Late June and July has been hot and humid for most of Maine and New England with occasional heavy downpours that caused localized flooding. I checked southern Maine’s daily temperature highs and humidity and it compared closely to a typical July in New Jersey or Washington, D.C. Maine’s climate is changing rapidly.
Ocean, lake, and river temperatures were already above normal. It used to be almost too cold to swim in Maine’s big lakes and Casco Bay but no longer -water temperatures are well into the 70s. Obviously, trout fishing ended in early July at least on the surface or in rivers. Temps are just too warm and any trout caught would be stressed to the point of death. The exceptions of course are bottom-release tailwaters, and spring-fed tributaries in the mountains. The Magalloway River below Azischos Dam fished well because the flow was extremely low, something like 130 cfs. At that level all of the river is accessible, and the fish have nowhere to hide from the anglers.
Based on the Instagram posts I receive from Maine anglers, many flyfishers switched over to smallmouth bass fishing – a great idea. I like fishing for smallies in rivers this time of year, along with casting for big bull sunfish with poppers in the evening on local ponds and lakes.
Nothing better on hot summer days than wading wet along pond shorelines or riverbanks and casting for bass just like my son, Gwynn did with me one day in July.
I love fishing small, cold mountain streams for 6 to 8 inches with my 3-weight, although this July, all my family was visiting, and I now have three small grandchildren, so fishing time was limited.
Even in the height of summer, spring-fed beaver bogs stay cold with brookies active all day.
Many of you know that I live on 200-acre Dundee Pond, an impoundment of the Presumpscot River, created by Dundee Dam (originally called Great Falls Dam). In late June, a lower gate failed and stuck in an open position and virtually all of the water drained out of the pond. I will spare you all the details for now, but it is devastating for the aquatic life in the pond including fish, amphibians, reptiles, mollusks, birds, insects, etc. The dam will be fixed and pond refilled September, but it will be years before the pond recovers. I liked fishing right outside my door but that might not be possible for quite some time. And I will miss all of the wildlife I used to see on a regular basis.
What drained Dundee Pond looks like. The stumps are from trees logged before the Dam was built in 1910. Wood decomposes very slowly underwater..
You can just see the orginal river channel on the rightside of the photo. The dam is still holding back some water.
Its that time of year! Every kind of fishing imaginable is hot or heating up. Stripers are at the beaches and ascending rivers. Trout fishing is still good with plenty of cool water in rivers and streams. Pond and lake hatches are starting.
Pond and lake water temperatures are cold for this time of year – I think because of some cold days and lots of wind. The leaves on my mature trees just came out in the last few days. Still, bass are heading to the shallows and will get aggressive on topwater poppers soon. The pike are still in relatively shallow water, attacking anything and everything.
I don’t have enough time in the week to fish everywhere I want to, plus it is peak gardening season too. I also have other responsibilities that I foolishly committed to. I should never agree to do anything in June.
I will be doing a Zoom presentation for the DownEast Chapter of Trout Unlimited on May 31. Anyone can watch if they wish. Contact them for more information and the link, or email me.
I am also giving casting and flyfishing classes at The Fly Company (fly rod maker and much more) at their facility/shop in Yarmouth on the Royal River. We try to do one at the end of every month. They sell out fast.
Due to continuing publishing issues, I (and everyone else) are out of stock on Flyfishers Guide to New England and In Pursuit of Trophy Brook Trout. I do have plenty of Fly Fishing Northern New England’s Seasons. I will shout it from the rooftops when I am back in stock, hopefully soon.
Here are some recent photos and videos. I realize I haven’t posted in over a month (computer meltdown) but I will circle back and post material from April and early May soon.
