Sitting through our second Nor'easter within a week, I can't stop thinking about fishing! With school cancelled today (again...), I think its a great opportunity to update my Merrimack River Fishing Report Page. I'm sorry I haven't contributed anything since June 8th, but we a superb season this year. Millions of light tackle schoolies, all the striped bass you could stand to catch and limits nearly every trip, some truly world class big stripers, and a ton of fun were the highlights of the year. Below this post there is a little slideshow gallery of most of the trips this year. You can also find them under out pics page.
Before we move on to 2018, lets talk about the highlight of 2017
- 37 stripers caught over 40 inches!
- 2 over 50 inches!
- Form June to mid July an AVERAGE 4.5 hour trip was 35-40 stripers. Some days we had near that in just keeper size fish!
- Pogies! Pogies! Pogies!
- An almost Mako!
- Some huge record size blue sharks
- Schoolie Mania!
- Whales, tuna, and porpoises just 0.25 miles off the beach
As great at 2017 was, the feeling here is 2018 will be even better. For the third straight year we had an incredibly strong "Schoolie Striper" run. Most (re: all) of the fish we were catching in June were in the 27.5" - 31" range, which means they will all be keepers next year. And if the pogies come back, lets hope the cow stripers follow them up again!
The boat is going to have some really cool additions as well...but I will save those for when the cover comes off and we get everything installed.
We are upgrading all our conventional live bait reels as well to go with our custom fishing rods (which were a huge success ...everyone loved them!). When they get shipped out, I will unveil them here. My clients will be fishing with the perfect set ups for Merrimack River and Newburyport fishing. Our gear is better than most people's personal rod and reel combos.
If you are interested in a Newburyport Striped Bass Charter, I suggest you give me a call soon. I already have a lot of days booked, but the sooner you call we can ensure your date. Last year at times there was a 4 week waiting list once mid June hit and nothing available come August. Striped Bass from May - October and Sharks from end of July - September. Don't wait for the reports, make the reports!
