cusk on holiday?

[porkpiehat]

Early feb I was catching really well first two times I went out. targeting 8-30 fow with suspected rocky substrates. Last few weekend (winni, merrimetting) have been a bust minus one or two dink fish.

Do they get the mid-winter doldrums too? I thought the bite was supposed to pick up in late feb and March? Maybe I don't understand their behavior.

Also, I have some good-sizes rubber crayfish spinning lures with rattles inside them. Anyone try to jig with these? probably have to slather them with something smelly.

[MainelyNH]

Try to find shallower rock piles that have both sandy areas and deeper water nearby. After weeks of decent fishing since mid January on Winni, we pulled up 4 skippers and only 1 keeper out of 12 set lines Friday night from 30-50+ fow rock piles. So Saturday night we set out on a couple shallower piles closer to shore in 15-20 fow and were glad to wake up to a foot of snow, 3 keepers, 3 skippers and a brave little perch that was barely twice the size of the shiner still in his mouth and a #1 circle hook in his belly

Never tried rubber Crayfish. I don't imagine they'd be heavy enough to jig with by themselves. But I bet the rattles would attract some attention. I prefer a hefty buck tail with dead or cut bait.

How often do you fish Merrymeeting? I've never had a whole lot of luck there for cusk. I fish there for trout and then I go for Salmon in the spring. Great for smallies in the summertime. It's easily one of my top 3 favorite bodies of water and I live only a few minutes away.


This was the first and smallest of our Sunday morning keepers. Decent size, roughly 20" (my traps are 16") and that's about the smallest we keep.

[SHaRPS]

good work! now i feel Very lucky setting my 6 cusk traps for 1 night and catching 2. first time cusking and boy were they tasty!

[dunphy11]

I had a great bite on my 6 lines Saturday night, my freind was 150 yds away surrounding a similar hump.He got 1 small one , I got 3 beauty’s .Hard to say what’s going on . I found after I get some good ones in a spot it’s time to move unless your confident you’re on a spawning area

[SHaRPS]

I was set up next to 3 other groups of cusk lines. I left about 60-70 yards of distance between mine and theirs but they were right on the spot i wanted to be.......... i wonder how they did. I also used med- large shiners to just catch cusk and not so much for a trophy since i never caught them before. It paid off with 2 cusk at about 20" or so. I never knew cusk meat was so white! I always thought it would be reddish like eel. I have left over cherry wood so i think its time to make some nice cusk traps for future trips and maybe paint them bright orange or Green to be visible. same with some poles to stick in the ice slush. I already miss NH.

[MainelyNH]

Hard to say what’s going on . I found after I get some good ones in a spot it’s time to move unless your confident you’re on a spawning area

Agreed. There's about 8-10 humps that we rotate on, only setting up on one or two per every Friday/Saturday night for that reason. We have, however, completed a full rotation and hump #1 did produce a several keepers on derby weekend after being off it for 5 weeks. 

[MainelyNH]

I also used med- large shiners to just catch cusk and not so much for a trophy since i never caught them before. It paid off with 2 cusk at about 20" or so. I never knew cusk meat was so white! I always thought it would be reddish like eel. I have left over cherry wood so i think its time to make some nice cusk traps for future trips and maybe paint them bright orange or Green to be visible. same with some poles to stick in the ice slush. I already miss NH.

Cusk are the only freshwater member of the Cod family that's why the flesh is so white. It's my personal favorite. Crappie and white perch both tie in a close second.

Congrats btw. Nothing wrong with a 20" cusk. Near perfect size IMO. And I never feel too badly about only having 2 keepers for a 6 line set. Although we have yet to pull up anything "big" so far this year we only keep one 5lb+ fish per season. Cusk take several years to reach maturity and I figure it's better to let the big boys pass on those good genes. The first one gets let go and we'll keep the second one. I've also been told that the bigger fish contain more mercury.

I had to retire some old traps this year that my dad had given me. Cut 8 new ones out of some Doug fir I got from work and gave em a couple coats of boiled linseed oil. I wish I had some nice cherry though. Those are going to look great!  I wouldn't paint them though since it's such nice wood but that's just me. Plus when you get a foot of snow over night like we did Saturday, it doesn't matter what color they are lol. I screw 1/2" wide and 16" long sticks with neon flags attached into the sides of my traps that can be raised and lowered. That way I don't have to carry tree branches or the like around with me when setting lines.

Here you can see the flags on some of my older traps. They work great. I keep a multi tool in my pocket so I can tighten the screws a little if the flags won't stay up.

[porkpiehat]

Agreed. There's about 8-10 humps that we rotate on, only setting up on one or two per every Friday/Saturday night for that reason. We have, however, completed a full rotation and hump #1 did produce a several keepers on derby weekend after being off it for 5 weeks. 

clever.

[MainelyNH]

Just my way of feeling more like a sustainable fisherman. Whether that's really the case is up for debate haha. But it eases my conscience a little for taking several decent fish every weekend.

[Jack1972]

Have you guys ever caught decent Cusk out of Merrymeeting? I've only pulled two dinks out. From what I've seen I'm one of only a handful who set Cusk traps here (at least along MM Road) could be a reason for that.

[MainelyNH]

That's a negative for me. Never had much luck there for cusk.  I haven't tried in a few years though. My guess is that you really have to get out there and explore to find that honey hole. I won't mostly because the ice on that lake has always sketched me out. Haven't been that way at all this year but in recent years theres been a large section towards the northern end that seems to freeze very little if at all.