Closing Time (Maine Report)

I took my final Friday off last week. Fished a few hours in the AM with the usual nothing. The afternoon was warm and sunny, so I decided to go back for the incoming. Again, nothing for about three hours. I decided to refresh my bait (as I do every 20 minutes or so) and started reeling in, only to feel resistance. I first figured it was a skate but when I realized I was moving sideways across the beach, I knew it had to be a striper. Still, it offered relatively minimal resistance. When I finally got it into a few feet of water (where I could see it was about 34") it got upset and started fighting. It shook the hook but just stood still. I came up behind it, but every time I got within a few feet it would move away. This went on for about 10 minutes until the fish had enough and headed out into deeper water. I fished another two hours but never had another hit. Saturday morning I slept until eight (three hours later than usual during fishing season), went out and cleaned my gear for the winter. In the afternoon I went to the baitshop to drop off my day-to-day reel for a tune up and replenish my supplies for next season. I made the mistake of going to the beach on Sunday morning where the surf was roaring and the conditions looked perfect. Fortunately, I ran into a few guys who had been fishing since 4:00 AM with no hits among them. It still may have been a week early, but after the worst September in memory it was time to hang 'em up in the north country. All in all it was another lousy fishing year in Maine. Like most of the other guys, I caught fewer fish than in past years, but the average size seemed bigger. This was the same thing I would have reported in 1999. I have to theorize that the fish are feeding and staying offshore. However, I can't wait for next Memorial Day Weekend so I can start all over again. I plan to move around the beach more often and I'm now committed to exclusively using circle hooks (I started using them mid-season this year).