Fishing Report June 16, 2025

The fishing is still heating up. Most are reporting cool water temps that are keeping some fish in spring-like stages and patterns. Others are complaining that cool water is keeping their favorite fish less active than they would like. Whether you want to fish inland freshwater, inshore saltwater, or offshore deep sea fishing, there seems to be no shortage of opportunities.  

Maine:
Greg Cutting at Jordans Store in Sebago reported a slightly slower week in the Sebago Lake region, but people are still catching fish. “They’re catching some nice browns in Hancock. I weighed one this week that was around 6.5-pounds. There have been some guys out here on Sebago trolling flatfish on the shoals with moderate success. There is one guy out here in front of the store jigging lake trout right now. I’m not hearing much from Sebago this week. The fishing has been so good that if they aren’t catching huge salmon, they don’t have much to talk about. Middle Pond produced a bunch of bass for one of our customers. It seems like it is mostly small pond action lately. Moose pond is producing some salmon. Nothing he, but good action. There is some good bass fishing there, and white perch too. Tricky is still producing some nice splake too,” he said.

Captain Tim Tower of the Bunny Clark Deep Sea Fishing in Ogunquit posted the following report from a recent deep-sea trip: “The fishing was excellent if you included the dogfish, the catching was very good, and landings were good at best. It was one of our slower days. It could have been our slowest day. We did, however, have several anglers seasick enough to not be a participating angler today. Legal landings included seventy-five haddock, twenty-six cusk, three pollock, seventy-two mackerel and four redfish. Released fish included thirty-seven sub-legal haddock, seventy-six dogfish, thirty-eight small pollock, fifteen mackerel, two cusk, two sculpins, three porbeagle sharks, five small cod and one cod of about five or more pounds. We alternated between drifting and anchoring. Both methods had their moments. Bait worked best.”

“Nick Longo (MA/ME) was high hook with eighteen legal fish. Three of his fish that I weighed included two haddock of 5 pounds and a 6-pound haddock. Jeff Corey (MA) was second hook with the second most legal fish of the trip. Paul DeSousa (MA) won the boat pool for the largest fish with a 7.25-pound Maine state trophy haddock. This is Paul's biggest ever haddock. I took a picture of Paul holding his prize fish. This digital image appears on the right. Roy Carreiro (MA) caught the second largest fish, a 7-pound cusk. His 4.5-pound haddock was one of the first haddock that I weighed today. Bill Gelinas (NH) caught the third largest fish, a haddock that weighed slightly over 6 pounds. Bill also caught a 5-pound haddock.”

“Other Angler Highlights: Jack Doherty (MA) landed a 5.5-pound haddock, his best fish. Sye Davidson (WI) caught a 5.5-pound cusk, his biggest fish. Steve Pesce (ME) caught a few fish. But he was most noted for losing a 200-pound porbeagle shark right next to the boat. He had two on today.” “I really think that, had there been a lot less bait (herring, mackerel & sand eels) and it wasn't so calm, we would have caught more fish. It was fun seeing all the bait on the machine and to see the whales feeding on them. But, I'm sure our fishing suffered for it.”

Jack at Saco Bay Tackle in Saco says the striper fishing has still been mostly slow overall. “The herring are still pushing out of the river. Outside of the river around the mouth of the Saco and out around Pine Point are okay, but things really haven’t changed much. Still no mackerel. The people catching are using a lot of Al Gag’s Whip-It paddletails and Lonely Angler 1-ounce Zipster in white pave been doing really well,” he said.

New Hampshire:
Tim from Tim Moore Outdoors/Lake Winnipesaukee Fishing Guide Service on Lake Winnipesaukee told us that while the salmon fishing on Winnipesaukee slowed down during the full moon, it hasn’t stopped and they are still picking away at fish. “People keep asking me if the moon really affects the fishing. I don’t know for certain if it’s the moon, but it sure does correlate. Every time the moon is full, the fishing gets just a bit tougher. We are still catching most of our fish at 15 – 18 feet down, which is strange because a lot of anglers are telling me they are catching 30 feet down. I set lines deeper every trip and we rarely see the numbers, so I stay at around 15 feet. We had one trip last weekend where I was getting hit letting out a lead core line before the lead line even hit the water. It was 3:30 in the afternoon and the fish were feeding right on top. The same colors are catching, mostly orange, with some purple or red in the rotation,” he said.

Lon Berry at Berry’s Bait in Alton Bay reports decent salmon and rainbow trout fishing on Winnipesaukee. “They’re starting to chase salmon and rainbows a little deeper. I’m hearing 30 feet deep now, but some are still saying they’re catching fish shallower. The water isn’t warming up very fast, so it makes sense. Bass fishing has really heated up. Some fish are on beds, some fish are off beds, and some are just starting to bed. Water temps are all over the place. You can live bait fish for bass again, so we are stocked up with shiners and crayfish. Crappie and perch fishing in local ponds is great right now. We got 40 fish the other night. The weather is starting to cooperate now, so things are looking up,” he said.

Jason Brewster at Brewster’s Bait and Tackle in Portsmouth furnished us with the following report: “Lots of action in the Piscataqua this week and lots of stories. Twenty-five 30-pounders were caught and released, proclaimed one guy floating past the bait shop. Schools of baitfish with no identification and mackerel are starting to make a show of numbers. There has been lots of boat activity and talk of squid around the mouth of the river.”

Massachusetts:
Martha at Surfland Bait and Tackle Says that the weekend was “busy, busy, busy, because the fishing has been hot, hot, hot. Mostly at low tide early in the morning, there have been a crap load of fish caught. The afternoon low tide at the mouth has been good too. Worms and clams have been the top two baits more than anything. Paddletails, SP Minnows, and Bucktails have been good lures. They’re chasing baby herring, so some guys are rigging up some teaser rigs. I’m hearing the same thing on the southern end of the island, but not quite as crazy. There have been a few along the ocean front. We are hearing of 30-inch plus fish and up to 50 inches. I hope everyone is treating these fish well and getting them back in the water quickly,” she said.

Pete Santini at Fishing Finatics in Everrett reported great local and offshore fishing. “There are a lot of big bass all the way in the Anchorage area, and Spectacle and Thompson Islands. The mackerel are out by Graves Light. They are catching fish in deep water trolling the Mystic Mojo. Tube and worm along the shoreline over by Spectacle and Long Island and there is some topwater action early in the morning along the shorelines of the islands using Mag 9s and other big white plugs. Rubber shads in white and mackerel color are doing well at both dams, the Amelia Earhart and Charles River. They’re getting some nice fish. Eels are starting to take off too. Flounder are still hanging in there. You just have to chum and fish a little deeper. There are a fair amount of tautaug around too. Haddock have moved in around the northwest corner of Stellwagen. If it warms up, the fluke should start showing up. For trout, Walden, Whites, and Jamaica Ponds are still producing trout with cooler high water,” he said.