Offshore Fishing Report
Groundfishing has heated up over the past two weeks on the inside humps. We are finding legal haddock on the high ground in 210 - 240 feet. At the tail end of the drift, we are catching whiting in 250 - 270 feet. Whiting are under-appreciated as a dinner option; try making fish and chips or tacos with whiting fillets. We are experiencing a steady pick of ocean pollock in the 8 - 15 lb range mixed in with the other groundfish. Pollock are nomads and an old school Norwegian jig can often put a few in the box. We have also seen some nice 10 lb cusk and white hake over the past week interspersed with the whiting. Slices of mackerel and clams are the baits of choice for groundfish.
Baitfish are scarce this year down our way - ask the striper guys, the tuna fishermen, the whale watch folks, and the kid casting a diamond jig with grandpa’s rod off the local pier. Mackerel and herring are worth their weight in gold to many right now. Try the usual haunts first - West Cod Ledge, Portland Head Light, inside the harbor, the channel markers, etc. - then get a little more creative. The large schools of mackerel appear to be holding offshore. Remember, stripers eat harbor pollock too!
If there is such a thing, this is an old-fashioned dogfish year. The number of dogfish on the haddock grounds range from irritating to unfishable depending on the day and tide. When the dogfish show up, work through your options systematically: 1) Switch from bait to jigs, 2) Move spots on the ledge, 3) Move to another ledge, 4) Eat lunch, look for whales, and head to Saco Bay Tackle to replace lost and damaged gear.
We took our first shark trip of the season a few days ago and found some action. We brought a handful of blue sharks boat-side, had a few others playing hard to get in the slick, and fought a monster thresher on standup gear for over an hour. All good fun. Plenty of porbeagles are still roaming the ledges. Drop a haddock rack over the rail and hang on. Several other Portland charter boats have reported some mako encounters over the past week. If you plan to target sharks, be sure to have your appropriate permits and circle hooks before heading for the deep water. 500 feet outside of structure is a good starting place. There you can fish the blue dogs of the deep water, and have the potential to draw in a sporty shark from the hard bottom. My personal preference is to set baits relatively shallow. I usually place a bait at 50 feet, 35 feet, and a down line under the chum basket with a bait just barely out of sight. Often the bait under the chum will hook the beast, as was the case with our thresher. Predict the direction and speed of your drift and be sure not to encroach on the tuna fleet…fluorocarbon is expensive. We practice C.P.R. (catch, photograph, release) on all sharks aboard the Teazer.
August goes fast here in Maine. Get out there and catch ‘em up.
Tight Lines,
Jonah Paris
First Mate
TEAZER Charters
South Portland, ME