My first smallmouth of the year on a very versatile “fly” pattern – the red beadhead squirmy wormy. So far this year I have caught bass, brook trout, and a 20 inch plus brown trout on this pattern. Notice the very defined vertical stripes on this bass.I have enjoyed learning about pike fishing on the fly rod this spring. My personal best is still under 30 inches but I lost one close to the kayak that was bigger. Knotting wire tippets requires additional knot knowledge.Even though many stocked general law southern Maine streams are pretty much put-and-take fisheries, that doesn’t mean you don’t occasionally catch multiyear holdover browns like my wife, Lindsey, did recently. She was fishing a bend pool with lots of sunken wood in it – just where you would expect to find a larger brown trout.Kayaking the area where the Presumpscot River dumps into Casco Bay is a good location to intercept stripers in mid May
Right after the new year, I traveled to Florida to see my new granddaughter, Mary Louise. My daughter lives on a small lake with some pretty good fishing. The crappie were certainly active and that was fun. We caught them on squirmy wormies and small white soft hackles with a zig hook.
I do not get to fly-fish for crappie all that often and it is a hoot.
In mid-January, winter arrived – four snowstorms totally 30 plus inches in just 10 days, followed in early February by the coldest windchill temperatures ever recorded in Portland, Maine and the surrounding areas – 40 plus below zero.
First real x-country trek of the year!
On the morning of February 4, my thermometer in Windham at 630 AM registered minus 18 degrees, the coldest I have ever seen other than a minus 20 in my old house in Pownal, Maine in the late 90s. The cold was short lived before temperatures returned to normal, but it was enough to finally freeze local ponds and lake coves sufficiently to ice fish safely.
Incredible sunset caused by polar air starting to move in from the west. Ambient temps. would drop 50 degrees in the next 24 hours.18 below looks like any other cold, still winter morning.
After the wait, I got out on the ice with a vengence. Chaffin Pond yielded just one small brookie, but Dundee Pond produced half a dozen fat brook trout in short order with a few pickerel mixed in. Speaking of pickerel, they were biting like crazy on Panther Pond and we pulled almost a dozen on the ice with a few largemouth mixed in. The real monster five plus pounders we were after didn’t materialize. Oh well, that’s ice fishing.
Pickerel, Brook Trout, and Largemouth Bass; where I fish locally, you never know which species will come up through the ice.
I did hear of a couple five plus pound brown trout taken through the ice in early February on lower Range Pond. That is such an under utilized and unsung fishery.
An update on the book availability of my Flyfishers Guide to New England: It is out of stock almost everywhere as my battle with my printer continues. I have a new 2023/2024 updated version ready to go. I will keep you updated. In the meantime, the kindle version is available and certainly provides you will all of the information you require although the maps don’t work quite as well.
For those of you looking for a printed version, I still have a few I can sell you directly from my website and I will sign them. Rangeley Fly Shop, the Maine Flyrod Shop in Yarmouth, and Selene’s Fly Shop in Gardner have a few although they will go fast. My other two books are still in stock.
A few days remain in the season for some waters, while other locales offer extended seasonal opportunities. I strongly suggest playing hooky and abandoning all other responsibilities and get out fishing. Rain has come to all areas of Maine and flows are good. For some rivers, this is the first time they have been at normal flows since April, and the first time September flows have been normal in several years. So get out there.
I have been hopscotching around: both Kennebago Rivers, the Diamond Rivers in the Dartmouth Grant, N.H.’s Wild River, the Mags, the Roach and East Outlet of the Kennebec, to be more specific. I can’t say the fishing was easy, but persistence and changing approaches when required has yielded some good fish.
Releasing a nice trout from the upper Dead Diamond River on another hot September day.A released Wild River brown trout resting a slow current.This is my largest brook trout of the year and came from the Roach River. I didn’t want to take it out of the water but I am unhooking my fly from the corner of its jaw, and its tail goes past my leg. It was also very fat. 4 pounds maybe? The pattern you ask? Size 14 dark brown Klinkhammer, swung like a wet fly.
The average size of the salmon seem to be much bigger than normal this year. Doesn’t seem to be many of the skinny 14-inch variety, and a good number of 18-plus inchers.
