6/8 - Mackerel Are Finally In and Bigger Stripers Are Showing Up!

It took a while. Definitely the longest I have ever gone without catching a mackerel, but they are finally here! After the horrendous wind at the beginning of last week, my buddies fishing offshore 25 miles on Jeffrey's were telling me the place was loaded with mackerel. After a few days of a hard easterly wind to start the week, it all came into fruition on Sunday morning. The water temps out front rose from 46 degree earlier in the week to 54 on Sunday. Also out there were big balls of herring and bigger sand eels in the 5 - 6 inch range. Up until yesterday, the only sand eels I have seen have barely been 2 inches long! 

Striper fishing was tough on Thursday and Friday. With no big bait and mostly small fish around, afternoon trips, and ridiculous winds we had to do a lot of searching to find fish during certain tide stages. We managed to catch some decent fish on light tackle despite the mis-forecasted 20 knot winds on Thursday and Friday afternoon. Saturday was a scouting mission and equally tough, but the weather was great. We found some fish in some new places including fish just above and below keeper size. We also tried some new areas and techniques that didn't plan out as hoped, but it could have been a tide thing at that time. We also found some 36 - 40" stripers that just weren't eating but we could see them cruising and spooking on top in the afternoon. We found schoolies of what seemed like thousands of bass, but they were keyed on 1 - 2 inch sand eels. We nailed a few, but they were super picky with the high sun and small bait.

Sunday started off tough and I went to look for greener pastures after a long run then come back for the last of the outgoing in the Merrimack. We managed to get 2 fish immediately on clams. Then, I got word from the fleet the mackerel were back! Our bite slowed down as the tide was running out where I was.  Ran all the way back and grabbed a bunch of bait, then headed to mouth to get the last hour of the outgoing and caught some decent fish immediately upon entry that were just shy of the limit. But boy, it feels good to have the bait back!

I'll update some pictures later as soon as my clients send them over to me! This weekend should be great with the bigger bass moving in and getting acclimated to the mackerel. It usually takes a few days for the bass to start really chewing on them. 

As of now, I have Saturday afternoon and Sunday open for anyone who wants to charter and experience one of the best times of the year...the week after mackerel arrive is historically great fishing!

Tight Lines, 

Capt. Chris Valaskatgis

5/16 - They're Here! OMG They're Here!! Stripers in Newburyport!

That's a thread title I have been waiting to write for a while now! We have an awesome spring weather wise and I already forgot about that lousy winter. Enough of that. Lets talk about fishing in the Merrimack River!

Went out Tuesday afternoon for a quick pass with my buddy Capt. Pete before a storm rolled in. We had heard of a few schoolies caught out on the beach front from a day or two before and wanted to explore a bit. Pete was the lucky one that day as he picked up the first striper of the year on Manolin. A decent sized schoolie around 18 - 20 inches. Bigger than the mirco bass we were catching last year. 

After running some errands Friday afternoon, I was able to get out for an hour at the turn of the incoming tide and was rewarded with EPIC topwater striper fishing. Took out my brother and buddy Pat and we nailed about 40 stripers between the three of us and we were the only boat around! All on topwater! It looked like a scene out of National Geographic with all the birds, bait, and busting stripers everywhere. These fish were a little bigger ranging from 23 - 27 inches with the FIRST TWO KEEPERS of the year in the mix! From what I know, these were the first 2 keepers from a boat in 2015! One for Pat and one for me! May 15th is now the earliest date I have caught a keeper! I caught some great video on the V.360 Camera which I will be editing tonight for you all to enjoy!

I poked around this morning as well on the opposite tide (turn of the outgoing) and got into some nice feeds of smaller 18 - 22 inch fish. I caught 6 fish on my first 7 casts before I started experimenting with some new lures trying to lure a keeper out of the mix. They were getting popped, but were a little too big for the fish to handle. I was in this feed for about 30 minutes before it died down and then had a few smaller feeds pop off. All in all I ended up with roughly 15 stripers for the day, with topwater spooks being the winning ticket.

