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MERRIMACK RIVER FISHING REPORTS
FROM CAPTAIN CHARLIE CRUE
CHANNEL EDGE CHARTERS
Merrimack
River Report # 15 September 9, 2004
Well, it is the time of the season when fishing
conditions change. We will soon have the experience of migrating
stripers moving south ahead of our wintertime. It can be a great time
for striper fishermen. Usually we find that the baby bunker lead the
action as the larger migrating stripers return from their northern
migration into Maine waters.
Over the weekend we caught lots of stripers in the
Merrimack estuary. Most were schoolies but some 20 pound fish have been
caught. I hosted my son and grandson over the holiday weekend. They
caught lots of schoolies ranging from 18 to 27-inches. My grandson
caught a 10 pound bluefish between the jetties, last Saturday. He did it
all, including fighting it to boat side, after which grandpa brought it
on board for them to enjoy for dinner.
Sunday was a bright day and the fishing slowed. My
clients caught some schoolie stripers but that was all. Since it was
Labor Day the boat traffic didn’t help the fishing. The mouth of the
river was treacherous on the out going tide so fishing was inside only.
A few football tuna have been caught by fishermen
with boats at my marina.
I had a report of good bluefish action off of
Halibut Point.
Cranes Beach area has been hot with stripers
chasing bait up to the beach. The fish were close to keeper size.
We had a rare occurrence on Newburyport Harbor when
a small young whale followed a sailboat into the AYC mooring area. It
was reported to be Beluga whale. They normally stay in the colder waters
of the Atlantic off the coast of Canada. Apparently it has been spotted
in other harbors and including Kennebunkport, Maine.
Merrimack River Report #14 September 2, 2004
I didn’t get out fishing the tail end of last
week. I was occupied with finishing my house painting chores. I am
thankful for the unusually nice weather that we had as I was doing my
paint job. I had a charter booked for Monday so I went out Sunday
morning for a couple of hours. Fishing was slow. I managed to pick up
some schoolie stripers on the early incoming tide in the “tooth
pick” area. That was all. A friend reported getting one bluefish off
of the north jetty.
My Tuesday morning trip with Larry and Bob,
experienced fly fishermen, turned out better than I anticipated. They
didn’t get any big stripers but caught an ample number as we fished
from the jetties up into the AYC mooring area as we followed the
incoming tide. The olive/white patterns and one of my new special flies
worked very well. I nailed a few stripers with my light spinning rod and
a white jig as I tested each area to determine if we had fish there. The
largest striper of the day was about twenty inches. We didn’t see any
bluefish although we trolled outside the jetties for a while.
After much rain during Monday night the morning
looked good for some “captain’s day off” fishing. I went to the
marina and found cloud cover and some fog but no wind or rain. It was a
go! The tide was just turning to incoming. I marked a few fish in the
river near the #15 buoy but did not get a response to a couple jigs so I
decide to go down to the jetties and see if anything was happening.
Conditions were ideal and there were only a couple of small boats in the
area. A couple of guys fly fishing from a small aluminum boat were
working the inside of the south jetty. I didn’t see them getting any
action as I passed buy to the end of the jetty. There I spotted some
sign of fish with fins occasionally breaking the surface. They were
moving relatively slowly so I though it might be bait fish of some kind.
I trolled through and had a solid hit but didn’t get the fish. I
sopped the engine and took out my new Sage Xi2 9wt with one of my
special flies (unnamed as yet). I cast out a couple of times and then
had a solid hit. The fish gave me a good battle forcing me to use the
reel drag, while letting it run, several times. It turned out to be my
first keeper of several weeks. It was a nice healthy looking 30-inch
fish. I laid it on the deck for a quick photo before releasing it.
I lost a couple of other stripers in the area when
they threw the hook. One of them rolled near the surface and looked to
be a legal fish. After that they disappeared. I fished up river with the
tide a caught some mid-twenty inch stripers across from the tooth pick.
Later I enjoyed lots of small schoolie action the AYC mooring area. It
was good to see some of the bigger fish back into the inshore waters.
