Maine Coast fishing report for the week of September 17, 2026. The fall push is on. Cold nights have started to move the bait out of the rivers and the stripers are on it, feeding along the beaches and river mouths in a way they have not done since June. I have fished enough Maine Septembers to know these fish are leaving, so take the mornings you can get.
What’s Hitting
This week on the water it is striped bass. Schoolies and keeper-size fish are working the beaches and river mouths from Kittery and York through Ogunquit, Wells, and the Saco River to Casco Bay, feeding on silversides and juvenile herring pushed out by the cold nights. The fish have been on top at first light and again at dusk, with the best action on the outgoing tide at the river mouths. Mackerel are thinning out along the coast but still around the harbors and ledges in Casco Bay. Bluefish have made a showing along the southern beaches. Groundfish are close to shore, with haddock and pollock on the ledges in 100 to 150 feet off Kennebunkport and Cape Elizabeth, and the first coldwater cod on the deeper humps.
Where to Find Them
Stripers are at the river mouths on the outgoing tide, including the York, Ogunquit, Mousam, Kennebunk, Saco, and Scarborough rivers, and along the beaches at Ogunquit, Wells, Old Orchard, and Higgins at first light. Casco Bay has fish around the islands and the Presumpscot and Royal river mouths. Mackerel are around the harbors and ledges of Casco Bay. Groundfish are on the ledges in 100 to 150 feet off Kennebunkport, Cape Elizabeth, and the outer Casco Bay islands.
Tides & Conditions
Moderate tides this week between the moons, which softens the current at the river mouths and lengthens the fishable window on the outgoing. Water is in the upper 50s to low 60s along the beaches and dropping, which is what has the fish and bait moving. Mornings have been cold and calm with light northwest winds, and the ocean has been flat most days, which has made the groundfish run comfortable.
Tackle & Tactics
For stripers, a soft-plastic jerkbait or paddle tail on a light jig head, a small swimming plug, or a topwater at first light, on a 7 to 9-foot medium spinning rod with 20 to 30-pound braid. Fly anglers want a 9-weight and a silverside or a sand eel pattern. Live mackerel or eels take the biggest fish at the river mouths after dark. Mackerel want a Sabiki rig or a small jig. Groundfish want clam or a jig on a two-hook bottom rig on a heavy conventional outfit.
Local Intel This Week
The Kittery town ramp, the Wells Harbor ramp, the Kennebunkport town ramp, the Camp Ellis ramp on the Saco, and the East End and Falmouth Town Landing ramps in Casco Bay are the main public launches. Shore anglers are catching stripers from the Ogunquit and Wells beaches, the Kennebunk River jetties, the Saco River breakwaters, and the Scarborough Marsh. Fish are concentrating at the river mouths on the outgoing tide and along the beaches at first light. Striped bass have a slot limit in Maine; check current Maine DMR regulations before keeping fish.
This Week’s Tip
On the fall push, the stripers move with the bait, and the bait moves on the tide. Fish the river mouth on the last two hours of the outgoing, then follow the current line out along the beach as the tide finishes. The fish follow the same path, and an angler who moves with them out-fishes one who stays put.
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