Complements of The Kittery Trading Post

Activity for the 4th week of July, 2001

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July 23, 2001

      Northcountry freshwater anglers have had a second chance at some of the better fishing conditions of the year, as the last two weeks of heavy showers have pushed water levels up and brought water temperatures down. With surface temperatures back into the sixties, the fly fishing as well as surface trolling has been good.

      In the Granite State, Tom Caron at Tall Timber Lodge in Pittsburg says that water levels and flows in the Connecticut River have about doubled. "This can be good and bad. The good part is that the increased flow has often drawn some nice salmon up out of the lakes and into the river. The bad part is that wading is tough when it's like this. But we expect the water levels to slowly start to drop, and we'll be seeing some good trout and salmon fly fishing potential," he figures.

      Tom noted that at Back Lake much of the fishing has been trolling in the daytime and fly fishing during the evening. "Yellow Rooster Tail spinners have been working for the trollers--mostly rainbow trout from 12-14 inches. At night, there's been a few fishermen having luck on dry flies--the haystack pattern being the best," Tom ended.

      Shirley Remick at TR's Bait in Pittsburg, said her son Tom Remick, a licensed guide, was out with some clients on the Second Connecticut Lake as we spoke. "Tom's been getting some nice lake trout. We weighed one yesterday well over five pounds that was 27 inches long. Rainbow trout are still hitting well at the Third Lake and down on Lake Francis, the people fishing deep are doing okay on browns, rainbows and some salmon," she reports.

      "For two mornings last week, we had an unbelievable sight on the river here outside the store," George Malloy at River's Edge General Store relayed. "The surface of the water was like glass and then suddenly, it was broken by hundreds of swirls of fish. Hatches of two different flies had come off at the same time. Instead of splashing rises, the fish were swimming around with their fins just out of water,  gorging on the insects. Today we haven't seen 'em yet," he said. (From his description, we believe that one of the bugs hatching was the trico mayfly.)

      Malloy is the keeper of the keys for boats that his local sportsman club has positioned at several of the northcountry ponds. From the amount of keys picked up, he has a pretty good handle on which ponds are the most productive for trout fishing. Last week, it was Success Pond in Success and Big Dummer Pond in Dummer that were leading the "key club".

      In New Hampshire's lakes region, Bill Martel is getting very pleased with the comeback that he's observing on Winnisquam Lake in Laconia, where Martel's Bait has been a landmark for seven decades. "The fellows that know how to fish and to locate them here have been having some great luck on landlocks. One fellow caught six nice fish in three hours, keeping two that were over four pounds. He makes his own lures and fishes downriggers. The fish were all in the 34 to 42 foot depth. We're also having some fine bass fishing in the lakes region--both small and largemouths. Perch are still in the river here (Winnipesaukee), but they're not the big ones like earlier," he reported.

      Eva Nelson at Nute's Trading Post in Wakefield, said that warm water fish were the news around her area--especially bass, pickerel and crappie. "We've probably got the largest concentration of crappie lakes in the state--Belleau Lake, Balch Pond, Pine River Pond, Great East Lake and Province Lake. The best fishing this time of year is definitely at dusk and into the evening. Fish over weed beds or rocky structure in about 20-25 feet of water. They'll take a jig, but the best bet is to use small minnows. If you don't find the crappie where you anchor, move until you do. A good fish finder/depth finder is your most important tool for finding them. The schools of crappie are often made up of similar sized fish. If the crappie you're catching are too small, move until you locate a school of larger fish," she instructs.

      George Taylor at Taylor's Trading Post in Madbury, says that the size of the largemouths coming out of the Bellamy River is outstanding, and the panfish are hitting well there. Trout ponds are producing well, according to George. "At Barbados, the best bets have been power baits and inflated nightcrawlers. There are rainbows to three pound. Stonehouse Pond in Barrington has been hot and cold, and I suspect it's a time of day thing. Low light periods have been best. Fishing at Lucas Pond in Northwood has slowed down, but some people are still getting a few nice trout," Taylor said.

