Fishing in Bath, Maine: The Kennebec River Striper Fleet
This is Bath, Maine — the Sagadahoc County shipbuilding city on the Kennebec River, home to Bath Iron Works and the Maine Maritime Museum, not Bath, England, Bath, New York, Bath, Pennsylvania, or Bath, Ohio. Bath has no ocean beach of its own; the sandy beaches associated with its destinations.js pairing, Reid State Park, actually sit about ten-plus road miles south in neighboring Georgetown. What Bath does have is a genuine, tidal, ocean-connected river running past its downtown, and that river carries a real fishing identity built around striped bass. A fresh round of searches and direct site fetches this session went past the aggregator listings and reached several Bath-based charter captains' own pages directly, confirming real names, boats, and current rates rather than repeating secondhand summaries.
Why Bath's Fishing Identity Runs Through the River, Not a Beach
Bath's water frontage is entirely the Kennebec River, a working tidal waterway that has carried shipbuilding traffic since the 1700s and still carries Bath Iron Works' own destroyer launches today. That same river, particularly the stretch running past Bath down toward Popham Beach and the open Gulf of Maine, is one of the more genuinely well-regarded striped-bass fisheries on the Maine coast, and the charter businesses built around it are the real story here.
Anyone picturing a beach-town fishing scene should recalibrate: there is no ocean surf-casting spot in Bath proper, and Reid State Park's beaches belong to Georgetown, not Bath. What Bath offers instead is river and nearshore boat fishing, launched from a real working waterfront.
Kennebec Angler — a Real, Currently Listed Bath Operator
Kennebec Angler is a genuine, Bath-based charter operation run by Captain Chris Grill, reachable at 207-751-6504, per a fresh direct check of the operator's own listing this session. The listing describes inshore fishing out of Bath, with striped bass as the headline target. Its own site and aggregator listing do not publish specific boat details or a current rate sheet — anyone booking should call directly for pricing, trip length, and boat specifics rather than assume figures from another Bath operator apply here.
Super Fly Charters — Captain John Coppola's Boat, Rates, and Season, Confirmed Directly
Super Fly Charters is the most fully documented Bath operator found this session. Its own site, fetched directly, names the operator as Captain John Coppola, a midcoast Maine native who says he started striper fishing on the Kennebec as a kid, at (207) 542-3134 or CaptJohnSF@gmail.com. The boat is a 21-foot 2012 Parker center console with a 150-horsepower Yamaha outboard, dual Lowrance GPS/fishfinder units, a live bait well, a wireless trolling motor, and an ice box — rigged for the live-bait, jigging, and popping-plug tactics the site says Coppola specializes in.
Current rates, per the operator's own rates page: a 4-hour striped-bass trip runs $600 for up to four anglers, a 6-hour trip runs $800, and each additional angler beyond four is $75 (maximum six total). During cod season, September 1 through October 31, a 4-hour groundfish trip runs $650, a 6-hour trip $850, with a one-cod-per-person limit at 23 inches or larger; a 6-hour cod/striper combo trip during that same window also runs $850. The season runs May 15 through October 31. A $250 deposit is required, and cancellations inside 15 days forfeit that deposit if the date can't be rebooked. Rods, reels, tackle, live bait, lures, catch cleaning and filleting, and the fishing license itself are all included.
Marsh River Charters — Another Bath-Based Guide, With Its Own Published Rates
Marsh River Charters is a third real, Bath-based operation this session confirmed by fetching the operator's own site directly. It is run by Captain Hank DeRuiter, described on the site as a Registered Maine Guide, fishing the Kennebec, Sheepscot, and New Meadows Rivers out of Bath. Published rates: a half-day striper trip (4 to 6 hours) runs $450 for up to six people, a full-day striper trip (8 to 10 hours) runs $600, a full-day offshore/groundfish trip runs $900 (the operator recommends four anglers rather than six for that trip), and a half-day mackerel trip aimed at kids runs $300. A separate aggregator listing on FishingBooker, for a similarly named "Marsh River Outfitters," shows a starting price around $750 that does not match the rates published on the operator's own site — treat marshrivercharters.com's own numbers as more current, and confirm by phone before booking.