Biggest landlocked salmon of the year, on a dry fly no less. Didn’t try to weigh or measure this big male, but somewhere north of 22 inches and four pounds.
The crowds on the rivers have been intense, but I can’t really blame anybody, no one has been able to fish some of these waters for months, and everyone seems in a good mood, just happy to get a line in some moving water.
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The weather has been unseasonably warm (along with the rain) and looks to continue to be that way. 35 years ago, fly fishing the last week of September on the upper Maggaloway River meant neoprene waders, down jackets and gloves. Water temps were in the 40s, air temps in the morning were below freezing, and the air might be spitting sleet and snow. I know that seems difficult to believe for you young-uns, but that is the way it was before climate change. The forecasted lows for the Rangeley area during the next week – first week of October – barely nudge below the upper 40’s. The change in seasons have moved at least three weeks later in the fall.
On the book front, my new 2021/2022 edition of Flyfisher’s Guide to New England has finally arrived and I am sending it out to stores and shops as fast as I can. You can also purchase from me directly. If you already own a copy, don’t feel like you have to rush out and purchase the new version. Overall, it has additional waters and some other updates, but not enough to warrant replacing.
In my In Pursuit of Trophy Brook Trout book, I discuss and give tying instructions for a number of patterns that I find very effective at hooking big brookies. One of these is the Lou’s Brookie Sculpin. Last week, I walked into The Warden’s Pool on the Roach River in late afternoon after it had been hammered by anglers all day. According to those leaving, success had been limited. Within the first few casts, a nice fat brook trout inhaled this pattern. Now, that sort of thing can happen with any pattern (to the dismay of anglers who are packing up to leave after a fruitless few hours on the same water), but this not the first time this has occurred with Lou’s Brookie Sculpin. Last year, I had a similar experience in October at Upper Dam.
A nice Roach River brook trout with Lou’s Brookie Sculpin in its mouth. See next photo for a close up of the fly.You can see by the two eyes peering upward that this fly is tied with a sculpin head available now commercially. Search on Fish Skull to find them
As the official season winds down to it final days for native trout and salmon waters, I will leave you with an excerpt from my book, Flyfishing Northern New England Seasons,
On the last day I quit fishing for the last half hour before dark, even though fish may still be rising. I sit and watch the water, and reflect on the fishing season past and the fishing seasons still to come. It may be a long seven months until the ice breaks up and fishing begins again in earnest so I try to fix in my mind the good memories, long-time friends, and personal tranquility that fly fishing has brought me. During the winter I recall these mental snapshots. It helps me bridge the gap between seasons.
By then it is dark, so I gather up my gear and go home, to reacquaint myself with family and friends that haven’t seen much of me in the past month – but not without one last backward glance at the water, to see if the fish are still rising.
Hi folks, I have a few little details to cover before I get started.
First of all, I added a April/May/June report for local southwest Maine rivers and streams with photos and video. It was posted in calendar sequence after my latest post, so if you missed it, scroll back.
Second, if you are on Instagram but not following me, you should, because I provide real-time fishing and related outdoor updates almost everyday. @mainelyflyfishing.com
Third, if you like stickers, check out the cool Maine outdoor stickers my daughter is selling, along with other outdoor related items. www. reclaimedsignco.com
Just a few of many stickers available. Also check out all of her merchandise at Cool As A Moose stores.
Fourth, my book, “Flyfisher’s Guide to New England” is pretty much out of stock everywhere. An updated edition is currently stuck on a boat somewhere on the West Coast waiting to be unloaded. Hopefully, back in stock by early September. In the meantime, you can upload an electronic Kindle version on Amazon, and LLBean and Trident Flyfishing might have a few left. Don’t forget my other books though. “In Pursuit of Trophy Brook Trout?” does outline all of the places that trophy brook trout can be found, along with technique and tactic information.
