Fishing Forum

August 7th www.nhoutdoors.com This heat has many anglers "falling" into the water. The good news is the Blue Fish are being caught less then two miles off shore.Reports indicate that the Isle of Shoals is the place to be for some hot Blue fish action. Blues are known to be extremely aggressive this tome of year. Fast moving plugs and spoons work well. Poppers are the favorite plug for many Blue Fish anglers. Remember a short piece of wire leader. Blues have teeth! This also means special care is needed when handling these "swimming teeth". Long nose pliers or a Boga Grip works fine. A pair of wire cutters will make your live easier. Sticking with the salt water theme. Striped Bass are another favorite summer time fish. By now most of you have heard of the magnificent recovery of the wonderful fish. Fishing for Stripers is much like fishing for Large Mouth Bass, but on a larger and stronger scale. New Hampshire's coastline although small offers some of the best angling opportunities in New England. Spin and bait anglers do well fishing along Route 1, from Rye to Seabrook. As for spinning tackle, a six to seven foot heavy action rod with a matched reel spooled with 25 pound mono. Mackerel plugs, eel jigs and buck tail jigs take fish with consistency.. Bait anglers fish with sea worms, sea clams, cut mackerel, whole frozen mackerel and of course live eels. Please use circle hooks when bait fishing. They are the best thing for the fish. Circle hooks take some getting use to. There is no need to set the hook hard, just let the fish come tight and he's on. Whether you drift fish from a boat or fish the bottom from shore Striper fishing is FUN! Fly rod anglers this is for you! Get yourself an eight weight rod, reel, intermediate line and a bunch of chartreuse and white clousers and head for the coast. I remember my first striper on the fly. I thought I hooked a passing boat! I landed the fish, it was a 14 inch schoolie. I said to myself "that little fish did that to me". From that moment on I was hooked. New Hampshire has lowered the size limit for Stripers. From one fish @ 32 inches to one fish @ 28 inches. This gives the angler the chance to harvest a fish for the table. Please take only the fish you and your family can use. Summer vacation is coming to a close. Now is the time to take your children fishing. This is a fun relaxing activity the whole family can enjoy. Our State has many wonderful parks that have Angling opportunities. Check out the links on this site. Plan a trip to a state park. Pack a lunch and your fishing gear. Trout anglers are now enjoying a well deserved break from all the fish they were catching in the early summer. Our state's larger lakes are still fishing well for lake trout. For the most part Winnipasaukee and Squam have the anglers fishing into 40 to 90 feet on water. This is time for down rigger and lead core line. Sutton Spoons with dodgers are taking fish.For those of you that are wondering. What is a dodger? A dodger is a series of inline spoons or flashers without hook. They give of flash and vibration to attract the fish. Bass anglers are feeling the heat also. The bigger Small Mouth are deeper than what most anglers are comfortable fishing at.But here are some tips. Try a half ounce round jig head tipped with a curl tail grub, your favorite color of pumpkinseed.Fish the jig off the shore into 15 to 20 foot of water. Another deep water bait is the "Carolina rig". This rig consists of a 18 inches of leader, hook and inline swivel. before you attach this rig to your main line ad a slip sinker 3/8 ounce is a good place to start. Some anglers use a bead to protect the knot and ad sound. This is a good idea. Onto the hook is commonly a lizard. But this is not the law. Be creative if you like a certain plastic bait Carolina rig it. Bait fishing for bass can be very productive this time of year. The bait of choice is crayfish. Try fishing them on a Carolina rig as described earlier. Be safe out there. Practice "catch and release" take your children fishing. Great fishing!!! Mark

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