07/13/2018 Fishing Report

Saco Bay Tackle Fishing Report

July 12, 2018

            Right now is a great time to get out and hit the water for some great inshore striper action. Large schools of pogys in the bay and mouth of the river continue to be the dominant source of feed and will be the most productive bait. Live mackerel will work equally well but have been much more difficult to locate. Pogys can be snagged with trebles or caught on sabiki rigs and can be found by looking for large amounts of surface activity and birds feeding. Plugs such as pencil poppers, spooks, Magic Swimmers and SP Minnows can all work well to imitate pogys with the right color selection. A Crippled Herring jigging spoon can be a deadly way to get a big bite in a blitz feeding frenzy as it will quickly sink below the smaller fish on the surface, reaching the larger stripers that feed at the bottom of the water column. Frozen mackerel, clams and sandworms are the top bait choices for beach fishing, day or night. Some productive local beaches include: Higgins, Ferry, Biddeford Pool, and Bayview. Those fishing from a boat should anchor off of some nearby structure such as beach front rock piles, points, and islands and fish either bait or the previously mentioned lures. If there is little feeding or bait activity, trolling a tube and worm rig or live eel can be a very effective way to cover lots of water and catch reluctant stripers.

            Some local shore-side freshwater bass fishing opportunities include: the Saco Industrial Park road pond, Millikin Mills Pond and the bass pond behind the Saco Transfer Station. The Saco River from the Skelton Dam in Dayton down to Rotary Park in Biddeford also provides great shoreside bass and trout fishing. Boat or kayak fishermen can catch lots of numbers in Little Ossipee, Arrowhead and Little Sebago lakes.

Curtis Forcier