Wow, the good weather for the balance of August and this first week of September has had me on the water almost everyday. Mid August the blues came in strong and I had the opportunity to get some great kids on them ranging from 5# to 12#. We took them on top water plugs and live lining mackerel and pollock. All the kids did great and it was awesome to see a couple skid across the deck as a big blue peeled line off the reel. Mid August I worked on a client’s boat for the 3 day ALS/MDA fundraiser catch and release shark tournament. No makos or threshers for us but we did release 6-8 blue sharks per day ranging from 150-400#. Perfect number of blue sharks this year as last year we were over run with them releasing 31 the first day and 17 the next while trying for a mako or thresher. The end of August had the stripers heating up at times but being tough on others. There were the strong 28-35″ fish we have had all season but slot fish of 20-26″ had joined the party which made several clients very happy to go home with delicious table fare. As of a couple of days ago there were still some blues around and I look forward to the stripers putting on the feed bag anytime now for the fall migration. We are due for some big time feeding frenzies!

The Steel family of Jim, Diane, Katie, and Ashley had a great morning. They landed around 20 blues and lost as many. Most were on top water plugs and saw multiple fish hammer the plug right to the boat. Big thank you to the family for donating their blues for the shark tournament! 8.13.2012

Katie and her Dad with a pair of nice bluefish. yes, we needed the brush that day. 8.13.2012

Ellie and William did well with the lobstering and the fishing. Both reeled in big bluefish all on their own. William caught what was most likely a world record cunner while mackerel fishing that we unknowingly released. 8.14.2014

Sammy and lucky Bobby found some decent mid August stripers. 8.21.2012

Bobby’s in mid battle with a decent striper in skinny water. 8.21.2012

Jarid with his first striper that he brought home to feed his people. Thanks to Pop for the holding assist. 8.24.2012

Lexi and Pat worked hard with top water plugs and with live bait and were rewarded for their efforts. 8.26.2012

Pat with one of the biggest bluefish of the year. 8.26.2012

Carolyn does it again with nice striper caught near the old “Clown’s Mouth”. 8.30.2012

Gary woke up just in time for this one. 9.1.2012

Gary’s naps were the good luck charm for Sammy. 9.1.2012

Joe and his wife had the high hook on Labor Day. 9.3.2012

9.3.201

The past 2 weeks have been typical mid summer fishing. The fish are here but are settled in  and are kinda lazy. They quite often will sniff the bait, plug, or fly with a half hearted attempt. A fellow Captain, Pete Morse of Teazer Charters, who has a tall tower to see from told me he has seen a school of 40″+ stripers swim up to his baited live mackerel, give it a sniff and just swim away. Despite the conditions we were able to land fish on all the trips except one. The bluefish showed up last week and has added a nice burst of adrenaline.

Dr D and Landon with a nice 35″ striper. 7.25.2012

Landon in mid battle with a nice 31″ striper. 7.25.2012

Mario continues his good luck. 7.26.2012

Bill and Kim did a great job with the fly rods and were rewarded with a couple nice ones. 7.27.2012

Kim is hooked up! 7.27.2012

Alden with another healthy striper that we worked hard for. 7.28.2012

Nicole,Sammy, and Flip toughed it out in the showers to land a couple but lost a few. 7.29.2012

Flip with his first striper. 7.29.2012

Ryan “Durant” with a last second buzzer beater striper. His brothers Drew and TJ assisted. 7.30.2012

This is me holding a couple of bluefish that Carolyn just landed while she is busy fighting another bluefish. 7.31.2012

Jarid was the man this day, hooking and landing a 10# bluefish. Biggest blue of the day! 8.4.2012

Sammy with a bluefish that smashed his top water plug. 8.4.2012

The past 10 days were hot and flat with very little wind. Despite the quiet conditions we had some decent action on seas that were as flat as they get. On 7.17I took out Jeff and his crew from the Albany NY area. We were able weed through the pollock and stock the live wells with an acceptable amount of mackerel. They scored first over at Richmond Island with 2 nice slot fish,(slot fish are stripers between 20-26″), that went in the cooler for a family cook out. We did have a bluefish take a bait and run right past the boat and was close enough for us to see puke up a bunch of fish before biting us off.

