Fishing Report September 8, 2025

As schools have gone back, weather is cooling off, and hunting seasons are beginning, fishing reports begin to thin down. Most of our seasonal reporters have wrapped up for the season. That doesn’t mean the fishing is anything other than spectacular. Nighttime striped bass fishing is on fire, with reports of anglers having to quit because they used all the eels they brought, many who caught more than one striper on some of their eels. Lake trout and salmon lakes are hot. With mere weeks left in the salmon season on both Winnipesaukee and Sebago, anglers are taking advantage of stellar trolling bites. Many people regard early fall as the best time of the year to fish. Thank you to everyone who attended our 49th Septemberfest Event!

Maine:
Greg Cutting at Jordan’s Store in Sebago says that the fishing is so good on Sebago right now that he isn’t hearing about any other lakes or ponds. “Between hunting season and the great fishing on Sebago, I don’t think many people are fishing other places. I haven’t seen as many big lake trout this year, but the numbers are still good. I had some guys come in looking for a copper/orange Mooselook Wobbler. That spoon has been working really well this year. The Northeast Trollers with a copper back have been good too. Many of the spoons with a copper back have been good. The DB Smelt in pearl (#144) has been good. Traditionally, the #001 DB Smelt has always been one of the better spoons over here,” he told us.

Captain Tim Tower of the Bunny Clark Deep Sea Fishing in Ogunquit posted the following report on their website: “The fishing was fair overall. The conditions were such that we lost more anglers to sea sickness when we started fishing. The most anglers we had fishing at one time was nine. The swells made it hard to stay off the bottom with the swells. The drift was a bit too fast. The catching and landings were both good. Most legal fish landed were pollock, by far. In fact, by noon, it was the only species we had aboard! Legal landings also included 1 cod, 15 cusk, a redfish, 5 whiting, 2 herring, a cunner and 6mackerel. Released fish included 3 blue sharks with jewelry, 7 small cod, 15 sub-legal pollock, 5 sub-legal haddock, 2 sculpins and a couple of mackerel. We drift fished and anchored. Jigs and cod flies caught the most fish.”

I couldn't tell you who was high hook with the most legal fish. I couldn't even guess. But that was because everyone pooled their fish and, even after polling everyone, I still couldn't come up with an answer. It might have been the proceedings of the night before that sullied their memory. 14-year-old Trystan Mitchell Shea (VT) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 15-pound pollock. Mike Perez (NJ) caught the second largest fish, a 14-pound pollock. Some of the other fish of his that I weighed included an 11-pound pollock, an 8-pound pollock and a 9-pound pollock. I accused him of being high hook, but he denied it. Josh Trudo (VT) caught the third largest fish, a 13.75-pound pollock. He also caught the largest cusk, weighing in at 10 pounds. That cusk was the first cusk of 6 in a row that he caught - 1 got off the hook and floated away.”

“Other Angler Highlights: Colby Ducharm (VT) caught the first fish I could weigh this morning, a 9.75-pound pollock. Chris Stanhope (VT) landed a 7-pound pollock shortly after. Chris also caught a double that included a 9-pound pollock and a 7-pound pollock, both fish caught on the same line at the same time. The largest double of the day included a 10.5-pound pollock and a 12.5-pound pollock, caught by Frank Consiglio (VT). Kyle Santor caught the only legal cod. As he was mooning over this fish in the water, a blue shark came up and ruined the cod dinner he was planning to have. Kyle's biggest fish was an 8-pound pollock.”

New Hampshire:
Tim from Tim Moore Outdoors/Lake Winnipesaukee Fishing Guide Service on Lake Winnipesaukee says that the salmon and rainbow trout fishing has picked up on Lake Winnipesaukee, and the lake trout jig bite has improved slightly. “We had a great week of trolling for salmon last week. We caught some really nice salmon and rainbows. The rainbows were all between 3- 5 pounds. The salmon are fat and bronze, with most males showing well-developed kypes. Orange, yellow, and pink Top Gun and Tommy Gun spoons have been excellent. Streamer flies in AJ’s Blood and Guts, single hook Guide Pumpkin, and Salty Streamer have been top producers. Some are reporting still finding fish down as deep as 55 feet, but all of our fish are coming from 30-40 feet down, with early morning fish coming from as shallow as 20 feet down. I have picked up a few fish on a 1-ounce silver/blue and glow blue tiger P-Line Lazer Minnow, and the ½-ounce Nervous Minnow in blue.

Alan Nute at Winnisquam Country Store in Tilton also reported great fishing on Lake Winnipesaukee last week. “The fishing has been good. Same old stuff is working. I’ve been getting fish down 40-50 feet. At 53 feet down, the water was 57 degrees, so the thermocline is still down there. The copper with a red head spoon worked well last weekend. My friend got a big rainbow on the Bloody Nose spoon. Those red tipped spoons have been working well this week. Copper backed spoons have also been good.

Massachusetts:
Martha at Surfland Bait and Tackle on Plum Island reported very slow surf fishing but an excellent night bite. “It’s been really slow off the surf and in the mouth. My husband went out the other night with 10 eels and caught 14 fish. The back side of Plum Island has been great at night. There are lots of sand eels around again. Many guys are coming in looking for sand eel imitations. Some are reporting good catches, but they are having to work for them. I feel like the water is a bit warmer than normal for this time of year. Tube and worm were really good last week, but the tides made it impossible to get worms. We have worms coming in today though,” she said.

Pete Santini at Fishing Finatics in Everett reported a lot of stripers breaking along the beaches and some on tubes and Niner rigs. “Bass were breaking off of Revere Beach, in the morning and in the evening. They were getting some nice fish up to 40 inches on Poppers. If you got a boat, trolling with tubes and Niner Rigs has been good. Some guys have been getting them from shore with flies too. There are still fish over in the river in front of the casino, behind Costco. In there they are whacking them with tubes and there are some pogies in there. Mackerel are over by Flip Rock off Nahant, but you gotta chum for them. There are plenty of nice codfish out on the humps between Graves and Egg Rock. They’re catching some up to 6 pounds,” he said.