We're into another busy and fun season of saltwater fishing charters here in Maine, Massachusetts, and North Carolina. June, July and August are all about home waters here in Maine - the Kennebec River, the New Meadows River, and eastern Casco Bay. I'll head to Cape Cod a little earlier this year, starting the albie hunt before Labor Day. Then by late October I'll be set up back in Beaufort, North Carolina to finish out the season with more albie madness and some other offshore pursuits. I hope you'll join me somewhere along the way. Once again the pace of bookings is impressive but I still h ..read more

On May 4th the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) is adopting Amendment 7, new guidelines to the Striped Bass Management plan. We have an historic opportunity to rein in misuse of management tools and force more responsive and responsible action from the Striped Bass Board for the next 10 to 20 years. A majority of the ASMFC Board is finally listening to us. We’re 4th and goal from the 2 yard line with seconds to go in the game. A field goal to tie would be a disappointment. Public comments on the draft of Amendment 7 are due by April 15. The 149-page draft of Amendment 7 is ..read more

It's a stunningly gorgeous March morning here in Phippsburg, with fresh, fluffy snow in the trees undisturbed by any breeze and a brilliantly bright blue sky. It's the kind of morning where you (or at least I) feel like I can get anything and everything done on my list even though rational analysis says otherwise. Doing dishes this morning (yeah, we often leave 'em 'till the a.m. - no kids to judge us) I was struck by how much fun I've been having tying flies this winter. I've been cranking out patterns for albie season on the Cape and North Carolina and restocking boxes for striper charters ..read more

Here are my initial reactions to what took place yesterday (Jan. 26, 2022) at the ASMFC Striped Bass Board winter meeting. The Board finalized a draft of Amendment 7 to the Striped Bass Management Plan. Once approved, this Amendment will define the rules that the Board must (well...must is too often translated into should at ASMFC) follow as it makes management decisions for this species. Historically, amendments to management plan have a lifespan of a decade or more. Three important background notes: Striped bass are overfished and overfishing is occurring. At a previous meeting the Board f ..read more

With a forecast for for northeast winds at 15 with gusts to 25, plus 3/4 of an inch of rain, rescheduling my friday fly-only trip was an easy call. What to do with myself Thursday evening wasn't, until it was. It was finally cool enough to consider mowing what used to be our lawn and is now our hayfield. Gary the dog could really use some dedicated training time or even just an hour at the dog park. My fly tying desk qualifies for disaster-zone funding. The list goes on, but the striper fishing has been pretty fabulous and looking out at the river I could see the wind was dying and the tide wa ..read more

Foggy morning, early start, white bucktail deceiver It's been a busy start to the 2021 Maine striped bass charter season for me. I've finally got a day to catch up on boat maintenance, some tackle upgrades, and maybe even cutting the lawn that is out of control. I'd characterize late May fishing in the Kennebec as encouraging and first week of June as disappointing. It just seemed to take a while for enough stripers to move into our waters to produce consistent fishing. We'd get waves of bass but patterning the fish was a real challenge for me. That changed this past week. It finally feels l ..read more

Maine DMR is hosting an open, online meeting on April 21 at 6:00 pm to share updates on striped bass management and research in Maine and most importantly, hear from YOU about what you want from your fishery and your fishery managers. There will be a segment about the management process at ASMFC but this is not a public hearing on Amendment 7. If you have feedback for DMR or want to learn more about the management process I hope you'll join and invite others to do same.   Recreational anglers have a very small footprint within DMR and our opportunity to have more influence will never be ..read more

I'm looking forward to a busy and fun season of saltwater fishing trips here in Maine, Massachusetts, and North Carolina. Really looking forward to it. I mean really, really. And based upon the conversations I've been having with many of you, this anticipation is mutual. I'll be starting out with trips in May around Cape Cod, then spending much of June here at home on the Kennebec River and Casco Bay with 10 days set aside for a renewal of my annual Martha's Vineyard adventure. July and August are all about home waters here in Maine. I'll head to Cape Cod a little earlier this year, starting ..read more

On January 28th, the Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee (MFAC) voted to unanimously support a proposal to expand the number of days per week that the commercial striped bass fishery would be open in 2021 and to start the season earlier despite three straight years of significant declines in landings. This proposal was presented by Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) Director Dan McKiernan. Let’s start by acknowledging that the recreational (including for-hire) side of the fishery has a far larger impact on both harvest and post-release mortality, but that doesn’t negate the signi ..read more

Thanks for checking out CapeCodAlbies.com. I'm in the process of building a new website focused solely on albies. Check it out here: CapeCodAlbies.com You'll find info on my trips, how I fish, the boat I run and much more. I'm moving albie posts from this blog to the new site as well. Updates, fishing reports, observations on chasing albies will all appear at the new site as I add them. Capt. Peter Fallon ..read more