| May 29, 2009 |
| The striper fishing last week slowed down considerably compared to the
previous week. The unseasonably cold, damp weather for the most part shutdown the action from Cape Ann to the
Merrimack Estuary. We had to work hard all week to get fish in the boat with most days producing fewer than a dozen
stripers per outing. Most of the stripers were good sized, ranging from 25 to 30+ inches. Some of the best action was
found at the bottom of the tide at the rivers mouth, but the steady onshore wind created large swells so it
was best to stay clear of that area. The slow fishing was experienced by most other anglers we spoke with, except those
anglers fishing well upstream at Haverhill where it seems most of the stripers have escaped to. They are up there
feasting on alewife and river herring (illegal to catch or have in your possession)and anglers tossing pencil poppers and needlefish are landing good numbers of stripers, some topping 35 inches. The shad run continues slow with good and bad days mixed in. John Lewis landed a 6 pound Atlantic salmon earlier in the week. He hooked it using a gold willow leaf shad spoon. The salmon produced a good battle and was successfully released afterwards. I’m hoping the return to more seasonable weather next week will bring back the good bite of two weeks ago and may be more and bigger stripers will arrive as well.
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