Fishing Report 13, 2026
Striper fishing continues despite hot weather. Those catching are the ones who are able to follow the feeding fish or find stripers in cooler water. Tuna and haddock reports are good from Massachusetts to Maine and offshore. There seems to be no shortage of bait around as most who gave reports told us of mackerel, pogies, or squid. Sebago and Winnipesaukee are producing better catches, and most are happy to (finally) report a well-defined thermocline in Winnipesaukee. Freshwater bass are in their typical summer patterns.
Maine:
Greg Cutting at Jordan’s Store in Sebago reported some great fishing last week. “We crushed the salmon last week. We’re still getting them up shallow on sinking fly lines and streamers. 18 feet of water and there are salmon there. There’s a lot of bait. They must be a mix of alewives and young perch. There have been a lot of hatches in that shallow water, too. A friend of mine said he saw salmon swirling down closer to Frye Island too. The inside of the Shoals out front here off of Long Beach has a ton of lake trout in it. The whole length of that deep trough is loaded with them,” he said.
Levi at Saco Bay Tackle in Saco said that there are stripers at the beaches now and more people are catching them. “We have a lot more stripers at the beaches and tuna are being spotted 3 miles out. White paddle tails are working great and squid is working great. Light pink tube and worm are working amazing right now too,” he said.
Tim Tower of Bunny Clark’s Deep Sea Fishing in Ogunquit posted the following report from a recent trip on his website: “The fishing was nearly excellent. I write this because the tide was a bit too strong to drift. Anchoring was perfect, however. The catching was excellent and landings were very good, or maybe better than that. Most legal fish landed were pollock, by far. The average size was small, averaging about four to five pounds. Legal landings also included 49 haddock, thirty cusk, a redfish, a mackerel and a whiting. Released fish included 13 small cod, a 7-pound cod, 4 sub-legal haddock, 92 small pollock, 5 dogfish and a wolffish. We saw no big sharks of any kind - which was odd since we saw so many sharks last time. We started by drifting, but it was too quick for most to handle. So, we anchored for the rest of the day. The catching was best on the anchor. Cod flies and bait caught the most fish.”
“Jonah Rogers (ME) was high hook with the most legal fish. He was fishing in the Kunz/Kemler/Luce spot. It has that reputation. He had several pollock that weighed 7 pounds. Rodd Froebel, Sr. (NY) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 9.25-pound pollock. The second largest fish was an 8.75-pound pollock caught by Ateon Whitney (ME). He did not get in the boat pool. Roger Richards (ME) won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the third largest fish, an 8.5-pound wolffish.”
“Other Angler Highlights: Jasper Downs (ME) caught a 7.25 pound pollock early in the trip. Aaron Swimline (NY) caught one of the bigger haddock, weighing 5 pounds. Bill Estabrook (ME) caught the largest cod at 7 pounds.”
New Hampshire:
Tim from Tim Moore Outdoors/Lake Winnipesaukee Fishing Guide Service reported slightly better fishing on Lake Winnipesaukee last week. “Things are starting to turn around. We had a few days that were much better than the past several weeks. Salmon are coming more consistently and we are getting a few rainbows here and there, and the rainbows are big. While I don’t think this is going to be a banner year due to fewer salmon, the warmer the surface water gets, the more it will concentrate fish and bait just under the thermocline. Orange is still the hot color, whether it’s spoons or flies. My (sort of) joke this week has been; if it isn’t orange, I’m not interested. The thermocline is down 35-40 feet, depending on where you are in the lake,” he said.
Massachusetts:
Martha at Surfland Bait and Tackle on Plum Island reported slower business due to beach closures and sewage in the river. “The beaches and parking lots are open again and business is slowly starting to pick up. “It’s hit and miss. Some days are good and others aren’t. I will say it’s been more boats than shore fishermen catching the majority of the stripers. Some of the guys are telling me that they find a ton of fish one day and can’t find them the next. There are a lot of mackerel around. It’s July. The water is warm in some spots. Kay used to say that the fish are like people in hot weather. They get lazy when it’s hot. Finding cooler water is the trick,” she said.
Pete Santini at Fishing Finatics in Everett told us that there are fluke in the Pines River and stripers all over. “We got some fluke in the Pines River. They’re hitting bucktails and fluke rigs with pieces of squid. Inside the harbor, over by the seaport, they’re catching all kinds of whiting on sabiki rigs tipped with squid. More nice whiting than I’ve seen in 50 years. They’re all 10-12 inches. Bass are good in front of the Winthrop shoreline. Live mackerel, eels at night, and trolling tubes during the day. There are still some tautog hanging in the rock piles inside the harbor. Haddock are good at Tilley’s and the northwest corner of Stellwagen. There is a pile of tuna just outside the harbor chasing mackerel and pogie schools,” he said.