Fishing Report June 9, 2025
A few days of hot weather, and some time, have changed the fishing for the better. Even the slowest of bites has seen an uptick. Striper anglers are enjoying good numbers along the ocean fronts and beaches, as river herring have begun dropping back out of the rivers. Mackerel seem scarce, but worms and frozen bait have been good for those who wish to fish bait. Most reports are of stripers being caught on lures. Lake trout and salmon fishing continues to produce good numbers, with some really nice fish reported over the past week. Trout stocking continues and flounder fishing is in its peak and producing well.
Maine:
Greg Cutting at Jordans Store in Sebago says that the fishing has been excellent on Sebago and he also mentioned good splake fishing in Trickey. “We’ve been seeing some really nice salmon and lake trout caught on Sebago in the past week. As usual, if you can find schools of bait, you’ll find lake trout and salmon. A lot of lake trout have been coming from jigging in 90 feet of water. If you find bait and you’re not seeing fish, be patient and stick around. They will come along. Three-inch paddle tails on a jig head are still doing well. You can tip it with a shiner or some cut bait if you want some scent. Some of the local ponds are producing some nice crappie trolling the deeper parts, which aren’t very deep in the small ponds. Tricky continues to produce some really nice splake on a consistent basis. That’s a great splake fishery there.
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, the catching was excellent, and landings were excellent. With the weather, the sea conditions and a fish a cast, it couldn't have been a better day - unless we also caught a halibut; which we didn't. To qualify that statement, it can always be better. Most legal fish landed were haddock, by far. We ended up releasing any haddock under four pounds. Had we kept everything legal we would have had the bag limit by noon. As it was, we reached the boat's bag limit a half hour before we called it a day. A lot of big stuff. Legal landings also included one hundred and twenty-four pollock. We saw our first larger pollock of the season today. Also included were thirty-eight cusk and four redfish. Released fish included two porbeagle sharks, two wolffish, thirteen cusk, four good-sized cod, sixteen small cod, eighty-nine small pollock, forty-nine legal haddock and seven sub-legal haddock. We drift fished all morning but did, far and away, our best on anchor at the end of the day. All terminal gear worked well today.”
“There was no way to tell who was high hook with the most legal fish. Everyone was pooling their fish together, everyone seemed to do equally well and there were a significant number of legal haddock and cusk released. Shane Anderson (MA) caught the largest fish, a 15 pound wolffish. This is the Bunny Clark's third largest wolffish of the fishing season so far. There was only one pool today. It was for the biggest legal fish. So wolffish and cod were not included. I did take a great picture of Shane holding his big cat. Some of Shane's other good fish included a 9-pound cod, a 7-pound cod, a 7.75-pound cod, a 7.5-pound pollock, a 13.5-pound pollock (the Bunny Clark's third largest pollock of the year to date) and a 6.9-pound haddock. Shane's father, Ron Anderson (MA), won the boat pool for the largest fish with the second largest fish, a 14.5-pound pollock. This is the Bunny Clark's largest pollock of the fishing season so far. Ron also caught a 5.75-pound haddock the first thing this morning, an 8-pound pollock, a 10.75-pound cod, the Bunny Clark's fourth largest cod this year to date, and a 6-pound haddock, right at the end on the last stop. The third largest fish was a 14-pound pollock caught by Dave Miller (MA). This is the Bunny Clark's second largest pollock of the fishing season so far. Dave also caught two haddock of 6 pounds and an 8-pound Maine state trophy haddock, the largest haddock that he has ever caught. This comes in as a tie for the Bunny Clark's sixth largest haddock of the fishing season to date. He would have had the boat pool had he not broken off a porbeagle shark that looked to be 300 pounds! We had porbeagle sharks of various sizes swimming around the boat today while fishing.”
