Maine Fishing Reports

Fishing report for item #101.

Fishing Report:   April 18, 2005

Great weather, more open water, and in some cases, complete ice-out welcomed a lot of anglers this weekend. From the saltwater, where the groundfishing has been spectacular to the freshwater, where fish stocking is in full swing and rivers and streams are dropping to more fishable levels, the reports have been good.
Maine’s big Sebago Lake, although not officially iced out at this hour, is just about gone, with some good fishing going on around the edges especially at the mouth of the Songo River. Dave Garcia, at Naples Bait on Long Lake in the Sebago Region, reported that Long Lake will be iced-out by this evening, and the lake should produce some good fishing for landlocked salmon and brown trout.
“This lake provides some of the fastest action on salmon in the area, but it’s a case of quantity, versus big fish. The typical Long Lake salmon is about 12 to 15 inches long, although there’s the fish to 20 inches occasionally. But it’s not unusual to have a lot of action, with hooking a half dozen salmon in a day not out of the question. The nice brown trout that you’re apt to get while salmon fishing will make your day. Browns coming out of Long Lake grow to five or six pounds and even larger.”
“Over on Sebago, the togue (lake trout) fishing has been good at the mouth of the Songo River. We had one party come in after catching three togue while fishing in 45 feet of water out on the Songo Bar. They were using sewed-on smelts trolling them right off bottom. They had forgotten to bring a landing net with them so they used a five gallon bucket, letting the fish swim into it to land them!”
“Another hot spot has been the Songo Locks, where quite a few nice brookies are being caught on smelt, worms, and small streamer flies. There is also a good chance of hooking a salmon there.”
“The smelt seem to be running well in a lot of locations. Right now there’s a run going on at Long Pond in Parsonfield and Crystal Lake in Harrison.”
“Even the bass fishing has started. We have heard of some pretty good smallmouth action over at The Flowage (Arrowhead Lake) in Waterboro. Most of the fish are being caught on suspended jerk baits fished slowly,” Dave ended.
Greg Cutting, at Jordan’s Store in East Sebago, reported that at this instant, the Big Bay of Sebago was free of ice but there were still remnants of ice on other areas of the lake. He says that it won’t be long before it’s all gone. Reports of a smelt recovery on Sebago along with better looking togue and salmon are quite common, so look for this lake to start its return as one of the best in the east.
Rusty Harvey, at River’s Edge Sports in Oquossoc in the Rangeley Area, laughed at the question about ice. “We’ve got it and it looks like we’ll have it for about another two weeks. There are some opportunities to fish at Hunter Cove Bridge where there’s some open water, and if you don’t mind a long walk, both Upper and Middle Dams can provide some open water fishing opportunities. We’ve still got a way to go,” Rusty mused.
Dave Ganter, at Kittery Trading Post’s fishing department, says that he’s never talked to so many happy saltwater cod and haddock fishermen. “The saltwater gear is just flying out of here--more than we’ve ever seen. We seldom get to talk to people when they come back from fishing, but the word is that the haddock can be just unbelievable, and there’s some huge cod being caught. Most of the fishing is on the offshore ledges, but anytime the cod should be moving inshore so it’s possible to put together a good catch of fish by trying some of the humps and ledges inside of the Isles of Shoals.”
Chris Henson, also at Kittery Trading Post’s fishing department, echoed Ganter’s words and added that he’d had reports of some stripers from the south shore. “We’re hearing that striper fishing has been fantastic in the mouth of the Connecticut River in Connecticut, and also scattered reports of stripers all down the coast south of us here--even in the Merrimack River.”
Chris had been on a wild turkey scouting trip in the New Hampshire Lakes Region and had a chance to stop a talk to some fisherman at Lake Winnipesaukee. “At Wolfeboro Bay, we talked to fishermen that had taken some salmon and we actually got to see some fish right off the docks. Our Chad Woodward caught two salmon there last Tuesday using a small, minnow shaped jig.”
Chris had also toured the Lamprey River where he interviewed fishermen that had caught a few fish. There had been a hatch of small, black stoneflies. “The Lamprey is not yet in ideal shape, as it’s high and fast and the water temps are still quite cold, but it’s evident that the river had been stocked and they were catching some decent fish.”
We learned that first hand from Bob Drago and his son Randy and daughter Tanya who’d also been turkey scouting around the Lamprey River. They brought some fishing gear just in case and it was a good idea, as Randy and Tanya both caught some average-sized brown and brook trout. Dad had forgotten to bring the regular fishing gear, but Randy found a box of ice fishing stuff and some Swedish Pimples that did the job on those trout.
Jason MacKenzie, at Suds-n-Soda in Greenland, NH had a busy weekend. “Most everyone was going out for cod and haddock and the ones we talked to all reported very good luck. It’s probably the best we’ve ever heard of in our time.”
“Freshwater fishing is starting off slow. We know of some good fishing on the Exeter River off Drinkwater Road. It’s obvious that area had been stocked. Also we know of some good fishing around the Packer’s and Wadliegh Falls areas on the Lamprey River in Durham and Lee. As to my knowledge, our Winnicut River here hasn’t been stocked yet and chances of holdover fish are pretty slim,” he said.
Bob Fawcett, Supervisor of the NH Fish and Game’s fish hatchery system filed this report: “The fortune tellers of weather say we've got another superb, sunny early-spring weekend on the way. How lucky is that for us fishing fanatics! Today's fishing report includes the first stocking report of the season, and some insider information on activities at New Hampshire's fish hatcheries or ‘fish culture facilities’."
