Complements of The Kittery Trading Post

Activity for the 4th week of April, 2001

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 April 23, 2001

            Hope is on the horizon as weekend air temperatures soared into the low eighties.  Still, there is not a single major lake that anyone can float a boat in southern Maine, or along the New Hampshire border. But with more fair weather and warm winds expected this week, anglers could expect to get their boats wet by the weekend.

            Most of the snow has left the woodlands in southern Maine, but the snow melt coming from higher elevations continues to keep the rivers and streams high and cold. Still, brook trout anglers are taking limits, and a few anglers are reporting fish in the 12-inch plus range.

            The Saco River is running at nearly flood stage, indicating plenty of snow melt in the White Mountains. However, anglers in the Cornish to Fryeburg area report that the woods are becoming bare, and the smaller streams have less water than usual at this time of year.

            Swan Pond Brook in Goodwin's Mills, Carlisle Brook in Kennebunk and Cook's Brook in Dayton are producing limits each day as well as a number of beaver flowages that have been free of ice for a couple of weeks. These reports are coming from wild turkey hunters who have been out scouting and collecting some trout along the way. Maine and New Hampshire turkey hunting is less than a week away.

            Craig Bergeron at Saco Bay Tackle Company, notes that area ponds are showing signs of weakness and predicts there might be open water by the weekend. Kennebunk Pond has only a bit of gray ice showing around the edges. The middle of the lake is submerged, and there's a wide crescent of open water at the boat launch.

             "The hot river right now is Mousam, with brown trout being taken up to 18 inches at dead low tide, or on the incoming," Craig stated. Brown trout angling has become more popular in southern Maine, thanks to a sea-run stocking program by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife. Except when the ice forms over the larger pools, anglers can find viable numbers of brown trout all winter long in several southern Maine rivers.

            Craig also notes that a couple of the deep-sea charters are filling up fast on the weekend, "anglers on Tim Tower's boat, the Bunny Clark, out of Perkins Cove are taking cod and haddock, and Bob Liston of the Lethal Weapon II out of Wells is reporting the same luck."

            Early angling over Jeffrey's and Tanta's Ledges is usually hot, although the demand for offshore angling doesn't warrant mid-week trips. "My advice is to book early for the weekend cod and haddock trips," says Bergeron, "they are booking fast."

            With the full moon coming up the first week in May, lovers of surf or hen clams will be on Old Orchard Beach for what will probably be the last harvest of the winter and spring. No license is required to take these giant clams.  A long-tined hayfork and neoprene waders are a must. About one dozen hen clams will serve up a pound of meat.

            Smaller ponds in southern Maine are also worth exploring. Many of the less-than-100 acre ponds are free of ice but provide angling for less popular species. There are a lot of ponds that offer crappie, perch and pickerel fishing that are open right now.

            Biologist John Boland notes that southern Maine’s illegal stocking has become a major problem in recent years, including cusk into Little Ossippee Lake in Waterboro and crappie and pike in other lakes and ponds. He reminds anglers that introducing fish from one pond into another is illegal and could also spread through the entire waterway, crowding out trout and salmon. One unfortunate case is the Rapid River in Andover. One of the last remaining wild rivers in America, it is now infested with smallmouth bass, thanks to illegal stocking in Umbagog Lake.

            The bulk of southern Maine anglers are still crowding around what little open water there is at Sebago Lake. The ice-out could go into the first week of May, but the forecast of warm weather and hot winds could give us some water by the weekend.

            Carol Cutting at Jordan Bay Store in East Sebago, noting that a very strong, warm wind blew all weekend, reports, "Ice may go out a bit sooner than we thought. The big danger to fishermen right now is getting trapped by the ice. The flow is moving everyday, from one side to the other, and people getting out in open water may find themselves in trouble really quick."

            As for the angling success, Caroll doesn't have much news to report. "The Muddy River usually has some salmon right now, but there's no water to fish. The same is true in other parts of the lake. Shoreline fishermen are just plain having trouble finding deep enough water."

            Cutting notes that some smelt are being seen in the upper reaches of the Songo River and that's great news for the live-smelt-under-a-bobber crowd. One angler reported taking a ten-pound lake trout off the sand at the State Park, at the month of the Songo River.

