The Midcoast Maine Running Stripah Report

[Roccus7]

Now that the bass seem to be in solid, it's almost a given that I'll fish, and catch, every day, so I shan't bore you all with daily reports. As far as technique goes, 99% of the time I'll be throwing a Creek Chub Striper Strike 2500 popper. It may sound boring, but it works.

I'll add to this report when something remarkable happens like hitting 100 fish, a Personal Best, I actually strayed from my SOP, or some interesting and/or humorous event occurred. The latter is probably the most frequent reason to post as the Poseidon loves to use Striped Bass to screw with my mind...

Had a good morning today, 3 stripers from 26 - 29". I invited the 29" Keeper to dinner tonight, not sure if it will be sashimi or baked in Pomegranate Molasses, maybe we'll do one tonight and the other tomorrow.

Tight lines & Catch 'em Up!!

 

[Chevy1]

Damn, I was a week too early

 

[Roccus7]

Crap, got skunked this AM!! There were only a few fish around and everyone but one, were content to make a wake behind the popper. The one "oddball" fish actually hit the plug, but didn't hook up.

Yesterday was similar, but I had 2 hits, a 26" I boated and a very good fish, probably an over, that crashed the plug, but dropped off during its initial, screaming run...

 

[Roccus7]

On the On/Off schedule, skunk Monday, one 24" fish yesterday, and a brutal skunking this evening!! Fish were gorging on alewives and had little interest in lures. Had one cast were 4 or 5 large fish crashed the plug with no hookup, should have heard me screaming. I got a few other short hits and a few follows.

I'm seriously considering taking up golf, my usual mantra when fishing sucks. That usually entices Poseidon to throw me a bone...

 

[longcast]

Found some bunker in the ocean last night. That's good. No other boat in sight. Even better. But they were kind of happy slapping here and there. Snag 'em, get them on a circle hook and quite the show on the surface in 20 feet of water. They would swirl, chase, nudge, slap, etc. I did manage one but very frustrating. Even moved down to 40 flouro for the same results.

Guess what? I'll be back!

 

[Roccus7]

Last night was "special", a few bass feasting on Alewives with little interest in my offerings except on a single cast I tossed into panicking alewives. Had 5 monstrous hits by large fish, with no hookup. I was a "bit" vocal of my opinion of striped bass. Was considering golf...

This AM started very nice, 4 fish at the first spot, but nothing bigger than 26". Went to the Alewife Hole and there was little action, but suddenly a "target of opportunity" popped up as 2 or 3 bass were hassling a few alewives on top well within casting range. 1st cast ignored, but 2nd got rocked with no hookup. 3rd cast ignore and then it was over. Once again, I was very vocal about my opinion of striped bass, but guess who will be out there again tomorrow?

 

[JackPrintMD]

Your doing great, leave the golf to me.

 

[Roccus7]

Your doing great, leave the golf to me.

It's all yours Jack. Trust me, I have no love for the sport and stridently believe that Golf is a good walk ruined.

Crap, if I ever was to seriously considering buying clubs, I'd also have a telescoping fishing rod in the bag to toss a few casts in those water traps. That says something, because I'm no fan of freshwater fishing, nor catching largemouth bass...

 

[Roccus7]

Interesting morning. Yesterday's hot spot was dead, a single, uninspired follow. Neighbor texted me saying there were fish breaking off his dock. When I got there all was quite, but the first cast got rocked and the first bass of the morning, a 26" fish. Had a few short hits, lots of swirls and follows, but that was it for that spot.

Decided to go to the Honey Hole at the head of tide. Was pretty dead, but I started hearing the pops of bass slurping down alewives and looked behind me to see scattered slurpees about 400 yds away on the mud flats with about 2 ft of water at that time. Pulled up the hook and slowly made my way to the disturbance. Of course when I got there it was dead, and then the slurping started 2 cast lengths behind me!!!

