Over the last several days we’ve experienced some crazy fishing. Low tide has been at both ends of the day, bait’s everywhere and some really big fish are being caught.

Ed Gauvin of Bath, registered two fish yesterday at the Kennebec Angler. A 33 inch striper landed using a fly and a 36.5 inch striper using spinning tackle and a rubber shad. Very nice fish… and because of the weighting factors, prize contending entries!

It was a full moon last night and that typically spells trouble… and chaos.

So, I decided to go fishing at 2:30 AM which magnified the nature of the struggle, but it was well worth the effort.

At 3:45 AM I felt the tap of a striper picking up the bait. When I set the hook, a few minor head shakes led me to believe I’d hooked a schoolie. Then a blistering run.  ZZZZZZZZ… ZZZZZZ…ZZZZZZZZ. This was NO schoolie. The fish turned and headed for open ocean taking a couple hundred yards of line off the spool in a mater of seconds. Whoa!

This initial run was complicated by the fact the striper headed around the only lobster pot in the vicinity, then proceeded to chug and splash around.

We jumped into the boat and headed out to untangle the line from the lobster pot. The fish had gone completely around the pot warp, but unbelievably it was still on.

After a few minutes of friggin, we got the line untangled, the kelp off the leader and put the fish back on the spool. Our head lamps were on, and as the fish came up from the depths we got our first look at this behemoth. I started shaking immediately,… this was one huge striper!

As the bow of the boat beached on the shore, I jumped out and eased the fish into the shallows. She was tuckered out and beached easily. With out a doubt, this is one of the largest fish I’ve ever caught! Can the tournament organizer enter a fish?

She was 41 inches long and had a girth of 22 inches… and this time I’d brought the camera. Unfortunately the gilly wasn’t very adept at photography.

My new nickname - “Nearly Headless Nick”!

Charlie Gill IV boated  a nice 22″ schoolie. Congratulations Charlie… Nice fish!

Junior Division participants… We’ve got some nice prizes to give away, so you kid’s need to get out there and fish hard this last weekend. Let’s see some big fish registered!!!

With a week to go in the tournament it’s getting close to crunch time. Early in the tournament anglers came out of the gate landing some really nice fish using bait. That tactic got those anglers in the running, but mid-month a moderate sized striper, caught on an artificial lure, nearly toppled the leader. It was a wake up call and pause for thought!

What will it take to win the tournament?

Their are differing strategies being floated. “Stick with bait and hope for a real monster”… The odds of hooking a big fish using bait are much greater, but will the fish be big enough? “Go to an artificial lure, fish hard, fish at night”… A 36 inch fish caught using lures might just be enough. “Fly fish and hope to hook into a decent fish”… Probably something in the lower 30 inch range would be a contender. Hmmmm.

Which strategy will prevail and who will come out on top? Good luck all!

Living in Phippsburg and close the the ocean, has its advantages. Just going on a quick run to the store, you see miles of river and observe what surface action is occurring. Of late, their has been a huge amount of gull activity and baits everywhere, so surface action is peaking.

Today as the tide fell to low, I took a break and walked to easy-access waters. When I arrived, gulls were stacked up on the shore and one other local fisherman Mike was there. He waved! A few seconds pass… then the obvious question, “anything happening”? A pause then the obvious reply, “Man, you should have been here 20 minutes ago”… then his rod folds over, Mike smiles!

It took no time to get the fly in the water. Bang - fish on! The action only lasted a short while and was followed by a period of inactivity. Mike left and I fished another ten minutes without a strike. I decided to move down the shore before departing too.

Rounding the next point, I see the water flying everywhere and bait racing up onto the seaweed. “No time to fish like now”… So, I drop a fly in the water and am promptly rewarded by several hard tugs, then a hook up. Repeatedly, one schoolie after another for 20 minutes.

Mike shows back up… “Anything happening?” … I pause, “You should have been here 10 minutes ago.”,… then my rod folds over, I smile! 

