Fishing Report: Last week’s heavy rain caused rivers and streams to swell over their banks in some locations. High and cloudy water is not a good combination for trout fishermen!
The big lakes continued to be spotty for both trout and salmon, with some spectacular catches and an equal amount of strikeouts. Warming water is getting the smallmouth bass thinking about coming inshore and in some locations, white perch are on the move.
“Maine and New Hampshire’s white perch fishing are an underutilized fishery, with mainly the people that live close to one of the hotspots making up most of the fishing pressure,” noted Chris Henson at Kittery Trading Post’s fishing department. “There are plenty of fish to go around and some really huge ones, especially in the Lake Winnipesaukee watershed and here in Maine in the Sebago Region.”
“White perch are a close relative of the striped bass and not really related to yellow perch. They can grow to over three pounds and besides being sought after for their eating qualities, they put up a great fight on light tackle. Right now, when they are starting to run into some of the coves and inlets and rivers to spawn, they will often stay offshore until the water warms up in the middle of the afternoon and then approach the shoreline where warmer water suits them better. These fish will hit a worm, small baitfish and small lures such as swimming plugs and spinners. A slow trolled spinner and worm combo is probably the most popular way to catch white perch by boat fishermen, while shore anglers prefer to fish a bait under a bobber.”
“In the Sebago area, the Songo Locks provide a great place to load up on perch and also have a chance at a salmon or brook trout. Panther Run and Panther Pond in Raymond and all those connected waters nearby all have good perch populations.”
“New Hampshire’s Lake Winnipesaukee grows some of the largest white perch we’ve ever heard of! Fish of two to over three pounds are quite common. Some of the best areas seem to be in the northern, shallower bays of the lake, especially around Melvin Village, Center Harbor and Meredith Bay. These areas will have crowds of locals out there in the evening happily filling a bucket with big perch.”
“During the mornings before the perch head into the coves and inlets, boat fishermen do well by slow trolling nearby, where the perch show up later in the day. When they find a school of perch, they often shut down and cast to them. This fishing can also be fast and furious,” Chris ended.
New Hampshire:
“We’re getting more and more striper fishermen, but we still haven’t seen a fish brought in here,” lamented Jason MacKenzie at Suds-n-Soda Sports in Greenland.
“We do have alewives running some of the rivers and brooks. Some of our striper fishermen have been purchasing frozen herring, as they are much like the alewives. We have reports of fish being caught in the Hampton/Seabrook Harbor areas and one was alleged to be 40 inches. This warmer weather is sure to start things off.”
Jason said that the Winnicut River trout fishing had slowed considerably since the rain, but that the Exeter Reservoir had been producing some really good trout. Cod fishing was still productive, but it seems the haddock have slowed.
Rye fisherman Dave Dawley reports that he’d be looking along the Rye shoreline for his earliest stripers soon. He likes to fish a couple of hours before and after a high tide and especially like a high tide around 8am and 8pm. Dave says another hot spot is Portsmouth’s Pierce Island—fish the shoreline facing the Navy Yard.
“The turkey hunting has taken some of the fishing pressure off since the opener,” notes George Taylor at Taylor’s Trading Post in Madbury. “We’ve checked in more big turkeys than usual—several in the 22 pound range and even one 23 pounder. Our streams are high and dirty, but those guys that are fishing them hard are still doing well. The ponds are a different story. Barbados in Madbury and Lucas in Northwood have been the best, from all reports.”
“Still no signs of stripers or alewives in the Cocheco River in Dover, but it’s sure to start soon. We’ve had people checking this out every day.”
Karen Courshesne at Steve’s Sportsmen’s Den in Hooksett said although the nearby Merrimack River is high, interest in the Atlantic salmon there has been picking up, with weekly stockings spreading fish out in both the Merrimack and the Pemmigewasset. “There has been some salmon caught in our area and around Sewall’s Falls and up in Franklin. As the river drops and continues to warm up, there should be three more weeks or more of good salmon fishing.”
“The state also stocks some good quality rainbow, brookies and brown trout in the Merrimack. Fish the shallower, faster runs for the trout. Small wet flies, streamers, swimming baits and spinners as well as garden hackle will get those trout’s attention.”
Steve says that although Lake Winnipesaukee seems to be in it’s prime, don’t overlook some of the other salmon lakes. Lake Sunapee has seen a big turnaround in salmon fishing and the Squam Lakes are producing fewer but larger, fatter salmon.
“Our white perch run in the Winnipesaukee River here has started,” reports Jim at Martel’s Bait and Tackle in Laconia. “I went home last night with ten big perch for my own supper and a lot of perch fishermen have been having a great time—the fish are all the way up the river through the town. Some of the perch are from two to three pounds, quite a bit larger than usual.”
Jim said that because of the perch run, trout and salmon fishing had slowed, but that bass fishing had started to pick up as a tourney was held over the weekend.
Paul Garland at Hot Spots outfitters reports that Winnipesaukee continues to produce some good rainbows, salmon and occasional lake trout in the Alton and Wolfeboro areas and that Merrymeeting Lake also has been steady for those same fish.
“You know my feelings about the smallmouth bass fishing on the beds, which looks like it’s just about ready to get started. We don’t discourage it, but plead that people use extreme care when handling these fish. Try not to take them out of the water. Use single, barbless hooks when possible and never try to dislodge a hook when it is deeply imbedded in a bass’s mouth. Just cut the leader and let it swim free. That fish stands a much better chance at recovery. Also, don’t try to catch that same fish that is guarding a bed over and over again. Multiple hookings and the attendant struggles can weaken a fish to the point of no return,” Paul explained.
Wayne at AJ’s Bait and Tackle at Meredith Bay on Lake Winnipesaukee reports that the trout and salmon fishing seemed to be better in the late afternoon and evening. This could be the result of the sun’s warming of the water during the day.
