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Togue in Sebago and Pickerel Down East Await Anglers

August 25, 2009 - Now that we're into the heat it's official: the inland fishing in Maine has slowed. But the work of the state's fisheries biologists has not – between brook trout surveys, telemetry studies and culverts, of all things.

REGION A: SOUTHERN MAINE

Fishing at Sebago Lake has been good for togue, mostly in the 3- to 5-pound range, said biologist Francis Brautigam.

In the beginning of the summer, brook trout were being caught in the shallows. They are now "right tight to the bottom" in Sebago, Brautigam said.

REGION B: CENTRAL MAINE

In the summer heat, biologist Robert Van-Riper is thinking less about fish and more about culverts. It's all related.

New state regulations for culverts have a number of natural resource personnel working to figure out the best way to carry out strict new standards, Van-Riper included.

"A large amount of culverts really do stop upstream movement of fish," Van-Riper said. "There might be great spawning habitat, but the fish can't get there. From our perspective, it's pretty major."

The Department of Environmental Protection, which administers the law, is taking comments and thoughts from interested groups around the state. Right now, Van-Riper is giving them an earful.

REGION C: DOWN EAST

Biologist Greg Burr this week is suggesting willing anglers get out and target pickerel.

"The chain pickerel are right up in the reeds, among the lily pads, along the edges," Burr said. He suggests casting to these "avenues" while being careful not to get your line stuck in the weeds. It is possible, he said.

"If you cast to the edges with some top water lures, those pickerel go crazy," Burr said.

Water bodies in Hancock County to try are Scammon Pond, Alamoosook Lake, Silver Lake, Graham Lake, Spectacle Pond, Rocky Pond and Great Pond in Franklin.

In Washington County, Burr recommends trying Bog Brook Flowage, Orange Lake in Whiting, Hadley Lake in East Machias, Pocomoonshine Lake and Grand Falls Flowage.

REGION D: WESTERN MAINE

Biologist Forrest Bonney has been busy surveying remote brook trout ponds, such as The Horns Pond in the Bigelow Mountains.

"What we're finding when you hike into these ponds is they have a good number of good-sized brook trout. In all of them, there are good populations of brook trout," Bonney said.

Also, Pine Tree Pond along the Appalachian Trail just outside Rangeley is in great shape as far as wild brook trout.

REGION E: MOOSEHEAD LAKE REGION

The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife is working with several partners to conduct a two-year study of wild brook trout in the region.

Moosehead Lake, Maine's largest, is 75,000 acres and the largest wild brook trout lake east of the Great Lakes, according to biologist Tim Obrey.

The work on this study is ongoing over the next two years, with laborious techniques being used.

For example, 30 mature brook trout from the Roach River, Socatean Stream and various shoreline sites will have radio transmitters surgically implanted in the body cavity.

Stationary data loggers will be installed on source streams to identify fish moving in and out of the streams.

All of the work is done to locate specific spawning areas and areas of winter refuge.

The work will be compared to data gathered by state fisheries biologist Roger Auclair in 1958.

REGION F: EASTERN MAINE

Fisheries staff in eastern Maine spent last week sampling brook trout waters in Baxter State Park.

Biologists were looking to make sure regulations there are adequate to conserve the fisheries.

While the hiking distances to many of these ponds tends to keep angling pressure low, the area is the gem of the region and biologists want to keep it so.

The summer heat may also be keeping the pressure low. Biologist Richard Dill said in two days of work on five ponds, not one angler was seen.

REGION G: NORTHERN MAINE

Now is the time of year David Basley gets a lot of calls asking about a regulation that has been in effect for the past few years: the law that requires artificial lures only in rivers, brooks and streams.

It has a one-fish bag limit.

That regulation starts Aug. 15, which is part of the confusion. It's a great change from the five-fish general law.

The regulation applies statewide.

By DEIRDRE FLEMING, Staff Writer, Portland Press Herald, August 23, 2009


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