| May 22, 2009 | |
As I indicated last week, the striper action has definitely picked up nicely. We fished Candy House Flat and the Merrimack estuary most every day the past week with good to excellent action in both areas. The candy house was very good last Monday with a solid number of hook ups with stripers ranging in size from 20 to 29 inches. I did best on the dropping tide fishing deep with flies, a (white head) green trickster. Other anglers also had hook ups with flies and weighed soft plastics. There are still a good number of herring in the Little River estuary and this should keep the stripers in there for awhile. I have had reports of numerous schools of smaller stripers within Gloucester Harbor feeding on what was described as small silver sides. We also heard that the mackerel have arrived at the State Fish Pier. Look for the oceanside action to start happening as the surf side water begins to warm.  On Tuesday and Wednesday, I fished with Brian O. and Capt Dave B. on the flats at the Merrimack. Both days produced solid numbers of stripers as large as 31 inches with several others topping 28 inches. The estuary is chock full of a mixed bag of striper food including peanut bunker, sandeels and small bluebacks. We managed to take stripers on just about anything we threw at them; but baitfish patterned flies and bone colored Jumpin Minnows were tops. I also hooked up with the weighed white sand lance and an un-weighed 7 inch white Sluggo fished at the surface. Overall, the flats are inundated with lots of stripers, primarily consisting of two year classes; 2005 and 2006 (not confirmed by a fisheries scientist). We only spent time fishing the dropping tide but I suspect that the action on the rising tide would be equally good. I expect to see some bigger fish, 36 inch+ to begin showing any day now.   The shad fishing continues to be slower than expected with anglers having a good day here and there. John L. called and reported taking 5 good shad hens at the Lawrence dam on Monday. Joe Welch reported a solid shad day on Wednesday, landing 4 or 5 nice fish and battling several others in just a short amount of time. Joe also reported a solid striper bite was underway as dusk approached but he was unable to get one to take his offerings. Thanks to Joe for the report!
 Looks like plenty of good action out there whether you are fishing Cape Ann or the Merrimack Valley. Again, look for improvement to continue well into June.
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