Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Capt. Joel Koch
July 8, 2002
Portsmouth - Saltwater Fishing Report

July 8th

The heat of the first week of July made the Striper fishing a little tough for most anglers. Live bait was hard to come by and were scattered due to the heat and very warm surface temperatures. Anglers who keep live bait dockside overnight were alarmed to find the 70degree plus surface temps. had killed off most of their saved baits.

Those who were able to find live bait (Pollock or Mackerel) were rewarded with consistent action throughout the warm spell, as the Striped Bass were still thick in the river despite the warmer temperatures. We had a real fight on our hands on Thursday as a large Bass struck a bait rig as were bringing in some baits. With the light line used on the Sabiki rigs I set the drag real loose and had the fish on for a long time until he broke off as he made a final run near the boat, oh well!

Anglers fishing for mackerel were surprised by the larger fish that had now moved in to the mouth of the river and near shore humps. These larger mackerel put up a good fight on lighter tackle or when caught in numbers on Sabiki rigs.

Cooler temps. made catching live bait easier until Saturday’s winds picked up and made it real difficult to slow drift or anchor and fish outside of the mouth for bait.

On Monday July 8th fishing seemed finally back to normal. Surface schools of feeding Striper were busting baits all morning around Hilton Park and the General Sullivan Bridge. We caught many of these smaller fish on 8lb spinning tackle using white marabou jigs. No other anglers were working these fish and we could have stayed on them all day but instead decided to chunk for larger fish. Within a few hours using cut bait we were able to boat a large number of fish including a real fat 34” bass that weighed close to 20lbs. A great fight on the lighter bait casting tackle we were using.

Good luck and good fishing.

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