As happens every August, the fishing has slowed somewhat as water temperatures rise. There are still fish in the Cousins River, although it can be luck of the draw whether you will run into them. A falling tide seems to be the best, but that seems to be true with just about every river.
Even when you are not catching many fish, the Cousins is still a great spot. If you are hungry and it is close to high tide, a quick run to the dock at Day’s Crabmeat & Lobster is always fun. To get to Day’s take the inlet upstream from the boatyard and just downstream from The Muddy Rudder. In addition to great seafood, we have consistently caught school-sized stripers in this inlet.
Finding fish up at Day’s does not make a lot of sense since it is the end of a tidal inlet cut off by Route One. We have only caught 2-3 school fish each time, but there have always been a few ready to strike. Pulling in a striper in front of a crowd also makes you look like a hero.
White bucktail jigs with swim tails continue to produce, and the swim tail’s flutter action seems to be the key. A steady retrieve rather than a jerk-and-drop jig retrieve also seems to work better. For flies, clousers with some flash work well and sinking lines consistently out produce neutral lines as the fish are a bit deeper and need to be coaxed a bit to strike.
I have to admit the striper slow-down has sent me to the Androscoggin for some easy smallmouth angling, but that is a post for another day. As we move into September, the stripers will start to school up for the migration south and the fishing should be fantastic. Last year, the fish stayed around into October and hopefully, we will see a return of that action this year.
Dirigo Adventures 
Pix are beautiful