Maine Fishing Reports

Fishing report for item #237.

Fishing Report:   MAINE: Dave Ganter at Kittery Trading Post’s fishing department is an
avid smallmouth bass angler and especially loves to float some of
Maine’s big rivers this time of year. “There’s nothing line being on a
big Maine river for a drift fishing trip. Early in the morning, the bird
songs and activity are peaking. In spite of this, you can hear the smack
of a smallmouth jumping for a dragon fly a hundred yards off.”
“We like to fish with either ultra-light spinning tackle or fly rod. You
can have great topwater action by using small fly rod poppers or small
stick baits with the spinning gear. Action is often fast and furious,
but there’s also the anticipation of what is going to be around the next
bend in the river. Maybe it will be an outstanding fish or maybe it will
be a big bull moose standing in the river! You may even see a bear
swimming or deer grazing in the deep grass rim along the water.”
Dave says that several stretches of the Penobscot, Kennebec and
Androscoggin Rivers are prime right now and have had glowing reports for
smallmouths. “There are also stretches in these rivers where you could
catch some nice trout or maybe even a landlocked salmon. But the bass
will give you enough action so you won’t be looking for other species,”
he warned.
Ganter also added that he’d had some fun with small topwater Atom
Poppers below the Biddeford Dam on the Saco River, with two fish of 36
inches really stressing his light tackle. Also on the saltwater news,
Dave wanted us to alert offshore big game fishermen that the Downeast
Maine Shark Tournament will be held on August 25th-27th this year.
E-mail Dr. David Johnson at djohnson@une.edu for more information.
Maine Guide Dan Legere at Maine Guide Fly Shop in Greenville sends this
exciting e-mail entitled “The Main Event”: “If you are a still water
fisherman, this is your time of the season. There is still plenty of
time to hit a Green Drake (Hex) hatch in the Moosehead Lake Region.
Things started to percolate about a week ago with lots of ponds not yet
hatching. Hit the first evening, and you can do no wrong. If your fly
even resembles a drake, fish will eat it. I was on the fourth night of
the hatch on a pond and we had to fish emergers but did very well. Fish
started cruising the shallows well before dark. They had no problem
finding our flies. During the afternoon, we fish sinking lines and
nymphs. Long casts and slow retrieves along the bottom work the best
during the high mid-day sun.”
“The heat of summer has slowed the fishing in the rivers. Water levels
on the Moose and East Outlet are very wadeable, and while there are
still plenty of fish in the rivers, they are getting a bit fussy. This
is the time to drift big dries over the heavier water. Stimulators and
stone fly patterns with a bead head dropper will often bring a fish to
the surface. Call it a side of beef. Give’em something big. Fish early
and late in the day. The mid-day crowd aren’t faring very well. This
time of season, mid-day is for the cookout or a long nap. Good fishing!”
Rusty Harvey at River’s Edge Sports in Oquossoc in the Rangeley area
says that they’re still seeing some big brookies and salmon. The
brookies are mostly coming out of Lake Mooselookmeguntic and the larger
salmon usually from Rangeley Lake.
“I’m looking at a photo right now of a brookie just under five pounds
caught at Mooselook last week, and we’ve got some photos of salmon in
the three plus range from Rangeley. I’ve been doing well guiding on
Mooselook with quite a few salmon around three pounds. We’re using
sewed-on bait and fishing with downriggers about 35 to 40 feet down.
We’re also running a leadcore line out with six colors, and it seemed
like last week we had the larger fish on the leadcore. I like to use a
leader of at least 40 feet long, usually eight pound test.”
“We have one fisherman here that really has zeroed in on the big
brookies lately. He’s fishing nine colors of leadcore line with the
large sized silver Mooselook Wobbler and trolling extremely slow. It’s
working for him,” Rusty laughed.
“The rivers still have a lot of water. It rained hard last night. When
the flows are right, the Lower Magalloway has been our steadiest
producer. At Upper Dam, they’ve cut the flow to 200 cfs, that’s a bit
slow but there’s always fish in that pool, regardless of water flows.”
Tim Obrey, Regional Fisheries Biologist in Maine’s Region E - Moosehead
Region, filed this e-mail report with us which we found to be very
informative about the use of splake as a management tool to increase a
faltering brook trout population! “Earlier this year, the Greenville
Fisheries staff teamed up with the Lakes Research crew to evaluate an
experimental splake stocking in northern Maine. Most splake stocking
programs are designed to provide additional fishing opportunities to
anglers. However, this water was stocked with splake for an entirely
