Editor’s note: The freshwater fishing reports are provided weekly by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
Region A Southwestern Maine

I spoke with my brother-in-law last night, and he showed me some pictures of trout he and his father-in-law caught from some small streams in Gorham a week or two ago. They had excellent fishing for 8- to 12-inch brookies and they kept a nice feed of trout for a summer fish fry. I sampled a few other streams in Gorham last week to evaluate existing and potential stocking changes, and we found some decent brook trout in both streams despite low flows and marginal temperatures. Despite the rainy weather last week, many of the streams we observed were low and some even had sections of dry streambed with trout trapped in between the pools. We have had several calls reporting a similar conditions on streams throughout the region. Needless to say, it’ll be another tough summer on our wild brook trout waters.

We had a couple reports from different anglers about great brown trout fishing on Little Sebago and Highland Lakes in Windham. Anglers are reporting good catches of browns in the 17- to 19-inch range. Succesful anglers are trolling streamers, stickbaits, and wobblers with leadcore lines or downriggers. The key to their success is targeting the cooler, oxygenated water located near the thermocline. A few weeks ago the thermocline on many regional trout waters was located around 18- to 20-feet in depth, but it appears that the thermocline has shifted a little deeper in the past week or two and anglers may want to try 25-to-30 feet this time.

Regional Biologist Francis Brautigam just got back from a vacation on one of our local salmon waters. Of course, he couldn’t resist and decided to try his luck fishing despite all the reports of slow trout and salmon fishing. He had a great experience and claims he caught or lost salmon almost each time he went out for 3-4 hours of trolling. He fished similar to the methods described above for brown trout and caught at least a half dozen fat salmon in the 18- to 19-inch range, including a larger 4 pounder. Sounds like good fishing to me.

Last Sunday I trained a few volunteers from the Sebago Chapter of Trout Unlimited to assist us with collecting water quality and fish data from a local pond in Windham. This is part of a limited scale, experimental effort to enlist volunteer assistance with some of our data collection, particularly on smaller, lower priority that we have been unable to revisit in many years. We hope the project will benefit IFW, and provide a great hands-on opportunity for the local TU club to get involved with regional fisheries projects.

We actually “killed two birds with a single stone” by conducting the training at a pond IFW had no file on – Chaffin Pond in Windham. This spring we received a phone call from Mark Robinson, Director of Windham Parks and Recreation, explaining how he and the town wanted to explore recreational opportunities for the pond, including fishing if some sort of public access was allowed for the first time in many years. I told him IFW would be very interested in evaluating the pond and working with them to create or improve the fishing opportunities at Chaffin. After sampling the pond, I believe there is some great fishery potential and I will provide them with a report and fishery recommendations in a few months to see how they want to proceed. We’ll keep you posted.

Jim Pellerin, assistant regional fisheries biologist
Region B

Central Maine

The boundaries of the region, determined by an administrative edict back in the 1970s, was not based on geographical features, but along jurisdictional lines to allow the warden service clearer boundaries of enforcement. Biological management does not necessarily follow the lines arbitrarily put down on a map, so it is with amazement back in the 70s when the line formed for the western edge of region B. I would marry into a wonderful family that owned “Justamere” camp on Bear Pond in Turner, placing it in region B. The old boundary line was the Androscoggin River, which at that time did not hold much attention to fisheries management concerns, something that does not hold true anymore.

Bear Pond did not receive much attention in the past and still does not receive as much as some of the more heavily used waters of the region that provide salmonid habitat. Bear Pond, the drawing site for many to the festivities at the old Bear Pond Park in the early days, is not blessed with the volumes of cold, well-oxygenated water, but does hold excellent habitat for the warm-water fish species such as perch and bass. Over the years, the fish species present has changed due to unscrupulous individuals, a common and highly illegal act that has happened at many waters. First largemouth bass were noticed in the late 1980s, and then northern pike showed in the mid 1990s. All this has made for a change in fishing habits of all anglers.

Last week while on vacation, I boated only white perch, largemouth and smallmouth bass. In the past I would only catch smallmouths, and very rarely hook a decent white perch. Several of the white perch last week were in the 12-inch range and both bass species were exceptional, with some up to three pounds. I thought early in the week that bass numbers might be suffering, but as the week went on, conditions changed, leaving me with a good feeling that things might not be so bad. The biologist in me says a good test to measure the fishery is numbers of repetitive observations. So it is with many waters, where the dynamics are changed either by man’s intervention, or the natural cycles that make fishing change from year to year.

A neighboring place at Bear Pond, occupied by retired Marine Resource Patrol officer Carl Burden indicated this last winter when he iced a large pike. The pond, not a textbook water for good northern pike fishery, will again change in the future. I even might have had a taste of the future, when my line parted above the bobber I was using and never showed itself, maybe held down by a large pike, or even a good bass.

Just remember “Cobwebs and dew on the grass in the morning signals a good fishing day.”

Bill Woodward, regional fisheries biologist
Region D

Western Mountains

Mid-August this year in northwestern Maine is a little different than the hot, dry summers of past two years. Stream flows are up and small tributaries are running cool. Extremely stressful conditions for trout and salmon seem less likely to occur this season with periods of wet cloudy weather lingering throughout the region. Normal warm weather refuges, such as spring-holes, should be readily available this year.

Late last month, work was completed on two ponds in Coburn Gore. Mud Pond was surveyed for the first time and Horseshoe pond was resurveyed. Both ponds were shallow overall, but contained adequate habitat for a few brook trout. At least three age classes of trout were sampled from these ponds as well as eight species of minnows. Horseshoe Stream forms the inlets and outlets for both of these ponds, allowing shaded refuge for brook trout during critically warm months of summer. Both ponds are easily accessible to an angler with a canoe via logging roads off Route 27.

Probably the best bet for fishing this time of year is for warmwater species. Bass, pickerel, and perch are all very active and will likely provide an angler with good action. Recommended waters include: Crowell, Locke, Norcross, and Sand Ponds in Chesterville, Ellis Pond in Roxbury, Webb Lake in Weld, and Wesserunsett Lake in Madison. All these ponds contain smallmouth bass, chain pickerel, and white perch, while only Wesserunsett Lake and the Chesterville ponds have largemouth bass. Evenings are the best time to catch a few, but something is likely to be biting at any time of day.

For anglers willing to work for a nice brook trout, try Ledge or Midway Ponds in Sandy River Plantation, Speck Pond in Grafton, The Horns Pond in Wyman Twp., or Tumbledown Pond in Township 6. These ponds are accessible only by foot trails up the sides of mountains. They normally keep cool as a result of the high elevation and have the potential to grow fish up to 16 inches. They are all stocked annually with brook trout and get less fishing pressure due to the more difficult access. Even if the fish aren’t biting, the hike alone is a rewarding experience.

Dave Howatt, fisheries biologist specialist

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