Photos: A Striper Morning on Maine’s Kennebec River

Written by: Capt. Dave Pecci, Obsession Sportfishing Charters

Schoolie stripers offered a great morning’s enjoyment for this Westerner.
Photos by Capt. Dave Pecci

Longtime client John Kern from Salt Lake City joined me on the Kennebec for a morning of striped-bass fly fishing. We had a dropping tide, as we headed out at 5:30 a.m., and as we rounded Thorne Head the gulls were diving on bait–a sure sign that the stripers were on the ledge. Sure enough, the first drift through the gulls provided a solid hookup.

A trip downriver produced a few larger fish.

After catching several of these schoolies, we headed downriver to find something larger. John was fishing with a sinking-tip shooting-head line on a 9-weight rod that he built. We had an 8-weight Helios 2 rigged with a floating line and a folded foam popper for when the bass came to surface.

We returned to the marina at 11:30 a.m. after fishing several spots between Bath and the mouth of the River at Fort Popham. John boated over 20 stripers over the course of our morning.

Twenty fish before noon seems like a great way to start the day.

We have had the best June striper fishing on the Kennebec in over ten years. July looks to be every bit as good. This year’s great fishing is attributed to Chesapeake Bay’s huge 2013 year class of stripers entering the coastal migration and the ongoing efforts by ME Dept. of Marine Resources to sustain the Kennebec’s river herring population.

Conservation efforts are bearing fruit, as the Kennebec is enjoying a banner year for stripers.

Capt. Dave Pecci owns and operates Obsession Sportfishing Charters, which offers guiding in Florida and Maine.