Posted on Thursday, January 24th, 2008 by Maine Sportsman
Ice thickness on Millinocket and Millimagassett lakes this weekend were in the 10- to12-inch range, with excellent travel conditions on the lakes. The recent thaw has created many hazards on the trails going to and between lakes so caution is strongly suggested. With cold and snow forecasted conditions should improve greatly.
Angler activity in the Mattagammon Region was lower than expected during the past weekend and last week’s thaw and rains kept anglers close to home.
Opening day on Square, Cross, Long and Eagle Lakes is Jan.15. Local anglers have awaited this day with much anticipation. Reports from the summer and our work on Long Lake this fall indicate that Long Lake is the place to go for salmon of excellent size quality. By all indications brook trout fishing on the Fish River Chain should be nothing short of extraordinary.
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Tags: Aroostook County Fishing Report • Categories: General
Posted on Friday, January 18th, 2008 by Maine Sportsman
There are no current fishing reports for this area.
Tags: Aroostook County Fishing Report • Categories: General
Posted on Friday, January 18th, 2008 by Maine Sportsman
With fall fast approaching, staff in the Fish River Lakes region will be setting trap nets in Long Lake to sample landlocked salmon and brook trout. These nets are designed to capture fish that are traveling the shoreline as the water cools. Trap nets are not effective in the summer because the shallow water is too warm for salmonids to be present.
The nets are designed to capture fish alive and act much as a herring weir on the coast. A lead that consists of a fine mesh net 50-100 feet in length is stretched from shore and tied to a net that somewhat resembles a minnow trap. That is it has a funnel that the fish swim through guided by a set of \\\”wings\\\” into the holding box of the net that is generally 4 ft x 4 ft or larger. All fish captured stay in the holding box until fisheries personnel arrive to process the fish.
Processing consists of netting the fish and separating the game fish from non-game species. Game fish are held in a tub of water and anesthetized with a sedative to prevent injury. One anesthetized, the salmon will be checked for missing fins indicating year of stocking, measured, weighed and released into another tub of water to recover from the sedative. Brook trout will also be checked for missing fins because although the sport fishery in Long Lake is from wild fish, an occasional hatchery trout will migrate into the lake from another water. The trout will be measured, weighed and a scale sample removed from female and immature fish prior to being put in the recovery tub. This scale sample will be examined under a microscope at a later date for age determination. Scale samples are also taken from female and immature wild salmon. Changes in the external physical character of sexually mature male brook trout and salmon make it difficult to collect a scale sample from these fish. Prior to release into the lake, a piece of the tail is clipped to identify the fish as having been processed should it be recaptured again at a later date.
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Tags: Aroostook County Fishing Report • Categories: General
Posted on Wednesday, September 12th, 2007 by Maine Sportsman
We routinely receive questions on the presence of muskellunge in the St. John River drainage. This week’s fishing report affords the opportunity to view the history of muskellunge in this river system.
Muskellunge were introduced into Lac Frontier, a 260 acre headwater lake of the NW Branch of the St. John River, by Quebec fishery personnel in 1970.
It was assumed that the muskellunge were sedentary and territorial, bred in the lake and did not migrate; therefore they would not endanger the St. John River system in Maine.
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Tags: Aroostook County Fishing Report • Categories: General
Posted on Thursday, September 6th, 2007 by Maine Sportsman
With the first of September comes that nip in the air that reminds you that fall is right around the corner. As the surface water cools and we get a little rain to increase streamflow, the last month of river/stream fishing is eagerly anticipated by many anglers. The lower Aroostook River is an excellent destination to try for fall brook trout. There are several points to access the river below Caribou Dam, one of which is immediately below the dam off the Lower Lyndon Road. There is a fishway in this dam, which precludes fishing within 150 feet of the fishway. Other access sites in downtown Caribou are at the mouth of Caribou Stream adjacent the boat launch and the mouth of Otter Brook. The mouth of the Little Madawaska River can be accessed off the Grimes Road. The Maine Department of Transportation has created a parking area and access to the mouth of Gray Brook off the North Caribou Road and it is only a short distance beyond that to Ansden Brook, another cold tributary to the Aroostook River. In the event that you are parking and accessing the river near a dwelling, please have the courtesy to seek landowner permission before crossing private land. Regulations in effect for this stretch of river are now artificial lures only with a daily limit of 1 brook trout or togue. Minimum length limit on brook trout is 10 inches. All salmon caught must be immediately released alive.
Tags: Aroostook County Fishing Report • Categories: General
