Complements of The Kittery Trading Post

Activity for the 3rd week of March, 2001

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March 19, 2001

            Slush, too much snow to get through to access lakes, and two feet of ice provided ice fishermen with plenty of challenges for last week's fishing. And if that wasn't enough, in many locations, the fish seemed to contract locked jaw.

            One of the brightest spots was in the Massachusetts North Shore area, where state stocking trucks had stocked some incredible trout through the ice. These fish were legal targets both by ice and open water fishing.  A lot of locals and those along the New Hampshire border were having some of the best fishing of the season.

            Bob Drago of Newton, NH had his ten-year-old son Randy out on several ponds in the Haverhill, MA area, and they had a ball, catching both rainbow and brown trout to 14 inches. Randy had a rainbow that his uncle said was over three pounds. The huge fish slipped back into Randy's ice fishing hole never to be seen again! Bob reports that each time out, he and Randy had caught a half dozen nice trout and had seen others having the same good luck.

            Pete Santini at Fishing FINatics Bait and Tackle in Everett, said that he'd been out on the ice at Horn Pond in Woburn. "The guys there were pulling some nice browns out. They were hitting Little Cleos, Kastmasters, Daredevils, Little Tigers and even crappie jigs tipped with a mealworm. There were 1,000 trout stocked here last Monday, some of them over 18 inches long. The rainbows were hitting Power Bait, small shiners and worms. They are being caught in the open water at the culvert, along with a few holdover trout and an occasional Atlantic salmon--bluefish size!" he laughed.

            "Down on the Cape, a lot of ice has gone out, and the trout fishing has been great as stocking has also been in progress there. Here on Mystic Lake, there's open water where the river comes in and a lot of big crappie are being caught. White, green or yellow crappie jigs fished very slowly are the best bets. There's still ice on most of the lakes, but you need to be careful. It's getting pretty soft around the edges," he continued.

            "We're seeing some pretty impressive catches of cod coming in off Stellwagon Banks when the weather is right for the boats to get out there. There are also a few cod being caught from the Castle Island Pier in South Boston. This week we'll probably see the start of the striper fishing below the Amelia Earhart Dam in Everett. The snow has gone in that area, and it's easy walking," Pete ended.

            Saltwater ice fishing action has pretty near come to a close, except for Great Bay's Squamscott River, according to Jim MacKenzie at Suds-n-Soda in Greenland. "There's still close to two feet of ice in some spots on the Squamscott, and although most bait dealers are out of sea worms, we've had catches of up to 18 pounds of smelt caught on nightcrawlers. But I would imagine that this week would be about the end of it. Getting on and off the ice at high tide is quite a challenge," Mac warned.

            "Pawtuckaway Lake in Nottingham continues to be our best local fresh water fishing spot. Crappies to over a pound and big bass and pickerel, a scattering of both white and yellow perch, and some oversized bluegills provide a great mix," he ended.

            Captain Bill Brindamour of Hampton, says that unless there's a measurable amount of rain, the clam-flats in Hampton Harbor should be open for recreational digging on both Friday and Saturday of this week. "You should call the clam hot line at 1-800-43-CLAMS for opening information. We've continued to have some decent digging here, and the better weather coming should provide some fine outings. It's great family recreation and when you figure the value of a limit of clams at over fifty dollars, it's sure worthwhile," Bill noted.

            Sea clam gathering along the Maine beaches after last week's storms was very good, according to Captain Cal Robinson at Saco Bay Tackle. "I've got my year's supply put away already," he laughed. This writer and two others managed three, five-gallon buckets of sea clams from the Old Orchard Beach area last Wednesday. The clams had been washed ashore by Tuesday's northeaster storm. The next low "moon tides" should bring good opportunities for sea clam digging in that same area.

            Maine's northern waters should enjoy some of the best ice fishing of the season in the coming weeks. Although some waters are closed to ice fishing for trout and salmon, many remain open until April 1st. Chesuncook Lake remains the best bet for landlocked salmon, while Moosehead Lake is enjoying a good year on togue (lake trout) that seem to be growing in average size each year.

            In the Belgrade Lakes Region, the last of March is the time when serious ice anglers target the growing northern pike population there. Oversized shiners fished in shallow waters, off points and weed beds produce pike in the double-digit weight range each year. Experts tell us that a short length of steel leader fastened to your regular leader will prevent cut-offs from ruining your day. Biologists and Maine wardens have told us that there is growing concern about the illegal introduction of pike and other fish into public waters and are going to be stepping up their efforts to prevent more of this from happening. The Belgrade pike were a result of an illegal introduction.

            Sebago Lake fishermen were facing tough travelling conditions, especially late in the day, after the sun had got at the ice, according to Carroll Cutting at Jordan's Store in East Sebago. "It's okay early in the morning, but by noontime, the going gets tough in the slush and wet snow. Both snowmobiles and ATVs have been getting stuck and are having a hard time. There's plenty of ice. We're going to be looking at a later than normal ice-out. But that's okay with a lot of our togue fishermen. They are still catching a lot of fish. One party of two people caught nine togue in a few hours last week. We weighed in a togue caught by Scott Gonyea at 16.75 pounds, 37 inches long. He also had one that was close to eight pounds. Scott caught those two big fish on an Airplane jig with cutsucker bait. We also had a six-year-old neighbor, Eric Gunther, catch a four-pound togue on his first-ever trip out on the ice. That was quite a thrill for the little fellow," Cutting laughed.