Merrimack
River Report #13 August 26, 2004
I just read Mark Cahill’s intro of last
week’s Boston North Reports. I understand his frustration because of
the priorities that always loom up, requiring us fishing addicts to
fess up, and do some necessary maintenance to our abodes. I am
currently engaged in the scrape and paint routine on my house. I was
going to hire someone to do it but my sweet and frugal wife said I
should be able to do it and it would be a better result than hiring
painters. (I didn’t argue the second point). Anyhow I still get
mornings to fish because it is too wet to paint.
The fishing has been good out on the Merrimack.
Last Friday I had a guide’s off day and enjoyed some very good
action. Schoolie stripers were on the flats near the AYC area. Some
fish were well above schoolie size. I witnessed a plug caster bring in
what turned out to be a 14# striper. My friend, Bill, fishing from his
restored Scandinavian surf boat, was broken off on light spinning gear
by a large fish.
The weekend began with a washout on Saturday and
it was too busy with pleasure boaters on Sunday. Hence, I didn’t
fish. Monday was a paint and grass mowing day. Tuesday I was at
Hudson’s Outboards (I am the fly fishing consultant) in the bait and
tackle shop. It is a great place to pick up the latest fishing
information ranging from inshore to well offshore. Stop by if you are
in the area. I am there on Tuesdays until about 3 PM.
There has been some good largemouth fishing in
local ponds.
Merrimack River
Report #10 August 5, 2004
The
fishing in the
Merrimack
estuary is good. It is more difficult to get big stripers but hard
fighting schoolies abound. They give a very good account of themselves
when they hit flies or a small lure on light spinning tackle. Now the
bluefish are here to give tackle stressing battles. Last Friday my
novice saltwater
fly fisherman enjoyed catching his first striper and first blue on the
long rod.
This
week has continued to have both blues and stripers being caught inshore
on flies and light spin gear. The blues often do not show on the surface
but rise to chase lures right on top. My fishing gear has been tested by
blues of 5 to 8 pounds.
We
have been getting blues anywhere from the #2 buoy at the river entrance
all the way up to the yacht club.
Tuesday
I was at
Hudson
’s
Outboards & Fishing
Center
. I talked to a guy that keeps his boat at the same marina as I do. He
said that he, fishing alone on Monday, hooked up with football tuna two
times. They broke him off each time since he was unable to maneuver the
boat during the fight. He lamented not having a center console in place
of his cabin. Each type of boat has some advantages and some
disadvantages. I know from my experience that a center console is very
fishing friendly.
The
first hurricane of the season should produce effects near enough to our
coastal waters to stir up the fishing conditions. The generated currents
may bring warmer waters and tuna closer to our shores. It remains to be
seen what will happen to our fishing.
Wednesday
morning we found lots of schoolies in the river up by the AYC. Later
around the change of the tide to incoming there was a flurry of activity
with good sized stripers and an occasional bluefish.
Merrimack River report #8 July
22, 2004
Last Saturday morning I had some free time so I went out to explore the
fishing after a couple of days doing other things. It was a nice morning
with fairly clear weather and light winds from the southwest. I cruised
slowly down river from my marina looking for birds or fish on the fish
finder while I enjoyed my morning coffee and a pecan roll. There were a
few scattered terns looking around, also. When I got to the vicinity of
Buoy #11 I was ready to try some fly casting. First cast I had a hit and
brought a nice schoolie to the boat. After that release I caught small
stripers on my next five consecutive casts. Fun! I made several drifts
through the area and caught and released about fifteen stripers up to
24-inches before the tide slacked and the action stopped. I used an
epoxy fly that looks like a sand eel. I checked near the jetties. I
marked fish but no hits. After the tide began moving in I switched to
spinning tackle and tried for bluefish on a report by a friend that they
were in the area. Sure enough I had a solid hit on a Yozuri swimming
plug and the bluefish ignored my short wire leader and took both leaving
me with only line to reel in. I re-rigged with a  40#
shock leader and longer wire and soon had another monster hit. The blue
peeled line off of my reel. I was half spooled in no time and the blue
was mid-channel with the weekend boats racing by. I finally turned it
and brought it to the boat side. It measured 35-inches and weighed 10
pounds. My arms were tired!
Sunday I took my two clients to try for the nice
blues. We didn’t find them. We did get a good number of small stripers
off the north end of Plum Island and later found them in the AYC mooring
area. Olive/white deceivers worked well.
