Seacoast New Hampshire Sportfishing

We fished this week through a consistent pattern: avoid the times immediately after a hard westerly blow, wherein the coastal water temps dropped a lockjaw 7 degrees in a matter of hours on several occasions. In between, we continue to see consistent action. On those westerly days – tough fishing but Guarantees fulfilled nonetheless…

I had the please of hosting a regular client, and his Mom. While raising one of my more photogenic clients, she had tried mightily to catch a striped bass, to no avail. After adjusting to the “no set” circle hook set, she proceeded to land the nights’ two largest fish, along with a “lesser” or two. Did it help that she was allowed to use the son’s sacred orange balloon color?

I’m now carrying a kite and tuna sticks on most trips, in order to allow us to pursue a combo when conditions allow. I’ve also started using a cast net to snooker a few baby herring dockside, as they seem to be striper candy when fished deadstick.

Next week is August, and this has been a fun season so far.

What are you waiting for? C’mon down….

Capt. Bob

We’ve had pretty consistent weather this week, and with it a nice combo of access to tinker mackerel and hungry stripers. It’s made for a fun series of twilight trips, some with eeling blended in on the tail end. Things changed abruptly Friday nite, with a two day blow that dropped the water temps 8 degrees and made all concerned cranky. We worked hard yesterday to scratch out action, and are pleased to see the wind turn in our favor once again. My $.25 says we’ll be back in the game momentarily.

Best,

Capt. Bob

I’m happy to report the tinker mackerel have re-appeared inshore, providing us our desired daytime bait. Fishing has been pretty steady, with a number of 30″ plus fish on most trips along with schoolies. This weekend’s frontal passage brought welcome relief from the heat, but also a big swell. We were surfing out there today, but managed to pull fish from each of the areas we could get close to. The coming days should see a moderation of that, and coupled with nice evening tides the prospect of some fun fishing.

C’mon down….

Capt. Bob

We continue to enjoy large numbers of schoolie fish, with the occasional biggie mixed in. Mackerel have become harder to get in recent days, but we’ve substituted pollock with no loss in action. The week ahead promises consistent weather, which should help us continue our string.

I’m fairly well booked, but happy to assist with finding a colleague should we not have a slot at your preferred date.

My Best….

Capt. Bob

Trophy season has officially begun….

While happily plinking away on schoolies yesterday, we doubled up on two truly large fish. One was broken off on an initial screaming run, while the other took us down to the reel arbor knot as I was frantically pulling anchor to chase. Chase we did, and after a great fight on a totally outgunned Shimano light spinning outfit we had a 47″, 41 lb fish aboard for an elated 17 year old. His cousin landed another keeper a short while later, and all mackerel were claimed by bass in short order. What a day….

We did have a slow trip recently, but in general we are enjoying pretty consistent action using live mackerel on light gear. Sometimes too light gear!

Summer’s here, and right now the catchin’ is easy. So……

C’mon Down.

Capt. Bob

We continue to enjoy good action with mostly schoolie fish, but are starting to see the trophy size ones. I say see, because as these latest pics attest they are one heck of a fight in shallow water!

We’ll continue to feature evening or first light trips to capitalize on the strong mackerel presence. The topwater strikes are a real thrill, so…..

C’mon down!

Capt. Bob

More of the same – goodness. Had a fun evening with this father/son/uncle trio. Lots of fish, a couple of heartbreaks, and a vow to be back for more soon.

C’mon down!

Capt. Bob

LOTS of fish around now. Not yet trophy size, but lots of fun on the light tackle in shallow water.

We’re fishing tinker mackerel, and on a given day getting enough to last is the day’s challenge. Finding fish – easy…

I expect the average size to increase in coming weeks, and hope we can keep mackerel inshore. Can’t wait for those twilght to nite trips!

The time is now, so…

C’mon down.

Capt. Bob

The fish are HERE!

Where to begin: school tuna 25 min. offshore, groaner cod less than that, or a full-on striper bite in tight. Lest you answer to hastily – remember the dire weather forecast for this past weekend, our liability insurance, and – oh yes – dependents expecting to see you home rather than read about you as a lightning statistic… Stripers it is!

The striper bit is full on right now. We have mackerel a mile offshore, and as soon as we accumulate a load of cigars we head in to the coast. Not much happening on the mackerel schools themselves, but that may change…

It’s a mixture of not-quite-legals through mid 30″ fish. Oh yes, got spanked by a biggie today: the perils of those light Shimano spinners! But what a smoking run [up until it turned towards a rock pile, too quick for me to chase with the electric ]

This season has started so hot there’s no telling what’s next. Hopefully it’ll hold, but if I were you I’d….

C’mon down!

Capt. Bob

Every season is different, and this one is getting off to a curious start. The water temp broke 60 degrees on Memorial Day, bringing mackerel inshore in droves. We’ll be starting trips this weekend, weather permitting. The quandary is whether to target stripers or those school tuna that showed up last weekend, too!

My restored Mako 22 is now in the water, giving us some flexibility based on conditions. Fear not, the “blue bandit” is still in the inventory, ready for shallow water duty.

It’s been a long winter, sooooooo…

C’mon down!

Capt. Bob