Region A Southwestern Maine

Wow! Despite the recent hot spell and soaring water temperatures, we continued to receive excellent reports of trout and salmon fishing throughout the region. Although the lake trout fishing appears to be a little slower at Sebago than it has been in recent years, anglers are still reporting catches of four to 10 lakers per trip. These “slower” catch rates still equate to some fast fishing when compared to other togue waters around the state. And yes, the size of the lake trout has also slipped at Sebago, but there are still some lunkers out there. A couple weeks ago, one lucky angler weighed in a laker over 22 pounds!

Believe it or not, several die-hard salmon anglers recently reported catches of several landlocks per trip, with fish generally in the 13 to 18-inch range. Sebago anglers also claim that many of the fish being caught are full of large adult smelt, which also supports the higher percentage of larger smelt we observed in our winter stomach data this year.

Hopefully, these adult smelt spawned successfully this spring and conditions were right to create a strong year class.

Speaking of togue, our creel census clerk, Greg Massey, saw a 10-pound laker caught at Middle Range Pond (Poland) over the weekend. The same fisherman also landed a 19 1/2-inch rainbow trolling worms behind a set of spoons. Another angler on Upper Range reported catching a seven-pound brown!

Massey is a registered Maine Guide and fishing fanatic, yet today he indicated that he never truly realized how good the fishing is in the region, including the potential for catching large trout. He also recognized a need to alter his tactics to catch trout as conditions change and to try other waters that he would not even have considered in the past.

I guess Greg has learned a trick or two. He fished the Little Androscoggin River one day last week and picked up over a dozen rainbows and a couple browns. He claims little, white streamers seem to be working the best for him.

Tim Plummer of Casco came into the office this morning and reported that the rainbow fishing has been fantastic on a couple of our smaller experimental waters.

In fact, he fished Lily Pond (New Gloucester) for about an hour this morning and landed four ‘bows in the 17 to 19-inch range, plus had several other hits.

One of his rainbows was badly hooked, and he decided to keep it. This 3-year-old fish was 18 3/4 inches long and weighed 2.2 pounds (see photo at http://www.state.me.us/ifw/fishing/regionaphotos.htm).

Plummer has been successful by fishing small streamers on the bottom with fast sinking fly line. Based on his experiences, it is difficult to catch rainbows on top with dries. He also remarked that he finds it frustrating to see many anglers catching fish on the experimental rainbow waters and not taking the time to fill out cards at the voluntary boxes. He realizes the program is experimental and that the Department needs good data to evaluate the project. So again, we would like to encourage anglers to participate by filling out the data cards or keeping a voluntary record book for us.

Experimental rainbow waters include: Lily Pond (New Gloucester), Long Pond (Denamrk), Jaybird Pond (Hiram), Overset Pond (Greenwood), Little Androscoggin River (Welchville-Auburn), Upper & Middle Range Pond (Poland) and Crystal Lake (Gray).

Jim Pellerin, assistant regional fisheries biologist
Region B Central Maine

Fishery biologists always seem to have casual conversations with friends who are more than willing to give reports on their fishing trips. These always seem to provide some excellent information which I can use in this report. It doesn’t seem to matter where I go, whether it is a gathering at church or a family or friends function, I always learn of friends’ fishing trips and how their excursions fared.

One such trip to Maranacook Lake I learned about involved Dan Hewins and Ray Berry. This trip was notable for the fact that Hewins caught his first freshwater fish in Maine, thanks in part to Berry’s expertise and coaxing.

You may know Dan, because the retired Navy weatherman is active in community service to the Bread of Life Ministry and other organizations. He landed a brown trout on lead core line set at three and a half colors trolling a sewed-on smelt.

The coaxing by Ray gave Dan assurance as he landed the 19-inch, 2 -to-3 pound fish. Dan was delighted with the fish, and he also landed a smaller brook trout. He shared both his fish at a picnic at the Prince of Peace Lutheran Church.

Never ones to let an opportunity to catch more fish go by, Dan, Ray, and another angler hit the water at Saint George Lake to try for salmon. Dan, now the old pro, landed a legal salmon, the only one of the day, and this time shared the catch with family on the coast.

Another meeting revealed the oddities of fishing.

Rod Hill, who moved into Augusta last year, recently caught a nice brown trout at Maranacook right in front of his old house. Rod remarked that in all the years he lived on the lake, rarely did he catch any browns in the northeast area of the lower basin. And to top the incident off, the brown trout came to a lure that his son-in-law rarely used. Now that is fishing!

A Great Pond sporting camp owner called me at home to reveal what they thought was an unusual fish story but in reality is not all that uncommon. One of their anglers fishing for pike landed a 4 1/2- foot American eel.

The size of the eel tells us that it most likely was a female on its way back to the Atlantic Ocean to spawn. It passes through as it winds its way downstream back to the sea.

An acquaintance of mine witnessed the upstream migration of the elvers, or young eels, which reside in fresh water until they become adults. You can observe this at just about any barrier close to the coast of Maine, particularly on a damp spring or early summer evening.

He saw hundreds of elvers making their way around the Great Pond Dam, and they already had negotiated four dams downstream as well as a natural 160-foot cascade in Oakland.

The wonders of the fishery world will always keep you amazed if you know where to look for them.

William L. Woodward, assistant regional fishery biologist
Region D Western Mountains

Catching warmwater fish during the summer months is one thing; catching coldwater fish is quite another. To prove the point, I spent several days fishing on Allagash Lake with friends last week. Hot days and warm surface water temperatures equal not much going on. On the larger lakes, however, water temperature cools rapidly with depth, no matter how warm the surface temperatures.

Water temperatures drop rapidly within a few feet of depth beginning about 20 feet from the surface. This zone of transition is called the thermocline. The water below this depth is cool and provides ideal trout, salmon, and togue habitat. Successful anglers are trolling deep, using sinking lines for flyfishing or otherwise reaching into the deeper water.

Water quality varies widely from water to water, however. In many trout ponds, the surface water is too warm, while water below the thermocline is cool but may be lacking in oxygen near the bottom. In such ponds, trout make feeding forays through the warm water to surface feed on hatches and through the anoxic water to feed on insect larvae on the bottom. In other waters, the only thermal refuge during hot weather may be spring holes where trout congregate to wait for cooler weather.

Coldwater fish in streams also head for the springs or cooler tributaries as water temperatures rise. Some streams, such as the Cupsuptic River in the Rangeley area, are perpetually cold due to groundwater influence. These streams are a good bet for summer fishing. Finally, cool water releases from dams keep the fish population active during hot weather periods, and anglers have luck in these tailrace fisheries even during the hot summer months.

Forrest Bonney, regional fisheries biologist

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