Weekly Fishing Report: April 22, 2024
Fishing Conditions & Updates for Maine, New Hampshire & Massachusetts
It was another week of great fishing with more haddock, trout, and salmon catches reported, and even some flounder reports around the Boston area. Our Fish! Paddle! Hunt! Event Kicks off this Thursday, April 25. There will be seminars and appearances by Mike Iaconelli, Tim Moore, Jamey Caldwell, Greg Ritz, Melissa Bachman, and many more. Also, don’t forget about our annual Shimano/Daiwa/Okuma salesman sample sale happening Saturday (April 27) from 8am – 6pm. Visit www.ktpevent.com for complete details and seminar schedules.
Greg Cutting at Jordan’s Store in Sebago said things haven’t been crazy busy on Sebago, but suggests anglers give it a try with good numbers of fish and very little fishing pressure. “There really hasn’t been a ton of people out here fishing the past week, which is strange because the guys fishing are doing very well. The mouth of the Northwest and Songo Rivers has been great this spring. I heard of some nice browns caught out of Hancock Pond and some great trout fishing as usual in Square Pond. Other than that, it’s been surprisingly quiet,” he said.
Captain Tim Tower of the Bunny Clark Deep Sea Fishing in Ogunquit posted the following report on his website: “The fishing was excellent, the catching was excellent and landings were very good. Most legal fish landed were haddock, by far, just shy of reaching the boat bag limit but where several anglers did reach. The legal haddock were bigger today than yesterday. Ian stopped weighing the haddock in the 4-pound range. There were a few more sub-legal haddock caught than legal fish. Legal landings also included fourteen pollock, nine redfish, one cusk and three whiting. Released fish included one cod over twenty-two inches, eight small cod, forty sub-legal pollock and a couple sculpins. They anchored and drift fished. Bait worked best.”
“Ian couldn't tell me who was high hook. If he had to guess, he thought it might have been Ron Terrio (NY). Ron's biggest fish was a 6.25-pound haddock. John Lambert, Jr. (NY) caught an "ace" today, the three biggest fish of the trip, one of the earliest aces that we have ever caught. Included in his ace was the pool winning fish, a 9-pound pollock. This is the Bunny Clark's largest pollock of the fishing season so far. John's other two biggest fish, and the boat's second and third largest fish, included a 6.75-pound haddock (shy of a trophy by a quarter of a pound) and a 6.5-pound haddock. He also caught a haddock that weighed 5.75 pounds and another that weighed 4.75 pounds. It was a great day to be John Lambert, Jr.!”
“Other Angler Highlights: Anne Caputo (NY) caught a 5.5-pound haddock, her best fish and the first fish to be weighed for the boat pool. Leverna Watkins (ME) also caught a 5.5-pound haddock as her best. Tom Snively (PA) boated a 5.5-pound haddock and a 6.25-pound haddock, his two best fish. Anselme Pion (VT) landed the hard luck award today for catching the dreaded disease called, in French, the mal de mer. Ouch! That's never good.”
Full-time New Hampshire fishing guide Tim from Tim Moore Outdoors reported good fishing on Lake Winnipesaukee. “Like many others, we have been steadily picking away at salmon, rainbows, and lake trout. Trolling live or sewn smelt has been the ticket, but I am starting to see more fish on spoons. We are finding a consistent lake trout bite near bottom in 45-feet to 60-feet of water, especially off of underwater points or fingers. Orange spoons have been best for me, but it depends on the depth, amount of sun, and the day. Switching it up and not using the same color for too long when marking fish usually pays off. On another note, I’m looking forward to the upcoming Fish! Paddle! Hunt! Event at KTP. I’ll be there April 26, 27, and 28 giving my striped bass fishing seminar. On Friday the 26th will be the Striped Bass Seminar and Social Event from 4-6:30pm. There will be free food followed by my striper seminar at 5pm,” he said.
Alan Nute at Winnisquam Country Store in Tilton said there was a lot of fishing and just as much catching going on. “Things are picking up. We are seeing more people, and the fishing seems to be good. There are a lot of those 2-year-old salmon being caught, with some really good ones in between. For lures, it seems to be less flies and more lures catching. The orange dot, Governor Aiken, and white spoons have been great over the last week. There have been a lot of fish coming in 15-feet water and up. Get a little chop and there are some fish right on top. Squam and Winnisquam have been producing a bunch of salmon, not just Winnipesaukee. We’re seeing some warmer surface temperatures, so the fish are getting a bit more aggressive. We have the trout pond opener coming up this Saturday. Worms, Powerbait, and spinners will be good for that,” he said.
Lon Berry at Berry’s Bait in Alton reported a very productive week. “It was a pretty exciting weekend. There were a lot of fish caught. We’re still seeing very busy days fishing on the big lake. There are a lot of lake trout being caught in the shallows and a lot of short salmon, with some really nice rainbows. We had a report of some nice white perch catches and also some good hornpout fishing. Smelt and streamers have been the popular trolling baits lately. Red/Grey Ghost, Grey Ghost, and Winnipesaukee Smelt have been hot. Small profiles seem to be best lately, whether its flies or spoons, or live smelt,” he said.
Jason MacKenzie at Pawtuckaway Trading Post in Raymond was gearing up for the official opening day of trout ponds this coming Saturday. “I think the trout fishing on rivers has been a little lackluster due to the weather, but this weekend looks nice for opening day of trout ponds. Bass fishing has been decent, but haddock fishing has been great,” he said.
Captain Les Eastman at Eastman’s Fleet in Seabrook posted the following report from Sunday on their website: “Rainy start, with a little bit of a sea. The morning was extremely slow, along with another medical situation on the LAM, had to return home. The LMA ended excellent with an afternoon bite that gave almost everyone 7-8, and many limits, pretty much up and down last half hour. AB had 10 haddock pp, slaughter on the redfish and MJ limited, haven’t heard from SCL and the redfish trip wasn’t up to par on the LVII, 20-40pp, nothing like it’s been. Openings starting Tuesday, not a ton though. Capt Les”
Pete Santini at Fishing Finatics in Everrett reported that some flounder are being caught. “The flounder are in. They’re getting them off of Winthrop, Lynn, and Hull. We have sea worms. The trout fishing is really good at Jamaica, White, Walden, and Horn Pond. There are some holdover stripers still around, but the herring are in the river, so we should see some fresh stripers soon,” he said.
Because of inherent time restrictions of gathering fresh, up-to-date information, editing & producing this report in a timely manner, occasional errors or marginal information may slip by us. We try our hardest to provide accurate information. We urge readers to use this report as a tool to increase their fishing pleasure and not to rely on as their sole resource. First or second-hand information is offered by fishing guides, commercial fishing charters or party boats, bait & tackle dealers, well-known successful anglers, and state & federal fisheries and natural resources enforcement officials. We also welcome and use reports forwarded to us by fishermen that use this report. - Kittery Trading Post Fishing Report Editor