Fishing Report September 15, 2025
As fall approaches and hunting seasons open, timely reports get harder to come by. Some, to the dismay of those in the know, trade their fishing gear for hunting gear. Many regard now through November to be some of the best fishing for stripers, salmon, lake trout, and panfish. Cooler water and shorter days trigger stripers to begin migrating back south and they feed very aggressively during their migrations. We hear some smallmouth bass anglers referring to fall as blade bait season. Fish will set up on their winter humps and drop offs, making them fun targets for drop shot, jigging blade baits, off Lindy rigging with a live shiner or small sucker. Crappie and other panfish begin feeding more to prepare for winter, moving into basins and sometimes feeding all day.
Maine:
Greg Cutting at Jordan’s Store in Sebago reported great fishing on Sebago but says many people are turning their attention toward hunting season, a move he doesn’t advise if you enjoy really good fishing. “We are coming into my favorite time of year to fish. You can troll on Sebago year-round and keep lake trout, you just can’t keep salmon after the end of September. That said, the salmon fishing on Sebago has been insane this year. There are a lot of really big fish being caught on hardware, streamer flies, and shiners. October will undoubtedly be even better once the alewives move out to the surface. Look for those seagulls and there will surely be fish under them,” he said.
The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries posted the following reports online: SEBAGO LAKES REGION: “As the weather cools in the last month of summer we get a second chance at the fish that eluded us during spring fishing. Rainbow trout as well as salmon can produce hot fishing, particularly in the last two weeks in September. Rainbow trout can be had at Stanley Pond in Hiram, Little Ossipee Lake in Waterboro, and Ell Pond in North Berwick. Sebago Lake in Standish has traditionally turned on in late September with salmon responding to tactics usually reserved for spring. Streamers, lures, and shiners all work fine and if this past spring is any indicator, salmon should be fat and numerous. Remember, general law changes on October 1, so check your regs and be aware! You can find regulations in the law book, online, or using FLOAT (Fishing Laws Online Angling Tool). Be sure to download our new app which gives you both the law book and FLOAT at your fingertips—find the app in Google and Apple stores by searching "ME Outdoors".
BELGRADE LAKES REGION: “River Smallmouth Bass: Some of our rivers provide incredible smallmouth bass fishing this time of year. Some of these rivers provide great opportunities for float trips in canoes or kayaks, but there are also plenty of spots to fish from the riverbank. Catch rates can be very high if you try a float trip (50 fish days are very possible), and you could catch fish ranging from 8-18 inches. Unless we get some rain soon some spots could be a little boney, so even canoes and kayaks could do a little scraping if you're in rocky habitat. Slow moving areas in some of these rivers provide a great spot to fish for largemouth bass as well. Here are a few spots to consider fishing for river bass in central and midcoast Maine.”
“Kennebec River (Forks, Bingham) - Tons of smallmouth of various sizes. Each of these areas provides an opportunity to catch trout and salmon as well. River flows can change significantly and rapidly in these areas, so please check SafeWaters by Brookfield Renewable US to get accurate information on river flows.”
“Kennebec River (Skowhegan, Fairfield, Waterville) – The Skowhegan and Fairfield section offers great habitat for largemouth in addition to smallmouth. The flowing section below the Shawmut Dam offers a great float trip opportunity with incredible fishing. Waterville can provide some really fast fishing when juvenile alewives begin migrating from upstream ponds. The smallmouth feed heavily on these small, shiny fish!”
“Sebasticook River (Pittsfield, Burnham, Clinton, Benton) – The Sebasticook River is a tremendous smallmouth bass fishery and it can be truly incredible when millions of juvenile alewives begin migrating downstream. Great place for some topwater action!”
“Pemaquid River (Bristol) – This is a slow moving river section that provides fast action for largemouth bass. It's a great place to paddle and see wildlife as well.”
“Bartlett Stream (Searsmont) – This is a great stretch of slow-moving water to paddle and fish for largemouth bass. You can put in at the launch on Quantabacook Lake and paddle upstream toward Route 3. You'll find lots of largemouth bass and chain pickerel to keep you busy.”
