Maine Striper Fishing 2013

Check out the new website for Coastal fly angler, more to be added soon!!
I am in the FL Keys until Late May and look again to make back just intime for early Striper season. Photo??
email your best discription to win a Hat and T-shrit..
Capt Eric Wallace 207-671-4330

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New Website March 2013- Coastal Fly Angler

Coastal Fly Angler has new website for 2013!! with Maine's Striper fishing season still a few months out, check for updates and reports from the Fl Keys Tarpon season, here on the blog. We look forward to giving you the most up to date honest saltwater fishing reports for Maine's coastal waters look for bios on the new guides to join Coastal Fly Angler and there trips and reports. Launching Mid March!!!!! with updates to follow throughtout the spring...


Over the past several year I was able to fish with one of the best Permit anglers in the world,with his passion for Permit fishing came his Passion for protecting the fishery!!Jon Ain started the March Merkin Permit tournament in the FL keys with hopes to raise money and awarness for the issues that threaten the fishery and its value to the anglers and guides. Jon Passing this past november came way to early,but his feverish passion to protec the fishery lives on. I have donated guide trips over the years to the March Merkin and will continue to do so in Jon's name, also I encourge all anglers to join Bonefish,Tarpon Trust. 
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Some fun stuff still to be had here in Maine, windows can be short or you might find snappy fish on both sides of the tide, here on Casco Bay we have been seeing some good surface  feeds on the flats near the rivers and bigger bays around the 2-7 ft range on the incoming tide.

This past weekend was pretty crappy and windy but we did give it a go and found some fish and the water temps are still holding well,  the bait is poring out of the rivers and on the the move. Now as I write this the big full moon is out and I always suspect of fall full moons and fish moving out of here on them, we will see? doing trips the next three days and this upcoming weekend and will try to post or  drop a line or give a call for quicker  updates, if the fishing remains as strong as it did this past week this upcoming week, I will continue to offer trips the following week if the water temps/weather and fishing in general holds up. So give a call and either Capt Mike or I can get you out,



Capt.Eric Wallace
207-671-4330
www.coastalflyangler.com
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Maine striper fishing

First off need to apologize for a lack of reports on the blog, I have been  guiding one to two trips day all summer and add in a filming for Howard Films who brought you ( Chasing Silver) new project, simply I have have been on the water to much to get anything else done.. A quick view looking back on August just gives me smiles!! the sight fishing held up really strong and we just boated a good amount of f nice fish on crab patterns in the shallows. For the most part my entire summer has been in the skinny stuff and when I look back at how few hrs that went on the outboard versus how many pairs of sun/poling gloves I went through, I would be more than happy to see a season like again... Looking forward things will change small bait is starting to drop out of the rivers as well few schools of adult pogies are in the Casco Bay and  a few areas  the peanuts have made a showing and offered a few good surface feeds. In the shallows we are really starting to see the fish school up more and more. you can still get them to eat your crab or shrimpy pattern pretty good but the tight groups and starting to play follow the leader and looking for the few fish that wonder off and presenting to them seem to get the good look and often eats. I had an angler from london out this past week who spends a ton of time in Cuba chasing permit a very good skinny water angler he went 8 fish boated on 12 cast on the sand flats fishing a small crab on the sight~ thats fun stuff!!!!  The good sun angle is shorting with the days but with in the schooled up fish are slowly starting to show themselves with group feeds we should see some very good fishing along Maine's coast i would think the best we have had for some years, but you wont know if your not on the water...            

Capt.Eric Wallace
207-671-4330
www.coastalflyangler.com
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Maine Striper Fishing Reports


Crab Size that has been working for us, 12 ft leader down to 10 lb!!

Well, if you judge a fishery on opportunities this is nuts how many nice fish are in Casco Bay or all Maine's striper waters right now!!!! But getting the eat has been a little bit of chasing an early start, tides and reading the fish. The later being the most difficult if you are fishing from shore or a noisy boat, simply the fish don't need to eat our flies they really don't need to waste energy chasing our flies, they have all they need and can eat when ever they want. But they are stripers and there are always a few who are a little more snappy, one thing that has been consistent for us is not to throw a the big groups, I know it hard to reframe from doing so, but those fish are social and read off any nervous energy from the group, Read my last post on the Green merkin crab it has been our best producer for the last 2 weeks followed by a small olive sand eel pattern I tie with Finish Racoon. WE are targeting tides and sun angles for sight fishing and missed a few of the early starts exchanging them for the sand on the incoming tides,and it paid off!. flats..../> Capt Eric Wallace 207-671-4330
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Maine Striper Fishing Reports