Threw the engine in reverse and slowly backed up to calm water, of course. Figured WTH so I tossed a cast out to starboard and, you guessed it, a fish exploded to port, the story of my life. Kept casting and got rocked, and a feisty 26 fish who fought well over his pay grade was boated. Then next cast was also crashed, and a good-looking 28" fish got netted, and invited to dinner. It was time for me to head home so that was it, but a very well spent 90 minutes for sure.

The keepah had been eating a typical mud flats diet of decapod arthropods, small green crabs and tiny grass shrimp. No wonder the smarter fly fishermen always tree crab and shrimp patterns on the flats...

 

[Roccus7]

Epic morning, 10 26" fish, a 28, 29 & a pig of a 33!!

Later in the session, that lure was totaled when the front hook swivel blew out. I constantly replace the hooks, so I can claim, I don't lose lures, I wear them out...

 

[Roccus7]

Epic weekend AM bite continued on Sunday and today, both mornings I quit with fish still blitzing because I didn't want to tie up to a neighbors dock so I couldn't fish out the tide. And the icing on the cake is the fact that I'm the ONLY person fishing!!!

Sunday - 2 slots and 5 "rat" bass
Monday - 1 slot and 7 "rat" bass that included three 27" fish, would have had more but stood and watched fish feeding right under the boat

 

[george]

Do you think those are Chesapeake or Hudson Bass? Also I see a bunch of soars on that last beautiful bass you posted. What do ou think they are?

 

[Roccus7]

Do you think those are Chesapeake or Hudson Bass? Also I see a bunch of soars on that last beautiful bass you posted. What do ou think they are?

No clue George, haven't caught a tagged fish in years so no idea.

No sores on it, just a bunch of deck dirt. AAMOF, the brother of JS always comments that my bass are damn pretty, nothing like the ones he's been catching on the North Fork where a sore-free fish is unusual.

 

[george]

That's true. The fish we're catching in the west sound are gorgeous healthy looking bass.

 

[Roccus7]

Do you think those are Chesapeake or Hudson Bass

I forgot got something when I typed the above "don't have a clue" comment. I do have a clue as my catch data over the past 11 years confirms that the Chesapeake has been having a very poor spawn over the years.

I've fished the same way, in the same areas with the same lure 99% of the time over this period so my fishing behavior is a constant.

Over the past 4 both the mean and median of the size of caught fish (I measure every one) has gone up, clearly paralleling the poor Chesapeake spawn. Prior to 2019, those numbers were ~19", but they've continued to increase with last years mean of the following:

Mean =	25.66​
Median =	24.50​

Currently, those numbers are:

Mean =	26.15​
Median =	26.00​

As a matter of fact in 2023 I only caught 5 fish under 20", and I've yet to catch anything less than 23" so far this year. For the record, the smaller fish get here first.

In my professional scientific opinion, these data strongly suggest that the bulk of the fish I catch are of Chesapeake origin as the catch records parallel the history of the spawning success down there.

 

[captmike28]

I forgot got something when I typed the above "don't have a clue" comment. I do have a clue as my catch data over the past 11 years confirms that the Chesapeake has been having a very poor spawn over the years.

I've fished the same way, in the same areas with the same lure 99% of the time over this period so my fishing behavior is a constant.

Over the past 4 both the mean and median of the size of caught fish (I measure every one) has gone up, clearly paralleling the poor Chesapeake spawn. Prior to 2019, those numbers were ~19", but they've continued to increase with last years mean of the following:

Mean =	25.66​
Median =	24.50​

Currently, those numbers are:

Mean =	26.15​
Median =	26.00​

As a matter of fact in 2023 I only caught 5 fish under 20", and I've yet to catch anything less than 23" so far this year. For the record, the smaller fish get here first.

In my professional scientific opinion, these data strongly suggest that the bulk of the fish I catch are of Chesapeake origin as the catch records parallel the history of the spawning success down there.

Darn, Roccus. You are so incredibly analytical. I guess that's why you catch so many!

I'm just happy when one grabs my jig, regardless of what stock they come from!!

 

[Roccus7]

I'm just happy when one grabs my jig, regardless of what stock they come from!!

