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Freshwater Fishing Report

August 22, 2011 - Augusta - Big fish being caught across the state are debunking the idea of slow summer fishing.

The hottest spot of the week appears to be Norway Lake, where rainbow trout fishing is fast and fun.

SOUTHERN MAINE

An 18-pound trophy lake trout was taken out of Great East Lake at the New Hampshire border. And large rainbow trout are being caught in Norway Lake.

"There are reports of 18-, 19-, 20- and 21-inch trout, which is a good size and good catch rate for that fishery. The rainbow trout stocking there is relatively new," said IFW fisheries biologist Francis Brautigam.

On the Sebago scene, it seems anglers have found the pockets of feeding activity fishing with live bait early in the morning, Brautigam said.

"They're picking them right up near the surface, which is kind of like in the spring," Brautigam said of the salmon fishing there.

CENTRAL MAINE

This is the time of year regional fisheries biologists are putting in stocking requests for fish.

And biologist Bob Van Riper with IFW says it's getting harder to pin down how many he'll need, because of the popularity of ice-fishing derbies.

"Our stocking requests go in two years ahead. Lately, there are a lot of funky requests for ice derbies. We've seen a huge increase. A lot of them are politically connected," Van Riper said.

DOWN EAST

The togue fishing is picking up in Hancock County, generally right below the thermaclime, in the colder water.

IFW biologist Greg Burr suggests West Grand Lake in Grand Lake Stream and Tunk Lake.

EASTERN MAINE

Reports from Baxter State Park show the wild trout waters there are doing great.

After surveying a half dozen lakes and ponds, IFW biologist Nels Kramer said indications are the fish are doing well -- and there are no illegal introductions.

"We did a new survey in Draper Pond. That's about an 8-mile hike ... each way. One really gratifying piece, none of those ponds had any minnow species in them. That's really kind of neat. They've remained protected all these years," Kramer said.

And the pike work done a month ago in Pushaw Lake showed no young-of-the-year pike. However, Kramer said they're hard to identify at that size.

In central Maine, IFW biologist Scott Davis kept pickerel-looking fish he caught while surveying waters and grew them in an aquarium.

When those fish were a year old, they proved to be big pike, so there's no telling how large the pike population in the Penobscot River is at the moment.

NORTHERN MAINE

The 8th annual Fort Kent International Muskie Tournament resulted in some monster muskies -- with seven over 40 inches.

The minimum length to register a fish was 36 inches and Ron Morin of New Brunswick won it all with a 433/8-inch muskie. Joey Guimond, 13, of Fort Kent, who won the $1,000 savings bond for the biggest muskie caught by a youth fishermen, was the only youth to register a fish over 36 inches.

Deirdre Fleming, Maine Sunday Telegram, August 2011


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