23 August 2025
Maine Coast Fishing Report: Stormy Seas, Hungry Stripers, and Punchy Pollock Action
Atlantic Ocean, Maine Fishing Report - Daily
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Artificial Lure here, bringing you the skinny on Maine’s salty Atlantic shoreline for Saturday, August 23. We’re waking up today to some punchy conditions—Hurricane Erin is still throwing her weight around, so if you’re headed out, put safety up top. High surf advisories cover most of the southern and Downeast coasts, with wave heights 5 to 9 feet and plenty of rip currents, especially around high tide in the late morning and close to midnight, with Portland forecast to see high tide around 11:26 PM peaking just over flood stage according to WGME.
Today’s sun popped up at 5:47 AM and she’ll clock out at 7:21 PM, giving us some generous daylight if you want to hit it early. Tides are running a negative low right around 6 AM, and a near 11-foot high a bit past noon in the Bar Harbor stretch (thanks Tide-Forecast), so structure around both peaks could turn up some action. Small Point Harbor’s high tide will be late morning at 9.16 feet.
Your main players right now are striped bass, bluefish, pollock, and silver hake, with some reports of tautog and fluke circulating in the inside bays, as On The Water reported for the week. Around the river mouths and rocky points, striper fishing is getting a boost by the cooler, overcast stretches. Most local crews I talked to had the best luck with stripers at sunup or just before dusk, especially when the herring and mackerel schools are pulsed in with the shifting tides. Bluefish are still popping up, mingling with the bass, and there’s been no shortage of pollock action if you skip out toward Jeffrey’s Ledge—these guys are biting strong right now.
Lobster hauls are near record numbers again this season, with fisherynation.com reporting nearly double landings since 2021—lots of traps are heavy, making it worth a drop if you’re working pots.
As for lures and bait: locally, topwater plugs and paddle-tail soft plastics are hot for stripers, especially in choppy conditions—they mimic those injured baitfish riding the storm waves. Chunk mackerel or live herring, fished deep off a bank or around bridge pilings, will tempt any slot fish lurking close to shore. Silver spoons are pulling double-duty for pollock and bluefish. If you’re targeting tautog or fluke in the sheltered coves, stick to green crab bait or Gulp! swimming mullet bounced along the bottom.
Conditions are rugged, so hot spots worth the effort (provided you’re geared and cautious) would be:
- The mouth of the Saco River near Camp Ellis—good current, bait schools, and structure, though the surf will be pushing in.
- Ogunquit River outflow—stripers and school blues have been bullying bait on outer sandbars during higher tides.
- For offshore, Jeffrey’s Ledge is loaded with pollock and some big silver hake, but with a small craft advisory in effect, only the sturdiest fleet should make the run.
Boat anglers: stick tight to sheltered bays and river inlets until the seas lay down, which is looking more promising by late Sunday as Erin tracks off. Remember, there’s a high fire risk on land too, and drought’s still pinching—keep any campfires limited if you pull up for a beach lunch.
Catch rates have been respectable even before Erin’s stir, but numbers offshore may drop until the water settles. If you’re shorebound, this is prime time to pitch lures into the whitewater for bass and blues chasing scattered bait. The walk-ons are outpacing the boaters this weekend; that’s saying something.
Thanks for tuning in to this Maine coast report! Don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss a tide or a bite.
This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn
Today’s sun popped up at 5:47 AM and she’ll clock out at 7:21 PM, giving us some generous daylight if you want to hit it early. Tides are running a negative low right around 6 AM, and a near 11-foot high a bit past noon in the Bar Harbor stretch (thanks Tide-Forecast), so structure around both peaks could turn up some action. Small Point Harbor’s high tide will be late morning at 9.16 feet.
Your main players right now are striped bass, bluefish, pollock, and silver hake, with some reports of tautog and fluke circulating in the inside bays, as On The Water reported for the week. Around the river mouths and rocky points, striper fishing is getting a boost by the cooler, overcast stretches. Most local crews I talked to had the best luck with stripers at sunup or just before dusk, especially when the herring and mackerel schools are pulsed in with the shifting tides. Bluefish are still popping up, mingling with the bass, and there’s been no shortage of pollock action if you skip out toward Jeffrey’s Ledge—these guys are biting strong right now.
Lobster hauls are near record numbers again this season, with fisherynation.com reporting nearly double landings since 2021—lots of traps are heavy, making it worth a drop if you’re working pots.
As for lures and bait: locally, topwater plugs and paddle-tail soft plastics are hot for stripers, especially in choppy conditions—they mimic those injured baitfish riding the storm waves. Chunk mackerel or live herring, fished deep off a bank or around bridge pilings, will tempt any slot fish lurking close to shore. Silver spoons are pulling double-duty for pollock and bluefish. If you’re targeting tautog or fluke in the sheltered coves, stick to green crab bait or Gulp! swimming mullet bounced along the bottom.
Conditions are rugged, so hot spots worth the effort (provided you’re geared and cautious) would be:
- The mouth of the Saco River near Camp Ellis—good current, bait schools, and structure, though the surf will be pushing in.
- Ogunquit River outflow—stripers and school blues have been bullying bait on outer sandbars during higher tides.
- For offshore, Jeffrey’s Ledge is loaded with pollock and some big silver hake, but with a small craft advisory in effect, only the sturdiest fleet should make the run.
Boat anglers: stick tight to sheltered bays and river inlets until the seas lay down, which is looking more promising by late Sunday as Erin tracks off. Remember, there’s a high fire risk on land too, and drought’s still pinching—keep any campfires limited if you pull up for a beach lunch.
Catch rates have been respectable even before Erin’s stir, but numbers offshore may drop until the water settles. If you’re shorebound, this is prime time to pitch lures into the whitewater for bass and blues chasing scattered bait. The walk-ons are outpacing the boaters this weekend; that’s saying something.
Thanks for tuning in to this Maine coast report! Don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss a tide or a bite.
This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn