Complements of The Kittery Trading Post

Activity for the 4th week of February, 2001

View Past Reports

February 26, 2001

            Braving below zero wind chill factors on Saturday and snow, sleet and freezing rain on Sunday, well over 2,000 fishing fanatics swept across the frozen tundra-like surface of Maine's second largest lake, Sebago, in search of big togue (lake trout) and the big cash prizes that the First Annual Windham Rotary Sebago Lake Derby offered.

            "It was like a zoo here," laughed Carroll Cutting at Jordan's Store in East Sebago, one of the derby's checking and weighing stations. "The weather was awful, the fishing really wasn't at its peak, but the family type atmosphere and cooperation between fishermen and the others on shore was outstanding. And when the prizes were handed out, a lot of the glory went to a couple of youngsters that earned their right to the honors by toughing it out right alongside the adults," Cutting said.

  Top prize of $5,000 went to 13 year old Katie Parker of Sebago, for her togue of 12.45 pounds, followed closely by a togue of 12.09 pounds caught by Raymond Martin, who traveled from Downeast Steuben, Maine to take the $1,000 second prize. Third place togue was about five pounds smaller, a 7.35 beauty that was caught by a local angler, Russell McGinness of South Casco. This fish landed Russ a $500 cash prize.

            The unusual sequence of prizes that followed was done to encourage derby anglers to continue to enter fish in the contest, so the 25th largest togue at 5.18 pounds had a $500 prize attached to it, caught by Tom Fay of nearby Limington. Coming in for the 50th largest togue and a $500 prize was another local, Kevin Minor of East Baldwin. His togue weighed 4.6 pounds. And to the delight of all involved, another youngster, Tim Brown of Gray, landed the 100th largest togue that weighed 4.44 pounds. Timmy walked away with a check for $2,000!

            Derby officials and most of the anglers were very happy with how the whole event went. Next year's Derby promises to be bigger and better, according to Cutting.

            The far reaches of Maine's Aroostook County is producing some great ice fishing, and as the sun gets brighter and days get longer, weather in this remote region gets a lot more hospitable. Kurt Lane, from Woodland, reported that both Square Lake and Long Lake, waters in the Fish River Chain, are producing some huge landlocked salmon and brook trout, with some salmon weighing over eight pounds and brookies over four pounds. "You'll get a lot more action on Square Lake, with landlocks and brookies mostly running in the 12 to 20 inch range, but there are some big ones caught there as well. At Long Lake, you may go a long time between hits, but some of the biggest salmon caught in the state come from Long--fish to over nine or ten pounds. And there's some pretty nice lake trout and brookies caught at Long Lake. This lake also is a lot easier to access than Square, where most access is by snowmobile. At Long, there's road access to most of the whole lake," he reported.

            Penny Legere at the Maine Guide Fly Shop in Greenville, said that Lobster Lake had been producing the largest salmon and togue, but noted that only a few days are left on the ice fishing season there as it closes February 28th.

            "Moosehead Lake continues to please togue fishermen and the few people that have been after landlocked salmon are catching some, but not many keepers. The brook trout fishing has slowed a bit.  That's not unusual. Best brookie fishing is always in the beginning of the season," she instructed.

            Back into the Sebago Lake Region, Dave Garcia of Naples Bait at Long Lake reported that although his shop was busy during the two day derby, Friday was much busier, with anglers wanting to make sure that they had their bait and tackle prior to the derby. "A lot of the guys were out on the ice Friday to pre-fish the derby and have their holes all cut and ready to go. There really weren't a lot of fish caught, for some reason, the togue just didn't cooperate like they have been," he noted.

            Dave said that a lot of anglers shunned the big lake to go for panfish and more action on some of the smaller local ponds. "Lovewell Lake in Fryeburg was producing some monster white perch this week, fish to two pounds. Most were taken on tip-ups and shiners, while jigging did produce some action. As the snow levels drop and some of the backwoods ponds become more accessible, these places will be where to go for the last few weeks of fishing," he commented.

            "When people think of Sebago, their minds automatically think of togue, but there are some outstanding coves, bays and inlets that produce huge pickerel, some decent perch fishing and fantastic crappie catches. Even though it's a two-line limit, give Muddy River or Turtle Cove a try. Stay in the channel or deeper areas," he said.

            The Sebago Region's state fisheries office is responsible for the great sea-run brown trout fishing in the coastal region centering around Ogunquit. Chief Biologist John Boland reports that last springs results were exciting and expects another good spring this year. Many browns were caught last summer at the Mousam and Ogunquit Rivers. They were mostly in the 14-18 inch range, although a few larger fish were caught, with one an 11-pounder from the Ogunquit River.

            "The Ogunquit and Mousam Rivers were each stocked this fall with 1,100 browns, averaging about 13 inches. Approximately 100 fall yearling brook trout (14-15 inches) were also stocked in each water to see if brook trout might produce similar results. In addition, a few larger retired brood fish (ten pounds and over) were released. The Webhannet River in Wells was also experimentally stocked with 1,100 yearling browns in October. We're anxious to hear from anyone who has fished it," John requested.

            Boland also noted that March fishing in the estuaries can be exceptional.

            As could be expected, given the amount of attention to the Sebago Derby, Dave Ganter at the Kittery Trading Post said that many of his customers were zeroing in on that lake. Dave laughed about a person that had pre-fished the derby on Friday and had caught a 14-pound plus laker that was 35 inches long. Caught a day later, the fish would have captured the grand prize without any competition! "Isn't it always the way," Ganter said.