“Most of the fish are being taken on three or four colors of leadcore line. Lures such as Top Guns, Mini Guns, the new 61 Gun and DB Smelts, as well as streamer flies, have been doing the best on the rainbows and landlocks. For lake trout, best luck has been on live and sewed on baits”
Wayne mentioned two local trout pounds, Wakewan and Winowna as being steady producers or both rainbow and brook trout.
In the Granite State’s northernmost town of Pittsburg, Shirley Remick at TR’s Bait on the First Connecticut Lake said that there had been some great trout taken from the Connecticut River nearby and also that the laker fishing on the First Connecticut Lake had started, with sucker minnows still-fished being the method of choice.
Maine:
“Anecdotal reports from anglers and wardens suggest anglers have had some excellent fishing in the Region during the month of April, particularly on salmon and lake trout waters. Auburn Lake was bustling with anglers on opening day and game warden Dave Chabot reported seeing good catches of salmon and lake trout, and the fishery will continue to produce some excellent fish throughout the season.”
“Thompson Lake typically produces better later in the season (May); however, anglers have reported some fantastic salmon and togue fishing trips in April. Most of the salmon and lakers from Thompson run in the 2-3 pound class, but anglers indicate that catches of 8-10 fish a trip are not uncommon. Our regional fishery biologist, Francis Brautigam, took his daughter to Thompson two weeks ago and they boated about 8 fish and lost almost as many for an exciting action packed morning.”
“The smelt run at Sebago was well underway during the last week of April, and anglers were reporting some good fishing to our Seasonal Survey Clerk, Greg Massey. While the action may be a little slower at Sebago, the size quality of the fish is up, with anglers reporting salmon in the 3-5 pound range. Although most lakers will also be in the 3-5 pound range, Greg measured a whopper a few weeks ago that was 37 ½ inches long and weighed about 17 ½ pounds! Increased growth of salmon and lake trout, as well as hydroacoustics data, indicates that Sebago's smelt population is finally showing some substantial improvement, and we will respond by increasing the stocking rate of salmon as appropriate. This year the lake is scheduled to receive twice as many salmon.”
“On a less positive note, after not hearing of a single pike being caught out of Sebago for over a year...we suddenly saw three in the month of April alone. One of the three was only 17 inches long, which suggests pike may have spawned in the lake and will likely establish a population that will alter the ecological balance of the lake forever and seriously jeopardize the potential recovery of the landlocked salmon fishery.”
“Why Sebago? This was a senseless and selfish act by one or two people that will negatively change the history of the lake's fisheries for all present and future anglers. These acts of illegal introductions continue at an alarmingly maniacal pace, and even remote waters in northern Maine are no longer exempt. One thing is certain, if this trend continues, Maine's coldwater fisheries will be very different 20-30 years from now, and based on what we have witnessed in southern and central Maine, far worse off than before these introductions occurred.”
Carroll Cutting at Jordan’s Store in East Sebago has the chance to observe and get feedback on Sebago Lake’s health as well as anyone in the area. He put us on the phone with well-known local fisherman Roger Bacon, as he had just come in off the lake.
“How’d it go Roger?” “We had a fine morning with good conditions. The two fish that we hooked we lost right at the boat, both real fat salmon.”
“We were fishing with four colors of leadcore line with live smelt rigged on a sliding, two hook rig. We don’t use the treble hooked rigs, only single hooks as they cause less damage when releasing fish. Our best salmon so far this year was a four and a half pounder and we’ve been catching an occasional togue (lake trout) in the same depths that we’re salmon fishing—the 12 to 15 foot areas.”
“We need to give the Sebago Lake Anglers Association a lot of thanks for the work they have done in helping to restore our smelt population that has resulted in our fishery recovery. That club has brought in sea run smelt and eggs—hundreds of thousands of them and the result is as you’ve heard, tremendous schools of smelt now.”
Ken at River’s Edge Sports in Oquossoc in the Rangeley Lakes Region reported mixed results from fishermen on Rangeley Lake. “Some boats come in and report catching 16 to 18 fish-- mostly salmon, while other boats can be skunked. I fished Dodge Pond last week in heavy fog. Fish were rising around the outlet and I had some great dry fly action on brookies up to fourteen and a half inches. They chewed apart a size twelve brown Wulff dry fly, so we changed to a gray Wulff and continued to catch just as many.”
“Over at Mooselookmeguntic the story seems to be similar to last year—more, but smaller fish and the lake really hasn’t taken off yet. We did hear that fishermen at Aziscohos were seeing some good fishing on both salmon and brookies. According to our local warden, the smelt are still running in a lot of the local waters.”
Craig Bergeron at Saco Bay Tackle reports that still no authenticated reports about shad at the Saco River, but there were still some scattered reports of holdover stripers. “Codfish reports are of some larger fish, but fewer haddock are being caught. The inshore ledges such as Tantas have been slow with small fish. Most of the good action is coming from both Platts and southern Jeffrey’s Ledge,” Craig revealed.
Massachusetts:
“We’re starting to see the flounder move into their traditional haunts,” reported Pete Santini at Fishing FINatics in Everett. “Quincy Bay area should be hot. Both flounder and codfish should be moving into the North Channel soon. The cod are still doing well in President’s Roads. Some larger stripers are also showing up at the Charles River Locks and Emilia Earhart Dam. The migration of larger fish has started.”
Kay Moulton at Surfland Bait and Tackle on Plum Island reports that shad fishing has picked up at Rocks Village on the Merrimack. “It’s hard to sort out the reports, as some say they’ve caught a dozen or more shad a day, while others report not seeing that kind of action and only landing a fish or two. There definitely has been an increase in the numbers caught, as well as quite a few small stripers being caught there.”
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