            John Boland, senior Sebago Lake Region fisheries biologist, reports that Kezar Lake in Lovell continues to be another hot togue spot, with easy access and plenty of action on average-sized fish. Boland agrees with Cutting about Sebago's superior togue fishing, adding that the fishermen constantly bringing in the largest of the fish move around a lot on the ice. When they find where the smelt are schooled up, then that's where the big togue are also likely to be.

            "We're probably going to see the start of the most active period in the sea-run brown trout fishery soon, maybe even this week if the ice goes out of the rivers in the Ogunquit to Scarborough areas. At the head of tide, where the fresh and saltwater meets, is usually the best bet for the March fishing. In the last few years, we've even had periods in March when fly hatches were coming off and dry fly fishing was the best method," John said.

            Jim Pelloran, a veteran biologist working out of the same office, reports that Maine's new rainbow trout introduction program is doing well. "We've had over 16,000 rainbows in the hatchery, however, our intended experimental stockings require only a little over 9,000 fish. We stocked the majority of the unscheduled rainbows in Ell Pond, Kennebunk Pond and the Kennebec River, all of which have a history of rainbow trout stockings. The remaining fish were all marked in preparation for our study. We'll be stocking rainbows and browns in four southern Maine rivers and five lakes for comparative evaluations. In addition, we'll conduct rainbow/brook trout comparisons in four southern Maine ponds. Actual study waters are still pending further department and public review processes," he noted.

            Cal Robinson at Saco Bay Tackle, reported that one of his staffers, Wayne Jordan, had caught a brown trout from Hancock Pond (near Sebago) that weighed 4.5 pounds. Cal said that this lake always is at its best the end of March. "Fish in about 40 feet of water. Number 5 Swedish Pimple jigs or similar sized bucktail jigs tipped with cut bait work best," he instructed.

            New Hampshire's Lake Region also had its problems with slush. We were plagued with too much wet snow and slush yesterday while fishing on Loon Lake in Freedom for rainbow trout. Our ATV got stuck several times and finally was left on the trailer. With five of us setting two dozen lines, our score was pathetic--a couple of small yellow perch, a mid-sized pickerel and a ten inch fallfish. Earlier-in-the-week, a trip to Pawtuckaway Lake produced eight big crappies between two of us.

            The Winnipesaukee and Winnisquam Lakes were also having their troubles with slush, according to several sources. Dave Ganter at the Kittery Trading Post's Fishing Department said that one of their staff, Peter Burkhart, had a lot of activity on his latest trip to Winnipesaukee, catching a cusk over two feet long and some respectable white perch. Geneva Point in the Moultonboro area was where most of the perch action was taking place. Peter had also been chasing the smallmouths below the warm water discharge at the Bow Plant on the Merrimack River. The smallies there were preferring live bait," Dave reports.

            Lake Winnisquam is where Bill Martel's Bait Shop has been located for over seven decades! This morning, Bill reported that a beautiful lake trout--35 inches long and 14 pounds, six ounces, had been taken on Monday. "It was caught in real shallow water, where you could see bottom. They were jigging with cutsucker bait. There's been a lot of lake trout action, both here and on Lake Winnipesaukee. Several parties have come back with catches of up to six fish. White perch have been hitting down by the Winnisquam Bridge, and they are better than average size. There's still about two feet of ice just about everywhere. We're going to see a later than usual ice-out here," Martel suggested.

            Before Tink Nelson at Nute's Trading Post in Wakefield, left for the warmer climes for a few days, he forwarded his report. "Like most places, we've got some tough conditions. Too much snow on the ice and quite a bit of slush. But this is the best time of the year to be out there. Try Milton Three Ponds for largemouth bass. They are ready to go on the prowl, and Milton's fish are larger than most. There's a pretty good population of landlocked alewives in there. That's what makes 'em so big. The pickerel in Milton Three Ponds are enough to scare you, and there are some crappie showing up there that are also jumbos. We're right in the middle of some of the best crappie fishing in the state. Try Balch, Belleau and Pine River Ponds (Wakefield) or Willand Pond (Somersworth). There's also crappie in Province Lake and Great East Lake (also Wakefield), but you may have a harder time locating them there. Province Lake is like a shallow pan--not much deep water or structure, but some of the deepest water is right off Route 153. Great East Lake is a big place, so the crappie are even harder to locate. Some places are too deep for them. Don't be surprised to catch a lake, brown or rainbow trout at Great East. There's some nice ones there," Tink ended.

            "There's more and more open water fishing going on in the Androscoggin River in Errol," reports George Malloy at River's Edge General Store in Berlin. "But the trout have yet to really cooperate. We've seen our usual mid-March slowdown here, but the last couple weeks of the season will be different. Pike will begin to hit as well as bass. Our two largest fish of the week were both bass, a five pounder caught from Burns Pond in Whitefield and another five pound, eight ouncer, caught from Spectacle Pond in Vermont by Dave Osgood of Berlin," Malloy reported.

            Far northern New Hampshire is still producing some good trout action, according to Shirley Remick at TR's Bait in Pittsburg. "We sold a lot of bait, the weather was good and some nice lakers were caught from First Lake (Connecticut) and some browns and rainbows from Lake Francis," she said.

Past Fishing Reports 2001

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