This time of year is the testing period for
fishermen. It can be difficult to get fish but it can quickly turn to
blitz fishing. Over the years I have caught some of my largest fish
during late July and August. Patience is required to get some nice
stripers and/or blue fish.
Merrimack River
Report #7 July 15, 2004
| Sorry, I did
not get a report out last week. The inshore fly and light spinning
fishing has been good but with fewer of the big stripers being
caught. Joppa Flats has continued to hold big stripers around the
high tide but they are very shy of lures and flies. At times they
will strike, but most often it seems to be an instinctive strike
at something in their local vicinity. On Monday I saw a spin
fisherman nail a striper of about 30-inches with a surface popper.
Schoolies continue to inhabit the estuary feeding on sand eels and
small bait fish. |
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There
was a school of fresh stripers in the
Plum
Island
Basin
a few days ago. Many were minimum keepers.
The
weather has been cool with reasonable winds to deal with. Some
mornings it has been so beautiful that fishing has almost been
secondary to just enjoying the morning.
Weekends have been very
difficult for drift fishing. Boat traffic and anchored bait
fisherman limit the areas to fish. |
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Offshore
the dogfish are creating problems for the “would be” tuna
catchers. Some have resorted to trolling to avoid them. Some
flounders are being caught outside the jetties.
There
are reports of some big halibut being caught offshore.
The marina where I keep
my boat has changed ownership. The new owners have renamed the
marina as the Newburyport Harbor Marina and intend to make it the
premier marina in
Newburyport
. They have installed a brand new dock system. It is first class.
Those of you that charter with me will experience the difference. |
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Wednesday
the local weather turned sour and so did the fishing. It was very
wet with a strong wind from the north and northeast. Some bluefish
were found near the jetties. The high surf light was on to warn
small boats to stay inside. We fished from the north of
Plum
Island
moving up with the tide and wind with little success. It was one
of those off days, although rare in this area, which does occur
now and then. I think a change
in the weather pattern is needed to get back to normal fishing
activity.
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Merrimack
River Report #6 July 1, 2004
The striper fishing continues to be
outstanding in the Merrimack River Estuary. People fishing with
me, including two 15 year old novices have been getting big
stripers. Some were taken with flies and others with light
spinning tackle. Just check the photos that I am including with
this report and you will get an idea of how the fishing it has
been around here. I get reports of very good striper fishing from
people who stop by at Hudson’s Outboards and Bait and Tackle
where I help out on Mondays.
Someone brought in a forty pound striper for
a photo at Surfland on Plum Island. It was caught with a surface
popper. If you get into the area stop by Surfland Bait and tackle
and check the photo board. Kay and her staff will give you all the
information on how, where and when to get big fish from the beach
or boat. They are great folks!
Saturday
my clients Jeff and his son Jeff, Jr., had a banner morning
catching four or five keeper stripers up to 36-inches. They also
lost a few large fish.
The other day (Sunday) my clients experienced
a bright sunny morning. That, of course, is not the best weather
for inshore fishing. However, Brian and his son and daughter did
get stripers, snapper blue fish and one nice big shad. All of
their catches were on spinning lures in the river and on Joppa
Flats.
Tuesday my clients enjoyed battling a couple
of keepers on Joppa Flats as well as schoolie stripers.
As we begin the July fishing period we can
expect more blue fish to be caught. We have already been catching
snapper blues in the river. The big ones should be outside in good
numbers. I recall catching a 13 pound blue fish out on Joppa Flats
last season. The big ones often follow bait into the river on high
tides. During this month we will continue to have good striper
fishing with big fish around. Last year a 54-inch, 55 pound
monster was caught on Joppa by a young fisherman using chunk bait.
Capt. Charlie Crue
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Merrimack River Report #5 June 24, 2004
The
inshore striper fishing remains good to excellent in the Merrimack
estuary area. 
Thursday afternoon at the end of the low tide I lost three big
stripers that hit sluggos on the surface near the AYC mooring
area. They were savage fighters and were able to shake the single
hook. It was a humbling experience for a striper guide!
After that my grandson and I collected some
nice schoolies in the same area.
