Just off the New Hampshire coast lies a mass of big striped bass which is about as good as it gets in New England! While that has been a constant for weeks what has changed is that the fish are now moving around making it a right-place/right-time fishery. While Maine has no shortage of stripers either, not every school is cooperative with one captain calling them the most finicky fish he’s ever encountered.

New Hampshire Fishing Report

According to Captain Bob Weathersby of Seacoast NH Sportfishing, the big bass that had been residing in the Isles of Shoals area for weeks are now on the move. The pogy schools which held them in check are getting blasted by larger predators including tuna, and because of that, they are on the run. Those feeds are now likely to be encountered from Salisbury through the mouth of the Piscataqua River, with the latter especially productive. Just be prepared to look deep – as in 30-50’ of water – which makes trolling deep diving plugs deadly. School tuna are blitzing those pogy schools too, but not with any predictability. Mackerel are still available at the Isles of Shoals, but in reduced numbers from recent weeks. In particular “bluefin-size” mackerel are hard to get after first light.

Offshore bottom fishing continues to offer steady haddock, whiting and increasing numbers of cusk, and pollock. Captain Bob recommends The Prong through Jeffreys for a mixed bag of groundfish. Commercial size bluefin are being seen and taken on both Scantum and Jeffreys, but more of a picky bite right now. The upcoming moon tides will make live baiting challenging as the current creates a lot of scope in the line and the bait tends to hug the bottom.

Southern Maine Fishing Report

Captain Lou of Diamond Pass Outfitters told me that the action level is attributable to the type of bait the stripers are focusing in on. The fishing is fantastic when bass push pogies in tight to area beaches. But then there’s the flip side with bass picking off smaller bait and reluctant to hit anything, save a well-presented Mush Mouth or Mud Dog fly. Even when managing to match the hatch, the fish are not nearly as aggressive as they ordinarily are. Anglers are not even getting any love live-lining mackerel or trolling a tube-and-worm in spite of fish finders marking all kinds of stripers. Expect to be similarly frustrated if nothing but terns are working over the feeds which is a sure indicator there is micro bait which is very difficult to match. Beaches with pogies are a better bet and you may find them at Old Orchard, Oguinquit, Biddeford Pool, Pine Point and Higgins. Estuaries/rivers such as the Saco, Mousam, Scarborough, Kennebunk and Spurwink are more likely to have smaller bait along with hit-or-miss action.

New Hampshire And Southern Maine Fishing Forecast

New Hampshire anglers looking to land one of those big bass that have made the rest of New England jealous should begin their search at the mouth of the Piscataqua River. Pogy schools are under duress from all comers so expect to search for the bait/bass even in water as deep as 50’. Shorten your search by covering water with a trolling plug and once found toss their way one of the pogies they are chasing or one of the ubiquitous mackerel. Crossing into Maine, bass have been pushing pogies right up onto area beaches where the bite has been fantastic. Schools chasing smaller bait will require smaller profile wares such as flies and a good deal of patience. School tuna have been in close and chasing the same pogy schools which the bass are following. Offshore is holding bigger bluefin as well as haddock, pollock, cusk and whiting. The Prong, Scantum as well as Jeffrey’s Ledge are all good places to start for pelagics and groundfish.

AUGUSTA, Maine – Gov. Janet Mills announced Thursday she will nominate Sara Gagné-Holmes to serve as Commissioner of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.

Gagné-Holmes will face a hearing before the legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee and must be confirmed by the Maine State Senate.

Gagné-Holmes, a Maine native who has served as Deputy Commissioner of the Department for the past five years, has been the Acting Commissioner since June 1, after Jeanne Lambrew stepped down to become the Director of Health Care Reform for the Century Foundation, a Washington-based think tank focusing on research and policy change.

“Acting Commissioner Gagné-Holmes cares deeply about the health, safety, and welfare of Maine people, and she has dedicated nearly her entire professional career to improving the lives of people across this state,” Mills said. “Her deep policy and managerial experience, her intimate knowledge of the department — including both its strengths and its challenges — along with the respect she has earned from her colleagues, lawmakers and others, and her collaborative approach to solving problems make her the right person at the right time to take on this important role.”

DHHS is the largest department in the Maine state government, with more than 3,000 employees across eight Offices and two psychiatric hospitals.

“The Department has made great strides in advancing our mission of ensuring health, safety, resilience, and opportunity for Maine people. We have more work to do to fully implement our progress, better meet the needs of the Maine people we serve, and continue building trust through listening, transparency, and accountability. I look forward to discussing how we will achieve those goals with the legislature, our many partners, and the public,” Gagne-Holmes said.

Gagné-Holmes grew up in Sanford before earning an undergraduate degree at Bowdoin College in Brunswick and a law degree from the University of Maine School of Law. After law school, she served as a law clerk with the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.

She practiced law with a focus on health care at a Maine law firm before serving as a Health Policy and Legal Advisor in the Governor’s Office under Gov. John Baldacci. She also led work in nonprofit legal services and advocacy at Maine Equal Justice Partners and philanthropy at the John T. Gorman Foundation.

She joined the Maine Department of Health and Human Services in March 2019.

Copyright 2024 WABI. All rights reserved.

This flatlander ‘from away’ tried Maine red snappers for the first time and they definitely put the hot in hot dog. That might have been the best hot dog (ok, I had three) I have ever had. This is saying a lot coming from someone who has frequented the world-famous Pink’s Hot Dog in Hollywood and has had way too many world-renowned and extremely savory Dodger Dogs.

But Why Are These Famous Maine Hot Dogs Red?

Let’s get right down to it. We already know the why in the ‘snapper’ of the title, and if you don’t, just take a bike of one right off the grill. The education won’t take long. But why red? And really red? My wife and I were actually blown away by how red they are.

Never mind the interior of the hot dog. We’ve heard rumors, and that was more than enough. Naivety is a beautiful thing, especially when it allows you to still be able to enjoy something. But surely the reason behind the red hue must be benign enough.

The exact origins of red snappers are hard to track down, but easily the most famous purveyor of this unique hot dog is W.A. Beans & Sons, a Bangor, Maine butcher that has been in business for 150 years. They’ve been making their hot dogs since 1918 and produced more than four million in 2009 alone. – thedailymeal.com

According to newengland.com, they get their signature bright, vibrant red color from food dyes like red #40, red #3, or sodium nitrite, and are made with an all-natural lamb casing rather than synthetic ones, which delivers a pleasant “snapping” sensation when the hot dogs are bitten into.

It’s that simple. And why the red? FOR MARKETING. And it’s worked for decades, up to this very second while you are reading this very article. Now we know, and there is no need to read further about what it takes to make those snappy casings nor what is used to create the hot dog. Trust me on this one – you will DYE. Bad pun. Head to beansmeats.com to order some red snappers from one of the first to create them and enjoy!