Complements of The Kittery Trading Post

Activity for the 4th week of August, 2001

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August 27, 2001

      The lack of rain and resultant low water and high water temperatures have our region's fisheries biologists concerned that the drought may have a long lasting impact on natural reproduction of brook trout and salmon. The rivers that have a natural flow and are not controlled by dams are in very bad condition, with some of them virtually un-fishable. Others with enough water to hold fish are warm enough that the fish are concentrated in cold water refuges or are in the deep pools.  But they are often not interested in feeding. The saltwater news is brighter, except that baitfish such as mackerel and pollock are non-existent in many areas.

      Fisheries Biologist John Boland, who covers the Sebago Lake area, reports that his group will be looking at the production of wild salmon on the Crooked River. "95% of Sebago Lake's natural production takes place in the Crooked. Continued low flows will have an impact that will last for years to come," John laments.

      Dave Garcia at Naples Bait on Long Lake, had fished a tourney at Sebago over the weekend. "The smallmouth bite was good, although we didn't get as many big fish as some of the other tourney fishermen. Early in the morning the fish were taking crawfish imitations in 10-20 feet of water. We were rigging Carolina style to fish deep. Some of the shore and dock fishermen were having some action. There's always a resident bass or two under most of the docks and a lot of sunfish. The kids have a ball on them. We need rain," Dave ended.

      Kittery Trading Post's Josh Mabee may have made a discovery that will help the togue (lake trout) fleet on Sebago Lake change their fishing patterns. "I was vertical jigging with a Yozuri spoon that looks like a smelt. I had marked a bunch of smelt in the 30-60 feet depths with the majority of them where the slope went down quickly to about 60 feet. Figuring that there had to be some nice smallmouths feeding on the smelt, I began dropping my spoon down in these areas.  I got plenty of action, but not on smallmouths. I just couldn't get away from the togue. I must have caught at least a dozen, with the largest being close to seven pounds. A landlocked salmon of about 14 inches also fell for that spoon, but interestingly, not a smallmouth was to be found. It sure was fun with those lake trout and salmon, though," he laughed. He was fishing off the south end of Frye Island.

      Jim Stahlnecker, Regional Fisheries Biologist in the Central Maine Region, reports that fishing tourneys are a great source of information for his work. The information they look at is the length and weight, the general health of the fish and any hooking injuries.  This helps to keep regulations in line with the fish populations.

      "Our lakes continue to provide some great fishing, although most of the rivers are not doing too well right now," reports Rusty Harvey at River's Edge Sports in Oquossoc (Rangeley Lakes Region). "We're still seeing some nice salmon coming from Rangeley Lake and some good fish coming from Mooselookmeguntic. Rangeley's fish have been larger than any of the other local lakes, by quite a margin. We've weighed salmon in the two to four pound range all week long. We had a 12 year-old girl, Julia Miller from Larchmont, New York catch a 2.2-pound salmon. You couldn't get the smile off of her face! Rangeley Lake's trout and salmon are the fattest we've seen in years," Rusty announced.

      But he wasn't as happy about the river conditions, warning that the expected fall spawning run may be delayed or may not even happen if conditions don't improve. Three exceptions to the low river water are tailrace fisheries depending on the controlled releases from dams to provide some good fishing. These are at Upper Dam (between Mooselookmeguntic and Richardson Lake, the lower Magalloway River (downstream from the Lake Aziscohos Dam), and the Rapid River (downstream from the Middle Dam on Lower Richardson Lake, connecting to Umbagog Lake).

      In the Downeast Region of Maine, Fisheries Biologist Specialist Gregory Burr suggests giving pickerel in his region a try. "These torpedo shaped fish are voracious feeders that hover in the weeds and under lily pads where they'll strike unsuspecting minnows, bass, perch, sunfish, crayfish, frogs, snakes, small birds, smaller pickerel, mice and even young squirrels."

