This is Artificial Lure with your Atlantic Ocean, Maine fishing report.
Offshore and along the coast from York up through Bar Harbor, we’re sitting in a classic late‑December pattern: cold, clear, and fishable if you respect the wind and sea state. The Ocean Prediction Center and the Gray, Maine marine forecast both call for northwest winds around 10 to 20 knots with gusts to 20 and seas in the 3 to 5 foot range, laying down a bit by tonight. That means it’s bumpy but doable in a solid hull, marginal for smaller skiffs.
According to Tide-Forecast’s Gulf of Maine ports, we’ve got a predawn high followed by a strong falling tide through mid‑morning, then an afternoon flood that lines up nicely with sunset. Around York Harbor and up through Portland, first high is roughly between 4 and 5 a.m., low late morning, second high late afternoon. Sunrise along the southern Maine coast is just after 7 a.m., sunset a little before 4:15 p.m., so your best bet is to work the tail end of that morning ebb and then the afternoon flood into dark.
Water temps offshore are hovering in the upper 30s to low 40s according to the Jonesport buoy, which keeps the winter mix active: **pollock, haddock, redfish, cod (where open and legal), and some stubborn late‑season stripers tight to the rivers**. Recent headboat chatter out of Portland and Kennebunkport has been all about **big pollock and steady haddock** on the offshore ledges, with mixed redfish and a few keeper cod where regulations allow. Inshore, party boats are reporting half‑to‑full coolers on the better days when the wind cooperates.
For bottom fishing, bait is king right now. Best bets:
- **Clams, squid strips, and cut herring** on high‑low rigs over rock and hard bottom.
- 8–16 oz to hold bottom depending on depth and tide.
- Add a glow or chartreuse teaser above the bait; local captains have been raving about pink and green flies above a baited hook for haddock and pollock.
Artificial-wise, heavy metal is working:
- 6–12 oz Norwegian‑style and butterfly jigs in chrome, blue, or green mackerel patterns.
- Drop to bottom, crank 10–20 turns, and repeat; most of the better pollock are coming 20–60 feet off bottom on the bigger ledges.
A few **holdover stripers** are still being picked in the lower Saco and around the mouths of the Kennebec and Piscataqua on the warmest tides. Think small and slow: 3–5 inch soft plastics in white or alewife on 1/4–3/8 oz jigheads, or bloodworms and sandworms on bottom rigs after dark. Numbers are low, but the locals who grind it out are still sneaking a couple fish a tide.
Couple of hot spots to circle:
- **Jeffreys Ledge**: Classic winter ground. Boats have been boxing good pollock and haddock on the eastern edge in 180–260 feet, especially as the tide starts to move.
- **Plum Gut / Isles of Shoals area** on the Maine–New Hampshire line: mixed groundfish on the deeper rock piles and a shot at cusk and redfish when you get off the main humps.
Closer to shore, the **Kennebu
This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.