different reason: to control or eliminate illegally introduced smelts.”
“This pond was chemically reclaimed in 1962. Domestic strain brook trout
were stocked annually until 1980 when it was determined there was
sufficient natural reproduction to sustain the fish population and the
fishery. In the early 1990s, camp owners reported smelts were present in
the pond. Voluntary angler records indicated that catch rates for brook
trout started to decline soon after the smelts became established.
During the spring smelt run, the smelts were observed congregating in
the same spawning areas that the brook trout used in the fall. We
believe these large adult smelts were feeding on trout fry as the
emerged from the spawning areas in the spring. Initially, the Fisheries
staff tried to reduce the smelt population by trapnetting and
transferring the smelts to Moosehead Lake. However, after several years,
we realized the futility of this effort. We were able to reduce the
number of older smelts in the pond; however, overall the population
actually appeared to increase.”
“Splake were stocked in 1998 in an effort to control the smelt
population and hopefully restore the brook trout population. We
trapnetted the pond in 1999 and 2000 and found the stocked splake were
feeding on the smelts and growing well. The brook trout catch was
considered low. We had not been able to get back to the pond to evaluate
the progress of the splake program until this spring due to shortages in
staff and a burgeoning fall workload.”
“Early in May, we set two trapnets for just three nights and caught 227
splake and 13 brook trout. One net was set precisely in the area where
smelts spawned in the mid-1990s. We did not catch any smelt. We examined
the substrate in the area and did not find any smelt eggs. Even more
telling was the condition of the splake. Most were very skinny, almost
emaciated.”
“In contrast, the adult brook trout captured during the spring netting
were in excellent condition. We examined the stomach contents of 30
splake and found only insects, leeches, crayfish, and a salamander. No
smelts or brook trout were found in the stomachs. Clearly, the splake
stocking program has successfully reduced (or possibly eliminated) the
smelt population.”
“Splake will no longer be stocked in this pond, and they should slowly
disappear over the next several years. It is unclear how long it will
take for the trout population to rebound. Stocking or transferring a
wild strain trout may be an option to supplement this population that
originated from years of stocking domestic strain hatchery brook trout.”
“It is well known that splake are a valuable tool in the fisheries
managers’ toolbox. For years, splake have been used to provide
additional fishing opportunities in waters where brook trout cannot
compete. This study shows how splake can be utilized, in the right
situation, to assist in the restoration of wild brook trout fisheries
when undesirable species have been introduced,” he ended.
Dave Garcia at Naples Bait and Tackle in the Sebago Lake Region fished a
bass tourney on Kezar Lake where he was competing against his son Tyson.
“I never should have shown that kid all my secrets,” Dave laughed as
Tyson took second place with a total catch of over 14 pounds. He
gathered enough points to put him in first place in the Maine Trail of
the American Bass Association’s tourney.
Dave said the bite was slow—fishing jig and pig rigs was the most
popular method. He came in a distant 7th with a total of about eight
pounds. Tyson had one largemouth of over five pounds that really
increased his total weight.
“Salmon fishing is still holding up, in spite of the hot weather, but
best bet is to fish early and late. Panther Pond in Raymond, Sebago
Lake, Long Lake, Crescent Lake in Casco and Thompson Lake in Oxford are
all good bets. Keoka and Bear Lake in Waterford have been producing some
great panfishing action. The rivers have warmed up so trout fishing in
only the spring fed brooks has been doing okay.”
Garon at Saco Bay Tackle said that they had “tons of stripers and tons
of bluefish!” He had been fishing mostly at night. “I like to get out
and get a chum line going for my mackerel bait. We’ve also been able to
pick up bait-sized pollock by chumming and fishing in the rocky areas
about 30 feet deep--you’ve got to chum. Then I don’t go out for striper
and bluefish until after dark, that’s when we get the big ones.”
“We’re starting to hear reports of sharks showing up offshore and
there’s been a lot of krill and herring out on the offshore ledges with
a lot of whales working them. The giant bluefins are starting to hit and
also the big pollock have arrived a little earlier than usual and are
making up for the slowdown on the cod and haddock. And those dogfish,
they seem to be everywhere, making life very difficult.”

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