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For More Outdoor Information, and Sporting Licenses 24 Hours A Day, 7 Days A Week, Please Visit www.mefishwildlife.com For More Information, Please Contact: Marc Michaud For Immediate Release August 22, 2006 August 22, 2006 Fishing Report Region A- Southwestern Trout and salmon fishing in the region has slowed quite a bit with the onset of mid-summer. Yet, our "die-hard" anglers continue to report decent catches of lake trout, salmon, browns, and rainbows from area lakes and ponds. These successful anglers are willing to get out on the water early when salmonids are more active and before the lakes get too busy with other boating traffic. It is not unusual to see these anglers headed off the water by 7:00 AM! The other key to their success is that they target deeper depths with lead core lines or down riggers. This time of year, most of our lakes and ponds are too warm at the surface and poorly oxygenated at the lower depths, which means salmonids are sandwiched somewhere in the middle of the water column, particularly where the preferred depth meets the bottom. A good place to start fishing on most waters is somewhere between 15-30 feet, and adjust accordingly based on clues from your depth finder, other anglers, and your own success. Stream fishing activity for trout also dwindles off by this time of year; however, our stream resident salmonids have certainly benefited from the past two summers, which have been relatively wet and cool compared to the preceding drought-like years. We were out sampling streams in Norway last week and noted an abundance of wild trout, as well as exceptional growth on juvenile trout that had hatched earlier this year. A local angler/landowner confirmed our observations, when he noted that the stream fishing had been exceptional this year. Based on his experiences, he had also noted a greater abundance of trout and higher percentages of legal sized trout than those that occur during drier periods. Eventhough most anglers give up on stream fishing by now, we have an abundance of wild brook trout streams in the region that continue to provide good fishing for 6-10" brookies all season long. Bring your thermometer and if the stream is cooler than 68 F, there is good chance it supports brookies and a fishing opportunity awaits. While the tradition of small stream fishing appears to be waning, it can still be very rewarding and relaxing. Even if unsuccessful, a nice summer day on a small stream is sure to bring back fond memories of your youth. Stream fishing on larger, warmer rivers can also be quite productive during the summer doldrums. The key is to target springs and/or the confluences of cooler tributaries, and don't forget to fish early morning and/or late evening! Of course, this is also a great time of year to forgo trout and salmon altogether! Its the perfect time of year to target warmwater fish species like bass, pickerel, sunfish, and perch. These species typically provide much better action and are a great way to get kids hooked on fishing. Shallow, weedy areas of most area lakes, ponds, and larger rivers support one or more warmwater species and are fairly easy to locate and fish. These species typically are not that fussy, and will readily take most lures, baits, and flies. So, take a youngster out angling before the school season starts back up in the next couple of weeks! -James Pellerin, Assistant Regional Fisheries Biologist Region B - Central Maine Angling at the end of August leaves one wondering if all the trips planned before the season began have been completed and whether enough time is left to get a few more in. Bass angling is still hot at most of the regional waters with weekend tournaments on many waters. Plan a trip to a public boat launch at one of the popular lakes and witness some amazing catches at the weigh-ins. In the recent past, a state tournament record was broken at China Lake, where an eight fish limit for a two-man team landed 38.8 pounds of largemouth bass. That is an average weight of close to five pounds, an impressive catch, no matter what the species. Two of the fish were in excess of seven pounds; so some thrashing was experienced by those two professional anglers, on what had to be a truly memorable day. While some may have misgivings as to the place of bass tournaments in Maine, the Bass Federation has some pretty stringent regulations that police their tournaments, and that is on top of what the state requires to hold the tournaments. I have witnessed many tournaments since they have been held in Maine and only very rarely have I seen problems that could have been avoided. Most of the bass tournaments that I have been at since the 1970's have evolved to a cleanly run operation that benefits many charitable organizations as well as bringing much in the way of economic benefits to local communities as well as the state. Cold-water fish anglers should keep an eye on the weather as cold fronts move through the state, cooling the surface waters and providing concentrations of trout and salmon nearer the surface of lakes and ponds. Streams will also benefit as the flowing water cools off and fish migrate to prespawning staging areas. In this region, where there is little in the way of natural recruitment, the trout and salmon will be concentrated at dams and barrier falls that retain fish providing