Striped bass fishing in Gulf of Maine fishing

In Gulf of Maine fishing, striped bass peak June–July and September and are around May–October, according to Fish Scouter's month-by-month season calendar. June: Herring and mackerel on the rocks — live mackerel off the Maine ledges, plugs in the Merrimack mouth and Plum Island.

1. JanuaryNot here
2. FebruaryNot here
3. MarchNot here
4. AprilNot here
5. MayArrivingFirst fish into Boston Harbor, the Merrimack and the Piscataqua late May.
6. JunePeakHerring and mackerel on the rocks — live mackerel off the Maine ledges, plugs in the Merrimack mouth and Plum Island.
7. JulyPeakRiver-mouth fishing in Maine — the Kennebec, the Saco, the Scarborough marsh on the dropping tide.
8. AugustAroundBluefin, pollock and the odd chopper. Tuna on the ledges and the banks; pollock and haddock on the party boats; choppers in Boston Harbor in the years they come.
9. SeptemberPeakThe fall feed before the run south; big fish on pogies in Boston Harbor and the Maine rivers.
10. OctoberLeavingLeaving — the last schools head out of Maine early in the month.
11. NovemberNot here
12. DecemberNot here

Cold, deep, rocky water: Massachusetts Bay and Stellwagen Bank, the North Shore beaches and Plum Island, the Merrimack and Piscataqua rivers, the Isles of Shoals and Jeffreys Ledge, and the long ragged Maine coast of rocky points, islands and tidal rivers (Saco, Kennebec, Penobscot) out to Platts Bank and Tillies.

Fish Scouter charts 369 lake, 151 reservoir spots in the The Gulf of Maine map area — the kinds striped bass hold on.

• Live eelsHooked through the lips on a 5/0 to 7/0 circle hook and sight-cast to a cobia or dropped to a cobia on a ray — the eel is the cobia bait.
• Menhaden (pogies)Nose-hooked on a circle hook and free-lined or slow-trolled; cut in chunks for the bottom.
• HerringCut-plug for salmon: head off at an angle, guts out, two hooks in tandem so it spins slow behind a flasher or a banana weight. Whole and live on a circle hook for stripers where the herring run.
• BloodwormsA piece threaded on a #2 to 2/0 hook on a hi-lo or fish-finder rig — the striper, spot, croaker and white perch bait of the Chesapeake and the surf.
• Sand eelsFree-lined or on a light jig head for stripers, fluke and bluefish; strips teased on a fluke rig.
• Minnows (fatheads, shiners)Hooked lightly through the lips or behind the dorsal on a #6 to #2 hook under a slip bobber for crappie, perch and walleye; a big golden shiner on a 2/0 to 4/0 for largemouth, pike and stripers.

• Leader10–20 lb fluorocarbon
• Hook#2–3/0
• Jig head1/8–1/2 oz
• Braid10–30 lb

Feeds in 42–80°F water, best at 50–68°F.

All about striped bass · The Gulf of Maine, the whole year