Fishing Report 6/13

          A dream of mine (at least since March) has always been to catch a fish while leading a zoom meeting.  So, when I saw that conditions looked just about perfect for yesterday and meetings starting at 8:30, I decided to go for it.  In the Kennebec River right now we have special restrictions for catching Stripers which prohibits the use of bait among other things. So, I needed a way to catch them without moving much and bait was not an option.  I decided to anchor up in a spot I knew had good reception and just put a diamond jig down around 15'.  I figured jigging would not be too much motion for the other participants which might distract them from the meeting and hopefully the fish would just pop buy.  Mission accomplished as you can see from below.  Caught two during meeting one and five during meeting two which was only 25 minutes.  Dream fulfilled.  

Currently the bite is good enough for me to catch them while I lead zoom calls for my school.  We are catching a lot on top when we see them and on the bottom as well. The fish range in size from about 9" to about 24".  Hopefully that will improve.   Macs are around but I would not say thick yet.  I've got to go, it's time to fish.  

Fishing Report 6/3

     

      Apparently, Striped Bass can be caught as far north as Penobscot bay with the best fishing the further South you go.  I had a chance to fish out of the Harraseeket River on Monday which is just North of Portland.  There were tons of fish and we were catching Stripers up to about 23" just chasing birds. 
        This easy bite to my South is encouraging because I have yet to see any kind of massive biomass of fish in the Kennebec River.  I have been fishing maybe a half dozen times now and until today the fishing has been spotty.  We have had our best luck with a Spook lure, catching the preponderance of our fish on the surface.  Below is a picture of one of the smallest fish I have caught in years.

        Today was definitely just one of those good days.  Overcast and calm, the conditions made it easy to find fish with the Spook Lure.  However, what made today most different so far was finding a spot to jig up some fish reliably.   Until today, I have been jigging the ledges in the Kennebec with little luck.  This morning, finally, I found a spot that produced at least one fish on every drift and many of those fish had followers.  In other words, I found the kind of bite a charter guy really needs to find.  Phew.  Hopefully I can get back there tomorrow and see if this spot will continue to produce.