      Greg's pick of good pickerel waters in his region are: Pocomoonshine Lake, Crawford Lake, Fourth & Third Machias Lakes, Upper Lower Chain Lakes, Scammon Pond, Graham Lake, Seal Cove Pond, Brewer Lake, Alamoosook Lake, and Upper & Lower West Bay Ponds.

      Greg is also suggesting that white perch fishing should be good at the following waters: George's Pond, Flanders Pond, Webb Pond, Jones Pond, Toddy Pond, Gardner Lake, Meddybemps Lake, and Rocky Lake (T18 MD).

      Gayland Hachey at Hachey's Fly and Rod Shop in Veazie near the Penobscot River's famed Atlantic salmon pools, just returned from a three-week fishing adventure in Alaska, where he tangled with king salmon over 50 pounds. "The Atlantic salmon run here on the Penobscot River this year so far has produced 752 fish to the fish trap at the Veazie Dam. Although the final count should end up somewhere around 850 fish, twice as many as last year, the endangered species listing will still keep the river closed to fishing, even the catch-and-release fly fishing that we've done for so many years. The Canadian salmon rivers are in tough shape this year from the low water. Some of the best rivers have even been closed because of this. We'll just have to keep our fingers crossed and hope that our Penobscot fish return in enough numbers so the no-fishing restrictions will be lifted," he said.

      In the Moosehead Lake Region, Paul Johnson, Regional Fisheries Biologist there, said the free flowing streams such as the Piscataquis or the West Branch of the Pleasant River will be virtually un-fishable until there's adequate rain to bring levels back. "Rivers where flow is maintained and regulated by dams, such as the West Branch of the Penobscot below Ripogenus Lake and the East Outlet, will likely have good flows through the entire month of September. The Moose River flows below Brassua Lake Dam won't increase until the middle of September. The releases at Seboomook Dam and at the First Roach Pond Dam will likely be delayed until at least September 8th," he warns.

      "It's raining right now, and we're happy," Shirley Remick at TR's Bait in Pittsburg, New Hampshire laughed. "It's not the kind of news you would think a tourist area like this would be happy about, but our lakes are getting low and the streams are also feeling the pinch. In spite of all of this, the Third Connecticut Lake is producing the best rainbow trout action of any place around here, and it's been like this all year. Limit catches of fish to well over two pounds are the rule. The fish are being caught by still-fishing, fly fishing and trolling. Here on First Lake, my son Tom's guiding parties are still getting their share of lake trout in the three to five pound sizes. But we are worried that lower lake levels will make access to the lakes very difficult if we don't get enough rain," Shirley noted.

      In New Hampshire's Big Lakes Region, Bill Martel at Martel's Bait in Laconia is very high on what looks like the return of Lake Winnisquam to its former glory. "The smelt are obviously back in good numbers. The trout and salmon are all fat and full of smelt. Even this time of year, the fishing has been good. One fellow was back in here at eight o'clock in the morning with two salmon, one over four pounds and the other over five pounds! At the boat ramp he instructed a group just launching how to hook on live shiners and fish them at 42 feet behind downriggers. That group returned here to the shop later on in the day and had caught three keeper-sized landlocks and had lost two more. Over on Lake Winnipesaukee, the bass fishing has been excellent. For best results, try live hellgrammites or live crawfish," Bill suggests.

      Eva Nelson at Nute's Trading Post in Wakefield, was also discouraged by the low water conditions, but reports that nearby Wentworth Lake in Wolfeboro was seeing some fine mid-summer action. "Quite a few of the fishermen have been concentrating on the fine white perch there. Trolling slow with spinner and worm combinations works well. If you find a school of perch, you may want to stop there and cast to them. We've also seen some outstanding rainbow trout caught by some of the perch fishermen. Although Wentworth is nationally known for its fine smallmouth bass fishing, the guys in the know will stick with white perch for most of the summer months, and don't make it a habit of passing much of the information," she joked.