“Fish stocking started last week and the trucks are rollin' out! Last week's stocking locations (April 4 - 8)--by county and town: In Cheshire County--Chesterfield, Spofford Lake. Jaffery, Gilmore Pond. Swansey, California Brook. Troy, Shaker Brook. In Hillsboro County: Bennington, Whittemore Lake. Brookline, Nissitissit River and Spaulding Brook. Greenville/Amherst, Souhegan River. Hancock, Hunts Pond. Lyndeborough/ Wilton, Stony Brook. Merrimack, Baboosic Brook and Souhegan River. Milford, Souhegan River. New Boston, Piscataquog River--South Branch. Peterborough, Otter Brook. Wilton, Souhegan River.”
“Our Master Plan for the season is to stock designated numbers of catchable-size trout into selected waters managed for trout using hatchery-raised fish. (Surplus fish, not included in the table, are stocked according to the best professional judgment of regional biologists.) The target calls for 869,815 of these "put-and-take" fish.”
“Fifty-three percent of the trout will be released into rivers and streams. Forty-seven percent will be released into lakes and ponds. There are usually surplus fish, because fish culturists want to make sure we err on the positive side, rather than be short of the production target, and because we have brood fish populations we manage for Eastern brook trout and brown trout egg needs. Rainbow trout eggs are imported.” (Bob’s report edited for brevity)
Jones Pond Note: Jones Pond, a fly-fishing-only pond located within the Jones Brook Wildlife Management Area in Middleton, will not be stocked with trout during the 2005 season because of serious structural integrity issues with the pond's earthen outlet dam, NH Fish and Game Department reported today.
Fly Anglers: improve your skills at a free Brood Stock Salmon Fishing Expo in Concord, NH on Saturday, May 7. For info check out: http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/Newsroom/News_2005/News_2005_Q2/Brood_Stock_Expo_041205.htm. End of report. (Edited for brevity. Thanks to NH Fish and Game Department.)
“Lake Winnisquam iced-out last week and so far we’re happy with the results,” reported Fred Avery, new manager for Martel’s Bait and Tackle on the Winnipesaukee River outlet into Lake Winnisquam. “We’ve seen some nice lakers up to seven pounds and salmon to four pounds. Our smelt here on Winnisquam are continuing to make a great recovery so our fishing is only going to get better.”
Fred mentioned that although big Winnipesaukee was not officially iced-out at this moment, there was a lot of open water, and the fishing for both trout and salmon had been very good. “Lots of limits of mostly salmon at Long and Governors Island. We had one fisherman come in at three o’clock for some live bait and was back from Winni with his limit of two salmon at five o’clock! All reports for the big lake look great.”
Paul Garland, at Hot Spot Outfitters in New Durham, had seen a lot of good results form the fishermen in the Alton and Wolfeboro Bays. “The fishing has been fantastic! Lots of boats are reporting catches of five to seven trout and salmon. The lake should be completely clear in a couple of days.”
“We had snowmobiles running across the lake this weekend,” laughed Cindy Caron at Tall Timber Lodge on Back Lake in Pittsburg. “So we don’t think that we’ll have ice-out by the opening day of the designated trout ponds this Saturday. There are some openings around the edges here but we’re not looking for ice-out for a couple of weeks. There were some fishermen over on the Connecticut River at the Lake Francis inlet and some over at the Trophy Stretch on the river, but not much action was apparent. Out smelt runs in the Connecticut Lakes could start anytime, but usually it doesn’t happen until the ice is gone.”
At Surfland Bait and Tackle on Plum Island, Kay Moulton said that groundfishing was what the buzz was all about currently, but she’d heard a report from Eric Roach, a noted avid striper fly fisherman, that one angler had hooked 16 schoolie-sized fish out on the flats of the Merrimack. She also said that no reports of shad yet.
Local party boat captains have been incredibly happy with the fishing for cod and haddock the last couple of weeks. Captain Ricky Lapierre of Yellowbird Charters out of Newburyport, Massachusetts had this to say: (April 17th) “In the past few days, the haddock have been coming aboard like I've never seen before. The average angler has been going home with 30+ fish. And then along came today, with the total catch reaching 40 fish. A gradual shut down would have been nice, but hey, that's fishing. (April 16th) We had another unbelievable trip today, with everybody catching plenty of fish. The catch was just about all haddock, with maybe 15 cod in the mix. These last few days have actually been too good, I hope you guys don't get spoiled.”
Out of Hampton, New Hampshire Harbor, Al Gauron Charters were also gleeful about their luck. Here’s the report from Captain “Rocky” himself: “Great cod catch today! Sunday 4-17-2005. Talked to Capt. Cory on the Starfish! He says the cod bit like crazy today! They had a real big day! (Rocky) Jr. hadn't done much, the last I heard and was staying out a little later to see if he could put a trip together!”
Saturday 4-16-2005. “Rough weather made Friday’s trip an adventure for the early part of the day! It took quite a while for the seas to calm down during the day, By the time it was over, a good catch of haddock and cod made up for the bumpy weather. Today, Saturday, started out very chilly, but turned into a beautiful day on the ocean. I talked to Captain Cory, aboard the Starfish and he reports both boats had a good catch of cod and haddock! Not a bad way to start the weekend.”
Captain Chuck Distefano, who runs his Skip-a-Dory Charters out of Boston Harbor, was pretty excited about the season so far: “The 2005 season is off to a great start. Charters are getting limits of cod on every trip--fish to 50 pounds! There’s been some haddock in the mix and the fishing is getting better as the fish come in closer.”
On Captain Chuck’s last trip: “The haddock fishing was unbelievable! 30 to 40 haddock per angler and some big cod out in deeper water. The weather is getting better each day, as is the fishing. It’s a great time to fill your freezer!” END

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