Downeast Fishing Report: September 20, 2007

Surface water temperatures have cooled down to around 60 degrees and soon will be in the mid 50′s, which is perfect to summon trout and salmon back to the surface. As these fish feed on the surface and near shore, its spring fishing all over again, except that most anglers will have lakes and ponds all to themselves and also be able to enjoy the spectacular fall colors.

I recommend trolling brightly colored streamers and lures for landlocked salmon such as the Montreal, Barnes Special, Cathance Special, Marabou Muddler and the orange beaded Gray Ghost for flies and the chartreuse, orange and silver Rapalas in sizes 5 and 7 as well as the purple and silver and the rainbow colored Yozori Pin Minnow in the 3 inch size for lures.

Best lakes for salmon this fall are: West Grand Lake — Grand Lake Stream, Cathance Lake – Cooper, Pocumcus Lake — T 6 ND, Phillips Lake – Dedham, Gardner’s Lake — East Machias and Long Pond — Mount Desert.

Don’t forget to fish Grand Lake Stream, which is opened to fly fishing only catch and release to October 20th. This stream is fantastic landlocked salmon fishing as the fish move into the stream to spawn from West Grand and Big Lakes. Currently the West Grand Dam is running plenty of water to bring salmon into the stream and with the water cooling down the fishing is going to get good fast. Don’t miss it! Brightly colored streamers work the best or olive and yellow bead-head nymphs if you prefer.

For brook trout in the lakes and ponds the same brightly colored arsenal as above works very well.

Best brook trout waters to try are: Upper Hadlock Pond — Northeast Harbor, Lower Hadlock Pond — Northeast Harbor, Echo Lake — Southwest Harbor, Billings Pond — Blue Hill, Little Tunk Pond — Sullivan, Narraguagus Lake — T 9 SD, Long Pond — Great Pond Plt., Rift Pond — Great Pond Plt., Alligator Lake — T 34 MD, West Pike Brook Pond — T 18 MD, Vining Lake — Cooper, Shattack Lake — Calais, Pork Barrel Lake — T 6 R1 and Monroe Lake — T 43 MD.

Also don’t forget to try these lures and flies for fall splake, as I have found they work great this time of year as the splake return to the surface to feed in the cool surface waters.

Best splake waters to try are: Peaked Mtn. Pond — Centerville, Lower Springy Pond — Otis, Second Old Stream Lake — T 37 MD, Hosea Pug Lake — T 26 ED, Mopang Lake — T 29 MD, Hearts Pond — Orland, Jacob-Buck Pond — Bucksport and Fitts Pond — Clifton.

We also want to make anglers aware that region C biologists are proposing two new stockings for this fall.

The first is Lower Patten Pond in Surry, where many years of low water conditions in the tributaries and recent illegal introductions of both smallmouth and largemouth bass have taken a toll on a wild brown trout population that was started by the Department in the 40′s and 50′s. Our proposal is to stock 200 fall yearling 10 to 12 inch brown trout annually to augment the wild population and provide a more constant fishery for anglers in both the open water and ice fishing seasons. These browns will likely live to older ages and large sizes, making some trophy brown trout catches possible again.

The second proposal is stock Blunts Pond in Lamoine for the first time ever with 125 fall yearling 11 to 13 inch brook trout. This small kettle-hole pond (no inlet or outlet) is a wonderfully clear spring fed pond with great public access. This first time ever stocking of any species would provide terrific fishing opportunity in the late fall and winter seasons in an area that has little fishing possibilities.

Please think about these two new stockings and feel free to e-mail or call us if you have any comments or questions (207) 434-5925.

Enjoy Maine’s fall fishing opportunities, as this is a great time of year to be out and about!