Fishing Report April 20, 2026

Fresh and salt are both kicking off. Stripers continue their migration north, but holdovers in Boston Harbor are keeping many busy while they wait. Trout have been stocked all over southern New England and trout pond season opens this Saturday in New Hampshire. Sebago and Winnipesaukee continue to produce trout and salmon trolling, but Sebago has been a standout this spring, with some very nice salmon being caught. This week, April 23-26, is our annual FishingFest event. We will have giveaways, sales, demos, seminars, and our popular salesman sample sale. Visit our event page for full details or just stop in!

Maine:
Greg Cutting at Jordan’s Store in Sebago said that there were a lot of people doing very well on Sebago. “As cold as it was this morning, there were still 12 or 13 boats right in front of the (Songo) river. There’s a good chop out there. They’re not setting the world on fire, but they are getting a few fish. I heard a report that there are smelt in the brook at Quimby’s, which is adjacent to the Songo. A friend of mine has been doing really well trolling sewn-on smelt for lake trout. They got 11 the other day. One was around 10 pounds. Most of the people doing best trolling for salmon and lake trout are catching them down 5 colors of lead. My group did pretty well down in front of Nassan’s Beach. There are huge schools of smelt down there off the point. That deeper water off of Nassan’s is always good this time of year. Once the smelt start dropping out of the Songo, they begin running the brooks on the western shore. They are still getting some nice browns from Square Pond. I haven’t heard anything from Tricky, which is odd,” he said. Greg also wanted to apologize for the spelling of the young lady angler holding the beautiful salmon in last week’s report. Her name was Janessa, not Janella.

Tim Tower of the Bunny Clark Deep Sea Fishing in Ogunquit posted the following report on his website: “The fishing was just shy of excellent. There was just enough tide to keep the fishing from being perfect. The catching was excellent, as were the landings. Most legal fish caught were haddock, by far. We were catching so many by 10:00 AM that I wouldn't let anyone keep a haddock less than nineteen inches overall length. As it was, we reached the bag limit by 11:30 AM. All but three fishermen stopped fishing for the day. Those who remained went to jig fishing while I let the boat drift. Legal landings also included twenty-nine cusk, two pollock and two redfish. Released fish included ninety-three haddock (mostly of legal size), seven small cod, three small cusk and thirteen small pollock. We tried drifting but it wasn't nearly as productive as anchoring was. We stayed on one anchor stop for over two and a half hours. And it just kept getting better the longer we stayed. The only reason I left was that we had caught the bag limit of haddock. All terminal gear worked well but bait worked the best by far.”

“Jim Feeney (MA) was high hook with the most legal fish. Some of the fish that Jim caught included a 5-pound haddock, the largest pollock of the season at 4.5 pounds, a 5.3-pound haddock (the third largest fish of the trip) and a 4.75-pound haddock. Fred Kunz (NH) was second hook with sixty-two legal fish. Most of the haddock he caught were released. His largest fish was a 4.75-pound haddock. However, he lost a fish that could have been a real big haddock or, what I suspect was, a small halibut. Stanley Johnson (MA) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 5.5-pound haddock. He also won the boat pool for the second largest fish, another 5.5-pound haddock.”

“Other Angler Highlights: Jim Thurston (NH) caught a 4.75-pound haddock, his biggest fish. Two years ago, in early April, he caught a 150-pound halibut with me. Bryan Lewer (ME) caught a 4-pound haddock, his best fish. Neil Chamberlin (NH) landed a 5.25-pound haddock, his biggest fish. Darlene Chin (MA) probably caught the most haddock over 3 pounds today. She did exceptionally well. Her largest haddock weighed 4.75 pounds. Steve LaPlante (CT) caught a 5-pound haddock, his biggest fish. Dan Wescom (VT) landed a 4.5-pound haddock and a 5.25-pound haddock, his two best. Nino Pierdipino (NY) boated a 4.5-pound haddock, his biggest fish. Drew Mastrorillo (ME) caught two haddock of 4 pounds each.”

New Hampshire:
Tim from Tim Moore Outdoors/Lake Winnipesaukee Fishing Guide Service on Lake Winnipesaukee reported that his boat was in the water and he was preparing for a busy trolling season. “The entire lake is ice-free and my boat is at the dock. I did a couple of short shake-down trips alone and managed four salmon on the first trip and all lake trout on the second. Water temps are mostly in the mid 40s, but it really depends on where you are this time of year. The water will typically be warmer in the bays and to the south. Trolling sewn smelt is all I do this time of year. The fish are still up in 15 feet or less, tight to the shorelines, chasing smelt. You’ll catch out deeper, but I find better concentrations of fish in close to shore, at least until the smelt runs are over. I am hearing of a few people doing well trolling streamer flies. Mostly yellow and orange. On another note, I am looking forward to giving a trolling seminar this coming Saturday at the KTP FishingFest at 1 pm,” he said.

Alan Nute at Winnisquam Country Store in Tilton told us that he’s hearing a lot more, and better, reports this week. “There are a lot of people doing pretty well lately. The fishing is on fire one day and dead the next, but that’s spring trolling for you. They’re getting salmon and lake trout on flies. The yellow stuff is most popular right now. Smelt are still good. The majority of salmon and rainbows are in real close to shore, in less than 15 feet of water,” he said.

Massachusetts:
Pete Santini at Fishing Finatics in Everett said that the holdover stripers are getting more active with the presence of alewives in the rivers and that the party boats have been picking away at haddock. “They’re getting some nice holdover stripers on Santini Tubes out in front of the Amelia Earhart Dam from the Casino all the way of through there. There are some huge white perch above the dam. You can’t eat them, but there are some monsters in there. For trout, we have Spot Pond in Stonham, Griswald Pond in Saugus, Lake Cochituate in Natick, Walden and White’s Pond in Concord. They’ve all been giving up stocked rainbows on Powerbait with mealworms. Some guys are trolling up some browns on Speedy Shiners and Mooselook Wobblers. The haddock bite was pretty good over the weekend. I was told the party boats did very well. We have sea worms if anyone wants to try for flounder. There should be some off the Deer Island pier, also Squamscott Yacht Club, and the pier over in Lynn,” he said.