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February 2024 New England Fly-Fishing Report

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Hello everyone,

Mid-January finally brought some wintery weather in the form of snow and cold, but it was interspersed with warmer weather and rain. Bottom Line: Very few lakes and ponds froze enough to be safe for ice-fishing or ice-skating, except in the traditionally coldest climes. Strong currents from all of the continuing rain left inlets and outlets and hundreds of yards of water nearby unfrozen.

The Presumpscot River in late January looked in perfect shape to fish with moderate flow and no ice.

Until you got up north to the Rangeley area and northern New Hampshire and Vermont, there was barely enough snow for skiing or snowmobiling unless snowmaking capabilities could cover the slopes. I managed to X-country for a few days.

Such a strange, non-existent winter. Only four sunny days in January, and I feel temps on many days were running ten degrees above normal. In southern Maine, we used to have double-digit numbers of nights below zero. This year? None. It hardly ever gets into the single digits.

I would predict for everyone a very early ice-out and an early start to fishing season, but can you call it ice-out when many stillwaters didn’t totally freeze? Near me, Dundee Pond only partially froze and North Gorham Pond as I write this is totally open water. A few bays of the major lakes are frozen enough to venture out, but that is it.

North Gorham Pond, an impoundment of the Presumpscot River is entirely open water as I write this because of strong currents from all of the rain.

I did get some ice fishing in, but it wasn’t very good, maybe the fish are confused given the strange weather. I know that turkeys were gobbling, songbirds were singing their spring songs, and male woodpeckers were drilling, marking their territories in late January.

Caught this 22-inch pickerel.

A couple of eagles, photographed at a distance, waiting for me to throw a fish on the ice. They left disappointed.

The Presumpscot River and its impoundments give up a few impressive brown trout every year. My son-in-law and myself have landed three brown trout between 3 and 4 plus pounds over the last several years. A gentlemen ice-fishing one of the impoundments at the beginning of February landed a monster. Why can’t I catch a fish like this ice fishing?

Hard to tell how large this fish is, but a monster for sure.

I am a member of the Sebago Chapter of Trout Unlimited, (sebagotu.org) a fine conservation and outreach organization. We host an Ice-fishing event every year on Chaffin Pond in Windham for families who want to learn about ice fishing. This year the weather was good, pond was frozen, and 70 or so hardy souls turned out. We even caught a few brook trout despite the commotion on the ice. Come join us next year,

A nice brookie caught by a few of the young men attendees.

I am always interested in hearing about your interesting fishing experiences. Email me. louzambello@gmail.com

December Fishing Report and other 2019 highlights

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The weather stayed cold in early December and ponds and lakes continued the freezing process, although  warmer temperatures and heavy rain in the middle of the month opened up some water again.

The Rangeley area has several feet of snow on the ground in places and lakes were locked up tight with ice.

The upper Presumpscot River continued to fish well in early December even with the colder water. I heard from anglers using flies discussed in my books that they were working well including the Cosohammer streamer, brook trout egg patterns, and bright-bead nymphs. Fly fishers are cetainly fishing later in the year now. Everybody used to quit when deer season arrived, but now the anglers are still at it after deer season is over! The following video was taken December 7th – a nice brook trout caught nymphing.

 

Year in Review: As I think back about 2019, I am reminded that you never know what might happen while you are fishing. For instance, you never know what fish species you might land on a fly. Here are two of the more bizarre hook-ups of the year.
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Will Folsum with four foot eel he hooked and landed with a small Prince Nymph

Will Folsum with four -foot eel he hooked and landed with a small Prince Nymph while fishing the fast water at the head of Dundee Pond.

A large yellow perch that took a 4 inch leech pattern designed for big largemouth bass or even brown trout.

A large yellow perch that took a 4-inch leech pattern designed for big largemouth bass or perhaps brown trout.

Finally, I found someone who illuminated me on the bait blitz that I posted a video of as part of my November blog. Apparently, landlocked alewives exist in Sebago Lake and the young of the year still attempt to migrate downstream. During several big rain events in November, a number of them were washed over the Sebago Lake and North Gorham Pond dams and became trapped in Dundee Pond, where in the shallow water, they became easy pickin’s.

Let me wish everyone a Happy and Healthy New Year with plenty of fly-fishing opportunities.