            Dave likes the latter part of the season for his personal ice fishing. "Give me the nice sunny days in March. The fishing pressure drops off, and you'll often have some of the small ponds and lakes to yourself. And at times, the fish seem to just go on a feeding binge. I'm a crappie fan, and have found that late in the season, you can find concentrations of crappie feeding in places near culverts and other running water. But you always need to stay focused on ice conditions, especially late in the season," he warns.

            From the top of the state in New Hampshire, Shirley Remick at TR's Bait in Pittsburg reported that their Second Annual Lake Francis Derby went well, in spite of the weather. "Tom (her son and lake guide there) took first prize in the brown trout division and had the largest fish overall. His fish weighed 1.8 pounds. Bret Jock had second place brown trout at 1.6 pounds and Nathan Purrington's brown came in third. The rainbow trout division was a tie in weight and was decided by length. Carl Varney's 1.2 pounder was 16 inches long, while the second place rainbow caught by Steve Daniels was 14.5 inches. Third place was again taken by Nathan Purrington at .7 pounds. In the cusk division, Jeff Prehemo captured first and third position, while Bret Jock held on to second place. Youth Division prize winners were Cody McKeage, Becky Eastman and Craig Daggett," she said.

            "We've got good snow traveling and ice, so we're looking forward to some very good snow sledding and ice fishing for the month of March," she ended.

            George Malloy at Rivers Edge General Store in Berlin, reports the largest fish he'd seen for the week was a 15.48 pound northern pike, caught from Neal Pond in Vermont, just across the state line from Littleton, NH.

            "We'll start to see a lot of open water fishing activity now with the coming of the warmer weather. The Androscoggin River has a year round season in most areas and gets hit pretty hard. One of the best early season bets is near the mouth of Jordan Brook in Errol. Live bait usually works the best," he suggested.

            This weekend evidently was the unofficial derby day for the region, as Lake Winnisquam's Derby also attracted a lot of anglers, according to Bill Martel at Martel's Bait. "We had a lot of anglers here on Saturday. It was pretty breezy, but they got out there. There had been an 11-pound laker taken earlier in the week, but the rainbows and lake trout were not hitting well for the derby. The laker hit in shallow water, about eight or nine feet. I think the lucky angler had been fishing for rainbow trout and got quite a surprise from that huge lake trout. We did see an excellent catch of pickerel, all in the two to three pound range, taken from the lake. Winnisquam has some excellent pickerel and smallmouth bass and a large population of mid-sized white perch," Martel reports.

            Tink Nelson at Nute's Trading Post in Wakefield, said that Balch Lake, a border pond that stretches out over several miles between Wakefield and Acton, Maine was producing some fine white perch and bass. "These border ponds are not fished hard because of the two-line restriction, but even with these few lines, they are sure worth fishing," Tink explained. "Province Lake (same area) is another one. There's beautiful access to the lake. The main road runs right along it for over a mile. The lake is full of bass and some nice yellow perch. In the deepest part of the lake, you can fill a bucket with crappie when they are hitting, but it gets virtually no ice fishing pressure. We're seeing a lot of fishing pressure on Lovell Lake (Sanbornville) but the catches have dropped off a lot there. And over at Great East (another local border lake), lake trout action has been pretty steady. The fish are not big, but they are fun," he explained.

            Even Pete Santini at Fishing FINatics in Everett, Massachusetts abandoned his shop to let his uncle take the reins while he was in Maine fishing the Sebago Derby. "We had a great time, had a chance to meet two of the other contributors for this fishing report, Dave Garcia and Carroll Cutting, and did a lot of jigging. Our results were not outstanding. I had one hit and my buddy hooked a togue and lost it. But we had a ball," he laughed.

            Pete's report for his local freshwater fishing included Wright's Pond in Medford for bass and pickerel, Spy Pond in Arlington for bass, pickerel and musky up to seven pounds, Heard's Pond in Wayland for bass, pickerel and pike, and Fellsmere Reservoir where Santini and a friend spent an afternoon and iced some averaged-sized rainbow trout and big crappie.

            "Saltwater action was slow for the week, but a 49 pound codfish taken from Walch's Deep Sea Party Boat out of Lynn made for a lot of excitement," according to Santini. "They're fishing the Stellwagon Banks area and have pulled in some nice catches of cod each trip."

            Ice fishing for saltwater smelt is expected to last at least a couple more weeks, as ice conditions remain pretty good. Jim MacKenzie at Suds-n-Soda, near Great Bay in Greenland, New Hampshire reported that few fishermen were using the Greenland/Newington end of the bay, but that there was some fishable ice there. "Most of the action is coming from the Squamscot River in Stratham, Newfields and Exeter. There are still some limit catches being caught. River Road in Stratham seems to be the most consistent," Mac explained.

            Captain Bill Brindamour, who runs a clam digger shuttle boat to the clam grounds in Hampton Harbor, said that this week's number of diggers was surprisingly good, considering the weather. "Most everyone came off the flats with a ten quart limit of steamers. They are learning to spread out and look for the concentrations of holes. I'll admit that it's not like the glory days of a couple of years ago, but there's really not a problem to get mess of clams here now," he said.

            A call to Sharon Eddy at James Eddy Smelt Camp Rentals in Dresden, Maine, revealed that the fishing there had slowed considerably, but there had been some bright spots, Sharon said. "Our average catches had been running less than a hundred fish, but on Saturday morning, some of the camps caught over three hundred. You just have to take your chances," she said with a bit of down-home humor in her voice.

Past Fishing Reports 2001

Return to Top