Gary with the first slot fish, check out how flat the seas were.

Things got quiet so we ran over to a beach location and started getting action. Missed quite a few but did stick and land a couple nice fish of 31 + 34″. This was one of the rarer trips that we were able to get a couple of slot fish for the table along with larger fish to test the angler’s skills.

Jeff with a chubby 34″ striper.

Friday 7.20 I took out Dave, Lorry, and Jerry on another spectacular morning. Catching our mackerel was the perfect way for the guys to clear out the cob webs from the night before and were ready for some stripers when we were done. Well, it didn’t take long as a striper smashed the first mackerel within 10 seconds of hitting the water and Jerry brings in a nice one. The action continues at a steady pace with the guys doing a good job hooking up at a rate of 50%, which is par. We ended the day with about 7 stripers landed, 1 slot fish plus 3 lobsters kept for lunch for the family.

Dave with a fatty!

Jerry had the hot rod.

Lorry with a striper that we were lucky to land as it started all tangled up with another line.

On Sunday 7.22 Matt and his family got onboard at the ambitious time of 6am. We had no trouble getting our mackerel and weren’t bothered too much with pollock. The first 2 spots were dead as we only got one half hearted take. This is when I get a little nervous as it is a bit of a run to my next spot and the seas were beginning to pick up. Matt lives locally now and I really wanted him to get into them. We finally get to the next spot after a bumpy ride but thankfully we are protected from the wind and the seas are calm. It takes a couple of minutes but we get a hit and Matt’s Father reels in a good striper with the calmest technique I have ever seen. After a couple of stripers, Matt hooks a bluefish that gave us a good show and I really think we are finally going to land one. As Matt gets it to the boat he pulls the hook, nothing he did wrong just happens. Everyone lands at least one and we miss plenty of others. As we were in over time and preparing the boat to head in, matt’s mackerel comes to the surface in a panic and we see a 35″ striper hammer it several times on the surface. Matt sets the hook and brings her boatside with solid technique. Fantastic way to end a god day.

Matt with his dramatic 35″ striper at the buzzer.

Matt’s mom with a good 34″ striper, hard to see how big it is at this angle. Can’t wait to get my Nikon back.

Just over the slot at 28″

On Saturday 7.7, I took out Sammy and Bobby hoping that we could shake off the full moon doldrums. Things started out well with us getting into the mackerel with no problem except for the fact the were all large to horse. Beautiful tuna bait but a little large for stripers and difficult to cast. We caught a pile of them and tried to put a few mediums in the well, got a few and hoped the stripers would be in the mood for chunks. We hit a beach in Scarborough that we haven’t fished yet this season and put out a couple of livies and a chunk. We had a good run off on Sammy’s naked swimmer but missed the hook. No more action so we move over to the adjacent rocks and Sammy and Bobby’s macks start getting harassed by what we suspect is the same fish. Bobby’s balloon ends up getting taken down and he is on. Good fight and a nice 31″ striper is brought boatside.

Bobby’s 31″ striper from the rocks.

Not much happening after that and we decide to try for some more smaller macks. We find the macks again but still all large to horse. We take what we have and run to a beach spot for the incoming tide. After we set up we start getting takes but the stripers were very tentative. They would either swipe at the bait without grabbing the mack or they would grab and drop quickly. The best show was right next to the boat with a big striper chasing Bobby’s mack around in circles and finally smashing it on the surface. Unfortunately all the circling wrapped a bunch of line around the balloon and when the striper took the mack the line broke. Wicked cool to see 10′ from the boat but a shame to miss it. The chunk on the bottom finally goes off and Sammy brings in a 31″ fat striper.

Sammy’s fat 31″ striper that took a chunk.

Bobby had a strong hit then nothing. He reels it in and all that is left is the head of the mackerel with a crescent shaped cut right behind it. First solid proof of bluefish but never saw one again despite continuing to fish for another 2 hours. The fish are there but they have been very tentative only sniffing or half heartily taking our baits. I am hoping they heat back up as the moon wanes.

