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Fishing Report: Maine Fishing Report
The ice-out and some spectacular fishing, especially in New Hampshire’s big Lake Winnipesaukee, have really perked up the interest of anglers. Add to this the fact that the offshore groundfishing has been the best in some people’s recent memory makes this one of the best early seasons we’ve been able to write about.
Chad Woodward, at Kittery Trading Post’s fishing department had a very remarkable day fishing from shore on Winnipesaukee recently. “It’s unbelievable! We’ve never seen anything like this. My catch and release alone amounted to 15 salmon in a half day’s fishing! Other people were catching salmon along with a couple of ‘slammer’ rainbow trout.”
“My method couldn’t have been any simpler. All I was doing was tossing an eighth-ounce jig with a purple tinged silver colored tube bait and bouncing it along bottom,” Chad explained.
“Several of the fish were 19 inches, with some longer and a lot of them were very fat--football like fish. We were fishing in Wolfeboro Bay where some nice salmon and rainbows had also been caught under the Smith River Bridge. They’ve also caught a few nice rainbows at Merrymeeting River in Alton, and we heard of a four pound laker caught at Winnisquam Lake using a sewed on shiner.”
“The haddock and cod fishing has been just as spectacular! Lots of our offshore anglers have found the fish and haven’t had to go out onto Jeffrey’s Ledge to catch them. Time and time again, we keep telling fishermen to try some of the more inshore ledges, as this time of year the groundfish will move in. Places like Old Scantum, Outer Flag and any other humps will have cod, some haddock and other groundfish,” he ended.
Over in Maine’s Sebago Lake area, Carroll Cutting at Jordan’s Store in East Sebago reports the lake is completely clear of ice right now, and a small fleet of boats is fishing the mouth of the Songo River, where the smelt are gathering offshore and togue (lake trout) and landlocked salmon are feeding on them.
“One of our fishermen was trolling deep the other day, staying on top of a school of smelts that he’d marked on his fish finder. One of his rods started to act funny so he reeled it in. There were two smelts that were impaled on the hooks of his lure! The reports of smelt schools and the few salmon that were caught and released in great shape by ice fishermen point to the fact that we’ve really rounded the corner in this lake’s recovery.”
“One factor that no one seems to be taking into account is that although the salmon stocking numbers have been drastically reduced to help with the smelt recovery, very few fishermen are targeting smelt and those that are mostly release the fish they hook. This should tell you that there are salmon out there to be caught, not in the numbers of some years back but surely enough to make it interesting,” Carroll continued.
“We’re sure that from the middle of May, for about a month or so, if people make the effort to get out there and fish some of the traditional salmon waters, they will not only catch some salmon, but they will catch some quality salmon. And, of course, the amount of lake trout that can be caught here has become legendary.”
Cutting noted that anglers looking for hints of where to try for salmon can give him a call at 207-787-3866 or drop by the store. “We’re still urging that catch-and-release of the salmon will speed their recovery, and if you want a fish or two to eat, the lake trout coming from Sebago make for wonderful table fare.”
The Rangeley Lakes are still mostly iced-in, according to Ray Soriano at River’s Edge Sports in Oquossoc. “They’ve caught a couple of fish from the open water at Hunter’s Cove Bridge but we’re not looking for ice to clear for at least a week and a half or more,” Ray lamented.
Dan and Penny Legere at Maine Guide Fly Shop in Greenville reminded us that most of the waters around Moosehead Lake don’t open for fishing until May 1st, and in some instances, there may still be some ice.
Things are looking better for fly fishing, with catch and release Atlantic salmon fishing to return to Maine’s big Penobscot River, according to Gayland Hachey at Hachey’s Rod and Fly Shop in Veazie. “They are mostly conjecture, but the word we’re hearing is that we’ll be having a late summer or early fall opening here, and if enough of a run of salmon come in from the ocean for the fisheries people to be able to trap their quota for use as brood stock, then it wouldn’t surprise us if the season was opened earlier.”
Gayland reminded us that last year’s run of over 1300 fish was enough of an incentive to catch the eye of the people in charge of this program, after several disappointing years when a lot less salmon came back.
We asked Gayland if he’d heard about the schedule for removal of the nearby Veazie Dam, a project that is reported to be a big benefit for Atlantic salmon and other anadromous fish. “It’s about money. The project is expected to cost around 25 million dollars and won’t be done until this amount is raised. Right now it doesn’t even look probable that this will ever happen!” Gayland complained.
Here’s a surprise for both us and Craig Bergeron at Saco Bay Tackle. One of his customers had just come back from the dam at the Saco River, were he’d seen what looked like herring or alewives. He returned with a herring rig (Sabiki) and caught a half dozen of them! This is way early for herring and a sure sign that shad and stripers will not be far behind.
“The early sea run trout fishing had been a disappointment, as the rivers were too high and really cold and dirty so things started off very slow. Now the local brooks have been stocked, and the brook trout fishermen are doing well here, especially at Milliken Brook, the Cascades, and Burnt Brook, all in the Saco, Scarborough area. Our local ponds are also doing well for panfish. Arrowhead Lake and Wadleigh Pond are two that are also producing some nice crappie. Over at Little Ossipee Lake, there some trout are being taken, along with some perch.”
Craig says he’s never heard more good reports from the ground fishermen! “The northern end of Jeffrey’s Ledge and Platts both look great. Tantas Ledge hasn’t been producing, but historically, that is a later place and shouldn’t be doing much for a few weeks. The haddock recovery is incredible. It proves that groundfish management works,” Craig said.
