Maine Outdoor Journal

By DEIRDRE FLEMING, Staff Writer

Striped bass fishermen have reason this summer for at least a little hope. Early indications suggest the striper season will be better than last year's, which was dismal by all accounts.

Pat Keliher, executive director of the Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission and former director of the Coastal Conservation Association in Maine, said early indications suggest the stripers are back in Maine waters, and being caught in good numbers.

"I would say the fishing was off a good 50 percent last year," said Keliher, a former guide. "It is a shot in the dark saying how the fishing will be. Usually finding them in good quantities is not a problem, but last year, it was. To date, that has not been the case. I am getting very good reports from all levels and types of anglers."

Last year, Keliher said, catches of the migratory fish reported to the Department of Marine Resources – and anecdotally to him – started low and remained low. Because the fish cruise the shore in search of food, finding stripers normally is not difficult, but last season it was a hunt.

"Last year was an awful season and everyone worried about it. And it wasn't just in Maine. It was everywhere on the East Coast," said Maine striper guide John Ford.

"The striper fishing hasn't been good the last couple of years. Guys get discouraged and frustrated," Ford said. "The early indications are pretty good. There are a lot more fish in June than we had all summer."

So far this year, Keliher said there are plenty of river herring and menhaden, the baitfish on which stripers feed. And while it remains anybody's guess what the fishing will be like from now through September when the stripers start to head south, reports are good.

However, Brad Burns, president of Stripers Forever, a nonprofit group with 600 members that tries to preserve striped bass, is not convinced the striper population is strong. Burns said he has gotten reports that there are more stripers in Maine this year – but that doesn't necessarily bode well for the future, he said.

Based on the past several years, Burns believes that the population is in decline.

"I would say to people that are conservation advocates, not to be misled by having a few more fish in front of them this year. The situation with the striped bass is not well," he said.