Fishing Report May 18, 2026

More summer-like weather has arrived and it seems like every angler is taking advantage of it. Striped bass have continued moving up the New England coast, with really good numbers of big fish being reported. Flounder are finally beginning to bite in Massachusetts waters. Trout fishing remains steady and good. Trolling for salmon and trout has still been productive, despite loads of rain last week. Bass fishing has really kicked off in the past few days with the warmer temps. Expect striper numbers to continue increasing as more fish move in and other fish fall back out of the rivers.

Maine:
Greg Cutting at Jordan’s Store in Sebago says that there is still excellent fishing on Sebago and some surrounding waters. “There’s still a lot of guys fishing the lake and the salmon are still right up on top. They’re fishing off the Songo in that deep water and catching fish up on top. We were fishing out over deep water as well and we were seeing fish breaking the surface. There’s quite a bit of bait off the Dingley Islands. They’re fishing the gut off of Fryes Leap. If you find some bait, you’ll find some fish. Some guys have been doing pretty good for bass up to Hancock. This warm weather is going to warm the water up, so the fish will go down a little bit, but the fishing will stay good. Another guy came in who was fishing for bass at Pleasant Pond. They did really good. People might want to try some of the ponds, like Tricky, because there’s hardly anyone fishing them, with the fishing being so good on Sebago,” he said.

Tim Tower of the Bunny Clark Deep Sea Fishing in Ogunquit posted the following report on his website: “It was an excellent day for unusual fishing experiences today. We had three halibut involvements on the boat. The first was a legal-sized (30 pounds or more) halibut that followed a haddock that angler Steve Selmer (NH) had on his line to the surface next to the boat. Only Steve LaPlante (CT), who was fishing with Steve on the bow, Steve and Nino Pierdipino (NH), who was in the fishing position closest to the bow, saw the fish. Steve tried to bait the halibut but was tangled with Steve LaPlante's line, relinquishing the freedom to move his pole to make a good presentation. The fish took a loop around the tangled lines and swam back to the bottom. Second, not five minutes later, Fred Kunz hooked into a halibut while fishing in the stern. He was using a double bait rig. I had everyone reel up to leave Fred unfettered access to bring this fish to the surface, which he did. Danny DellaMonica has a meat hook made of stainless steel that I must have bought in the 1970s when I was tuna fishing. I call it the "Danny Hook" because Danny is deadly with it. He doesn't use it like you would a gaff. He has another method that is much more effective. So, as in true Danny Hook form, when Fred's fish got within reach, got a purchase on the fish in good shape. I followed up with a boat gaff. We both slid it over the rail and into the boat. Third, during the last half an hour, while fishing on anchor, Steve Selmer hooked into a massive halibut. He thought it was a halibut at first, then thought it was bottom, gave the rod to me, I fooled around with it for a while, bypassed drag and got it off bottom a ways until I felt two big thumps on the rod and the fish took an estimated thirty feet of line back to bottom. Steve took it the rest of the way but parted with it after twenty minutes. I don't believe Steve would have landed such a big fish. They have teeth and Steve was using hooks directly tied to a monofilament leader. That long of a fight was destined to chafe the hook off. Added to this was the fact that we already had a halibut in the boat. Federal and State law prohibits boating more than one halibut per trip. And this was heavy on both Steve's and my minds. It was exciting, though. I did see other halibut on the sounding machine that we didn't hook. But we didn't get a visual on the big one.”

“Halibut do swim in schools. With a healthy population, you might find a school in an area. A friend of mine out of Chatham, Massachusetts, chased halibut in the late 1960s, early 1970s and once caught over one hundred counts of halibut on halibut trawl (a long line with hooks) with each fish weighing between 110 and 115 pounds. The next day he caught fifty halibut there of that size. The day after that, they were gone. I would really like to know how many halibut were there today.”

“The other experience of note was Steve LaPlante landing a 61-pound porbeagle shark. The shark’s demise came when it decided to roll in the line, as they very often do. The shark’s problem was that it started to roll while on the surface in front of Danny DellaMonica, who was standing over it with a gaff. Years ago, we had an angler, Danny Angerman, who had hooked a porbeagle that was about 300 pounds, plus or minus. Danny fought it for quite a while, but lost it when it started to roll in the Dacron main line he was using and parted the fish off. Mr. Angerman's shark started to roll too far underwater. So, we never had a chance to put a gaff into it.”

““All but four anglers today had never seen either a porbeagle shark or a halibut boated. I would also say that the same anglers had never seen so many big haddock boated either. At least, that was the consensus as I was told.”

“Fred Kunz was the fisherman of the day. He was high hook with 53 legal fish and he won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, the 64-pound halibut. I love it when Fred hooks a big fish as his drag is always perfect. I know that he is one of the few fishermen who comes aboard with almost a guarantee that if he hooks it, he will land it. More often than not, it has been the person with the gaff that has screwed up, not Fred. I also have to qualify the high-hook statement. Lee Atherton (ME) might also have been high hook. He had more haddock than Fred caught. But Fred caught many more cusk than anyone on the boat. Lee doesn't count his fish. I never weighed another fish for Fred. On the other hand, it seemed like I was weighing fish for Lee all day long. Some of the fish of his I weighed included a 6-pound haddock, a 5.5-pound haddock, another 6-pound haddock, a double that included a 6.25-pound haddock and a 5.25-pound haddock, both fish on the same line at the same time, and the largest haddock of the trip, a 7.75-pound Maine state trophy haddock, our second largest haddock of the Bunny Clark fishing season so far.” “Steve LaPlante won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, a 61-pound porbeagle shark. I weighed a 6.5-pound cusk for Steve very early in the trip. The third largest fish of the trip was an 8.25-pound pollock caught by Jeff Breton (ME).”

