Hello everyone. I have been doing more fishing than posting lately. The middle of May featured more cold and windy weather, punctuated by another late spring stow storm on May 9th in southern Maine.. Little did we know at the time, that this would be the last precipitation in southern Maine (and most of the rest of central New England) for the rest of the month. The mountains, however, continued to see snow throughout May.
Maybe, I am the only one that tracks these things, but rainfall recently during prime river fishing months has been non-existent for large portions of New England. Looking back over Portland, Maine almanac data….July of 2019 featured less than an inch of precip. August was close to normal with a couple big thunderstorms. From September 1 to Oct 15, virtually no rain. And now May – no rain after May 1st. This has made river fishing difficult when flows lower.
The below normal temps in mid May (average readings during this time didn’t differ significantly from readings in late February, but I digress) did keep the water cold and southern Maine fishing remained good.
I went out pickerel fishing on the Presumpscot River system in my kayak since they typically become active early in the season, and ended up landing one of the largest landlocked salmon I have ever caught anywhere. I had decided to try some faster water, switched my fly to a CoSoHammer black ghost streamer pattern (see my earlier blog post) and hooked this monster. I had no net, and couldn’t figure out how to land him. Then I remembered that they tail Atlantic Salmon, and this fish was as big as a good-sized grilse, so voila! Didn’t measure the fish but at least 25 inches with huge head and jaw.
The big landlocked salmon I tailed from my kayak. Note his scar. Osprey?
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The fly was mangled and so on a whim, I tied on a zonker-type pattern that had been shown to me by an old codger on the Yellow Breeches River in Pennsylvania. While other anglers on the river were fishing dry flies to educated fish, this guy said, “cast this streamer, those snooty trout will hammer it.” And they did. I had found the pattern tucked away in the corner of my streamer box during the winter, had tied up a bunch, and wanted to try it. The result (on the first time cast I took) was the largest brown trout I have caught in New England.
A speclatular brown trout. Clearly not a broodstock fish, but a longtimer holdover or wild fish.
Just to validate, once again, how crazy fly-fishing is: I went back to the same area the next day and caught nothing significant (a couple 14-inch salmon nymphing were still fun), but then kayaking back to the take out, landed the largest pickerel I have caught on a fly. Didn’t measure it, but over 24 inches for sure. I hadn’t changed the pattern from earlier in the afternoon – it was a Cosohammer Black Ghost Streamer. I am lucky he didn’t cut me off. Three different species and the largest specimens I have ever caught within two days. Crazy.
My largest pickerel on a fly.
That’s all for this post. Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram @mainelyflyfishing