Hey Everyone!
Sorry for the long gaps in Merrimack River fishing reports but we have been very busy out fishing and catching stripers! I'll give a quick review of some recent happenings....Striper fishing in Newburyport remains very consistent with most trips bending rods with all the fish you want in the 26" - 27.5" range with anywhere between 1 - 4 keepers in the mix with an occasional day of more keepers. It's super fun as we always use light tackle!
There have been blasts of some bigger class fish dropping back from Lawrence chasing the hordes of 5" herring we have been blessed with this year! Also, we have consistently running into pogies the past two weeks! We haven't got them in recent years in the numbers we have been seeing but they are BIG baits and are usually followed by BIG fish. Mackerel, however, has been a different story...it has been difficult as a few waves of bluefish have made a run in the past week and made scared them away. I know of a few bluefish that have actually been caught and experienced two bite off's myself while drifting for stripers. Hopefully they start making appearances in their "regular" spots but until then I HIGHLY suggest booking a 6.5 hour striped bass charter as it gives us time to go to where the live mackerel are at the moment.
I'm going to try to take a day next week and go scout the scene for sharks. There is still a ton of porbeagles around and even though they are super cool, I'm hoping the blue sharks move in soon. Today is July 5th and they should be in pretty solidly by next week. If you are looking to tug on one of these bad boys book a shark charter out of Newburyport! Don't forget, Manolin came in 2nd place last year in the Newburyport Shark and Tuna Tournament!
Here are some pics from the past couple weeks.
Tight Lines,
Captain Chris