By Tim Moore:
The striped bass fishing is finally consistent along the New Hampshire coast and estuaries. Until mid-June, an area might have been on fire one day and then completely shut down the next. There was no way to pattern fish. The alewife run in the Lamprey and other nearby rivers lasted through almost the entire month of June which always distracts stripers from anything anglers throw at them, except live alewives. Now fish are filtering in and out of Great Bay and Little Bay with each tide, and the Piscataqua River is full of stripers almost all the time. The arrival of mackerel and silversides has helped considerably.
Our kayak angling guests have been enjoying some great schoolie action with stripers routinely blitzing around the kayaks. Don’t worry about the size though; they make up for it in numbers. Plus there are often keeper-sized fish waiting in the wings for the schoolies to do all the work of corralling baitfish, then they swoop in to be rewarded for their patience. One day last month we filmed a segment for NH’s Wildside TV and the water was boiling with stripers for hours. Nothing more than a little paddling was needed to keep up with the roving schools of bass. When the fish are down a bit deeper we switch to a tube- and-worm setup and usually have great results. With no shortage of kayak access and calm waters to fish, kayak anglers can expect to catch fish with very little effort if they do their homework on location and the hot time of tide.
The shorebank anglers are getting their fill as well. Some shore fishing hot spots include Pierce Island in Portsmouth, the Rt. 1B bridges in Newcastle, and the jetties at Fort Stark and Odiorne Point State Park. Casting lures such as the new Viper Series or DM Minnows from Daddy Mac Lures from shore into eddies and rips has been one of the most talked about methods of the season. At slack tide my new Whisperer lure rigged with a 3/0 Texposer hook has been a hot commodity too. For the more passive anglers, dunking a chunk of cut herring or mackerel may be more your speed, and live eels fished at night can be deadly, especially for big fish. You can purchase live eels from Suds N’ Soda Sports in Greenland, NH. Live-lined or floated with a balloon are both effective methods for fishing eels at night for big fish.
Expect the fishing to remain hot throughout the month of July, but the full moon tide usually alters where the hot bite is. Time spent fishing is your best bet for keeping track of fish movements. As the water warms look for fish in deeper water, usually near structure. Also, don’t forget about NH’s new black sea bass regulations as they are often caught while striper fishing. Black sea bass must be at least 13” long, and there is a 10 fish per person limit per day.
FORECAST BY: Tim Moore, (603) 842-3572. Tim is a professional angler and owner of Tim Moore Outdoors LLC, offering NH kayak and ice fishing charters, and turkey hunting. He is also a member of Clam, Ice Team, Vexilar, Maki Plastic, Release Reels, Oozzie Jig, Jase Custom Fishing Rods, and Daddy Mac Lures Pro Staff. Visit www.TimMooreOutdoors.com for more information.