Western Mountains Fishing Report: September 12, 2007

With the water cooling down and higher flows, many anglers are heading for rivers that flow into the large lakes. Most serious anglers know that the place to be a few days after a heavy rain event is were the brook trout and salmon will be running for fall spawning season. These rushes of water trigger the fish’s instinct to move to their pre-spawning holding areas. At this time large fish from the lakes are catchable by anglers wading or standing along the shoreline.

Anglers might also try their favorite trout pond again too. Often anglers fish a pond regularly in the spring, but then forget about it after the water warms up. However, water temperatures have begun to cool, so the trout are now on the move and feeding more aggressively. A few ponds to try would be Beal Pond in Madrid, Quimby Pond in Rangeley, or Rowe Pond in Pleasant Ridge Plt. All three of these waters are annually stocked with brook trout.

Anglers interested in bass fishing don’t have to give up quite yet. Although these fish become a little less active and more difficult to catch as the warm summer days end, they will take bait or lures if presented to them properly. Try fishing a little deeper than you normally would in lakes and ponds. The fish in rivers are more likely to be in their same old haunts, even moving into very shallow water on bright sunny days. For anglers in the northwestern part of the state I would recommend fishing the Androscoggin River in the Jay or Canton area. There are some very large smallmouths in this stretch of water.