It was a relief to see the numbers and different sizes of stripers. I didn't see many feeds like this early in the season last year and felt more like the past few years. 

So here we are 2015 Striper season! I have a couple Newburyport charters in the afternoon this upcoming week vying for more light tackle stripers and I will also take some time to get square with mackerel! 

Video and Pics to come. 

Tight Lines,

Capt. Chris

A Few Weeks Away

The boat is all cleaned, waxed, and almost ready to roll. This last week we finally installed our new trolling motor set up and will be installing the autopilot next week. I can't wait to try out the new toys! They will certainly put us on even more stripers on your Newburyport fishing charter! Fresh schoolies are making their way up the coast with most recent reports coming from Rhode Island! The water temp has steadily rose from 40 degree to 46 in a matter of 8 days. Another 4 degrees and we will be ready to to start targeting stripers for 2015! The herring run in the Parker River has been strong and things are shaping up right for us to be on fish by the first or second week of May. For you light tackle striper enthusiasts, keep an out here, Facebook, and Instagram for up to date Newburyport fishing reports and come aboard for an afterwork special when the fishing is hot!

On Saturday May 2, I will be giving an hour long presentation on fishing for Merrimack River Stripers at the Phoenix Room in Newburyport. Unfortunately, this is limited to 100 people and only available to members who belong to Newburyport Harbor Marinas, which some of you are! So if you're around please stop in and say hi and check it out as I expose roughly 83% of my secrets! 

Manolin Charters will be targeting the schoolies and even bigger fish for the early run of Merrimack River stripers this year with an assortment of Gibbs Lures. We recently picked up Gibbs as a sponsor and will continue to fish these awesome, classic wooden plugs to score some nice fish! Gibbs has a long history with northeast striper fishermen and have built many famous plugs that have been copied but never replicated. Add to the fact they outfit their lures with high quality components and paint jobs, these lures will catch and land the baddest of all fish, even tuna! 

We have also picked another sponsor VSN who makes the V.360 camera! This thing is super cool as it films a 360 picture you can scroll through (Click their image on the right bar to check out their website!). I already have outfitted the boat with multiple mounts to provide clients with the highest quality video to share with your friends and family. VSN is a relatively new company that will compete with the GoPro brining on a fresh, new idea to the world of action camera. You guys are going to love what this product puts out. 

Over the winter, I had been selected as the Secretary of the Northeast Charterboat Captains Association. Our next meeting is in May to cap off the 2014 - 2015 meetings. Our next meeting will be held in September and open to the public. We had some great speakers the past few months from local Plum Island surfcasting guide Steve Gallant to our member Mauro DiBacco from "Wicked Tuna!" If you are not a captain, you can join for $25 as an associate member and reap all the benefits by joining the association.

Manolin Charters has also created a new Instagram account. You can follow us @ manolin_charters. We are slowly building an audience, but will be adding way more real time photos as the season progress. If you have an account please follow, like, share, and comment on our photos!

Gear wise this year we upgraded our light tackle/spinning outfits with brand new Fin Nor Lethal 40's and 20 pound Power Pro Superslick line. We will also be adding two Shimano Baitrunner spinning set ups to fish live bait as some people feel more comfortable with a spinning rod! Not to be outdone, all our conventional outfits are now upgraded to a full set of Shimano Teremar rods of the highest quality.

I still have some weekends open in June. If you are looking to get out with friends, family, or coworkers June is typically a fantastic month! Get the date YOU want now for a Merrimack River Charter before things fill up. 

On the offshore note, I'm pretty excited to have 6 sharking trips already booked including the Newburyport Shark/Tuna Tournament in August. It's the 2nd year of the tournament and I had to miss last year's tourney due to football obligations. This year, I will be there and I couldn't be more excited to have a local big game tournament. I have fished tournaments before in Long Island and the Cape and its super, super fun! 

Come back here every now and again and check out real reports of when our buddies start showing up! The water temp is on the cusp and any day those stripers will catch up to the herring that are already here!

Tight Lines, 

Capt. Chris Valaskatgis