John A. Viar, Region 2 Fisheries Biologist for NH Fish and Game filed this report with us: “Much anticipated and eagerly awaited, ice-out was officially declared on Lake Winnipesaukee on Wednesday, April 20, 11:33 AM -- when the MS Mt. Washington could make all of its ports. But for most early season anglers, ice-out is anytime the smallest craft can negotiate even the tiniest pocket of water. Spots like southern Alton Bay, Wolfeboro Bay, and northern Meredith Bay have seen action for some time.”
“Open-water availability changed dramatically the afternoon of Sunday, April 17, when 70-degree temperatures and a northwest wind (finally!) simultaneously melted and blew out ice on many of the major bays and lake proper. I was fortunate enough to witness this event while fishing in a bay on the southern "side" of the lake. The same area we bashed through shards of old ice and new skim ice at 6:00 AM was completely ice-free (not just drifted away but gone) by 4:00 PM -- and once the wind kicked in, the actual ice removal in this particular area took less than 45 minutes! Warm temperatures obviously help, but give me the wind any day in helping to remove that stubborn ice pack!”
“We had luck earlier in the morning "donut-trolling" live smelt in a pocket of water about 100 acres in size, catching three nicely-conditioned salmon in the 20-21 inch range. Now, with our favorite bay iced-out before our very eyes, and a water temperature of 39 degrees, we moved in and continued slow-trolling live smelt with the wind, catching another five salmon in the same size range, including a double while trolling only two rods -- a great way to celebrate "ice-out"!
“Many reports have been fielded of success with everything from live bait (smelt) to streamer flies (e.g. Maynard's Marvel) and spoons (e.g. DB Smelt). Since surface water temperatures rose dramatically with the unseasonably warm weather (as high as 46 degrees in some protected bays during Wednesday's calm, downright hot weather), artificials were as effective as live bait. Hard to believe ice-out trolling in T-shirts, but it was the norm the past couple days. Today's cold front (Thursday, April 21) should moderate things a bit.”
“Look for a large age class of three-year-old salmon this season in Lake Winnipesaukee, which are currently 18-20 inches and nicely conditioned (you may see some very thin, ragged-looking males in your catch; this is common in spring as some males, often called "black" salmon, have wintered in the tributaries after last fall's spawning, instead of returning to the lake and feeding -- thus their body condition/appearance suffers compared to "healthy" fish). By late summer/end of the season, these three-year-olds will be very nice fish in the 22+ inch category!”
“Also of note, look for Big Squam Lake to produce some very nice salmon this year -- this lake is back on track and actually produced the largest average salmon (20 inches), as well as some well-conditioned large individuals, during last fall's netting activities (see the online version of this report for a picture of a Big Squam male in spawning condition/color from fall 2004 netting). And if you really want a challenge and shot at trophy salmon, try Newfound Lake -- they are there but only a select few have unlocked this lake's secrets.” (Thanks John for the great report. Edited for brevity)
Steve Courshesne at Steve’s Sportsmen’s Den in Hooksett, NH had some other great reports about Winnipesaukee: “Saunder’s Bay has been terrific for salmon. One of our customers caught several fish, with two of them over four and a half pounds. All of their action came on live smelts.”
Steve said that Pleasant Lake in Deerfield had been producing a few nice brookies. Lake Sunapee’s fishing had started with the ice going out and some salmon being caught, while Pleasant Pond in New London was a good pick to provide some action on both brookies and landlocks. He also added that the nearby Merrimack River was down to mid-May conditions, with a nice flow and the water temperature warming.
Jim at Martel’s Bait & Tackle at Lake Winnisquam noted that schools of smelt had been spotted at the outlet of the Winnipesaukee River and that the dam at Lakeport had been opened up with improved river flow resulting. “This could attract smelt, salmon and probably some white perch up into the river.”
Jim took the time to go out and check the water temps for us, the river was running at a decent 40 degrees.
At Taylor’s Trading Post in Madbury, George Taylor was happy because there had been a lot of trout fishermen out, and they had found some pretty good fishing, especially on the rivers and brooks. “They needed a traffic officer over at the Isenglass River in Strafford the other day,” he laughed. “A lot of the other brooks were also doing well, especially Suncook River and Little Niagara.”
A lot of George’s fishing clients had been to Lake Winnipesaukee, and confirmed what most of our other reports had said. The big lake is just a tremendous resource this year.
Paul Garland at Hot Spot outfitters in New Durham services a lot of the Winnipesaukee fishing fleet. “It’s the best we’ve seen. A lot of salmon over three pounds. We had one in here the other day over 24 inches and also a rainbow over 22 inches. Every one seems to be catching fish and are quite impressed and happy.” He noted that the DB Smelt seemed to be the hottest lure of the year so far.
Kay Moulton at Surfland Tackle on Plum Island had little new news, saying that things were quite slow there but they were looking for the herring run to start soon.
“The cod fishing and flounder fishing is starting to heat up in the outer Boston Harbor area,” was the word from Pete Santini at Fishing FINatics in Everett, Massachusetts. Within a week or so, we’ll have fish in the North Channel and probably the herring run and some new stripers will show up. The flounder limit increases to eight fish on May 1st, and by then, there’s a good chance that limits will be caught. Best bet for both the flounder and cod has been to chum with the new Redi-Strike Chum with corn and using sea worms on Chincoteaugue Rigs. |
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