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Weekly Fishing Roundup 6/11/07 CENTRAL MAINE

June 11, 2007 - CENTRAL MAINE

Anglers living in central Maine have some serious decisions to make when it comes to late spring fishing, which water to fish today?

In preparation for my father’s annual spring visit I started thinking of places where to take him fishing. He is an avid angler, happy to fish for most any species, always interested in seeing new waters, and tends to shy away from places that are too crowded. To put it plainly, he just loves to fish.

This year I decided on showing him a variety of opportunities: wild brook trout ponds, wild brook trout streams, stocked brook trout stream, warm water streams, black crappie ponds, and bass lakes. His visit was for nine days and I am happy to report that he had the opportunity to fish each day.

The first day of his trip we traveled north on Rt. 201 to fish some native brook trout ponds. Fishing was good with a number of trout caught including a beautiful 16 inch male. The next day we again headed north on Rt. 201 to another brook trout pond but had no luck in the very cold water. The outing on the pond was not a loss as we enjoyed watching the numerous waterfowl on the pond: Canada geese, mallards, black ducks, hooded mergansers, common mergansers, and ring-neck ducks. With plenty of daylight left, we loaded the canoe on the truck and traveled to a nearby trout stream where we spent the rest of the day enjoying the abundant wildflowers, the sight of hidden pockets of snow, and the constant biting of trout. We arrived home that evening with our limits of trout, which combined with the fresh fiddleheads my girlfriend’s father picked, made for an excellent meal. The next couple days I headed in to work while he fished some on a local stream catching smallmouth bass and fallfish in between periods of cleaning up camp. On the fifth day of his trip he headed over to Carrabassett Stream in Canaan, which is stocked by the department with brook trout. This could be called a “work adventure” for my father, as I was curious to see how many trout were still around the stocking locations almost three weeks after stocking. He spent four hours fishing and caught 3 trout between the two stocking points. (Don’t give up on those stocked trout waters as some of those fish are still around!) Throw in the dozen fallfish, wildflowers, abundant deer sign, and a curious mink; a good day of fishing was had. The next day another new water, a small pond in Palmyra where he spent the day catching smallmouth bass, pickerel, and yellow perch. Over the next two days we spent time at camp together finding time to in the cooler periods of the day to catch smallmouths, fallfish, and trout. The last day of his stay we headed over to Sibley Pond in Pittsfield searching for black crappie and white perch. After a little searching we found both and at times the fishing was very fast. A couple of feisty smallmouth bass added to the outing.

All these trips were within 45 minutes of Skowhegan, with fishing done either from shore or canoe. This time of year we have found that small jigs tend to be the best choice for all warmwater species and even trout in ponds.

Now to start thinking about what new waters to fish during my father’s summer visit!

-Joe Dembeck, Research Fisheries Biologist




Lakes:
Regions: Belgrade, Bangor, Mid Coast


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