      "Saltwater action here has done nothing but improved," reported Dave Ganter at Kittery Trading Post's Fishing Department. "The stripers are still in the Piscataqua River, but have really started to hit better along the rocky shorelines along the ocean front. Although it's been very tough to locate live bait, some of the smarter fishermen have found mackerel schools three to five miles offshore on some of the humps. You probably have to chum and use Sabiki Rigs to catch them. Small pollock for bait is still available, but you also have to change tactics. Try trolling herring rigs with a mackerel jig attached or a pair of smallish mackerel jigs right tight in next to some of the ledges and shorelines. The inshore pollock schools are scattered--probably because of so many bluefish," Dave said.

      Dave mentioned that shark fishing had been peaking offshore. "My friend Chuck Barstow has been hooking a bunch of blue sharks as well as an occasional big mako shark. Cod and haddock fishing remain good," he ended.

      "Offshore, bluefish have been hitting well at both York Ledge and Boon Island Ledge. And the blues have come into the shoreline around the Nubble several times, usually early in the morning," Kittery Trading Post's Chris Henson noted. "The fish are not huge--they're in the six to ten pound class. Stripers are also close in on the rocks along the shore, especially when the surf is up a bit and there's an east wind. At Rye Harbor, charter skipper Ray Mamoine continues to have some great luck. He's found a lot of mackerel offshore and his parties have had several big days along the shoreline fishing the live macs below balloon bobbers. Some of the fish landed were in the mid-thirty pound class!"

      Charter Captain Sam Cassida at Little River Lodge and Charters in Belfast, reported that the coming bear season was interfering with his fishing charters, but he'd been out one day on the Kennebec River and had caught some nice keeper-sized stripers. "We got most of the fish on bait--sea worms and live eels. The fish are getting into their fall mode," he observed.

      "The offshore shark fishing has finally started to peak. There's a lot of makos mixed in with the blue sharks," reported Captain Cal Robinson at Saco Bay Tackle. "The tuna bite is slow but steady. Cod fishermen are finding a lot of huge pollock have come onto the 250-foot depths just off Jeffrey's Ledge. There's still some good haddock being caught also. Inshore, the bluefish have left us for a while and the mackerel came streaming back in.Striper fishermen are taking advantage of the fact and fish to 35 pounds were taken. The Old Orchard Beach area has been good for these larger stripers," Cal reported.

      Jim MacKenzie at Suds-n-Soda in Greenland, New Hampshire said that the stripers in the Piscataqua have thinned out, but there were still some nice fish being caught all the way up into Little Bay and Adam's Point. "Since live bait has been very scarce, most of the stripers have been caught on chunk mackerel. This time of year, our sales of live eels also goes up, as the fish will take an eel in the daytime as well as night during the last of August and into the fall months. There's a lot of bluefish in the river and Little Bay, but most of the fishermen are not using wire leaders so they just have their leaders cut off. Last week we saw probably the largest flounder we've ever seen, close to seven pounds. It was caught at Kittery Point's Pepperell Cove."

      Flounder were in the news at Surfland Tackle on Plum Island, with one party catching 75 flounder fishing off of Plum Island last week, Kay Moulton reported. "Striper fishermen have found more fish upriver in the area from the Route One Bridge to the Icebreaker than around the mouth of the river. Bluefish have been mostly outside--all the way to Halibut Point (Cape Ann). The blues have been in on the beach most mornings, especially when we've had an east wind. We have no mackerel here at all," she noted.

      Pete Santini at Fishing FINatics in Everett, said that the stripers are concentrating on the baby herring that are dropping down from the fresh water rivers. "They've been really concentrating around Deer Island. We've seen a lot of fish in the three-foot range being caught. Trolling the red Santini Tube was really working well. Marblehead beach has also had some really big fish. This has been a hot place for the last few days. Blues and bass have been hitting off Winthrop and Nahant. Trolling tubes and plugs have been best. We fished for cod and haddock at Tillies Ledge and on Pigeon Hill (Jeffrey's Ledge). The slammer-sized pollock were a blast, and we did end up with some nice cod and haddock," he enthused.  

                      Past Fishing Reports 2001

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