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Fishing Report: April 4, 2005
Torrential rain, big snowmelt and windy conditions put a serious damper on this weekend’s fishing. Today, many rivers are in flood stage and should be avoided for safety reasons while a lot of the ponds and lakes are starting to show more open water, especially at the stream mouths.
On the bright side, the rushing water is starting to lift the ice on many lakes and ponds, and when the rim of open water around the edges start to widen, the sun’s warmth will help to speed the melting process.
There were a few bright spots on opening day that were producing some fish. Lester, at Martel’s Bait in Laconia, NH said that there was about 400 feet of open water off the mouth of the Winnipesaukee River into Winnisquam Lake. The boat launch at Martel’s services this area and there were quite a few small boats and shore fishermen that found the salmon hitting pretty well. “We had some four and five pounders and quite a few smaller salmon. Very few lakers or rainbows were taken.”
“The river conditions are good, as the flow is being controlled by power dams. There’s a good enough flow to attract fish but not to make it too fast for fishing. The water isn’t muddy, in fact, it’s very clear. Live bait seems to be the best bet right now.”
Lester said there also was a big area of open water at Lake Opechee in Lakeport, below the Lakeport Dam. This is a good early spot for rainbow trout and salmon and can be fished easily from shore.
Paul Garland, at Hotspot Outfitters in New Durham, checked out the open water on big Winnipesaukee Lake and said it looked promising. “There’s about a hundred yards of open water off the bridge in Alton. At the mouth of Paugus Bay and the Weirs Bridge, it’s all open water. Over at Wolfeboro, there’s open water at the mouth of the Smith River, and the public boat launch there is ice-free. There’s been quite a few small boats still fishing or fly casting for salmon, rainbow trout and lake trout.”
“Our weekend was a complete washout,” lamented George Taylor at Taylor’s Trading Post in Madbury. “Although there’s a lot of open water--in fact, the Bellamy Reservoir here has just about cleared of ice, the conditions are not good. There’s a rip coming through the bridge at the causeway where you normally can’t see any current.”
“Before the rain, there had been some good activity on the lower Lamprey River, especially the stretch below Wiswall Dam in Lee, but the Lamprey now is in full flood and not fishable. The Isenglass and several of the other local streams are too high and too cold for stocking. It’s going to be a couple of weeks before things pick up around here.”
Jason MacKenzie, at Suds-n-Soda in Greenland, said conditions there were not good for trout fishing, but some of the early birds had started to get out on the ocean for cod and haddock and had started to pick up a few fish. “Ice is out of the Winnicut River and a lot of our smaller ponds. There are few fishermen and no reported catches.”
“Berry Brook in Rye is due for a stocking of a new breed of sea-run brown trout,” was the word from Dave Dawley of Rye. “The brook is closed to fishing upstream of Random Road, but you can fish below that point. We’ve done it in the past and had a good time, catching and releasing on a fly.”
“In the past, the trout being stocked were of our domestic stock of regular brown trout, and they’ve done pretty well. We have high hopes for this new strain of fish, as they are true sea-runs and should return in much larger numbers than previous stockings.” Dave also mentioned that these fish often stray to other saltwater tributaries, and one spot in particular at Kittery Point, Maine off of Spruce Creek produces some steady fishing each year, with occasional big fish being taken.
Dave Ganter, at Kittery Trading Post’s fishing department, was out and about on opening day on Friday and did a bit of hunting for shed deer antlers while scouting the upper stretches of local brooks for native brookies. “Even with the rain and snow melt, if you get well upstream on some of the small trout brooks, the conditions are fishable, although we had to walk through snow up to ten inches deep. As you work your way downstream, the trickles of muddy water coming in start to degrade the conditions.” (Dave actually found two sheds, one a four pointer and one a small spike horn.)
“We did have some mixed reports from fishermen coming back. At the Songo Locks, one angler fished there for several hours without a hit and never saw a fish caught, although he said the conditions weren’t that bad. The hot spot seemed to be at Lake Auburn, where some beautiful, trophy-sized fish were taken from the openings around the lake. One fisherman had caught two salmon and a togue (Mainespeak for lake trout) that were in the five pound class. Other fishermen around the lake had also done pretty well. The secret is to get there early in the morning and fish live smelt along the ice rim.”
Chris Henson, at Kittery Trading Post, suggests that as the water levels start to drop, keep an eye out for spawning rainbow trout in any of the tributaries of lakes where ’bows are present. “With polarized sun glasses, as the water starts to clear, you can actually spot rainbows that are attempting to spawn. In most of the southern lakes and ponds, and especially in New Hampshire’s big lakes region, rainbow trout spawning doesn’t produce any results, so catching and releasing these fish isn’t doing a bit of harm. The colors of these fish are spectacular, making for some incredible photo opportunities.”
“These spawning trout are not feeding but you can agitate them enough to get them to hit a fly or tiny spinner or egg sack. The trick is to use some stealth and not alert them of your presence. Then use a natural drift that takes your fly, lure or egg sack right by their noses. Often the strike is telegraphed by the white “wink” of their mouth opening to take your offering. A soft lift of your rod will let you know if you’ve hit pay dirt!”
Francis Brautigam, Regional Fisheries Biologist in Maine’s Region A--Sebago Lake area filed this report with us: “Streams and rivers will offer some of the earliest fishing opportunities, but residual snow pack and anticipated high spring flows will challenge the ardent stream angler. These same conditions are expected to cause some delays in spring stocking, although planned stockings are scheduled to begin on April 5th. Cumberland, Androscoggin and York Counties are the focus of early regional stockings, with streams and small ponds first to be stocked.”
