The latest news about Maine lakes and ponds.

Freshwater Fishing Report

June 13, 2011 - Augusta-While a discovery of shiners in a reclaimed brook trout pond in southern Maine has biologists disappointed, there was a victory up north last week for the biologists who helped restore Arctic charr to Big Reed Pond.

Elsewhere, spring fishing is keeping anglers happy.

REGION A: SOUTHERN MAINE

Fishing news out of southern Maine this month is a bit negative -- with the discovery of golden shiners found in Overset Pond in Greenwood, which was reclaimed as a trout pond several years ago.

The expensive, time-consuming effort is completely undone by the work of an illegal introduction, said state fisheries biologist Francis Brautigam.

"There are some reports that anglers may be going in during the winter on a trout pond closed to ice fishing and fishing with live shiners and then dumping the bait down the hole. We really don't know, we just had some reports," Brautigam said.

The good news out of the region is on bass.

Biologists just completed nighttime bass surveys in Highland Lake in Bridgton and Little Sebago in Gray and Windham. The results were good, with large-mouths up to 7 pounds.

"Largemouth bass pretty much dominated the fishery in Little Sebago. Both seemed to support populations of bass," said Brautigam.

Reports also indicate bass fishing is hot right now on Little Ossipee.

REGION B: CENTRAL MAINE

In Searsport, access was re-established on Half Moon Pond.

Regional biologist Bob VanRiper said through the cooperative effort of the department as well as the town and water district, anglers can now fish the small pond.

Elsewhere stream levels are dropping but the catch rate remains high in rivers, as the water remains cold, VanRiper said.

REGION D: WESTERN MAINE

The best of fishing right now may be in western Maine, reports regional biologist Dave Boucher.

The small brook-trout fishing has been outstanding, having picked up after the big showers of May. Hatches are going on at the moment, Boucher reported.

The same is true of small brook fishing, Boucher said. Flows have declined and the temperatures are increasing, but it's still cold enough to make for great trout fishing.

Boucher encourages fishermen to keep their limit of salmon in Mooselookmeguntic Lake in the this region famous for catch and release.

"We encourage them to take their limit, to try to think out that salmon, because it's important for growth rates," Boucher said.

REGION E: MOOSEHEAD LAKE REGION

There was still snow around Moosehead Lake during Memorial Day weekend but warm weather has finally arrived there.

Last weekend, surface temperatures on Moosehead were 50 degrees, which means the trout, salmon and togue were still near the surface, reports biologist Tim Obrey.

Bug activity picked up with caddis flies popping up on trout ponds, along with mayflies, Obrey said.

"River flows were high, but should be coming down this week with the projected hot weather. This should create some very good river fishing over the next few weeks," Obrey said.

REGION G: NORTHERN MAINE

A long-fought effort to reclaim the Arctic charr in a small, remote pond in northern Maine concluded with success last Thursday when hatchery-raised wild fish were returned to Big Reed Pond by state biologists.

The native population of Arctic charr were removed and raised in a hatchery as biologists applied rotenone to Big Reed to remove an illegal population of smelts that had taken over the 90-acre pond, 45 miles from Ashland.

The five-year project concluded Thursday when the native charr and brook trout were restocked in the lake.

Charr are important to Maine because only 12 waters in the state have a native population of the fish, also called blueback trout. This is the only state where they are known to exist in the continental United States, according to the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife department.


Deirdre Fleming, Maine Sunday Telegram, June 2011


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