More Names Surfaced by the City of Bath's Own Tourism Page
Beyond the FishingBooker-listed operators, the City of Bath's own visitbath.com "Boat and Fish" page, fetched directly this session, names several more charter and tour operators active in the area, though not all are fishing-specific and not all are headquartered in Bath itself. Big Salt Charters offers customizable Kennebec River striper trips alongside lighthouse tours. Maine Saltwater Charters, run by Captain Joe Jerome, also appears independently on FishingBooker's Bath-area listings as a Phippsburg-based, family-friendly operation with a 100-review, 5.0-rating track record — the strongest review volume of any operator surfacing in this search, though it is based about 22 minutes from Bath rather than in Bath itself. Sportfishing Maine markets Kennebec River light-tackle and fly fishing specifically for the May-to-June striper season, under catch-and-release rules. This page did not independently verify current pricing or boat details for any of these three beyond what is stated here — call each operator directly before booking.
FishingBooker's own "10 Best Fishing Charters in Bath, ME" aggregator page, fetched fresh this session, confirms trips in the Bath area start around $350 and lists several nearby-town operators alongside the Bath-based ones above: F/V BadCast, a 21-foot boat run by Captain Drew out of Brunswick (about seven minutes away), starting around $350 with a 5.0 rating on 9 reviews; Prime Tide Striper Guide, out of Falmouth (roughly 33 minutes away), starting around $375; and Coleman's Guide Service, out of Freeport (about 26 minutes away), starting around $400. None of these three is based in Bath itself, but each is a realistic option for someone searching from Bath.
What to Verify Before You Book
Every rate and boat detail above came from a direct fetch of the operator's own site or a named aggregator listing this session, not from a secondhand summary — but fishing-charter pricing, availability, and even phone numbers change year to year, and this is a July 2026 snapshot. Confirm current pricing, season dates, and cancellation terms directly with whichever captain you are considering. Maine also requires anyone fishing recreational saltwater, including from a private boat, to register through the state's $1 Saltwater Recreational Fishing Registry, though passengers aboard a boat with a valid For-Hire Charter Boat Operator's License are exempt, since the boat's own license covers them. Check maine.gov/dmr directly for current species limits and season dates before you go.
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Get a Free Agent Referral →This page covers Bath, Maine — the Sagadahoc County shipbuilding city on the Kennebec River, home to Bath Iron Works and the Maine Maritime Museum — and should not be confused with Bath, England, the city Bath, Maine was named for, nor with Bath, New York, Bath, Pennsylvania, or Bath, Ohio. Bath's lack of its own ocean beach, and Reid State Park's actual location roughly ten-plus road miles south in Georgetown, Maine, is per this site's own baseline research, cross-confirmed via Wikipedia's Reid State Park and Georgetown, Maine articles. Kennebec Angler's captain name (Chris Grill) and contact number were confirmed via a fresh direct fetch of fishingcharterfinder.com's Kennebec Angler listing this session; the operator's own site did not publish boat or rate details as of this check. Super Fly Charters' captain (John Coppola), boat specifications, current rates, season dates, and included gear were confirmed via fresh direct fetches of superfly-charters.com's own rates and captain's-bio pages this session. Marsh River Charters' captain (Hank DeRuiter) and published rates were confirmed via a fresh direct fetch of marshrivercharters.com's own site this session; a discrepancy with a similarly named FishingBooker listing, "Marsh River Outfitters," is noted and flagged rather than resolved. Big Salt Charters, Maine Saltwater Charters, and Sportfishing Maine were surfaced via a fresh direct fetch of the City of Bath's own visitbath.com "Boat and Fish" page this session; Maine Saltwater Charters' Phippsburg location, review count, and rating were separately confirmed via FishingBooker's Bath-area aggregator listing, fetched fresh this session. F/V BadCast, Prime Tide Striper Guide, and Coleman's Guide Service pricing, locations, and ratings are per FishingBooker's own "10 Best Fishing Charters in Bath, ME" aggregator page, fetched fresh this session. Maine's Saltwater Recreational Fishing Registry fee and the charter-passenger exemption are per the Maine Department of Marine Resources' own site, maine.gov/dmr, as previously confirmed on this site's Cape Elizabeth, Maine fishing page. Nothing on this page is fishing, safety, or booking advice; confirm current pricing, availability, and licensing requirements directly with each operator and with Maine DMR before you go.