“Other Angler Highlights: Everyone caught haddock over 5.5 pounds. I did stop weighing the bigger ones early on unless they were of trophy status. Many of the ones I thought might have been of trophy size turned out to be fat 5.5-plus-pounders. Lyle Works (ME) caught the first pollock I thought I should weigh. It was 6.75 pounds. I weighed a haddock for him that weighed 5.75 pounds. Tom Mitchell (ME) caught a haddock that weighed 6.25 pounds. Travis Works (ME) landed a 6.25-pound haddock. Jeff Breton, Sr. (ME) caught a 7-pound pollock, his biggest fish. Reese Bernier (ME) boated a 6.25-pound haddock. Steve Selmer's largest boated fish was an 8-pound pollock. Both Steves caught haddock over 6 pounds that I did not weigh. Both have caught many trophy haddock in the past with me.”

New Hampshire:
Tim from Tim Moore Outdoors/Lake Winnipesaukee Fishing Guide Service on Lake Winnipesaukee told us that the fishing has been following the recent weather, up and down. “It was another crazy weather week on Winnipesaukee. Warm and windy, then cold, then cold and rain…lots of rain. The lake is very high now. At ice-out, the level was about 14 inches below full (504.32ft above sea level) and now we are around 12 inches above full. It may not seem like much, but at 45,000 acres, that’s a massive amount of water. The lake rose 3 ½ inches in two days, which makes the water very dirty and fills the lake with debris, which usually slows fishing a bit. You really need to search for clean water, which can often be found near inlets, but only after they clear up. It takes a few days for the water to really start to clear up. We have also had midges hatching, especially when we see the sun or there is no wind. Surprisingly, the salmon bite is better than I expected. AJ’s Top Gun and BB Guns with red in them, the smelt pattern, and some orange w/black dots have been good, as well as similarly colored flies, like the Micky Fin, have all been working great. I have been doing well near the surface until about a half hour after the sun rises, then moving down to around 20 feet. Lead core, full sinking fly line, and downriggers have all been catching fish. Flasher rigs on the downrigger ball have just started working well too,” he said.

Alan Nute at Winnisquam Country Store in Tilton was excited to see that many anglers were catching the surplus brood stock salmon that NH Fish and Game recently stocked in Winnisquam. “They’re getting those salmon on Winnisquam, and some nice lakers too. They’re getting 3-4 salmon at a whack. They are getting them 15 feet down. That red top copper spoon is hot on Winnisquam and Winnipesaukee. It’s just been a really good color spoon so far this season. Spoons are fishing better than flies overall right now. That could change, but for now that’s how it’s going,” he said.

Camden at Dover Marine/Covered Bridge Sports says that everything has been stocked, including fresh stockings of the major rivers in Pittsburg. “They just stocked a bunch of nice fish in the Connecticut River in Pittsburg. Locally, all the rivers have been stocked again. Milton Three Ponds and the Lakes Region tributaries. River water temps are around 50 degrees and climbing. Salmon, lake trout, and rainbows are back out in deeper waters for trolling. Hot flies lately have been any pheasant Tail Nymphs, Hare’s Ear flies, smelt streamers, and micro leaches,” he said.

Alan at Winnisquam Country Store in Tilton told us that there are quite a few anglers catching the brood stock Atlantic salmon in Winnisquam and Winnipesaukee salmon anglers are still catching. “I saw some pictures of some nice healthy Atlantics from Winnisquam. They’re getting a few here and there. People are catching salmon on Winnipesaukee too. People seem happy to catch fish on Winnipesaukee. The same colors are working well. Lots of Top Gun and Minn BB Guns with red/white, copper w/red head, and blood and guts. Grey Ghost and Micky Fin streamers have been good too,” he said.

Massachusetts:
Martha at Surfland Bait and Tackle on Plum Island reported lots of really big stripers all the way up in the Merrimack River. “There are lots of really big fish around right now. They are all the way up at the dam, but there are people catching good fish at low tide down at the mouth, especially when low tide is at sunrise. No little fish, which is concerning. Plum Island Sound is also loaded with fish. The ocean front will pick up once we have sunrise and high tide at the same time. Paddletails are most popular right now, but some other well-known lures are still working. Al Gag’s Whip-It Fish, Savage Sand Eels, Gravity Tackle paddletails, SP Minnows, and some bucktails. The sturgeon have been active too,” she told us.

Pete Santini at Fishing Finatics in Everett reported good flounder fishing and loads of stripers in Boston Harbor. “The Zobo flounder derby was a huge success. The biggest flounder was 2.19 pounds, caught by Dr Zellman. The flounder are spread out from Hull and Lynn to Gloucester Harbor. Big stripers are at both dams, the Mystic and Charles and lots of action off of Castle Island to Deer Island. Mackerel are at the graves and B buoy. There are some big togs mixed in with the flounder too. Squids are starting to show as well. Trout fishing is still strong at Horn, Walden, Whites, Jamaica, and Shawsheen, and in the Ipswich rivers.”