January 22, 2001

Fishing was quite good in both fresh and saltwater areas most of the last week, but Sunday morning's near blizzard conditions along some of the coastal areas put a damper on a lot of the fishing activity.

Saltwater smelt fishing continues to be some of the best in recent memory. In particular, the Maine mid-coast smelting grounds in Dresden and Bowdoinham were seeing some great fishing. This writer had to check these reports out in person. While fishing with Warren Barker of Stratham, an old timer that's had over a half century of saltwater smeltin' action, we visited James Eddy Smelt Camp Rentals in Dresden (207-737-2596). Starting on a 10am outgoing tide on Thursday, we fished until 2:30pm and ended up with over 260 fish in our catch. Most of our luck came by using lightweight jigging rods with a spring bobber attached. Small, single hooked Swedish Pimples tipped with a bit of sea worm (provided with the camp rental), were the ticket. The fish averaged much larger than we'd seen for a while, about 7 or 8 to the pound.

We'd thought that we had a great day, until we had Sharon James on the phone this morning, and she reported that some catches of over 500 fish per shanty had come this week, but she cautioned that was on the outgoing tide. The incoming tide fishermen had catches averaging 300 fish per shanty, not too shabby!

Dave Ganter at the Kittery Trading Post's Fishing Department, said that reports from several of the mid-coast Maine areas were not as good as the Dresden area. "Several of our fishermen have come back with reports from the Bowdoinham fishing grounds and have noticed a big drop-off from the earlier great action. The ice here on the York River has yet to provide any good safe areas near our local smelting spot at Scotland Bridge. I haven't heard any reports this morning, but last night's cold temperatures may have helped," he said.

In the Great Bay area, a patchwork of reports were being sifted through. Some fishermen reported their catches on the night tides on the Squamscot River in Stratham were averaging about a hundred fish. Dave O'Hearn from Exeter, had been catching from 80 to 100 fish a tide, but said that the last of the incoming had been the only time when the action had been fast.

Jim MacKenzie, at Suds-n-Soda in Greenland, reported that fishing on Greenland Bay had slowed, with still some big catches coming in, but on the same days on the same tides, other fishermen were skunked. "Last week, many of the good catches came right at the end of the outgoing tide, with less than three feet of water showing. This week it's any one's guess, but I'd say to try the night tides. Sometimes the brightness of the day has an adverse affect on the smelt's feeding," he noted.

At Taylor's Trading Post, George Taylor reported on the Lamprey (Newmarket) and Oyster (Durham) Rivers, noting spotty fishing, with the best catches in the 50-fish range. He also recommended the night tides as having the most potential.

Freshwater fishing continued to please in most areas: "We've had some great news from crappie fishermen over in New Hampshire," reports Kittery Trading Post's Dave Ganter. Our Chad Woodward found some great crappie fishing at Pine River Pond in Wakefield and on the Bellamy Reservoir in Madbury. He also had some fine luck fishing Little Long Pond in Rochester and Ayers Lake in Barrington, where some nice largemouths added to his fun," Dave said.

Ganter also added that Bow Lake in Strafford had been producing some pretty rainbow trout. Salmon eggs fished on shallow sandy shorelines or shiners suspended just under the ice were the most productive methods for the trout.

"One of the lakes that has been living up to its potential is Pleasant Lake in Deerfield," reported Steve Courshesne at Steve's Sportsmen's Den in Hooksett. "This lake has been intensively managed for brown, rainbow, brook and tiger trout. In just a few years, this has worked to the point of being able to catch trout up to three pounds occasionally. Most of the trout you'll catch will be in the foot-long range, and that's a pretty fine fish." Courshesne says to stay near the shoreline for the browns, brookies and tigers, while trying the deeper waters for rainbows, with live bait or salmon eggs hung just under the ice. Steve also mentioned Deering Reservoir in Deering, where on the first ice, fishing had been active but had since slowed down. Brown trout get most of the attention at Deering, fish averaging 14-16 inches, but often a three or four pounder will be taken. Small smelt work best there.