Even if the bite slows down the sight fishing continues to be excellent when the tides and sun angles come together, the amount of fish in Maines waters is impressive but also the amount of food these fish have combined with warmer water temps and last weeks bright moon had the fly anglers thinking a little bit out of the box to get some eats. The next few days tides on Casco Bay are not my favorite, going into a slack high tide just after sunrise, try all black flies fished a little deeper or banging a popper of the banks might turn on the right fish. Looking forward we have fun tides ahead plenty of fish should contuine being a fun summer here in Maine. Here is a few photos of fish that ate our crab pattern sight fishing the sand flats..    
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Maine Striper Fishing Reports

When my angler casted to this fish on sand flats, we thought it would be a spunky battle on a 8 wt 10 lb floro and and a small crab pattern in the skinny water. The Bass ate the crab and turn for a quick run then just stalled out, we where just waiting for another burst and a chance to see backing wich often happens on the sand flats by far the best fight you can get out of a striper!!! as we got closer we knew something was not right and by the looks of it the fish has signs of Mycobacteriosis an emerging infectious disease that affects well over 75% of the resident striped bass in Chesapeake, we often don't see the signs here in Maine as the cooler water is said to help temporality clear it up a bit. There are many groups working on the study of Mycro and funding Seems to be a issue,Groups like Striper Forever, CCA and many more have help supported getting the word out, and a consistant eye is needed to kept a watch on the health Of the Chesapeke watershed.. MAINE SALTWATER FISHING REPORTS, overall we are off to a very good start the amount of fish in the Casco Bay system is the best seen in years!!! But the amount of food is also very high add in water temps that are up a bit from last weeks heat wave making the fish very lazy and the bite a very short window, low light AM or on the tide incoming change. fish size wise is all over the place from 14 inch micros to 40 lb cows are being landed. There are going to days that the fish are snappy and hold up well thru the tide and days you will need to work your ass of to feed them, the tide will be key and thinking out of the box on the slower days might just get a few fish. Capt Eric Wallace 207-671-4330
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Flats fishing report for Striped Bass: Capt Eric Wallace


From Maine to Cape Cod Bay there are both big flats and small shoreline pockets that offer good skinny water fishing, and big tides that average 8 to 10 feet. The coast from Chatham, Massachusetts to Long Island, New York offers the same type of water but smaller tides, only 2 to 4 feet or so. Only Long Island has tide ranges up to 7 feet.

The bigger the tides the faster fishing conditions will change. In locations with a 2-foot tide a flat might be fishable for the entire day; a flat with a 10-foot tide will be most stable around low tide, sometimes for several hours. Once the strong flow begins be prepared to move with the flow so as not to get trapped by the rising water when wading.

An early incoming tide will be the most productive in many locations. Stripers feel more at ease and as the flats cover there is food like dead sand eels, clams and crabs that are easy targets for stripers. This is especially true where tides are biggest. However, a falling tide in places that trap baitfish along edges and inside basins and drainage gullies can be excellent, too. Small creekmouths attract fish on a falling tide and they move upstream into the creek in search of food as the tide rises. Some small creeks are crystal clear and will remind the trout angler of Western spring creeks. Generally, big-tides mean a short fishing window.

Sand eels are the best baitfish for northern flats because they burrow and remain in the sand on dry flats through low tide. As water returns, some baitfish die and lay on the bottom. A flat where you see dead sand eels at low tide could be a hotspot, so stick around. Crabs are numerous on all flats and both crabs and shrimp are abundant inside creeks and estuaries. I do very well with a sparse, white Deceiver, and an epoxy sand eel fly made with purple Fluorofibre over cream Fluorofibre with some flash. Tie these flies 3 to 5 inches long. The lady crab, or calico, is a very important food source in the shallows; a reddish Del Brown Crab Fly is a good match for these. Any light tan bonefish fly 1 1/2 to 2 inches long will match both the common shore and sand shrimp that live on the flats inside most estuaries. And lightly weighted 3- to 4-inch Clouser Minnows in tan-and-white or olive-and-white are also very popular.

Top times for sight fishing are from mid May through early July. Then you can depend on good sunlight and the lower water temperature brings hungry fish onto the flats and into the creeks to feed. Some of the colder water locations from northern Massachusetts to Maine can have good sight fishing into August. In September and early October big flats might hold fish at times but the light is not as good as in summer. The key to good daytime fishing is cool water and abundant food sources.

In the spring there are places when you can sight cast and catch large numbers of smaller stripers, but the real fun begins when casting to big stripers. You will earn each fish, and you will remember each one long after the memory of a 20-fish day has faded.













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