Archive for August, 2007
Posted on Wednesday, August 8th, 2007 by Maine Sportsman
Finding coldwater fish is a challenge this time of year. Coldwater fish move out of the warmer surface waters to deeper sections of lakes, or to springs, or to cooler brooks. For warmwater fish, of course, it’s a different story, and I’ve recently spotted a number of anchored bass boats, lures flying in all directions, in the southern part of our region. When an out-of-state visitor called last week looking for bass fishing areas to try, I steered him to the middle Androscoggin – between Dixfield and Jay – where there are now several new launch sites (shown in the DeLorme Atlas) and lots of large smallmouths.
Back to the coldwater fish, which dominate the northern part of our region: smaller, well-shaded brooks and streams, fed by groundwater, tend to stay cool even in August, and that’s where the brook trout are. Our electrofishing crew, Ethan Tracey and Troy Thompson, have been finding brook trout in most of the brooks they’ve been sampling, though Ethan mentioned yesterday that some of the smaller brooks have low flows. The flow situation can change daily, though, when thunder storms come through and dump a load of water.
As we move further into August, we can expect more rains, which induce salmon and trout to move into streams in preparation for spawning, which is in fact several months away – the Kennebago River is a good example of the “prespawning run” phenomenon. A number of rivers benefit from coldwater releases from dams – the lower Magalloway from the Aziscohos dam, and the Kennebec from Harris and Wyman dams; these tailraces are great places to fish even during the dog days of summer.
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Tags: Western Mountains Fishing Report • Categories: General
Posted on Wednesday, August 8th, 2007 by Maine Sportsman
Fishery management biologists in the state’s seven different regions are responsible for overseeing and responding to many tasks and situations within their effort to protect fish populations, protect and enhance fishing opportunities, and to ensure public access to Maine waters. As biologists work with the many different groups and people, to meet these endeavors on the hundreds of lakes and ponds and thousands of miles of streams and rivers in their regions, many challenges come across their paths on a day to day basis that most of the public are not aware of.
This is no different in the Downeast management region of Hancock & Washington counties, when our human population grows there are many more interested people in the in the environment and many projects good and bad that effect fish populations, fishing opportunity and public access. In that vein, below is bulleted list of issues that biologists are dealing with in the Downeast region. I think our readers will find them interesting.
Downeast & Quoody Liquefied Natural Gas Pipelines — crossing hundreds of streams in Washington County.
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Tags: Downeast Fishing Report • Categories: General
Posted on Wednesday, August 8th, 2007 by Maine Sportsman
Meteorologists will tell you that at this time of year we experience the highest average annual temperatures. Last week was a pretty good example of those temperatures, with a pretty good dose of humidity added to the mix. Despite the cross-breezes from two fans, this office got fairly toasty by mid-afternoon on most days. Luckily, our open water work plan called for an opportune ‘escape’ from the heat.
Fisheries biologists base management plans for water by collecting data on that water. Of the many methods of data collection available to us, one is the use of scuba.
Scuba, also known as ‘self contained underwater breathing apparatus’ and snorkeling have wide applications in aquatic biology. For one, a diver or snorkeler is working in the fishes’ environment. Many species are less wary of the larger, often neoprene clad ‘fish’ lumbering about. Some are drawn by curiosity to investigate this strange animal in their space.
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Tags: Central Maine Fishing Report • Categories: General
Posted on Wednesday, August 8th, 2007 by Maine Sportsman
The summer doldrums are upon us, and fishing reports from local trout and salmon anglers have dwindled to a standstill. Our seasonal census clerk indicates that a few diehard anglers are still picking up some nice togue at Auburn Lake. Auburn Lake anglers have also reported an increase in catches of sublegal salmon as stocked fish from this spring are entering the fishery and becoming vulnerable to angling. The Sebago Lake togue fleet has been relatively quiet, but the lake continues to produce some decent sized togue in the 3-6 pound class for the deep trollers with an occasional fish in the double digits. Other good bets for togue fishing in the region include Kezar Lake (Lovell) and Thompson Lake (Oxford), but anglers need to be prepared to fish deeper water with lead core and/or down riggers.
Although many trout fisherman hang up their gear this time of year, there is still some good fishing to be had in the region for those anglers willing to target deeper water. We spoke with an angler on Lower Range Pond in Poland that picked up a decent 16 inch brown trout and numerous bass, while our own sampling yielded six browns in the 15-18 inch range and one 17 inch rainbow trout. To be successful, it is critical that anglers target the band of cold, oxygenated water that develops on most of our lakes and ponds this time of year. For example on Lower Range Pond, the water temperature was too warm for trout above 18 feet deep and the dissolved oxygen was too low below 27 feet deep. Fish too shallow or too deep for trout this time of year and you will mostly likely return home skunked! While anglers may not have all the water quality gear we have, you can expect the appropriate band to be somewhere in the 15 to 30 foot range on most trout waters from mid to late summer. In addition, your fish finder and the presence of fish can indirectly give you a clue as to the appropriate depth ranges to focus on. Last Friday we sampled a small brook trout pond in Oxford County, the number of trout sampled was relatively low; however, we caught one sizable brookie that was over 18 inches! A trophy brook trout for sure, particularly in the Sebago Lakes region.
Last week we had reports of 2 fish kills, one at Pineland Pond in New Gloucester and the other was on Sebago Lake in Raymond. At Pineland Pond a small number of uncaught stocked brook trout (a put-and-take fishery) were finally succumbing to excessive temperatures due to a lack of summer refugia (i.e. deeper cold, oxygenated water or springs). Several anglers from Sebago Lake reported a die-off of smelt in the Jordan Bay area. Smelt die-offs are not that uncommon this time of year during excessively hot weather patterns. When conditions are right, we suspect schools of juvenile smelt become accidentally caught-up in warm surface waters due to wave, wind, or currents during their nightly migration to the thermocline to feed. If you witness or suspect a fish kill, please report the event to your regional fisheries office for investigation.
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Tags: Southwestern Maine Fishing Report • Categories: General
Posted on Wednesday, August 1st, 2007 by Maine Sportsman
This Month: Summertime…and the Living Is … Good
August arrives with heat and humidity, but as the month slides toward September, mornings have a chill and red maples in lowland often have a limb or even a whole tree turn scarlet, a certain promise of what’s to come
In Northern Maine, bear hunting is wicked big news this month, but in the bottom two-thirds of the state, darned few people even think about it.
Bear baiters put out food piles daily, and the season for baiters and the fair-chase crowd starts Aug. 27. Baiters have until Sept. 22 to sit over man-placed foods but the fair-chase group can chase bruins until Nov. 24.
Crow season in Maine has a spring and summer-fall split season, and the second one runs from Aug. 1 through Sept. 29.
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Tags: August 2007 Issue • Categories: Almanac
