Editors note: The open-water fishing reports are provided weekly by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
Region A

Southwestern Maine

Regional Fisheries Biologist Francis Brautigam and I were out on Sebago Lake with our electrofishing boat last week. Our intention was simply to collect a few warmwater fish specimens for the Maine Wildlife Park’s fish exhibit. We were just about finished with our collections when we saw a large fish swirl, and a few seconds later we were stunned by what we saw in our net. This particular fish was a 29-inch, 5.6-pound Northern Pike!

We observed another large fish near, this one escaping our electrical field, and we suspect that it was another pike. After capturing the pike, we decided to continue scouring the Songo River area for others, but only found chain pickerel. This is yet another disheartening and destructive illegal introduction which appears to be an epidemic in southern Maine and gradually is spreading to more rural parts of the State, threatening our native fisheries. Unfortunately, the people doing these senseless, illegal stockings either don’t realize the ultimate consequences of their actions, or, what I fear more, they just don’t care.

The establishment of Northern Pike in Sebago Lake is expected to further complicate and hamper our efforts to restore the landlocked salmon fishery at Sebago, which is one of a few drainages where landlocked salmon originated and the only salmon fishery in our region with a significant contribution from “wild” salmon. Pike are voracious predators that will certainly eat a variety of Sebago fish species, including salmon and smelt. Unfortunately, it is unlikely they will eat too many togue due to minimal overlap in their habitat preferences. If anyone has information regarding the persons responsible for this destructive act, please contact the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife immediately.

Based on our limited sampling, we suspect the pike introduction may be fairly recent, and their numbers are relatively low. However, we plan to conduct more sampling throughout the week to get a better handle on the situation. We are also unsure if the pike were originally introduced to Sebago or if they have dropped down from other waters within the drainage (i.e., Brandy Pond or Long Lake). There are no bag or length limits on pike, and we strongly encourage anglers to “catch-and-kill” all pike in the Sebago drainage.

Also, it would be helpful if anglers could keep any pike they catch for later examination and report it to the regional fisheries staff. We hope to get some posters printed in the next week or so to further promote this message.

Jim Pellerin, assistant regional fisheries biologist
Region B

Central Maine

This region has no shortage of warm water fish species, and the fishing can be great if anglers are hitting the right water at the right time. White perch anglers are experiencing great fishing at all the hot spots — the Belgrades, China area, Winthrop area, coastal waters, the Sebasticook watershed, and the Bangor area waters. Try any water at the popular spots, as the humpback perch are plentiful.

A shore angler went to a Winthrop-area water this past week and caught several bass of both species that frequent the inlet of the pond. He reported catching bass up to three pounds. I would think it safe to try just about any water in this region this week. If you are unable to catch a bass, your technique is off, so try something different until you hit the right combination.

Black Crappie are now a popular pursuit in the waters they inhabit. Try the causeway at Pleasant Pond in Richmond, the causeway on Sand Pond, Unity Pond, or Durham Bridge on Sebasticook Lake. Crappie up to 15 inches are being caught in all these places. Hornpout are a good pursuit at the Davis Stream bridge in Jefferson, or you may try just about any of the places cited above. Try for hornpout in the evening hours or after darkness falls.

Cold water species are still biting in many waters, and anglers are reporting brown trout up to eight pounds being landed at Great Pond. Damariscotta is also giving up some not-shabby browns along with a few salmon. Trout ponds are hot, with many recently stocked spring yearlings in the 8-to-10 inch class. Look to the stocking records of past years to find waters stocked with brookies.

Pike are voracious right now in all the waters they inhabit. The Belgrades are your best bet for yielding a lunker. However, some ill-informed angler put them in the Winthrop area, and those waters are giving up some decent pike too. Sabattus Pond is now feeling the effects of the illegal pike introduction there.

If you have been around the fishing world very long, you may have heard an angler’s favorite term for small pickerel or pike — hammer handles. This is a well-known term used coast-to-coast to describe a poor pike and pickerel fishery. Basically, the pike and pickerel caught in Sabattus resemble a hammer handle in both size and shape. All anglers should be vigilant in reporting illegal stockings at 1-800-ALERT US.

William L. Woodward, assistant regional fishery biologist
Region D

Western Mountains

Two of Maine’s largest rivers have a lot in common. Both the Kennebec and the Androscoggin were used for log drives and were polluted with industrial and municipal waste for many decades. Today they are well on the road to recovery, and water quality is suitable for recreational purposes, including boating and fishing. Both provide attractive boating opportunities relatively near population centers.

Thanks to stocking efforts, they have similar fisheries. The Kennebec has a wild rainbow trout fishery in its upper reaches and a fledgling stocked rainbow fishery in the lower section. The Androscoggin has a combination wild and stocked fishery in its upper section near the New Hampshire border. In fact, some of the rainbows caught in Maine are stocked in New Hampshire. Rainbows in both rivers reach trophy sizes of five pounds and greater.

Additionally, both rivers have attractive fisheries for stocked (and some wild) brown trout, some of which grow just as large as the rainbows. The presence of these large coldwater fish has attracted the attention of anglers. Big fish, in short, are a financial asset, and the economies along both rivers are beginning to benefit from clean, productive water and the quality fishing that results. Furthermore, the Fish and Wildlife Department and other public groups have worked to provide public access launch sites along these rivers. Several launch sites have been constructed on both rivers as the result of hydropower relicensing negotiations.

To realize the full potential of these fisheries, we are working with anglers to impose regulations that allow fish to attain attractive sizes before they are harvested. New regulations went into effect on the upper Androscoggin this year. These regulations require the use of artificial lures to minimize hooking mortality and includes a slot limit for coldwater fish. On the Kennebec, we have held a series of public meeting to inform anglers about proposed regulations for that river. These regulations would essentially impose restrictive regulations on the fast-flowing water below dams but leave the flat water — the reservoirs above dams — the same as they are now to retain the worm-fishing opportunity for sections of the river. There will be formal public hearings later in the summer at which anglers can express their opinions.

Forrest Bonney, regional fisheries biologist