The stripers have finally made it to Maine

Howdy, I love reading you guys as you start seeing stripers so much earlier than I do, but I'm proud to report that they have arrived! Unfortunately, the coast of Maine is shutdown by a red tide and it proves getting bait to be a challenge.

This is the first I'm hearing about the red tide there. It could be a common occurrence for your waters, I just haven't heard that. I'm curious what @Roccus7 and @Old Mud know about it?

This is the first I'm hearing about the red tide there. It could be a common occurrence for your waters, I just haven't heard that. I'm curious what @Roccus7 and @Old Mud know about it?

Oh yes, in Northern Massachusetts, uh, Southern Maine where Scott hails from, it's just about a yearly occurrence the past few years. I don't recall a red tide shellfish closure up by me in the past 5 years or more.

Scott's looking for Hen Clams, aka Skimmer Clams in Lawnguylandese, aka Atlantic Surf Clams. Once you get up North of Portland, there are few open areas for them along the ocean beaches because of the multitudes of old homes with overboard septic discharge, along with the scarcity of sandy beaches to dig these clams. As the houses get older and the septic system needs replacement, DMR no longer allows overboard discharge so this problem will eventually go away.

I have a sandy ocean beach nearby and have been known to dig some skimmers now and then, planning to plead ignorance (false) and "I'm just using them for bait" (true) IF I was ever to be caught. The worst thing that could happen is that I would be instructed to toss them back...

Not to beat a dead horse, and sorry to take it off-topic, but I feel we're not doing enough to stop these manmade killer tides from destroying our waters. For instance, it's gotten so bad, and accepted in Florida, that they literally show red tide zone beach conditions as part of their daily weather report. I went to Naples Beach one day to be welcomed to the beach by a guy in what looked to be wearing a hazmat suit. He recommended we not go.

Is this what we have in our future here in the northeast? We've already witnessed a tide that killed off the best scallops on the planet here in the Peconics.

I just feel being we know it's manmade we could be doing a better job to address it.