Fifth, I did a little guiding in June, mostly teaching fly-fishing beginners. For example, I took Thomas out to various spots on the Presumpscot River, and before we were done he landed his first trout on a fly and learned how to fish dry flies and the different approaches for nymph fishing. So much fun to watch someone hook their first few fish with new skills required.
Thomas with first trout. The brown took a pheasant tail nymph.
Now onto the update…..
July weather couldn’t have been more different than March, April, May, and June. Massachusetts saw flooding rain several days and certain locations broke July rainfall records. Western Massachusetts rivers were over their banks. Most of Northern New England received good rain as well. In Windham, Maine where I live part of the year, we had over 5 inches of rain. The western Maine mountains missed the early July rainstorms but did receive some decent rain later on. Flows did not increase significantly through mid July and remained low, but I hope they have improved since then. I haven’t been in the Rangeley area for several weeks so I need to get an updated report, but for most of New England, the drought is over.
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For most of July, with river flows ridiculously low, western Maine mountain fishing consisted of hitting the lakes and ponds or fishing the lower Mags, Upper Dam, or Middle Dam. Since hatches started early this year, they ended early as well, so sporadic Hexes and misc. caddis provided most of the action on lakes and ponds.
Drake hatches are frequently concurrent with Lupine blooming. When the Lupine are done, so are the major hatches.
We did catch many nice-sized brookies and salmon by fishing the thermocline with sinking line and streamers. We went out to drop-offs when it was windy. We cast full-sink lines with Cosohammer streamers, let them sink 20 feet or so, and then retrieved them halfway to the surface, before letting them sink again. We would do this several times until we cast again. Because of the wind drift, we covered new territory with every cast. Fishing was exactly fast, but several times an hour, we would feel the heavy thump of a good fish on the line.
You can catch nice trout in the middle of a bright summer day, but you have to go deep for them.
I saw good fish being caught at Upper Dam (usually by one angler who happened to be at the right place, at the right time, with a fly pattern that intrigued the salmon.} The flows were low below Azischos Dam so the fish couldn’t really hide from the anglers. Persistent anglers did well. On a family fishing trip, Will Folsum landed a 3 pound plus brook trout at Mailbox Pool on a small black nymph while the river was flowing at 750 during a weekend kayaker release.
With water low and warm throughout Maine, many switched to the salt in pursuit of stripers. I caught them randomly while doing other things. Caught a few kayaking Scarborough Marsh and a few after swimming of the dock at the Cumberland Town Beach. My buddy, Will, going over the Cousins Island Bridge, spotted out of the corner of his eye a school of stripes smashing bait on the surface, stopped his truck, pulled his bass rod out of the back, and caught a few nice ones.
Every year I kayak Scarborough Marsh for stripers This might have been the smallest striper I have ever caught.
The first half of January brought another freeze, rain, thaw, and refreeze cycle. Here is open water on January 17th.
In fact, some very nice brown trout were caught below Saco and Presumpscot River dams that were wide open without any ice or snow.
Below is a big Presumpscot River Brown caught in mid January. The net opening is 18 inches.
Finally, mid January brought winterlike temperatures. Well, winterlike for Connecticut, not Maine. But still cold enough to finally freeze sheltered ponds and coves for good. Usually, January is a busy time for me, traveling to and presenting at multiple fly fishing shows, TU meetings, and other fly fishing forums. This year – not so much. I still sold books every week through my website although the post office was backed up and books took weeks to arrive. Anglers who have bought and read at least one of my books will email me wanting another title. I take that as a high complement.
I tried ice fishing last year for the first time in decades, but this January, with an open schedule, I had the time to take it up a notch. My family and friends (Mary, Will, and Lindsey) explored Dundee Pond and a few other local waters.
Past the following in your browser to see video of Lindsey’s first ice fishing attempt.
https://youtu.be/aGYjAC2rzgA
I would have had time for more “fishing on the hard” but (1) I was distracted by watching to see if our country’s democracy was going to hold, and (2) we were also babysitting our one-year old grandson for the month and driving down to Florida and back to drop him and his mother back to their home on Killarney Lake. Did get to do a bit of Crappie fishing while there.
