With improved weather and morning high tides, the fishing this past week improved dramatically. Both the Merrimack and Little River in Gloucester have become inundated with hordes of 1 year old Stripers, 8-12” long. In 30 years of fishing stripers, I have never seen this many small stripers. These fish, I believe, are from the Hudson River population and most likely were spawned in the spring of 2004. It is great to see so many stripers! But a pain in the butt to catch them cast after cast! On Tuesday morning I fished Little River wading from the sand bar and in less than two hours I hooked and released more than 40 of these small tail grabbers. I did manage a few fish that ranged up to 24”. If you are looking for lots of action, and enjoy wading, Little River (see the May 20 report for info on the Little River) is the place to be. Use flies or light tackle and be careful removing hooks to minimize injury to the fish. I expect these small stripers to remain in the water shed for a week or so; there is an abundance of grass shrimp and tiny crabs for them to feast on. And for sure, the bigger stripers are there as well! Captain Dave and I fished the Merrimack (Joppa Flats area) on Monday and Thursday of this week. The fishing on Monday was solid and the river was very crowded with both fish and other anglers. We hooked and released quite a few stripers in the 22- 26” range as well countless small fish. We fished flies and ¼ oz hand tied jigs (with no plastics). Both techniques worked great. We observed other anglers taking fish with small swimming hard baits, jigs and various soft plastics. All in all, a great day on the water! On Thursday, the fishing was absolutely phenomenal! The river was alive with an abundance of small stripers (8-12”). Fish were busting on the surface everywhere, up river beyond the Rt1 Bridge and down river in the flats on both sides of the main channel. We settled in on the Joppa side of the channel, close in to the pumping station and made our drifts along the current seams in water depths ranging from 5’ to 8’. We fished our flies deep with 400 grain lines in an attempt to get below the small fish feeding near the surface. This technique worked well and we hooked and released a large number of good sized stripers including two fish that measured 32”. The numbers of fish in this water shed is amazing! I expect the action to steadily improve with larger fish arriving from the ocean as well as fish that have been way up river chasing herring to begin falling back down river. The month of June on the Merrimack, in my opinion, is one of the best fish catching places on the planet! Whether you fish flies or other light tackle, this is the place to be. For more info on this fishing or for guided services, call or email me. 978-546-9704 northcoastangler@yahoo.com Captain Skip Montello