“Staff at Dry Mills Hatchery, New Gloucester Hatchery, and Casco Hatchery will be assisted by volunteers from various fish and game clubs in York County. Stocking will move northward in keeping with the normal progression of ice melt and the thawing of our waterways. Check the web site (www.mefishwildlife.com) for last year’s stocking report, which may vary some from year to year, but will provide a good indication of where and when the fish are stocked.”
“A number of flowing waters in southern Maine are stocked in the fall with larger fall yearling trout and offer a good opportunity in the spring to catch larger hold-over brook & brown trout. These waters include, Salmon Falls River below South Berwick Dam (browns), Mousam River below Route 1 in Kennebunk (browns), Ogunquit River below Route 1 (browns), Saco River below Skelton Dam in Dayton (browns+brook), Saco River - Bonney Eagle Bypass (browns), Saco River, below Hiram Dam (browns), and Pleasant River - special management section in Windham.”
“In addition, a number of lake inlet streams also can provide some great early season fishing for larger fish stocked in lakes, including Panther Run off Mill Street in Raymond (salmon), Sebago Locks in Casco (salmon), and Pump Box Brook below Route 11 in Shapleigh (browns & brook trout). Some of the largest spring-caught trout are taken below dams at lake outlets. Trout commonly drop out of lakes and may be taken during early spring at the base of outlet dams.”
“Initially, lake fishing opportunities will be available mostly to shore fishermen, who target the melting edge water around the lake or at lake inlets and outlets. Popular and productive lake-side fisheries exist on Auburn Lake (salmon, togue, brook trout), at the Route 302 causeway between Long Lake and Bay of Naples in Naples (browns, salmon), the “heath” at the southern end of Thompson Lake in Poland (salmon), the mouth the Songo River in Casco where a small boat can be floated in Sebago Lake (salmon & togue), the confluence of Sebago Lake and the Muddy River off Route 114 in Naples (salmon), and the trestle bridge located in Standish, where the Sticky River flows into Sebago Lake.”
“While fishing Sebago and its tributaries, anglers are again reminded to kill and keep any northern pike that are caught and report your catch to a fisheries biologist at the Gray Regional headquarters (657-2345). Northern pike are very active and spawn during ice-out, frequently traveling into inlets in search of spawning habitat.”
“Once you can float a boat, my picks for landlocked salmon and brook trout are as follows. For trophy salmon (5 lbs and up) check out Auburn Lake (Auburn), Trickey Pond (Naples), South Pond (Greenwood), and Bryant Pond(Bryant Pond). Quality fishing for slightly smaller salmon may be found at Moose Pond (Bridgton), Thompson Lake (Otisfield), Crescent Lake (Raymond), Panther Pond (Raymond), Presumpscot River (Route 35 bypass), Pleasant P (Casco), and yes, even Sebago, which should produce some salmon up to five pounds.”
“Several waters were well stocked last fall with breeder salmon and browns, and should offer some good spring fishing. These waters include Mousam Lake (Shapleigh), Little Ossipee Lake (Waterboro), and Norway Lake (Norway).”
“Brook trout enthusiasts should consider our reclaimed ponds including, Overset Pond (Greenwood), Broken Bridge Pond (Albany), Crocker Pond (Albany), and Mosquito Pond (Albany), which are stocked annually. Additional stocked ponds that provide fisheries for larger brook trout include Adams Pond (Bridgton), Keys Pond (Sweden), and Little Concord Pond (Woodstock). Spicer Pond (Newfield) and Cold Water Pond (Kennebunk) have consistently provided good fishing for smaller, wild brook trout, although, the dam at Cold Water Pond (Kennebunk) breached a couple years ago and the “flowage” is much reduced in size, but still offers some good fishing.”
“Two new “Kids Only” waters were established in the region. One is located off the River Road in Brunswick at Coffin Pond (behind the swimming pond). The other is located in Limerick.”
“The Department has partnered with the Sportsmen’s Alliance of Maine on their proposed Classic Salmon Initiative. Under this initiative, the Department was requested to develop trophy salmon fisheries around the state. Biologists from Region A and SAM’s John Hunt have organized a public informational meeting on April 20th at the Naples Town Office, at 7:30 PM to present proposed trophy management changes on two regional waters (Kezar Lake & Crystal Lake - Harrison). Interested anglers are requested to attend the meeting and voice their thoughts regarding the proposed management.” (We thank Francis for the in-depth report--slightly edited for time lag)
Carroll Cutting, at Jordan’s Store in East Sebago, says that although there’s still a lot of ice on Sebago, he’s willing to go out on a limb and forecast the ice-out will be sometime between April 10th-15th. “This is the average time for Big Bay to clear of ice. The ice is still white but that should change by the middle of the week when that warm weather is supposed to come.”
“There’s plenty of fish in Sebago for when it does go out. On Thursday, before the season closed for ice fishing, my son Greg and a friend caught and released 15 togue from one fishing hole. When they left, two other guys took their hole and both had fish on as Greg and his buddy were leaving.”
Carroll had also heard of a five pound salmon that was caught through the ice and quickly released, bringing some substance to the reports of the salmon recovery there.
“About the only good news we’ve got is that the smelts are starting to run and the dipping has started,” reported Dave Garcia, at Naples Bait on Long Lake in the Sebago Region. “One place that is a sure bet is Mutiny Brook in Waterford. There’s quite a few other brooks that are due to run anytime now.”
“From all of our past smelting experience, we’ve found that water conditions don’t have that much effect on when the smelt runs. For years, we’ve found that certain brooks run within a couple of days each year and are very predictable,” he noted.
Dave added that the boat ramp at Sebago State park is still iced-in.
Rusty Harvey, of River’s Edge Sports at Oquossoc in the Rangeley Lakes Region, says that Hunter’s Cove Bridge, the earliest available open water place there, hasn’t even cleared of ice yet.
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