Southwestern Maine Fishing Report: March 1, 2007
The big event in Southern Maine this weekend was Sebago Lake Rotary Club’s Derby Fest. Two of the most popular events in connection with the Derby Fest are also the one of greatest interest to Region A’s fishery division, namely the kids only derby held at the outlet of Thomas Pond this past Friday and the Sebago Togue Tourney held over the weekend. The kids only derby was a huge success with an estimated six to seven hundred kids participating. The Rotary club gave away 500 traps and volunteers from all over were on hand to coach the kids in their use. The participants caught a number of stocked brook trout as well as a number of warmwater fish. The event was such a success that many kids and their families were still fishing Thomas Pond outlet two days later. Thanks to the Rotary Club for doing such a great job getting kids hooked on fishing!
The Sebago Lake Togue Tourney was once again mobbed with participants, and the togue I observed at the Raymond weigh in station appeared to be in great shape. The catch of togue seemed to be much lower than in past years which is likely attributable to a lack of ice on the big bay eliminating access to some of the best fishing areas and to an abundance of forage fish which may be competing with angler’s bait for the attention of the coveted togue. Derby winners included Greg Mackintosh in third place at 7.34 lbs, Gary Parlin in second place at 8.11 lbs, and Michael Hemmingway in first with his 9.09 lb togue.
Weekend creel census indicated that anglers were still targeting many of the small to medium trout ponds in the northern portion of the region. The anglers I spoke with simply preferred a quiet day on the ice to the city life that was Sebago Lake this weekend. While a good portion of anglers interviewed this weekend reported slow fishing, I did speak to a guy that limited out around noon with a pair of 15-16 inch brookies on Keoka Lake in Waterford. Also reported was a limit of 12-14 inch brook trout on Thomas Pond in Raymond.
Having reported on all the fun fishing over the weekend, I now have to report a bit of bad news. This past Friday I confirmed two northern pike from No Name Pond in Lewiston. This confirmation was a result of an alert angler calling Operation Game Thief (1-800-alert-us, thanks Nathan!) and resulted in the observation of what appeared to be two different age classes of pike. Because we are unfamiliar with the nature of the outlet of No Name Pond it is unclear if the introduction was the result of upstream migration from the Sabattus River or the result of a direct illegal introduction.
Best of luck in the last month of hardwater fishing!