| By all accounts the striper fishing is beginning to pick up a bit. Porter Bingle reported landing about 100 stripers and half dozen blues over this past w/e. Most of his fishing took place on the Annisquam and in and around the Castle Neck area. The stripers were mostly 20-25 inches and he managed 5 keepers of 28-31 inches. Porter also found lots of bird activity chasing bait in the Castle Neck River; however, no keeper sized fish were taken. I spent the better part of last week at the ICAST sport fishing exposition in Las Vegas and did not get out fishing. I expect to get out this week and should have an opportunity to assess the fishing around Cape Ann. Captain Allan Smith is expected to return from Costa Rica this week and he should be ready to charter in a week or so. Captain Al Montello reports that the Merrimack is still fishing pretty good, with the average sized fish running 20-25 inches. Larger fish can be had fishing at night with live eels.    |
| Captain Skip Montello |