Some
days it has been constant schoolie action on flies as it was last
Friday morning. My clients Ron and John enjoyed the specter of
small stripers feeding on sand eels just off of the south jetty at
the low tide. For a couple of hours they caught and released
dozens of fish. Later as the tide flowed up river they hit the
same action off of the sandbar at the north end of Plum Island.
They finished with stripers hitting flies near the AYC mooring
area and out on Joppa Flats. Two big fish were lost.
On
Saturday I hosted my son and grandson for a couple of hours before
a mid-day charter. They caught and released a couple of big
stripers that hit soft baits out on Joppa Flats.
Later
that day I guided for two novice 15 year old kids, Alex and AJ.
After instruction on how to cast with spinning gear and then how
to work the lures, they took up the challenge. They were
successful, and with a little help, managed to bring three big
stripers to the boat after losing a mammoth cow that I think was
between 45 and 50 inches.
Alex
fought it for 15 minutes and had it to boat side several times but
the brut would not give in and finally shook the lure slowly
swimming off into the deep. It was a sad moment. Check the photos
of their catches.
Surface spinning lures including sluggos and poppers have been
producing. Large flies of white with contrasting back colors of
olive, blue or gray with some flash have been working well. Out on
Joppa the lures and flies must be worked aggressively to get
strikes. 
Sunday
morning the fishing was slower with mostly small stripers and blue
fish off the north end of the island. Tuesday morning
my clients enjoyed steady action on stripers from the AYC area
down to the south jetty. Most stripers were of the
“twinkie” variety except for some bigger ones up to 29-inches
after the tide began moving back in.
There
were reports of some tuna being taken off shore. Also one
fisherman reported a huge basking shark surfaced next to his boat.
It was longer that his 25 foot Mako boat.
Tuesday and Wednesday I hosted two real fishermen from Florida.
Karl Wickstrom, publisher of Florida Sportsman Magazine and his
friend Ralph. The fishing was slow on Tuesday but they did get a
nice keeper. Wednesday, I chose to show them the beautiful up
river stretch on the Merrimack River. Fishing was slow but the
gorgeous day and scenic wonder of the area up to Eagle Island was
worth the effort. Later we went down to Joppa Flats to catch the
end of the tide and a hopefully a few stripers. As it turned out
we found some big marauders prowling the area. Karl nailed a
37-inch striper and I brought a 36-incher to the boat. We used
light spinning tackle and surface lures.
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Merrimack River Report #4 June 17, 2004
The fishing in the Merrimack River Estuary
has been terrific!! Stripers ranging in length from 30 to
49-inches have been caught and most were released to grow even
larger. Joppa Flats has been hosting some enormous fish. They are
difficult to get on flies or lures but persistent anglers have
been rewarded with some nice fish. Big flies imitating herring and
lures such as big Sluggos and poppers have been producing.
I am including some photos of stripers that
my clients have caught and released over the past week. I think
they will give you and idea of how our fishing has been.
Off shore there have been good catches of
tinker mackerel.
There are reports of some bluefish off the
mouth of the river.
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Merrimack River Report #3 June 10, 2004
The action, with big fish, took off this week.
Joppa Flats produced big stripers early in the week. The action slowed
later in the week.
 Wednesday
and Thursday produced lively action with catches up to 40+inches. My
California client, Jonathon, caught and released a 41-inch, 21 pound
striper that took a well presented custom deceiver type fly on June 3.
The fishing was slow on Friday morning with clear
bright sky. The afternoon was very good on Joppa Flats. I fished with my
client and caught and released a 31-inch striper. I also had a tremendous
hit where the fish cut me off before I could react (even guides mess up
sometimes). Saturday a north
wind prevailed and the fishing slowed dramatically.
Sunday the action returned. The early morning
outgoing tide produced many schoolies off the sand bar
 at
the north end of Plum Island. A friend caught a couple of keepers just
after the morning low tide. Later there were large stripers out on the
flats according to a report given to me by a reliable source. Some big
stripers are returning from chasing herring up the river and can be found
in the estuary area. The weather was wet and cool but the fishing has been
good to excellent.
I saw a seal out on Joppa Flats the other day. They
are usually down by Plum Island and don’t move onto the flats. It must
be the bait or small stripers that he was chasing.