Captain Tim Tower of the Bunny Clark Deep Sea Fishing in Ogunquit posted the following report on their website: “The fishing was good, again, at best. The tide was marginally better than Tuesday, but the sea state wasn't great and the blue sharks were a pain in the ass. The catching was excellent. Landings were very good to excellent, our best trip for weeks. Most legal fish landed were pollock, by far. It was nearly the only fish coming over the rail at times. There were so many in the 6-to-9-pound range that I only weighed the biggest fish. Legal landings also included 8 cod, 58 of the cleanest cusk I have seen all year, 11 haddock, a monkfish and about 20 mackerel. Released fish included about 18 blue sharks with jewelry, 12 sub-legal cod, 5 cusk, no short haddock, no dogfish, only 15 sub-legal pollock and 10 mackerel. We anchored once, drift fished the rest of the time. Jigs and cod flies caught all the fish.”
“I couldn't tell you who was high hook with the most legal fish, but I suspect it was Rich Mallott (NY) or Rod Langevin (NY). Rod and Rich both caught fish to weigh as soon as we started fishing. Rod caught a 7-pound pollock. Rich caught an 8-pound pollock and a 10 pound pollock shortly after. Rod caught the most legal pollock in a row or 15 fish as fast as he could get them aboard. Rich caught the only monkfish. It weighed 5 pounds.” “John Kennedy (NY) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 20-pound pollock. This is the Bunny Clark's third largest pollock of fishing season to date. Some of his other notable fish included a 15.5-pound pollock and a 13-pound pollock. The second largest fish was an 18-pound pollock caught by Joel Russell (NY). This is the sixth largest pollock of the Bunny Clark fishing season to date. Kevin "Sarge" Robinson (NY) boated the third largest fish, a 16.5-pound pollock. Sarge also caught a 9.75-pound pollock that I weighed.”
“Other Angler Highlights: John Gardner (NY) boated a 13.5-pound pollock. Karl Ostergaard (NY) caught a 16-pound pollock. By popular demand, I gave the "hard luck award" (an older PMC shirt) to Kirk Hollis (NY) for being the sole (soul?) hurler of the trip! I've seen worse!”
New Hampshire:
Tim from Tim Moore Outdoors/Lake Winnipesaukee Fishing Guide Service on Lake Winnipesaukee reported a serious upswing in the fishing, after a few rough days during the full moon. “Man, the recent full moon last week was rough for fishing on Lake Winnipesaukee. All you heard were anglers’ struggles. Then, Thursday morning it did a complete 180 and lit up. It has been on fire ever since. We landed three rainbows one morning that were all over 4-pounds with a few salmon mixed in. AJ’s Blood and Guts Tommy Gun Spoon has still been my hot spoon, but with the fish targeting young of the year smelt, single hook streamer flies with yellow or orange have been leading by far. The fish are still down 30-feet, and the water temp is still around 68-degrees. Two more weekends left for me before the season ends and I make the switch to crappies,” he said.
Dana Berry at Berry’s Bait in Alton Bay didn’t have much to report. She said with bear and now, archery deer seasons open, there has been far less fishing traffic in the store. “Before things dropped off, we were hearing a lot of people complaining about the slow fishing on Winnipesaukee. I am hearing rumbles of things picking back up, but being a bear and deer check station, we have been pretty busy with hunters,” she said.
Massachusetts:
Liz at Surfland Bait and Tackle on Plum Island said that the striper fishing has picked up a little bit. “It definitely picked up. They’re using a lot of bait during the day and a lot of eels and lures at night while walking the refuge. There are some big fish around, inside the Parker River. One guy caught some small schoolie stripers and a few shad. A lot of guys are a little secretive this time of year, but things should only get better for a while now. Parking lot 3 and 6 have been popular. Worms, clams, and mackerel have been good. A lot of people like to go to parking lot 3 and walk south or lot 6 and walk north throwing lures. Tube and worm has been a good seller, so they must be catching on them. Things have definitely picked up,” she said.
Pete Santini at Fishing Finatics in Everett said that the striper fishing continues and there are a lot of really big sea perch (cunner) being caught, and they taste as good as tautog. “There have been some mackerel off of Nahant and some bass at the entrance to Boston Harbor. Some days are great and some days are a little slower. They’re getting plenty of fish in kayaks at the Amelia Earhart Dam with tube and worm. From there to the Tobin Bridge has been pretty good for the boats. They’re catching haddock out by Middle Bank and a lot of porbeagle sharks around too. There are some nice sea perch, up to 18 inches, being caught and they’re delicious,” he said.