Penobscot Valley Fishing Report: July 27, 2009
As Yogi Berra would say, it was déjà vu all over again!
About 10 years ago, while trout fishing on a pond in the North Country, I had the opportunity to witness a spectacle that I had hoped at the time I would never, ever see again.
While paddling back to the landing at the end of a successful days fishing, a loon appeared next to the canoe with what appeared to be a fat 15-inch trout in its beak. The trout was still very much alive at the first surfacing. Down went the loon with trout in tow, but quickly they were both back on the surface to continue the fight. Back down they’d go, and so on. After about 2 or 3 minutes, the trout had succumbed and the loon summarily threw back his head and swallowed the trout whole! Never would have thought a loon could have handled a trout any bigger than that.
Until this past weekend, that is. While fishing another un-named trout pond in the North Country with IF&W Wildlife Biologist Vasco “Buster” Carter, we were tailed for hours by a very pesky loon. Everywhere we’d paddle, that loon would follow. All afternoon! We became convinced that the reason we were not catching any fish was because of our new found feathered friend. Until around 5 p.m. That’s when everything changed.
Suddenly the loon started swimming back and forth under the canoe at a high rate of speed, almost franticly. Then a fish hit. A nice trout had taken my offering. Because of the circumstances, I wasted no time getting him in the canoe.
A quick measure at 17 inches meant that he was going back, as this pond is managed for trophy-sized fish with a bag limit of one trout daily and a minimum length limit of 18 inches. As I was holding him momentarily next to the canoe to revive him a bit before release, Buster yelled out for me to watch my hand as the loon was now making threatening advances towards my appendages. I swiftly lifted the fish out and decided to wait until the loon made another run to the other side of the canoe. I then slid the trout back into the water with a push towards the deeper part of the pond. Seconds went by before I saw the loon go back under the canoe in pursuit, but I was fairly confident that the trout would get away.
As Buster and I were celebrating our “successful” attempt to outsmart a mere bird, up came the loon about 50 yards out with that 17-inch trout in its beak! This time it was only about a 30-second fight before that loon threw its head back and swallowed him whole! Sounds hard to believe, I know, but I’ve talked to a number of anglers since that have observed the same scenario played out on this pond and other ponds with hauntingly similar results.
Remember, I measured that fish before release, and it was between 17 and 18 inches, and in very good condition. Realistically, that fish weighed close to two pounds!
Many fish in the 16- to 18-inch category apparently have been consumed by the pair of loons making their home at this pond shortly after release all spring, making me wonder what’s the point?
When I start to do the math, it becomes even more depressing. We don’t stock a lot of fish in this pond, and the only other species of fish in the pond is dace and shiners. We expect anglers to release any fish less than 18 inches, with the hope that these fish will continue to grow and next year they will be available for harvest. With two loons eating a trout or two a piece (or more) a day all season long, it starts to add up quickly. What’s left for the angler that buys a license, follows the rules and expects some return on their time, effort and investment?
If this scenario sounds familiar, IF&W Regional Fisheries Biologist Dave Basley in our Ashland office wrote a very similar story that appeared in the fishing report from June 23, 2008. In Dave’s report, he posed the question “So I think you now can understand our dilemma, as one charged to improve the sport fishery for larger brook trout, how do we manage around this conundrum?”
