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I am doing the Maine coast this August, for my annual fishing vacation and have never been. I will be staying on the shore but slightly protected from open ocean; very much tidal however - one of the many inlets all around the dozens of small islands that pepper the whole coast. I will be trying the shore directly out the front door of the cottage as well as renting small skiffs to go out a bit. My only travel rod is a medium heavy spin outfit which will have 15 lb braided. Advice? Thanks.
Talk to the guys selling bait. They know what works and where, sometimes when.
Might check into renting rod and equipment from the boat rental place. That way they can match the rods to the game fish you might run into.
I grew up here, came up for several weeks every summer while working and moved back home (to Maine) after retiring. Stripers should be running at that time of the year. We have used Bloodworms, or if you want "keepers" use eels. You can also do well with trolling with frozen mackerel. If you are fishing from shore, best to fish the incoming tide and with the deep rocky coast you can reach fairly deep water 20 to 30 feet only a few yards off shore (unlike the Jersey shore which is a big sand bar and you get 6 to 8 feet of water out to several miles. Be careful though, I caught a seal last year. Tried to steal my small striper. **** thing took off and took lots of line and I knew I had something big, but not sure what it was...kept reeling it in and I took off, reeling it back in and it took more line. finally when it surfaced for air and I saw it was a seal, I cut the line. It had gotten wrapped around his flipper when he "rolled" in to get the fish. Be sure to use the right hooks. There is a law that the hook has to be a certain shape in order to stop the fish from being damaged when caught. DIFW will fine you big time if you're using the wrong stuff.
If you are near a sandy area you can catch decent size flounder too. We use shrimp or best is broken clams. Mackerel may be still running but that is usually earlier in the season. They can be caught with white flies or weighted metal jigs. We also had great luck using bits of last years frozen mackerel cut up on a baited hook. If you have a small skiff, you could just go out in the bay and jig for them. Do not tie up to a lobster trap. The lobster men do not like someone messing with their traps. Should you get caught on a lobster trap DO NOT pull it up with your gear (you probably couldn't anyway), just cut the line. They take that VERY seriously in that they think you are stealing form them and they will shoot first and ask question later...it is worse than stealing a horse in the old west.
There are plenty of small islands around. We used to go mackerel fishing, and break for lunch on a nearby island, lite a fire and cook our catch over an open fire on the island. Bring a can of spam as you may not catch anything on a few of those days.
May I ask what town you're going to? Feel free to PM me with the town. Good Luck!
Thanks a bunch William for the great info. Headed to Jonesport, ME.
Years ago did some fishing off the pier in RI and use bloodworms and also the jig that was talk about. Also so right about the lobster traps. I was told some years ago that some lobster men would be on the shore and see there traps and see anyone mess with them shot at them from shore for the ones that mess with them. Flounder is fun to go after and make sure you use the hooks for them.You can also use squird