Weekly Fishing Report: May 1, 2023
Fishing Conditions & Updates for Maine, New Hampshire & Massachusetts
Week of May 1, 2023
Thank you to everyone who came out for our Fish-Paddle-Hunt event last weekend. It was a huge success, and we appreciate everyone who attended. The fishing seems to be picking up, but the massive flooding rains last weekend and earlier this week have swollen rivers to unfishable levels and dirtied up many lakes, making fishing tough. Those who are finding places to fish and putting in the extra efforts are being rewarded. We are hearing more reports of striped bass and flounder catches around Boston Harbor area. Once the water has a chance to warm up a bit more, both of those fisheries should get much better. We still carry live smelt and we are currently looking for a live eel supplier who can legally supply eels to Maine stores. If any of our readers knows of a Maine supplier, please call the fishing department at the store and let them know. We would certainly appreciate it.
Greg Cutting at Jordan’s Store in Sebago reported that there are people catching salmon and lake trout on Sebago and Thompson Lake. “There are a lot of guys telling us that they are seeing huge schools of bait fish in some of the 90-foot holes around Sebago and people are catching fish in them. They’re still catching browns at Barker, and some guys went over and fished Thompson for salmon. One of the guys caught a nice one for Thompson,” he said. Greg says they were forecast to get 2-inches of rain over the weekend, but they got 4-inches. He says the rivers are swollen, making fishing for the recently stocked brook trout tough. He says the Sebago Lake Trout Shootout derby is being held May 20 this year from 5am to 4pm and participants can register online or buy tickets right at his store.
Dave Garcia at Naples bait and Tackle in Naples told us that there are good numbers of salmon being caught in Sebago. “The fish they’re catching on Sebago are full of smelt. The lakers and the salmon. As soon as the water temp comes up a little, things will pick up considerably,” he said. Dave says he heard that they are starting to get a few smelts at Lake Aziscohos and there have been customers heading out to Tricky Pond in search of some of the big splake that are usually caught out in the middle.
Captain Tim Tower of the Bunny Clark furnished the following report on their website: “The fishing was excellent. The drift was slow and even, the ocean was calm, and it was just a great day. The catching was excellent. Landings, except for the first spot, were very good to excellent. Most legal fish landed were pollock, by far, followed by haddock. Legal landings also included four redfish, eight cusk and a halibut. Released fish included a halibut, forty-one cod from 5 to 9.75 pounds, twenty-eight small cod, six legal haddock, twelve sub-legal haddock, a redfish and three cusk. Drifting was the method, although we did anchor once. All terminal gear worked well but jigs and flies caught the most pollock and bait caught the most haddock, by far.”
“Dave Burton (NH) was high hook with the most legal fish. Included in his catch were the Bunny Clark's five largest pollock of the season so far. These pollock included a 17.5 pounder caught with another pollock of 15 pounds, both fish caught on the same line at the same time. This is the Bunny Clark's largest double of the fishing season to date. Dave won the boat pool for the second largest fish of the trip with the halibut. He also won the boat pool for the third largest fish with his biggest pollock, the 17.5 pounder. Some of Dave's other fish included a 6-pound cod, a 10.5-pound pollock, a 7-pound cod, a 7.5-pound cod, a 9.75 pound cod, an 11 pound pollock and another 10 pound pollock.”
“Jim Thurston (NH) won the boat pool for the largest fish with a 149.5-pound halibut…I don't have a scale big enough to weigh a fish that big. Nor did we have anyone who could have held a scale like that if we did have one. So, we weighed the four fillets and then weighed the carcass (rack). This is the largest halibut that has ever been landed on the Bunny Clark. We have hooked bigger ones, even had two up alongside the boat. But we have never put one in the boat as big until today.”
“Jim caught many other fish including a 7.5-pound cod, a 6-pound cod, a 10-pound pollock, an 8.5-pound cod, a double that included a 13.5-pound pollock and a 10.5-pound pollock, a 1- pound pollock and an 8-pound cod. But his best was a fish of a lifetime, the big halibut.”
“Other Angler Highlights: Mike Atkins (NH) caught the most haddock, by far, of anyone. He fished exclusively with bait. He also caught all the biggest haddock of the day including two of 4 pounds each, two of 4.5 pounds each, a 5.25-pound haddock and a 5.5-pound haddock. Two other fish of his that I weighed included a 12-pound pollock and a 5.5-pound cusk. Neil Chamberlin (NH) caught the most pollock doubles. Some of Neil's other fish today included an 8-pound cod, a 10-pound pollock and a 12-pound pollock. I fished for a bit and caught a 13.5-pound pollock and eight legal haddock with just a single baited hook. Justin Stroup (NH) caught an 8.75-pound pollock. But it was the big haddock that he lost beside the boat that won him the hard luck award t-shirt!”
Photo courtesy of Tim Moore.
Full-time New Hampshire fishing guide Tim from Tim Moore Outdoors says that the salmon fishing has slowed slightly with all the rain lately. “The massive rains over the weekend dropped water temps on Winni by as much as 4 degrees, raised water levels by about a foot, and made the water very dirty. The smelt run is over too, so the fish have moved out of the shallows for the most part. Once this rain spell passes and the water cleans up a bit, things will pick back up,” he said. Tim told us that he had been doing very well trolling smelt but was beginning to troll some streamers and spoons with moderate success. He noted the Winnipesaukee Smelt as being a good streamer fly lately.
Dana Berry at Berry’s Bait reported slow fishing due to the weather, and turkey season opening in New Hampshire. “We still have smelt, but the weather has been so bad the past few days that things are slow. People are coming in to gear up for the Winni Derby the weekend of May 19 – 21,” she said. Dana says the Northeast Troller Caps Special spoon has been really popular, as has the gold DB Smelt. She says they got restocked on AJ’s flies and spoons. She was also excited to tell us that they are moving and hope to be open for Memorial Day weekend. Their new shop is located right on the Alton Circle. “If we aren’t open Memorial Day weekend it will be June 1,” she told us.
Jason MacKenzie at Pawtuckaway Trading Post in Raymond said that things have been busy at the store. “We finally had our first really busy weekend. There’s been a lot of stocking going on in places like the Exeter and Lamprey Rivers. The trout ponds opened last weekend and a lot of people took advantage of that. The saltwater fishing has been picking up with a lot of redfish, big pollock, and haddock,” he said.
Steve at Wildlife Sport Outfitters reported good trout and bass fishing lately. “They’re getting trout out of Massabesic with worms and spinners. The bass are hitting jerk baits, swim baits, and shiners. They are catching salmon trolling on the big lakes, trolling around 25-feet down,” he said.
Captain Les Eastman at Eastman’s Fleet in Seabrook published the following report on their website, “We’ve been mostly full since we opened in March, first with redfish, then cod opened and of course the last two weeks April vacations. Last two weeks weather got four days, and tomorrow will make five. This is usually our slowest week coming up and doesn’t look any different this year. Fishing has been excellent, and you can check earlier posts. If you want tons of room this is the week, weather (wind and waves) looks fine Wed/Thursday. You can call for reservations or book online.”
Pete Santini at Fishing Finatics in Everett reported even more fresh stripers showing up around the rivers spilling into Boston Harbor. “We’ve got fresh bass near the Amelia Earhart Dam. They’ve got sea lice on them. Alewives too,” he said. Pete says they put some trophy brown and tiger trout in Jamaica pond for anyone looking to get their trout fix on some big ones while they last. He also says that there are a few flounder being caught in Lynn Harbor on Zobo Rigs. He expects the flounder and striper fishing to continue to get much better in the coming days
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