In Florida, the spring crappie bite is on.
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My daughter jigged this brookie.
We caught other species as well; pickerel, yellow perch, largemouth bass, and landlocked salmon. You never know what it will be, but mostly pickerel and brookies.
My fist landlocked salmon through the ice
We also found a local pond that I will keep quiet about for now, where we caught some very healthy largemouth bass including one that was the biggest I have ever caught using any method.
February will be a month I catch up on everything I planned to do in December and January. Replenishing fly boxes, replacing and fixing gear, writing articles, columns, and books, and so on.
Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram @mainelyflyfishing. Based on the statistics I have seen, fly fishing is welcoming many newbies to the sport. I want to remind everyone that at the back of each region in my Flyfishers Guide to New England book, I list recommended waters for new anglers as well as sites that are easy access.
I hope that you are surviving Covid and figuring out a way to see your loved ones in some fashion; in person or virtually. My family had our Christmas in hastily-decorated garage with car doors and windows open and everyone wearing masks. I think we deserve an A for ingenuity.
December is usually a month with little fishing activity, at least locally. The last few years, my wife and I have been fortunate enough to travel to southern climes, but not this year.
The weather has been a roller coaster. Early December was warmish, more indicative of November. Then in mid-December we had a burst of real winter; some zeroish nights, 20 inches of snow, and 4 inches of ice on the pond
Late December brought October weather – driving wind and rain, 50 degrees, and bare ground again with open water.
Ice breaking up. It was soon completely gone.
I am old enough to remember that late December in Maine frequently meant single digit mornings, snow on the ground from early December on, and lakes and ponds locked up tight with ice. I swear our weather is New Jerseyish now, at least 10 degrees warmer than it used to be. We hardly see any below zero temps anymore.
Fishing was a roller coaster as well. Early December featured water temps still in the 40’s and trout were still active to a well placed nymph. Some big browns were caught in the Royal River and Presumpscot River – some stocked that size, others hold overs or wild fish.
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A typical early Dec. brown.
A huge holdover brown weighing in excess of four pounds, caught in slow water (not by me)where he probably overwinters. During the summer he most likely lives in some undercut bank or under a sunken tree and only feeds at night.
Brookies were active in early December as well, and fishing tailwaters worked well.
On December 22,23, and 24th the newly formed ice was thick enough (barely) to ice fish on, at least in Windham, Maine’s small ponds and lake coves. My Floridian son-in-law had never ice fished or had a brook trout fish fry so we fished a put and take ice fishing pond, caught some brookies and fried them up. I don’t think I had kept and cooked brook trout for over ten years.
First ice fishing of the year on Dundee Pond, a few days before Christmas
My son in law, Brian, caught a number of large pickerel in front of my house.
Destined for the frying pan. We could tell from the coloring that one was recently stocked, the other two not for some time.
The warm rain melted the ice and sent rivers and streams raging with high, 35 degree, brown water. But below dams where the flow was normal and waters clear, fish could be caught if the angler could tolerate cold fingers and only the very sporadic take from a sluggish fish.
High-stick nymphing with tiny nymphs or egg patterns is the highest percentage play for winter fishing
A brookie caught December 27th on a size 20 tungsten bead red midge nymph.
Spring is taking its sweet time showing up. It snowed this morning, just like it has snowed every few days for most of April. According to the weather almanac, it hasn’t been much warmer in late April than it was in late February.
This has been the scene too often in April around my house. And yes, I am growing early spinach, lettuce, radishes, etc. under low hoop houses. That way I don’t have to go to the grocery store as much.
Up country they have had a number of wet snow storms including yesterday and there is still snowpack, especially on north-facing slopes. Rivers have been running high and in the Rangeley area at least, ice is still locked in tight on the lakes except for coves with incoming water. Ice out looks to be the first week of May if we get some warm rain or sunny days.