“Other Angler Highlights: Dennis Pietro (NH) boated a 5.5-pound haddock about the same time as Ron caught his 5.75 pounder. But it wasn't too long after that that Dennis caught our first Maine state trophy haddock of the trip. That fish weighed 7.25 pounds. Anthony Maki (MA), on his maiden voyage aboard the Bunny Clark, caught a 6.5-pound haddock and many other legal fish. Austin Kravitz (MA), also aboard the Bunny Clark for the first time, caught a 9.5-pound pollock, his biggest fish. He also caught a 6.5-pound haddock and an 8-pound Maine state trophy haddock. Like Dave, this haddock ties for our sixth largest fish this year. And, also like Dave, this is the largest haddock that Austin has ever caught. Doug Maki (MA), Anthony's father, landed a 12-pound pollock, his largest fish today. Some of his other fish that I weighed included an 11-pound pollock, a 7-pound pollock, a 6.25-pound haddock and a 7.1-pound Maine state trophy haddock. This might be Doug's biggest haddock ever. He's certainly never caught as big a haddock with me before.”
Guide CJ Harmon of Burnt Meadow Guide Service in Brownfield furnished the following report: “The rain has cooled the water temps back down in our area so let’s hope that prolongs our spring fishing for a bit longer. The salmon fishing is slowing down for us, but the lake trout fishing was hot on Sebago this week, both trolling and jigging. The splake fishing on Trickey was very good using Northeast trollers, Orange Cush dodgers, and Burnt Meadow Glow Lake trolls paired with smelts that we froze from this spring! Brown trout are biting pretty good right now on our local ponds and that should stay really good for a few more weeks!”
Gavin at Saco Bay Tackle in Saco says the striper fishing has been a tad off, likely due to all the rain and unseasonably cool temperatures. “The striper fishing has slowed down a bit. They’re starting to move out away from the rivers to the beaches. The water is still cold, but it is starting to warm up a little bit. Mackerel have been spotty. They are catching some fish though. The NLBN and Al Gag’s paddletails, and Albie Snax in white have been good. For topwater, Lonely Anglers have been selling a lot,” he said.
New Hampshire:
Tim from Tim Moore Outdoors/Lake Winnipesaukee Fishing Guide Service on Lake Winnipesaukee reported an excellent week of trolling on Lake Winnipesaukee. “The fishing has been great! Sure, there has been a slow morning or evening in the mix, but every trip after a slower one has been lights out. We’re still catching mostly two-year-old salmon, which are running in the 18–20-inch range, with a few larger three-year-olds in the mix. Not as many rainbows, but the ones we are catching are all over three pounds. The hot color has varied every day. Sometimes it’s Governor Aiken Tommy Gun Spoons and other days it’s silver/blue or Blood and Guts colored Tommy Guns. Orange and yellow streamer flies have been good too. We’re still only down as deep as 25 feet. Many fish are being caught 18-feet down,” he said.
Alan Nute at Winnisquam Country Store in Tilton reported a hot week of trolling on Winnipesaukee for most anglers. “People are talking about a few more fish being caught. The top 20 feet is where most of the fish seem to be. I’m selling out on Blood and Guts flies. The Blood and Guts spoons are doing great too. Orange is always a good color on Winnipesaukee. Wonderbread has been a good spoon lately too. We can’t keep flies in stock right now, so there must be a bunch of other patterns doing well,” he said.
Dana Berry at Berry’s Bait in Alton Bay says that the tourists have begun arriving, with their kids. “The kids are getting into the smallmouth and largemouth bass pretty good around here. The crappie bite at some local ponds here in Alton has been pretty good. Spinnerbaits, Whopper Ploppers, and Crazy Hick Pig Sticks and other Senkos have been hot. The salmon fishing has been consistent, but a lot of the fishermen haven’t been coming in as much this week. The boat ramp has been busy,” she said.
Jason Brewster at Brewster’s Bait and Tackle in Portsmouth furnished us with the following report: “Fairly slow catch on the Piscataqua this week. Lots of stories of squid in Kittery with even more stories of a "mackerel-less" 2KR. Very small pockets of birds on the river with whispers of 40-inch stripers on Wells Beach. Looking for a bounce back this week!”
Massachusetts:
Martha at Surfland Bait and Tackle reported great fishing around Plum Island and the Merrimack River. “The fishing is getting hotter, hotter, and hot. The herring are moving out, so the fish can be fussy at times, but there’s a lot of fish. They’ll start getting hungry again in a few days. Low tide at the mouth of the Merrimack has been very good. Worms seem to be the top bait. Bucktails, paddletails and even swimming metal-lipped plugs have been good. We’re even still getting reports of some big fish up in Lawrence,” she said.