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Maine Vacation - 2012

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  • Maine Vacation - 2012

    Maine Vacation – July 27 to August 13, 2012

    I just completed my 12th annual 18 day fishing vacation to the Bath area of the lower Kennebec in Maine. It was a decent trip. This year I caught 46 stripers of which 34 were quality fish in the mid-20”s to low-30”s plus a 37”er that beat my personal best for Maine by 3”. The remaining 12 were small, in the 12”-15” range. Most of the stripers were caught from shore and the remaining few were caught while canoeing salt ponds and mud flats. Most of my biggest stripers were caught while fishing the beach near Fort Popham. All were caught on a variety of soft plastics rigged either weightless or on a jig head. Lure sizes range from 4” paddletails to 5” and 7” bass assassins. Most productive colors were opening night, crystal shad and albino. Jig size ranged from .5oz to 1oz depending on depth, distance and swiftness of current.

    Overall, I caught about the same number of nice stripers as last year (this year 34, last year 39) but this year they averaged a couple inches bigger… a size increase trend that’s been ongoing for me over the past few years…. each year the size is a little bit better. It’s been several years since I last caught any small 12”-15” stripers in Maine waters, so catching several this year bodes well for Maine waters for future years… a new crop of young’uns moving into the area. Maybe they will stay around for a few years.

    During a 2 day period, big blues blitzed the Popham beach area just out from the Fort… and I missed it all. I was given all the gory details of the blitz by a few of my friends that were there both days to partake in all the action. A couple of anglers reported catching over a dozen blues up to 30” from the surf. Unfortunately, I was off fishing freshwater lakes at the time of the blitz and missed out on all the blue action.

    Overall saltwater fishing pressure was about as light as I have seen up there. Mostly I just meet the same vacationing guys that show up at the same time, at the same place, year after year, just as I do. Many of the big ramps near Bath would only have a few trailers in the lot. Several years ago I’d sit at these ramps and spy on boat fisherman with my 10X binoculars to see how they were doing. This year there were hardly any boats to spy on.

    Freshwater fishing was quite good but only at one lake I fish every year. This year I fished it several times from a canoe and caught two 21” bass plus several in the upper teens and a many more from dinks to low teens… dang decent fishing. I fished the heavy weeds using soft plastic minnows and plastic worms exclusively on the surface rigged either weedless or with an exposed hook when weed growth permitted. I also fished a couple of my other favorite lakes with fairly disappointing results, near skunks most of the time. I’m thinking the hot summer had pushed the bass out of the weeds into deeper water. And, when it comes to catching lmbass, my only forte is fishing heavy weed growth.

    So, all-in-all, a decent trip especially regarding size of both stripers and lmbass.

    (I attach a few pics of locations later after I process them for posting)
    Howard

    16' Oldtown Camper Canoe with a side-mount 40# thrust trolling motor.

  • #2
    That sounds like a great vacation. I look forward to seeing your pictures.
    John Veil
    Annapolis
    Native Watercraft Manta Ray 11, Falcon 11

    Author - "Fishing in the Comfort Zone" , "Fishing Road Trip - 2019", "My Fishing Life: Two Years to Remember", and "The Way I Like to Fish -- A Kayak Angler's Guide to Shallow Water, Light Tackle Fishing"

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    • #3
      Sounds like a lot of fun! Can't wait for the pics...
      Ryan
      Blue 2016 Hobie Outback
      Chesapeake Bay Kayak Anglers, Inc

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      • #4
        Sorry, no fish pictures. After a long fight I want to get the fish back in the water as soon as possible. Plus, pictures of fish I take while holding the fish at arms length just doesn't work for me and don't do the fish justice.
        ============================
        Home of the two 21" lmbass. Jeez, I love this pond. It has just the right amount of nooks&crannies amongst the spadderdock to make finding bass really sporting... it's like an Easter egg hunt for bass for grow men.



        Fort Popham, Maine. 1800s era fort, sorta like fort Mchenry. Maine is loaded with these old forts. That's my car/canoe in the parking lot.



        Popham Beach - Pic taken from atop the fort. Just past those old pylons is where I caught a lot of stripers from shore, including the 37"er.



        One of my favorite salt ponds at near low tide. Tide varies about 2'-3'. Stripers in this pond are always on max high alert. When fishing this pond from my canoe I need to go into ultra-stealth mode just to get close enough to the fish to make a cast. Bait in the pond is small, only a few inches long. To "match the hatch' I have to down-size to 3"-4" soft plastic minnows rigged weightless with exposed hook. The rod is spooled with 8# Fireline just so I can cast lures that small a looong ways so as not to spook the fish. Most of the pond is 2'-5' deep at high tide, 1'-2' during low tide. There are a couple of small deep holes in this pond where the stripers hole-up during low tides, then fan out at high tide to eat what ever they can find.


        Dam for the same salt pond. Probably built during the early 1800s as an ice pond. These blocks of granite were cut out the old fashion way by driving in a row of small wedges until the rock splits. Had to be a back-breaking job to split out these boulders then haul them to the site. The dam was broken out many many decades ago. At high tide the stripers just swim in & out as they please. In the pic the tide is going out. Sometimes I catch fish right in the suds of the out going.
        Attached Files
        Last edited by HJS; 08-23-2012, 09:00 AM.
        Howard

        16' Oldtown Camper Canoe with a side-mount 40# thrust trolling motor.

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        • #5
          Cool trip and photos. That dam for the salt pond reminds me of fishing for smallmouth bass around rocks and ledges and current breaks on the Potomac. I guess stripers act like smallies to a certain extent. I can totally see how fish would hang there as the tide sucks out from the breaks in the dam.

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          • #6
            I grew up in Maine so it's nice to see people taking vacations up there!! I was up there last year on the Kennebec and had a blast catching stripers!! Nice pics, the water up there is crystal clear, its great!
            Jeff B
            Perception Sport 12.5 Caster

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            • #7
              Congrats on a great trip. I went to school in Biddeford south of Portland on the Saco River so I know a little about the area. Very cool!

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