a popular fishing site. Try the following sites in the next month or two, for either trout or salmon. The St. George River, Cobbossee Stream, Medomak River, Nezinscot River, Sheepscot River, Kennebec River, Sebasticook River, and the dams in the Belgrade watershed. You may have a site in mind that you always wondered about, and if in doubt as to whether that site may productive or not, give a call to any of the regional biologists and they will be glad to steer you to the closest fishing hole. -Bill Woodward, Assistant Regional Fisheries Biologist Region C – Downeast Maine has taken center-stage this year with media attention to our wild brook trout resources. As the country’s historical range of brook trout has been compared with the present range, many states have lost much of their highly valued populations, and Maine has emerged as a stronghold for wild brook trout in the eastern United States. Maine’s fisheries biologists have launched a more intensive level of monitoring our wild brook trout, with a strong focus on important habitat in streams and rivers to better document the quality of today’s populations. Staff of the Downeast Fisheries Region teamed up recently with Research Biologists Merry Gallagher and Chip Wick to electrofish about 15 stream and river sites in the West Branch of the Union River Watershed. Air temperatures exceeded 85º F and water temperatures ranged from 49º F in one tiny spring brook to 78º F in many streams as well as in the West Branch Union River. Fortunately, those warm water temperatures have been short-lived this summer. Surprisingly, despite water temperatures, our electrofishing yielded both juvenile and legal wild brook trout in many streams, even several where water temperatures exceeded 70º F, thus continuing to prove the hardiness and resiliency of Maine’s wild brook trout. It was not uncommon to find trout in warm streams averaging only 3-4 feet wide. These are the highly important wild trout hatcheries that “seed” Maine’s larger streams and rivers with the colorful speckled beauties that capture the angler’s visual memory as they are unhooked. The year 2006 marks the 3rd consecutive summer where season-long water temperatures have been reasonably cool for trout. Combined with 2 previous summers marked by higher water levels from more frequent rains, eastern Maine’s brook trout are clearly exhibiting a resurgence in numbers, in growth, and in percentage of older, larger trout that should translate into a banner year for spring fishing next year in 2007! -Rick Jordan, Acting Fisheries Biologist Region D - Western Mountains. Our field season continued at a frenzied pace last week. We completed re-surveys of Otter Pond and North Otter Pond in Bowtown, just east of Pierce Pond. Both ponds are heavily utilized by local anglers, but continue to provide superb fisheries for stocked brook trout. We sampled trout up to 17 inches from each pond, and the fish were in excellent condition. Otter and North Otter each receive annual plantings of about 5,000 fall fingerling brookies, and both have an artificial-lure-only restriction. Fisheries Supervisor Dennis McNeish assisted me in sampling splake at Sturtevant Pond in Magalloway PLT. These hybrid char have performed well in Sturtevant since their introduction in 1994 - they've provided a fishery superior to that provided by our earlier landlocked salmon stockings. We sampled splake up to 5 years old, with several fish in the 2 1/2 to 3-pound range. They were feeding primarily on yellow perch and other fish. We rounded out our work week by electrofishing Abbott Brook, the Magalloway River, and South Bog Stream, and Forrest Bonney supervised a stream restoration project on the upper Sandy River. This week we'll be conducting hydroacoustics surveys on Rangeley Lake and Richardson Lake, completing the Sandy River project (stream flows permitting), and sampling several areas of Spencer Stream in search of smallmouth bass, which have migrated to Spencer Gut, and perhaps beyond. Fisheries Operations Director John Boland and FPL biologists Bill Hanson and Kyle Murphy will be helping out on that project. -David Boucher, Regional Fisheries Biologist Region E - Moosehead Region Late August through early September is the time of year when we conduct our electrofishing surveys in the Moosehead Lake Region. We typically focus on streams and rivers that contain nursery habitat for wild salmon. In the next two weeks we hope to conduct population estimates in sections of the Roach River a major tributary to Moosehead Lake, Wilson Stream and Monson Streams, which are tributaries to Sebec Lake, and one tributary to Chesuncook Lake. Conducting these surveys every year or two can help to identify factors that may cause problems for the population. For example, in the early 1990’s we conducted a thorough review of all the tributaries to Sebec Lake, one of the original homes to Maine’s landlocked salmon. We learned that 95% of the wild salmon were reared in Wilson Stream and its’ tributaries. We then set up index sites on Wilson Stream, Monson Stream, and Davis Stream to monitor the abundance of young salmon that live in these streams up to 3 years. We soon identified a major problem that affected the success of salmon reproduction in these streams. Adult salmon were having difficulty passing Earley’s Falls on Wilson Stream, which is located at the confluence