"Even though these lakes have a two-line limit, Milton Three Ponds are one of our best kept secrets for bass, pickerel and panfish," touted Tink Nelson at Nute's Trading Post in Wakefield. "Crappie have become big news at Milton. They're fairly new to these ponds, but now the fishing has really caught on and the crappie are up to a foot long or more. Another lake where crappie fishing has been excellent is Belleau in Wakefield, and at nearby Lake Ivanhoe, the yellow perch fishing has been good, with some really big perch showing up. And speaking of perch, we've seen catches of white perch that averaged two pounds coming from the Nineteen Mile Bay area at Lake Winnipesaukee. I'm told that you want to check out the areas off the big points there."

"Some of the fishermen are setting tip-ups for the crappie, but in the border lakes where only two lines are allowed, a lot of our fishermen are only fishing with light jig rods. The "Little Cubby's" jig, in either chartreuse or white color and one thirty second ounce size, is a killer on the crappie in these places. Cut two holes close enough to reach from your seat. Just leave one rod propped on the ice with a Cubby's jig and work slowly with the other. Don't jerk it up and down! Just pick it up slowly and drop it, letting it flutter. I highly recommend that you add a spring bobber to your jig rod, as sometimes the strikes are so light that they are not detectable without one. When you drop your jig and the line doesn't tighten, you've got a fish on the line. Don't set the hook but just start a nice even retrieve. Crappie have very tender mouths so you can't horse them or set the hook too hard," Tink instructed. Tink added that you’ll get a surprising amount of hits on the rod that isn't even jigged at all.

Bill Martel at Martell's Bait on Lake Winnisquam in Laconia, reports that there's been some pretty good lakers and rainbows taken there this last week. Bill said that nearby Paugus Bay on Lake Winnipesaukee was one of the hottest places, with big white and yellow perch making up the majority of the catch. "One fellow was in here with a 20 quart pail just full of 'em," Bill laughed. Bill also notes that on the big part of Lake Winnipesaukee, there had been some nice lakers taken, one he'd heard of was a nine pounder caught in the Gilford area.

George Malloy at River's Edge General Store in Berlin, reported good luck at the Head Pond and Pontook Reservoir, both on the Androscoggin River. "Mostly pickerel and bass there," he reports. "Kyle Dube took a beautiful northern pike from Jericho Pond here in Berlin that was 32 inches long and weighed nine pounds. Last year Kyle caught several pike in this size range. Christine Lake in Stark is still producing a lot of just-short brown trout and some up to four or five pounds. This lake is really turned on--best action we've seen there ever. And there's quite a bit of pickerel and bass action on Umbagog Lake in Errol," he ended.

On some of the lakes in the Pittsburg area, slush on the ice has been causing some big problems. "You want to check it out before you drill your holes to fish. Setting an ice-fishing house out on slush and then having it freeze up can create a nightmare of problems. Also, because we've got so much snow on the ice, it's difficult to know what's safe and what's not safe," warned Tom Remick at TR's Bait.

Tom also reported that some hardy souls have been fishing the open water of the Connecticut River below Lake Francis and down to the Town of Pittsburg and have been hauling in some outsized brown trout. "Live shiners and Rapala-type lures work best. Every year these fishermen pick up some really big trout in this section."

Shirley Remick, Tom's mom, passed the word that the 2nd Annual Pete Masters Fishing Derby will be held on Lake Francis on February 24th and 25th. Sign-ups will be available at TR's Bait.

