2002 Striper Season 

All I know is, if we don't get plenty of rain this spring it's going to be another dry year ..... not good!

Mid May, 2002:And away we go!.. we've been getting some serious rain lately. It's looking better and better.

Fishing Reports

May 25, 2002: Well I guess we received the rain we needed. The action is just getting started and the magic month of June is drawing near. Water temperature is just clearing 55 degrees in Winslow and the action is just picking up. Ocean temperature is 48-49 degrees based on the NOAA buoy data. Fish are being caught from the WTVL/Winslow bridge all the way to Augusta/Gardiner. The same choice spots should be good for action. I've heard rumors of decent fishing to be had in Sidney as well. so far this season is looking pretty good. Not a lot of schoolie size fish early but the fish we're catching are respectable to say the least. Fished Winslow which was slow and cold/windy, Augusta which was windy as hell but we caught some nice fish. 

going back to Augusta/ Sidney tomorrow.

May 26, 2002: Awesome awesome awesome!!!

May 27, 2002: Fished the Kennebec from the WTVL bridge to the Park. Real good fishing early before folks arrived with outboard motors.  

June 10, 2002: The stripers have been spread out from Waterville to Richmond and beyond. Some real good fishing can be had for the quiet stealthy fishers. Big fish are in now but the water temperature has been dropping with lots of clouds and plenty of rain. The timing of the rain is perfect, but the temp. dropping is not. These fish that are up in the river now are looking to spawn and would love to see 65+ degrees or they may pull back and wait for the proper temps to do their thing. 

There has been good fishing all places that I have tried from Waterville down to Richmond. Nice big healthy fish! much earlier than expected. Ocean temperature today is 52 degrees. NICE!

Some decent fish are being caught in Waterville but not as large as the fish in Sidney South. Spawners are here but we need some warm water now. Last checked water temp. was 60 degrees down from 65-66. The river level should be up in the next couple of days and temp. may be even cooler. 

June 15, 2002: There is still real good fishing to be had in the Waterville area. The best fishing will be had at night from now till fall. The Alewives are heading to sea now and very few are left at the base of the dams. Blueback herring are showng up to take their place as bait for the stripers, nowhere near the Alewife numbers but just seeing the bluebacks in is a good sign for the end of the month and some of July for local fishing. Water temp. is back to mid and upper 60s.

June 29, 2002: Fished Augusta south this day and had good luck fishing sliders and sluggos in large sizes. Almost all the fish caught were in the top 12" of the water column. The action shut down once the outboards started running and the sun got high. Real good day Travis the striper king had a monster on that got off after a nice fight ... caught about 30 fish this day and had a blast. 

July and August: kind of slow for daytime anglers, however the night fishing was fun and fruitful most nights that I fished. We had fairly high water temps. but still caught nice fish for the conditions we were faced with. We fished mostly from Augusta to Gardener, dead drifting jigs from an anchored position next to the deepest channels that had boulder flats adjacent to them. That seemed to be the most consistent pattern this summer.

September 15, 2002: The fishing is just getting started in the Waterville area now under low-light conditions. A decent amount of bait has been released (a little early) and some nice fish are being caught. 

September 15-21, 2002: Some real good fishing to be had after dark in the upper Kennebec. Dead-drifting weightless rubber baits in dark colors is working really well. Tonight was the full-moon so tides should be good this week and should kick the alewife run into high-gear. We need some rain real bad right now to keep the water levels up and allow the alewives to migrate out of the inland ponds and lakes. There is plenty of bait in the river right now that are holding and schooling before the big move. There are nice fish to catch for those who wait it out and stay late. I didn’t bring the camera but wish that I had!! I damn sure will tonight! no one will believe me but this night I have a witness.. ole Travis caught some nice stripers late. I caught some good ones as well in the 30-36 inch class, and broke off twice with 20 lb. test.

Tight lines all!!  

October 1, 2002: The stripers got a little weird the last few days. From what I can figure, they don't like the greenish water coming over the Sabasticook dam. Fishing was fine until they (dam controllers) let the spillway go and the surface water above the dam was apparently too "yucky" for the stripers. Even the small-mouth wouldn't come in to feed. the spillway is closed back up and the fish are starting to come back. There are some nice fish around but the numbers are slow. Should pick up into mid-October. The fishing should start getting better down-river as the alewives move down. 

good luck!