Fishing Report Week Ending August 7, 2004
The Bluefish have entered the river in large numbers and award us
each day with their acrobatics and great fight. Most fish are in the
3-5lb range but every so often we get a larger one in the river like
the fish Chris caught on Wed. Stripers still predominate our catch
and we probably get 10 stripers to each bluefish. Offshore, the blues
are dominating the catch. From past records it appears the blues have
entered earlier this year and in greater numbers, although from what I
have been reading, it appears that this year and next will have large
populations of blues around due to the cyclical nature of things.
We continue to get 20-40 stripers on most trips with keepers caught
almost every day.
I did do a trip with Nick and his father-in-law Ed last week and Ed really
wanted to try Stripers on the grill (he had heard how great they were to
eat). As our time on the water was near its conclusion I offered to take
Ed and Nick to fish in Maine waters, which has a 20-26inch slot limit
where I was sure we could catch a few in our limited time that would be
within the Maine size limit. The only thing was, I could not go back into
NH waters and would have to drop Ed off in Maine and Nick could drive
by car and pick him up. Ed decided that was a great plan and off we went.
Well of course our first fish in Maine was over 30inches and had to get
released, we did catch some Maine keepers and got another over 30 that
also went back in. Well Ed not only got to eat Striper that night but
also got to fight a few bigger fish. Sure wish Maine and NH could agree
on a size limit for the Piscataqua river.
Tight Lines Capt. Joel
www.nhsaltwaterfishing.com