In southern Maine, the smaller rivers and streams have been fishable although still cold. i took the water temperature of Collyer Brook Sunday morning, April 26th and it was only 42 degrees. My family and I have been exploring local waters together because given social distancing constraints and Maine shelter-in-place suggestions, outside fishing is one activity we can do together. I just moved to the Windham area in the last year, so much new water to explore more thoroughly.
This is an interesting time to fish area rivers, streams, and lakes because you never know whether you will catch small stockers, brood stock, holdovers, or wild fish. I have caught all of the above in the same stretch of a small stream. It has been too cold for much to be in the way of emerging other than midges and early stones, so most of the action is on streamers and nymphs.
One beautiful weekend, my entire family, except my daughter in Florida, spend the day exploring the Presumpscot River watershed. We found a number of brown and brook trout that included stockers, broodstock, holdovers, and wild fish. See the following video:
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Of course, every spring I have to go back to Collyer Brook in Gray at least once. When I first started fly fishing in my 20’s, it was my local stream that I learned on. I have fished it every year since for over 35 years and I have only been skunked a few times. Last week was no exception, but catching a few recent stocked fish wasn’t the point. Collyer Brook is like an old friend, and I like to check in and make sure she is all right and to share a few memories. I have fished all over the world including most recently in Chile for ridiculously big fish, but I don’t think I had more fun than I did for a few hours on my former home water.
I have fished this same run for over 35 years.
Collyer Brook success. Hot fly this spring has been a fly tied by my daughter’s boyfriend, Will. We call it Will’s Redwood Special. (It is a variation of a Wood Special pattern)
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. The invisible http://hartbuildersinc.com/html/meet.html viagra levitra pelvic floor muscles are functionally connected to the world wide web you can appreciate this hobby without leaving your home or office environment. When a man suffers from the condition, his male organ does not receive enough hardness for penetration and being erect at the time of, intercourse activity. cheap levitra on line Because a driver is taking the course on levitra for sale online the job training is provided to the students so that they can please their partners and end their sexual frustration. For all questions about plumbing parts we have on our website, feel tadalafil super active free to contact us and we’ll provide detailed answer in timely manner.
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 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.
Winter arrived early this November, with overall temperatures dropping about 20 degrees suddenly early in the month and more or less staying put. Much of Maine got snow, and in the colder parts of the state it has remained and deepened with several small snowstorms. It made the deer hunting in the Rangeley area very productive since it made tracking easy.
Fishing stayed fairly consistent even with the colder weather because it took water temps a while to cool down. For example, fishing was outstanding in the upper Presumpscot River section near Route 35. Unfortunately, many anglers discovered that fact and it got amazingly crowded.
Toward the end of the month, water temps dropped significantly and ice started forming on the edges of small ponds. During several mornings on Dundee Pond, I observed from my office window, some sort of “bait blitz”. A flock of herring gulls started circling and diving, accompanied by dozens of mergansers (both common and hooded) also diving and chasing what I assume were schools of small fish. Great blue herons, kingfishers, and two bald eagles joined in the fray. The scene reminded me of stripers pounding bait on the surface of the Kennebec River.
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As the cold weather settled in, I escaped Maine for the warmer climes of Florida and California to visit my kids and other relatives. Shockingly, I found time to do a little fishing. I caught largemouth bass on a lake my daughter now lives on in Tallahassee – on a dragonfly pattern. It might be the first fish I have ever caught on that fly type, even though I always carry a few and fish them from time to time.
In California, my son and I floated the lower Sac for steelhead (and resident rainbows) and hiked the headwaters of rivers in the San Francisco Bay area, catching small rainbows with steelhead genetics in water you could jump across without getting your feet wet.
Fat Sac River steelhead
Typical healthy Sac River resident rainbow
Small rainbows with steelhead genes can still be caught in the headwaters around Oakland, California