Maine's Moosehead Lake has ice thickness in the foot to more depths, but Danny Legere at the Maine Guide Fly Shop in Greenville, reminded that at the river outlets and other places where moving water is a factor, there is still great danger. "We just lost a snowmobile at the mouth of the Moose River, so please be careful. The togue (lake trout) fishing on our lake has been very good and there's some big ones taken occasionally--up to ten pounds. The average fish will be from two to three pounds. We've had two brookies caught so far this year over four pounds. If you want some of the best landlocked salmon action you could ever ask for, get over to Chesuncook Lake. We had a party of two come in here just back from Chesuncook. They described the 26 salmon that they'd caught in two day's fishing as slow! They had released most, but had salmon up to four pounds in their catch," Dan said. He also reported that wardens covering the Allagash area were seeing some good brook trout coming from Chamberlain Lake.

"There's very little ice fishing opportunity in the Rangeley area," warned Rusty Harvey at River's Edge Sports in Oquossoc, "but there's plenty of great snowmobiling and skiing. Close-by lakes, such as Flagstaff, Chain-of-Ponds and Umbagog do allow ice fishing," Rusty advised.

We talked to Gayland Hachey at Hachey's Rod and Fly Shop in Veazie, on the big Penobscot River there. We wanted his take on the possibility of the river being re-opened for Atlantic salmon this spring. "It's really doubtful," he lamented. "We've heard that unless our run of salmon exceeds 3,700 fish, the river will stay closed to fishing. I just can't understand the reasoning for this, as the Penobscot is not one of the rivers where Atlantic salmon are listed as endangered, and all of our fish are hatchery fish, not the wild ones that the endangered species listing is trying to protect," he explained.

Regional Fisheries Biologist John Boland is enthusiastic about the upcoming Windham Rotary Club ice fishing derby on Sebago Lake on February 24th and 25th. "We're trying to help control the togue population and get our smelt back to a healthy amount. There's going to be thousands of dollars in prizes at stake, which should entice a lot of anglers to enter the derby. Part of the proceeds are going to help purchase essential equipment for our hydroacoustics boat which is used to assess Sebago's smelt population. You can call 1-800-375-3474 for more information," he added.

Boland also had good news about recent lake access acquisitions: "After many years of controversy, the Square Pond site is now complete, and we've revived the brown trout stocking program there. We've got a new boat ramp and access at Tricky Pond in Naples. This is beautiful trout and salmon water," he said.

"The lake is finally frozen out front here," observed Carroll Cutting at Jordan's Store in East Sebago. "But there's only about three inches of ice, and nobody has been out there fishing, and we aren't recommending it yet. There's still some open water around the mouths of the Muddy and Songo Rivers, so caution is the word. There's been some pretty good togue fishing. My son Greg and his buddy caught some fish in 105 feet of water off Harmon's Cove. Stinger jigs tipped with shiners were working there. There's been a few cusk also taken off the beach there, but it's been spotty. Most of the cusk fishermen are waiting for the Camel's Pasture to get enough ice to be safe. That's probably the best cusk grounds on the lake," he suggests.

Cutting also warned of slush problems on some of the local ponds, noting that fishermen on Peabody Pond had real trouble trying to move a fishing shanty.

Dave Garcia at Naples Bait on Long Lake, reports his lake is still one of the most active for several species of fish. "The white perch action is the best in years. You're apt to get a couple dozen real quality perch from a total of 40 or 50 regular-sized ones. There's plenty of landlocked salmon action here still. Most of these run small, but there's still plenty in the 14 to 20 inch range. If you want to catch a big brown here, you'd better have patience and be set up with some heavier gear. Try fishing the shallow shorelines--4 to 5 feet of water. Small shiners seem to be attracting the larger fish," he notes.

Dave's pick for some good brookie action is Tricky Pond in Naples. For crappie, try Parker Pond in Casco. Little Kezar Pond in Fryeburg had been producing some huge largemouths. Dave had seen three fish come from Little Kezar that each weighed over eight pounds! For Pickerel, he sticks with his own Long Lake, but says to fish the area around Cape Monday.

Pete Santini at Fishing FINatics in Everett, Massachusetts had a short report. Pete had just returned from vacation in the sunny south, but his picks remained much the same, with Horn Pond in Woburn being his choice for both panfish, trout and a chance at a big Atlantic salmon.