      Maine's inland action has also picked up. Jim Pellerin, Asst. Regional Biologist in the Gray Region, reports that Sebago and Auburn Lakes are producing some great deep-water action. "Speaking of deep water and lakers, a 39.5 incher weighing only twelve pounds was found dead at Kezar Lake last week. Fin clips indicated that this fish was relatively old--31 years. It had been stocked in 1971! The warm water species fishing opportunities are plentiful. They are a great way to introduce children to the world of fishing," Jim suggests.

      Dave Garcia at Naples Bait on Long Lake, has some customers that have unlocked the secret to some excellent brown trout fishing.   "These guys have had some fantastic fishing. They're trolling with glow-in-the-dark lures at night. A favorite ice fishing lure, the glow number 5 Swedish Pimple has been surprisingly the best bet, but other glow lures are also working. They've done real well at Woods Pond in Bridgeton with brown trout up to 20 inches, but there are plenty of other local brown trout waters where this method should also produce. Right here on Long Lake, Hancock Pond or Middle Range Pond (Poland)," Dave suggests. (Glow lures are best when activated with some form of artificial light--a strong flashlight, a flash unit from a camera, and some people go to the trouble of setting up a special light box, rotating lures in and out of it as the glow wears down, usually within a half-hour).

      Garcia, whose first love is tourney bass fishing, just competed in the North East Bass Association's Fish-Off held at the Belgrade Lakes, where he and his partner took 10th place overall, well into the national qualifying positions. Their two-day catch was over 32 lbs., with largemouth to four pounds and smallies over three. Spinner baits were the hot item, Dave revealed.

      Rusty Harvey at River's Edge Sports in Oquossoc, said the Rangeley Lakes Region continues to provide some of the best fishing in the state. "We weighed a 9.5 pound togue that was caught off bottom on a DB Smelt at Richardson Lake. We had a very nice 22.5-inch salmon taken from Rangeley Lake and a 3.5 pound salmon from Mooselookmeguntic that was also caught on the DB Smelt. The rivers are running high here, and the fishing is good.  Upper Dam is fishing really well for salmon and brookies, while the lower Magalloway River has been good for brook trout," he ended.

      Kittery Trading Post's Dave Ganter took a week off from his position of running the 'Post's Fishing Department with a week's family vacation at Sebec Lake. What did he do the first thing each morning while staying at Packard's Camps there? Fish, naturally!

      "In just an hour or so at daybreak each day, we caught 25 salmon using spinning gear and Little Jon planing disks to bring our lures down. Many of the fish were undersized, but the big ones we caught were big--pretty special fish. Our days were spent snorkeling and eagle and osprey watching. While snorkeling, we found tons of last spring's bass beds in the coves. I'll bet that the bass fishing here during that time had to be fantastic," Dave said.

      "If you have the right gear, either lead line or downriggers, this is a good time to fish for landlocked salmon. These fish have moved down in the water column, seeking cooler, well-oxygenated water that they prefer. Target depths from 25 to 35 feet to start," suggests Biologist Ron Brokaw in the Downeast Region.

      Echo Lake, Long Pond (both on MDI), Phillips Lake in Dedham, Tunk Lake in T10SD, Alligator Lake in T34MD, Schoodic Lake in Cherryfield, and West Grand Lake in Grand Lake Stream are his picks for good healthy salmon and other salmonids.

      Stephen Seeback, Regional Fishery Summer Assistant in the Moosehead Region, said that bizarre weather had been experienced in his region last week. The rain and hail had decreased the surface water temperatures and temporarily improved surface fishing on Moosehead Lake and other regional waters, with togue, salmon and brook trout making up most of the catch. Insect hatches have also improved, with good surface action early in the morning and late at night. Most of the bugs hatching were mayflies and caddis, but he's seen a few stoneflies and expects them to be heavy in the next two weeks.

      Saltwater fishing continues to be incredible in most of our reporting areas. Pete Santini at Fishing FINatics in Everett, Massachusetts reports that stripers, bluefish, flounder and cod are the most sought after in the Boston Harbor area, and they are all hitting well. "One of our customers, Tom Dello, caught a striper that was over 41 inches and weighed 25 pounds. He was fishing at Outer Graves, dragging a Santini Tube-n-Worm on mono line on the surface in 90 feet of water when the fish hit.  That's a pretty incredible way to catch fish that are supposed to be hiding in the rocks," Pete laughed.