On Sunday 7.8, I went out on Jean’s boat with Captain Dickie in search of the first tuna of the year. We start out looking for those horse mackerel that we were catching the day before but in a different location off of Two Lights. Guess what we started catching? That’s right, beautiful snack sized mackerel that would have been perfect striper bait, we couldn’t buy a horse mackerel. Mother nature is a cruel mistress! We manage only one horse and can’t afford any more time bait fishing and leave with what we got. We start out at Pollock Nubble but it was dead with no life on it. With the smooth sea conditions we decide to make the 30 mile run out to Platts. We found the life at Platts along with 12 herring boats and many more tuna fishermen. Ran across a floating tuna liver from a recently caught fish that we found encouraging. We start a slow troll and soon after we get a knock down. I jump on the reel but it doesn’t feel like a tuna and sure enough the line goes slack after 30 seconds. We inspect the line and it is chaffed up and cleanly cut, shark. Two years ago we caught a nice thresher the same way but was hooked perfectly in the corner of the mouth.

Our guest Chuck with a nice thresher

The rest of the day was uneventful and we wrapped it up with some bottom fishing.  We ended up with several nice cod, couple of haddock, cusk, and a big pollock. Still a little early for the tuna, I can’t wait for them to settle in to the area.

Finally a great stretch of weather as long as we were off the water by early afternoon as the pattern for the week was end of day thunder storms. Great week to be on the water as temperatures on land were in the low 90s.  The mornings were super and the seas were calm.

On Sunday 7.1, I took out Sam, Carolyn, and Chrissy with hopes of showing Chrissy some Maine striper fishing. She and her family have a long history of fishing in Long Island Sound but has yet to experience a Maine striper on light tackle. Well, guess who started with the hot rod? Chrissy gets the first with a healthy 31″ striper and continued to have her bait hammered by multiple fish and ended up with 4 stripers for the day and missing many more. I think Chrissy really enjoyed herself as the ringing in my left ear finally went away a couple of days ago, she even gave me a striper lap-dance!

Chrissy’s striper lap-dance for Captain Keith 7.1.2012

Of course, Sammy and Carolyn came on strong after Chrissy’s hot start and combined for 8 stripers up to 34″. Great fighters with Carolyn having a striper peeling off half her spool making us think she had a 40+” fish that ended up being 34″, I was surprised. We had plenty of fish around the boat and had several doubles and almost had a triple. We were looking at a striper hassling Sam’s bait. I looked around to check the others and could not locate Chrissy’s balloon. “Hey, where’s your balloon?” Sure enough a striper had taken her mack and pulled the balloon completely under, fish on!  The disappearing balloon happened twice. Ended the day with 12 stripers landed and many more missed. Great day on the water and a super way to introduce Chrissy to Maine stripers on light tackle.

Carolyn with a big striper that ran of half her spool. 7.1.2012

Sam and Carolyn with a double. 7.1.2012

On Monday 7.2I took out Allan, his son Bryan, and his son in-law Eric. We started the day working hard to get our mackerel for bait but eventually put enough in the wells to go striper fishing. Hit the beach west of Old Orchard and let some mackerel out for a swim. Took a few minutes but got a take on Allan’s rod. As we were waiting to set the hook, a sloppy jalopy stinky 2 stroke boat trolls right over his fish and it drops the bait. It’s a big ocean, a little courtesy please? Not to worry, Bryan hooks up and lands the first striper. Things became a little quiet so we try another spot only to be chased off by a Life Guard who felt we were a little too close. Moved a little east and set up again with Bryan landing a nice slot fish for the dinner table. It hasn’t been easy getting table fare this year as Maine’s regulations is 1 striper 20-26″ per person, they have just been too big. Bryan’s striper just made it at 25 15/16″ and went home for a very tasty meal. Eric’s rod goes off next and he has a good one on. After a long battle that was well fought by Eric, I lip and bring onboard the largest striper of the year at 38″. Great looking fish with wide shoulders and a healthy glow. My Nikon froze up on me and had to use the phone, wish I had a better picture.

Eric’s 38″ season leading striper

We were into overtime and getting ready to wrap up the trip when Allan’s rod goes off. Allan does a good job and brings a large striper boat-side in overtime at the buzzer! Great way to end the day right before the rain with a good crew.

