When Forrest Faulkingham checks the forecast before taking a fishing client out of Wiscasset Harbor, he isn't just determining whether or not to bring rain gear.

Barometric pressure and the tides help the Alna man figure out where the best fishing will be.

Changes in barometric pressure, especially abrupt ones, have more of an impact than most people realize, he said.

“We can have four days of low pressure and good fishing, and all of a sudden high pressure and the fishing shuts down,” said Faulkingham, president of the Maine Association of Charter Boat Captains; pressure changes from high to low can have the same effect.

At times like those, he'll take clients to the spots where they still have a shot at success, despite conditions.

Striped bass are creatures of habit, tending to feed at the same spots historically, Faulkingham said.

“What you're paying for is local knowledge,” he said.

Faulkingham started Maine Saltwater Outfitters & Guide Service in Wiscasset 18 years ago; he later moved it to Bath, where most of his customer base was at the time.

But he's back in Wiscasset this summer, running the business out of the Recreational Pier with his 18-foot Hewes flat skiff. With three people on board, it can float in as few as 10 inches of water. Faulkingham also has five, one-person kayaks, to take as many as four people out at a time.

He returned to Wiscasset because there was no other fishing guide business in the town, he said.

At the Waterfront Committee's recommendation, to help draw water-related business to the waterfront, Wiscasset selectmen waived Faulkingham's first-year fee.

“I think it's great that the pier is actually starting to get some use, and I wish him all the success in the world,” Selectmen's Chairman Ed Polewarczyk said. “Wiscasset is seeing a lot of new businesses, and I think this is just one more business that helps Wiscasset to become a destination.”

The pier is near the local Verizon office where Faulkingham worked for 32 years as a switching equipment technician.

His guide business lets him work on the water, a love he has passed on to the next generation. Son Michael Faulkingham has produced television programs on fishing and runs Fish Portland Maine, a fishing guide business in South Portland.

Michael's sister Amy Faulkingham fishes, too; their mother Sydney Faulkingham, Forrest's business partner and wife of 44 years, has pulled in her share of stripers, her husband said.

The only non-fisherman in the family is Bessie, the St. Bernard. She doesn't like to get on a boat.

For Faulkingham, the best part of his business is getting to see the look on a client's face when that person is catching a fish, maybe even for the first time.

About 95 percent of his clients release their catch back into the water, he said.

In addition to the help with fishing and the use of the business' equipment, clients are often treated to the sight of eagles, ospreys and seals, and the occasional deer swimming across the river.

Faulkingham can be reached at 207-841-7973 or mesaltwtr@yahoo.com; he has a website at www.mainesaltwater.com.

Susan Johns can be reached at 207-844-4633 or sjohns@wiscassetnewspaper.com.