A couple fish later and the action shuts off. A school comes to the surface further down the shore, then another school starts busting-it-up out in the bay. Major striper action, gull activity and bait everywhere… “It don’t get no better than this”!

Over the last week, my legs have noticed the water temperature is cooling down. With the seasonal weather really starting to impact the water temperature, some recent rains and less daylight, the stage is set. These factors are resulting in changes to the stripers feeding and behavior patterns observed in late summer.

The stripers are really getting organized now. We’re seeing larger schools of fish and more surface action. The bait is readily abundant too. We were out on the Kennebec River yesterday and experienced good action right in the middle of the day. At this time of year the action can get hot anytime during the day or tide. Gull activity was readily apparent throughout much of the river too. The gulls were diving on large schools of bait (alewives) moving about on the tide. Mackeral were also far up the river and chasing the bait.

We found stripers in feeding position on nearly all structure we fished, but the best action we experienced was on the flats.

A large school of stripers had chased bait up onto a flat and were gorging in 12-24 inches of water. The stripers were moving in pods of twenty to thirty fish, and surface splashes and gull activity was readily apparent. When we got onto these fish, we could see, using polarized sun glasses, that for each obvious splash, their were a dozen others lurking just under the surface. These fish were actively feeding, moving along the flat and zig-zagging back and forth.  It was very neat to watch.

We tried fishing with eels with limited success, but landed one nice 32″ striper. Overall, flies were deadly. A 4 inch minnow pattern having a white and olive wing with minimal flash was very effective. Once you got onto the fish, the action was really hot!

Janet Gertz, of South Portland landed a 34 inch striper over the weekend. 

Janet apparently had a few hours down time and decided to go out and brave the wet weather. This “get her done” attitude paid dividends when the fish smashed a rubber shad Janet was fishing. She said, “I retrieved the lure right to my feet, when out of no where, this huge fish grabbed my lure. The water flew and my rod doubled over… Wow what an awesome experience”!

Congratulations! A very nice fish.

In August and early September, coastal Maine typically experiences a spell of dry, warm weather. Farmers often refer to this period as the “hardening off” period. The soils become dry, the plants toughening up and the rivers and streams dry up to mere trickles.

As we enter September, the weather patterns are often influenced by tropical storms and hurricanes. Weather spawned in the tropics very much effects the weather pattern in the northeast.

Changing weather influences fishes behaviors too. Weather systems, often called highs or lows, represent changes in barometric pressure and such changes are felt by fish. Fish feeding aggressively, can suddenly switch off like a light bulb and conversely, the action can come back on just as quick.

Their are differing schools of thought on whether to go fishing during these times, but the important thing to note is that these weather patterns result in change, which can effect the feeding and behavior patterns of fish. So pay attention and observe what’s going on.

For the first ten days of September, we have experienced some beautiful weather with cool, dry Canadian air sitting over us. Frankly, in my opinion, their is nothing better! Great sleeping weather, no bugs and warm sunny days, but this weather is now being influenced by Tropical Storm “Gabriella”, which is sitting off Cape Hatteras and projected to head out to sea.

This tropical storm has pumped warm moist air into the region, which kicked off the first rains of fall. These rains will undoubtedly have an impact.

Yesterday, the rains arrived with the morning tide and heavy showers quickly muddied the water. The bait which had been cornered for days, now has a chance to escape and flee they do. The bite seemed a bit off yesterday morning too. Could have been the low pressure, might have been the muddy water, but only the fish know for certain?

These fall rains are also flushing out the streams and rivers for the first time since early summer. This rise in water, sweetens the rivers and alewives and other anadromous fish start dropping out, migrating to the ocean. With the arrival of these “uneducated” bait fish, the fall striper fishing is about to get hot. The next two to three weeks are what the fall fishery is all about; lots of bait, hungry schooling stripers and fast fishing action. So get out there and catch some fish before the snow arrives. It won’t be long!