The striper fishing last week started out pretty good. Capt Al had a very good end to last w/e, with several fish in keeper size. Capt Dave and I fished Monday with Dave’s friend Guido and experienced a very slow day for this time of June. We boated fewer than 20 stripers and only one keeper.

On Tuesday I had the pleasure of hosting Dan Kelly for LI, NY. Dan has been on a mission to tag and release 10,000 stripers. He has been doing this for nearly two decades and was 40 stripers from his goal when we set out on Tuesday morning. The weather was going south fast, with the wind coming up strong from the northeast. We started fishing along the Salisbury flat just across from AYC and quickly landed a half dozen stripers including a nice 27” fish. The wind was now a steady 20 mph and building. With the wind building I became less confident that we would be able to fulfill Dan’s goal of forty tagged stripers. As the tide continued out, we moved from the Salisbury flat over into the brunt of the wind at Joppa. Casting and drifting became a significant challenge. Over the next two hours we managed nine more stripers including a nice 35 inch fish. As the day came to an end, we had managed to boat and tag only 15 stripers, a far cry from what I would expect from the Merrimack in the middle June. I was to say the least, disappointed, but overall we both had a great day trading striper stories. I have to mention that Dan has landed two stripers over 60 pounds! Both fish were caught off Long Island in the early 80’s, a year apart, and both on a live eel. I didn’t have a story to match that accomplishment!

The weather remained nasty on Wednesday and Thursday with strong on shore winds, thus keeping us off the river. Capt Al and I fished clients Friday through yesterday. The action did not pick up and we both worked hard to put fish in the boat. Why the striper fishing has slowed is a big surprise and a bit of mystery considering the date. Middle of June is normally prime striper time on the flats. What we think is going on is that the “bite” is happening in the dark hours. Normally this is more of a summer pattern of July rather than mid June. We do know that a large pod of menhaden are out off the river mouth and this could keep the bigger fish from coming up river to feed. We plan to get out in the dark hours this week and see for ourselves if the stripers are there and feeding.

The Cape Ann boat and shore fishing last week was difficult at best due to the persistent strong EN/E wind. The one report that I have is that a pod of large stripers have set up shop just outside of Gloucester harbor at the groaner. The chumin’ and chunkin’ gang are doing well.

Capt Skip Montello