Oh believe me, I'm an equal opportunity filleter...

 

[Roccus7]

Well I thought I was destined to get a third skunking in a row this AM when the best I could muster were follows and turn-aways at Spot 1. Went to Spot 2 and the follows and turn-aways continued, but there were 2 weak hits that kept me fishing. Changed from a Blue Flash to a Chrome popper and and succeeded to land a 25" striper. And then Poseidon F'd with me, when a very large wake appeared behind my popper which then hung up a piece of an oak leaf, running the lure's action, no matter how hard I tried to keep the lure looking life-like. Needless to say, the wake immediately disappeared.

A smart man would have headed back to the barn, but nobody ever accused me of being smart in regards to my obsession with striped bass, so I kept fishing at Spot 2 for a while with no further action, and decided to show the fish at Spot 1 who was the boss. Yeah, they showed me who was in control because only a couple of follows resulted.

 

[captmike28]

Well I thought I was destined to get a third skunking in a row this AM when the best I could muster were follows and turn-aways at Spot 1. Went to Spot 2 and the follows and turn-aways continued, but there were 2 weak hits that kept me fishing. Changed from a Blue Flash to a Chrome popper and and succeeded to land a 25" striper. And then Poseidon F'd with me, when a very large wake appeared behind my popper which then hung up a piece of an oak leaf, running the lure's action, no matter how hard I tried to keep the lure looking life-like. Needless to say, the wake immediately disappeared.

A smart man would have headed back to the barn, but nobody ever accused me of being smart in regards to my obsession with striped bass, so I kept fishing at Spot 2 for a while with no further action, and decided to show the fish at Spot 1 who was the boss. Yeah, they showed me who was in control because only a couple of follows resulted.

I thought I was in for a skunking today when I got to the Gut this afternoon with wind vs. tide., about 2 dozen boats tightly packed, and a 1/4 phase moon. First drift I see my sinker is too heavy so changed weight mid drift, gave her a bump on the throttle and Bam a nice 28" fish is in the box. Weaved my way through the maze 2 more times and nailed similar sized Bass on both passes while the rest of the fleet was really struggling.

So, I headed back to the dock, thinking I'm some kind of hotshot. You know where that kind of mindset takes you next time. I can already smell "Peppy"!

 

[Roccus7]

Fishing has been tough the last few days as the water temps are still very low for this time of year, the low 50s., and fishing a late flood/early ebb tide, the worst for the hood. To make matters worse, seems that the alewife run has petered out, and there is no small bait fish in the river.

Regardless, I continue to drag my sorry azz out of bed before dawn and take my lumps. Yesterday I ended up with a single, 22" bass, the smallest of the season, fishing two locations. Fish were fond of following my lure, but not hitting it hard.

This morning, I reversed yesterday's locations, starting at the spot yesterday that had some fish, but I made a subtle switch. I know my LI friends love yellow plugs, something I didn't have until I got a RASkinner Reconditioned, Modified and painted Yellow, Creek Chub that I sent to LI for his personal, sacrificial, bluefish cache and he sent back to me with the note, "Try this you idiot!!" The morning's first cast settled that debate as I don't think it got to the 3 "Pop" before it was engulfed, and I had a nice 27" fish aboard.

Stuck with it there for another hour and landed a 25 & 26, during a nice, slow pick of action. Didn't want to head home just yet so I went to the Head of Tide to see if there were any alewives around, with large fish following, but there was bupkis.

As I got to my last cast of my "Time to go home Sequence", I noticed some V wakes of a small pod of bass disturbing the glassine surface of the water. Couldn't quite make out where they were headed, and my first attempt was just wrong, and I went behind them. I quickly recovered and the next cast was perfect. As it got within 2' of the oncoming wakes, BAM, I was on to the slot fish pictured below.

Wasn't going to keep him, but I noticed that he was an "Andre" escapee so I figured if it was good enough for a seal to eat, must be good enough for me. Now debating about Ceviche or Sashimi for dinner tonight...