      "Bluefish and stripers put on a blitz or two last week right off Revere Beach in front of the Police Station. They were hitting the tube, Rapalas and live mackerel. Most of the real frenzy came just at dusk and about two hours before high tide. There's lots of cod still hitting--fish to 12 pounds. Jigs or clams are good--fish around B Buoy. Flounder continue to move deeper. Check the #6 buoy at the North Channel, George's Island and Green Island. Try 28-35 feet depths. Trolling at night with live eels has produced some great stripers and bluefish. We're alive with fish here," he enthused.

      At Surfland Bait and Tackle on Plum Island, Kay Moulton reported that although they'd seen a bit of a slowdown, the anglers that were persistent and knew their stuff were still having some awesome luck on both stripers and blues. "We weighed a striper of 20.25 pounds and one of 19 pounds, both caught from shore. There's not a lot of bluefish here right now, but there's been some serious action at Hampton Shoals Ledge, where bluefish hit for several hours one day. There's been some limit catches of flounder, and mackerel are spooky, but if you get onto Breaking Rocks down towards the state line (NH) early in the morning, you shouldn't have much trouble filling your bait tank. Drift and chum heavily," Kay instructs.

      Connie Ham at the State Pier Bait and Tackle Shop in Hampton Harbor, showed us photos of some huge tautog taken right under the Hampton/Seabrook Bridge. "The bigger one was over 15 pounds," she bragged.

      Connie says that there's a small gang of regulars that target these fish, also known as blackfish. Preferred baits are sea worms or half a green crab. The fish are mostly on the Hampton side of the bridge, where they prefer the rocky bottom.

      "The largest stripers here are out in the ocean, both offshore in deep water and along the shoreline," reports Jim MacKenzie at Greenland, NH Suds-n-Soda. "In the river (Piscataqua) there are still plenty of fish, but most of them won't go much over 36 inches. Bluefish are up into Little Bay as far as Adams Point. The small ones are in the river and the larger ones--up to 10 lbs.--are occasionally being caught by the offshore striper people. If you're serious about bluefish, you've got to use a steel leader. Black is the best leader color. You don't need a long leader--a foot long is enough," Mac suggests.

      "Excellent--they seem to be everywhere," is how George Taylor at Taylor's Trading Post in Madbury described the striper fishing in the Great and Little Bay area. "This weekend's boating traffic put a bit of a crimp into some of the daytime fishing, but the guys fishing off the bridges at night are having a ball, with some unusual catches supplementing the stripers. The other night, dogfish (sand sharks), came in under the General Sullivan Bridge and were hitting the striper baits. They caught one that was 47 inches long," George reports.

      Dave Ganter at the Kittery Trading Post's Fishing Department, adds that the striper fishermen in the lower Piscataqua River are being stymied at times by the presence of so many baitfish. The bait are herring in the six-inch class and the bass are being fussy, only looking at the naturals. He suggests trying to catch some of this bait. The herring will bite on the smallest Sabiki herring rigs. Cast and let them drift near the surface, right into the schools of baitfish.

      "There's some huge giant bluefin coming in so far this year and quite a few smaller ones--it's a good sign," reports Captain Cal Robinson at Saco Bay Bait and Tackle. "We've heard of fish up to over 1,100 pounds being caught on rod and reel and some huge ones being taken by harpoon boats. We've got a few sharks just starting on the offshore ledges, but it's really not time for them to be there in any numbers yet. It seems like the action on the tuna just keeps getting better and better. We got hit here big time by bluefish last week, all the way up to Kennebunkport. They were all around the islands. Mackerel continue to be good, as well as codfish. Tanners and Jeffrey's Ledges have been the best for cod--fish early in the morning," Cal instructs.

      Sam Cassida, at Little River Lodge and Outfitters in Belfast, (Penobscot Bay/ Kennebec River areas) reports that the fish have moved out into deeper water. "Shore anglers are having a hard time, but the people in boats have stayed with the fish. The mackerel have moved deeper and so have the stripers. The water temperatures have played a big part in out current situation. The squid are here in full force and bluefish in the two to three pound range are being caught on Christmas tree rigs," Sam's report ended. 

                     Past Fishing Reports 2001

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