with Sebec Lake. We found that if the Sebec Lake was drawn down too low and/or the flow in the stream was too high then adult salmon could not pass the falls. Our late summer electrofishing confirmed there was a significant decline in the abundance of young salmon in years following poor conditions for passage of adults in the fall. In fact, in two years there was nearly a complete loss. We took several steps to address this serious situation. First, we closed the stream to fishing after August 15th to protect the adult salmon once they negotiated the falls. Then we worked with the hydropower companies on Sebec Lake and Wilson Pond, DEP, and the Sebec Lake Campowners Association to develop a water management plan that would protect the wild salmon. The plan calls for maintaining a full lake elevation on Sebec Lake until mid October. The plan also includes increasing the flow in early September in Wilson Stream to attract a large number of adult salmon into the pool below Earley’s Falls. The flow is then reduced to allow the mature salmon to swim up the falls and access the spawning habitat. If there is time and conditions permit, we then repeat this process again in late September. Of course, Mother Nature can throw us a curveball. If there is a significant amount of rain during September then the flows often exceed the maximum for good passage. This can halt all movement over the falls. The annual estimates of young salmon in the tributaries have been quite good since the new water management plan went into effect. We have not seen any of the dangerously low estimates that were documented in the early 1990’s. In fact, we have seen some very high estimates and as a result the salmon fishing on Sebec Lake has been excellent. If you want to witness something really spectacular and unique then visit Earley’s Falls in late September and watch the adult wild salmon attempt to jump the scenic falls. It is very impressive. -Tim Obrey, Regional Fisheries
Biologist Although August is usually not considered premier landlocked salmon fishing season, lately I've talked to a number of experienced anglers that would dispute that notion. Many reports of large (5 lb +) salmon being caught in the last few weeks have certainly changed my mind on the subject. Anglers fishing 35 to 45 feet below the surface have hit pay dirt at Cold Stream Pond, Pemadumcook Lake, East Grand Lake, Pleasant Lake and numerous other regional salmon waters. Salmon as large as 7 1/2 pounds are always appreciated by anglers willing to put in the time. A project that has proved valuable this summer is the state wide effort to assess brook trout aquatic habitats under the Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture (EBTJV) program. This effort has afforded regional managers the opportunity to look at some of our brook trout habitats in a more intensive and focused manner. It has allowed us to assemble information by sub-drainage that will identify threats to sustaining wild brook trout populations across the region. Major threats to our brook trout populations in Region F are increasing water temperatures, siltation and fragmentation of essential habitats. Although Maine, and our Region in particular, have been spared the bulk of the development pressures in the Eastern United States, we do have degraded riparian habitats that have impacted our ability to maintain brook trout populations in some areas of the region. Agriculture, forestry, roads and development have all had an impact that we need to know and measure. Exotic species, such as smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, black crappie, northern pike and muskellunge have also had devastating impacts upon wild brook trout populations in Maine. -Nels Kramer, Assistant Regional Fisheries Biologist Region G – Aroostook County Water flow in our brooks and rivers varies dramatically from south to north. Low flows are prevalent in southern and central Aroostook, at or near normal conditions for this time of year. The extremely cool temperatures this weekend may have cooled river water to allow trout to spread out until the next round of hot weather. In northern Aroostook, the St. John River had excellent flow conditions for watercraft to ply the waters during the muskie fishing tournament. Fisheries biologists were accompanied by Leon Bucher, our watercraft access staffer from Augusta, for two days last week to visit proposed public access sites on the St. John River, Long Lake, East Branch Mattawamkeag River and other locations in throughout Aroostook County. The IF&W engineering crew has benn cooperating with the Bureau of Public Lands on their Deboullie Unit the last two weeks to replace the barrier dam on the outlet of Crater Pond and to raise the road and install a new bridge over this same stream. All indications suggest that the project went well. The barrier dam on Perch Pond is now 30+ years old and plans are in the works to cooperate in replacing this structure in the near future. Fisheries staff from Ashland and Augusta will be hosting a public informational meeting on Monday, August 21, at the Ashland Fish and Game Club located on the bank of the Aroostook River off the Portage Road in Ashland. The meeting will commence at 6:30 p.m. Specfic topics to be discussed include: -David Basley, Regional Fisheries Biologist
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