August 2009 Almanac
This Month: Salty Action, Evening Hatches, Far More
Plenty is going this month for anglers as striped bass, bluefish and mackerel swarm along the coast, creating excitement and more excitement for those folks in the know. Folks love tangling with blues and stripers, which routinely grow larger than most salmonids that folks ever hook. Fresh mackerel iced and then cooked the same day creates a fish meal fit for royalty.
Evening hatches on brook-trout ponds in the North Country and further south can be quite dependable this month. Folks can have memorable moments, covering rises along toward dark or bottom-dredging deep holes. Forrest Bonney told me last winter that Maine brookie ponds get little to no pressure, too, in mid and late summer.
Folks who know how to work a jig deeply clean up on black bass this month as they work drop-offs where the cows hang. River smallmouths also feed heavily this month, another attraction. Folks find bronzeback paradise on rivers such as the Penobscot between Medway and Old Town and the Androscoggin between Dixfield and Brunswick.
White perch and black crappie attract anglers looking for big fish fry this month because these schooling fish offer a concentrated population for folks to hammer. The white, flaky meat of these two species is second to none.