He shoots, he scores! Allan’s buzzer beater. 7.2.2012

On Tuesday 7.3I took out Sam and Ernie who have been busting each others balls since childhood. The verbal abuse commenced with catching mackerel for bait and continued till we returned to the dock. It was difficult for me not to laugh out loud and  pile on no matter who was getting the business. This was the day we felt the effects of the full moon as there were stripers around but they were not aggressive. We had a lot of stripers pick up and drop baits quickly. The guys did manage to stick one each and enjoyed a really nice day on the water.

Ernie’s striper on a bright blue day.

On Thursday 7.5 I took out Sam, Ernie, and Bobby on the day after the full moon with hopes of finding more aggressive stripers. We step our game up and leave the dock at 5:00 AM. We start off well with running over bait even before making it to our mackerel spot, put a few large ones in the well and try one other spot for smaller snacky sized ones. We run over to our proven Cape spot and don’t get even a sniff, errrrrr full moon. We take off with hopes of better luck at one of our beach spot. After setting up at the beach spot we start getting action with stripers chasing baits but not taking or quick grab and drops. We decide to change strategy and go for the quick hook sets.  Bobby strikes first and hooks a nice striper in the low 30″ range. Ernie misses a couple good takes that we should have stuck, one gave us dramatic surface smashes. Bobby hooks up again with a striper that freaked out after it was hooked and gave him a great fight. I really have to give it to Bobby, he has a natural ability to properly fight large fish on light tackle. Ernie’s bait gets a little more harassment and of course Bobby hooks up again. Sammy worked hard all day but didn’t get much love, I guess you can’t be “The Frog” every time. Bobby gets all 3 fish on a day that everyone worked really hard.

Bobby and his freak-out fish. 7.5.2012

Bobby mid battle. 7.5.2012

Last weekend started out very nice with great sea conditions. On Saturday I took out Vince and his friend and found the fish and they gave us a good show with several big stripers smashing the live mackerel on the surface. The problem was they weren’t finding the hook after dramatic takes. It was part bad luck and part technique adjustment, Vince and Billy are fly fishing trout fisherman and setting a hook on a trout and sticking one in a striper are two very different events. They ended up going 1 for about 20, put the first slot fish in the boat at 25″ and lost one right at the boat, missed some big 40″+ fish.

Sunday I tool out Alden and two of his guest on a spectacular morning. The ocean was so flat it felt like we were driving on asphalt. Had trouble finding mackerel again but eventually got in to them and filled both live wells. Many of the Mackerel had bite scars on them, along with them being scarce indicates that there are some bluefish around. We decided to take a trip over to the shore near the Head Light and found someone in our honey hole after all that traveling. Fished a couple of spots, saw a fish follow our mackerel but wouldn’t take. We had another swallow a mack and swim around with it like a dog on a leash and we weren’t sure it was a striper as the mack had slid up the line under the balloon and appeared to be swimming. After 20 minutes of swimming around it was time to leave and Chip starts to reel it in only then realizing we had a 25″ striper on the line! Bizarre day with the stripers being unaggressive on a very calm morning.

Beginning of the week was a wash out with the weather and had to cancel a few trips. Took out my wife Nelly and her friend Caryn who was visiting from Idaho later in the week and scored some nice lobsters. Nelly was trying to catch some mackerel for bait and had a big hit followed by half her rig missing when she reeled it in. Bluefish? Good stretch of weather coming up and look forward to taking out Sammy and his family.

Lobstering at Richmond Island with Caryn, Nelly, and Austin

The season is off to a great start with a lot of bait around and large stripers between 28-36″.  It started May 27th with Sam looking to stock his freezer with mackerel for bait fishing the beach this summer. As we were into the mackerel Sam has a 36″ striper smack a mackerel right off his rig at the surface! We were both shocked and just looked at each other with a big grin. We hit the beach and proceeded to have our mackerel hammered by big healthy stripers. Great action for mid season never mind May!

Happy Sam 5.27

Alden with nice one

George in mid battle with a 32″ striper

The next few trips were also good. Joe caught his first ever striper and Alden and his crew had a great trip with several really nice fish. Took Phil and his two boys out yesterday, we landed one, lost one, and missed one. They did go home though with seven lobsters from my traps on a beautiful day on the water. There are rumors of bluefish around, I haven’t seen them yet. Could get very interesting.