Striped Bass can be found in our Southern Maine rivers and marshes at the moment as well as in the back bays that hold a muddy bottom. Many of the fish we’ve seen are small, in the 10-16" range with a few larger fish mixed in. What these fish lack in size they make up in aggressiveness. After their long push north, they are here and ready to gorge themselves on Maine’s bait bounty. For us fly fisherman, now is the time to shine. And if you want to learn to fly fish for Striped Bass, I recommend doing so now. A set up in the 7-9 wt. range with an intermediate or shooting head line will get you where you want to be. Small clouser minnows, deceivers, and sand eel patterns will produce dozens of fish per day for you right now. Do not worry about color too much right now, just stick to the basics, white, chartreuse, pink, and olive. If you are in the river, try to fish an outgoing tide as bait will be flushed out and disoriented from the strong currents. Fish the incoming in the back bays, and flats, as the fish will be following the water in searching for worms, and any other bait fish that can live in the skinny water.

Shad fishing is still hot around the dam in Saco, anglers using small marabou flies have done very well on the fish. This year it appears that the best fishing has been around the top of the tide. Try to keep your offering low and close to the bottom as this is where they will be holding. A soft touch is essential as well due to their very soft papery mouths.