 Offshore
fishing must be good. I saw a fisherman hoist a couple of
very large haddock to show a friend in another boat.
Monday morning my clients caught lots of schoolies
off of the sand bar. They were hitting jigs.
Bird activity, over feeding stripers has been rare.
However, one day last week there was a large school of
schoolie stripers at the upper end of Joppa that attracted the
terns for a half hour or so.
We had two days of high heat in the area. The first
one, Tuesday I caught up on yard work. The second, I had a charter. It was
bright and very warm. The striper activity was slower, probably due to the
bright sky. My client caught a few fish on spinning rigs but the whole
morning did not produce the usual fish. As I write this a front is pushing
through dropping air temperatures from the mid-nineties. Tomorrow morning
will be different weather so we will see what happens with the fishing.
Tune in next week!
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Merrimack River Report #2 June 3, 2004
The season is definitely here! The past week my
clients scored with many stripers. Most were small but we have been
getting several keeper size fish on each trip. On spinning gear white soft
baits have been producing good action. On the long rod, white flies,
clousers or deceivers, are connecting with some nice fish. The weather has
been tough with either wind, or cold rain, but the striper action has been
terrific.
Last Saturday I guided for a couple of Dad’s with
their 12 or 13 year old daughter and son. The weather was clear but the
wind from the northwest was close to 25 mph. They caught a few stripers on
the flats while being buffeted by the wind and waves. I decided it was
just too nasty and we went up the river to the Eagle Island area. There
the action was slow but the wind was tolerable. Late in the morning the
wind subsided a little so we returned to Joppa Flats and they enjoyed some
good schoolie action.
 The
next day the wind was less and my clients, Jim and his wife Sandy, enjoyed
the great action. They caught many, many stripers, including three
keepers. We released two and kept one for them to take home and cook.
The weather turned nasty again so I postponed a trip
and then took a couple of local repeat clients out to fish the flats on
Wednesday. They enjoyed almost non-stop action including the catch and
release of several stripers 29 to 31 inches (8 to 10 pound fish). My new
fly, as yet unnamed, produced very well.
 Mackerel
have been caught outside. They are reported to be big. Some anglers are
concerned that they are so large that they won’t be good bait for live
lining.
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Merrimack
River Report #1 May 19, 2004
 The
season has begun! It looks to be a good one, based upon the
early action. The Parker River produced early action at the end
of April while the Merrimack was inactive. I fished the Parker
River to get my first stripers May 8. I caught five or six nice
healthy fish with sea lice indicating that they were fresh from
the ocean. Isolated stripers were caught along the beach front
and at the north end of Plum Island during the first week of
May. The Merrimack action picked up around May 13. The river
mouth was hosting hundreds of seals. They may have slowed the
influx of stripers. I caught several schoolies with scars that
appeared to be from the grasp of a seal. The week of May 9 the
stripers began to move into the Merrimack River estuary with
large numbers showing on the surface on May 13 and 14. I caught
half a dozen schoolies off of the beach at the north end of Plum
Island on May 13.
 On
Saturday, May 15, I fished up river from Newburyport. We caught
schoolies of the small variety below the Chain Bridge. The
action was slow but steady. It was a very bright and warm day.
Because of the very summer like weather there was much boat
traffic. It didn’t help us fishing when a speedster went
roaring by. It is one reason that I prefer the early morning for
fishing. The following morning was overcast and threatening
rain. I went out alone after my client had to cancel. I went up
river fishing during the high incoming tide. I found a friend
out in his boat. He said he had been getting schoolies. Based on
his input I fished the area and picked a half dozen, or so, and
then the light rain turned into steady hard rain so I opted to
call it a morning.
Over the week end there were reports of
some legal size stripers that were caught off the beach and
under the Gillis Bridge.
Tuesday I took a client up river to fish
around the islands. We did well in terms of the number of
stripers caught and released, but no big ones. Most fish were
schoolies in the 15 to 18 inch range. There were a couple of
twenty inch fish. After a long cold winter those hard fighting
little guys were great therapy as they fought hard taxing our 8
and 9 WT fly rods. Richard enjoyed using my new Sage Xi2 9 WT
fly rod.
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