started last week in some of New Hampshire's rivers, notably the Cocheco River in Dover.
Maine's river herring are sure to be in rivers from the Salmon Falls River (a border river shared with New Hampshire) and moving into rivers north of there as the season progresses). The big stripers will no doubt be on their tails within a few days and may be as we speak.
Medium to heavy spinning gear is ideal for this type of fishing with reels with the bait runner system being a big plus. If you're fishing from shore, a rod of 8-feet or longer can give you much better control. When boat fishing, long rods are not that important and actually can be a deterrent to good fishing.
Line sizes from 12 to 20 pounds will work. Shore fishermen should tend towards the more heavy lines as they have more chances of dealing with line cutting structure and bringing a large fish ashore. Lure casters should try to use sizes that approximate the size of the baitfish present. Watch for surface action and cast to the feeding fish.
Fresh water fishing has picked up as well as the ice is now off the ponds in northern New England. Given all of the rain we are having, river fishing can be hard. Right now might be a great time to concentrate on the ponds. For those of you that love to fish for bass, the big spawners are now starting to make their redds along the shoreline in the southern most waters.
Greg Gries, a fisheries biologist for the state of New Hampshire, passed along the following that you might find helpful. He has found that largemouth and smallmouth bass typically spawn when water temperatures are between 62 and 65 F. This is a very general range with fish sometimes spawning both below and above this range. Male bass typically start to build nests just before this water temperature range is met and continue to guard eggs and fry for sometime after the spawn. It always amazes him how spring water temperatures in nearby water bodies can be so different and how intently this impacts what stage of the spawn (pre-spawn, spawn, post-spawn) bass are in. Rivers this time of year can have quite different water temperatures depending on the source of the river. This can affect the temperature of the water in the pond along the spawning areas. So you can have better results on one pond over another even in the same drainage system depending on individual river temps.
Greg explained that once he was able to locate the fish the other day and key in on a pattern (1/8 ounce Bitsy Bug jigs with a small plastic crayfish trailer), he had a great day boating almost a dozen hefty largemouth. Finding locations with the highest water temperature was key as those areas held many bass ranging in size from one to five pounds.
Ben Nugent, also a fish biologist, added that ... "a fish finder with a temperature sensor is probably the easiest tool to find these areas. Don't be afraid to go too shallow. Even larger fish can be found in a foot or two of water this time of year. These species seek out warmer locations to increase their metabolism and prepare for spawning. The offspring of fish that spawn earlier and in warmer water will have an advantage over those who spawn either later or in cooler water. Eggs incubating in warmer water will hatch earlier allowing them to reach larger sizes than their competitors."
For you bottom fishing folks, it has been a bit spotty lately and, because of the weather, hard to get out there. There have been some nice catches of cod, haddock and pollock on Jefferies and the Stellwagen. Clams are always good bait, but you might want to try Cod Bombs from Seawolf as well. Using a teaser with a clam always seems to increase the take.