            "A few anglers are reporting salmon in the 14-18 inch range at the Songo Locks and right up into the Crooked River, but the way that ice blew around in the wind over the weekend, not many people caught fish," Cutting continued.  Toward the south end of the lake, a couple of salmon were reportedly take off White's Bridge. It seems the places that have open water and current are holding or attracting fish.

            On the top of Sebago, Panther Run continues to give up some fish in the two pound plus range and across Route 302, in Long Pond, the Naples causeway is still giving up salmon and brown trout.

            Some of the outlying ponds and lakes have more open water, but none are reported to have clear sailing.  Anglers are still forced to look for open water and moving water at the mouths of tributaries.

            Dave Ganter of the Kittery Trading Post Fishing Staff weighs in, "Conditions still haven't changed much from last week. The warm winds over the weekend should have cut through a lot of ice, but customers are still moaning and groaning there's no water to float a boat on."

            Dave also noted a fresh stocking of brown trout in the lower reaches of the Ogunquit River, part of an ongoing sea-run or salty brown trout program devised to offer winter angling for coastal anglers. The Ogunquit and Stevens Rivers and farther north at Kennebeunk, the Mousam River are all excellent brown trout fisheries with low tide and incoming tide being the best.

            Guides and outfitters from around southern and western Maine that have stopped by the fishing department have noted that despite the late ice-out, the rivers and smaller brooks have not flooded the way they usually do in April. Charles Weissman of the Fryeberg area notes that the brook trout angling is actually better this spring than last, due to the slow snow melt. "The woods are beginning to show plenty of bare spots," says Weissman, "and anglers are taking daily limits of brook trout up to a foot in length."

            With a week or more left before Maine largest lake opens, Moosehead is showing no signs of giving up its ice covering anytime soon. The East and West outlets will likely be the gathering points for anglers when the season opens May 1st.

            Jim MacKenzie at Suds 'n Soda in Greenland is optimistic about this weekend's opening of the trout season. "Most of the larger lakes and ponds are still covered with ice," Jim says, "but anglers that want to look around for smaller waters could be rewarded. The brooks and streams are high and cold, but people are catching fish."

            The late ice-out seems to be slowing down license sales a bit, but anglers will buy them, it's just a matter of when. If the waters open up this weekend, sport shops will be flooded with customers.

            Lake Winnepesaukee anglers are still moaning and groaning about the late ice-out. "I haven't even bought a license yet." noted one angler at an Alton Bay variety store. It's no wonder when the ice has barely melted around the boat docks. Most anglers agree that the ice-out will be into May this year.

            Steve Courshesne at the Sportmen's Den in Hooksett is still waiting for the start of the smelt run. Smelt are usually in the midst of their spawning run by the middle of March and seldom, if ever, begin to spawn a month late.

            Heading south, anglers in Boston Harbor are loading up on codfish. "This is the best fishing we've seen since Columbus landed," commented Pete Santini of Fishing FINatics in Everett, Mass.  "All around the B Buoy, right up to Graves, the cod are taking 7-16 ounce jigs with a white teaser in 80-100 feet of water." Anglers are reminded of the daily ten fish limit on cod, with a minimum length of 21 inches.

            "Those cod are filled with baby flounder and that could be a sign that the flounder fishing this summer will be a great one," Pete enthused.  The state's winter flounder season gets underway May 1st.

            Pete also notes that stripers (probably holdovers) up to 31 inches are being taken in the Lower Mystic Lakes in Medford. "The river is loaded with herring right up to the Amelia Earhart Dam in Somerville," Pete ended.

            Shoreline anglers are taking cod using seaworms or rooster clams off Revere and Winthrop Beaches and at the South Boston Castle Island Pier.  Santini notes the best time off the beaches is at dusk with an incoming tide.

            Inland, Sluice Pond in Lynn and Walden and White Pond in Concord, as well as Jamaica Pond in Boston are the hot spots. Largemouth bass and calicos are hitting well in North Reading and Harold Parker Reservation in Andover. Rubber worms and shiners are the hot baits.    

          Past Fishing Reports 2001

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