Hellow everyone,

So much to cover, I might have to break this into several blog posts…

Book News

I will be at LLBean on Monday, July 12, in the evening signing books and chatting with folks. Beans is starting up a Monday night author/speaker series. I won’t be giving a presentation but chatting with folks, signing books, and will bring a bunch of interesting video on my computer at the table. Stop on by.

My Flyfishers Guide to New England is sold out virtually everywhere. The book is printed in Asia and there is a shipping delay. My new edition is due in mid to late July and is updated. I made some changes to reflect new information and added new water for the 2021 edition. The changes aren’t large, just a few, here and there.

I do still have copies I can sell and send out, You can see how on this website. I also believe Rangeley Sport (Flyfishing) Shop still has copies as does Evening Sun Fly Shop.

Windham Fishing

What a diversity of fishing within 15 minutes of my house. In one 24 hour period a week ago, I caught brown trout, brook trout, big sunfish, smallmouth, largemouth, pickerel, alewives (accidently), and stripers.

I didn’t know alewives took flies but the few I caught had the nymph in the corner of their jaw. They fight and jump like crazy for their size. As I said, I caught them accidently while nymphing for trout.
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Brown Drake Hatch

The brown drakes started emerging at least two weeks ago in the Western Maine Mountains, which by my calculations was at least 10, if not closer to 14 days early. It means people that plan their fishing vacations to coincide maybe disappointed when they arrive and it is already at the tail end of the hatch. The warm and dry spring has collapsed all of the hatches together. Last week, I saw good trout eating midges, while others were after early caddis, while salmon were attacking brown drakes. At the same time Hexes started to emerge from the Connecticut River in New Hampshire to the Presumpscot River system in Maine. Better bring all of your dry fly selections with you.

My family and I managed to hit the brown hatch just right for a few days when it was just starting – meaning the fish were still hungry and relatively naive. We had some epic fishing. One morning my wife landed 20 salmon between 14 and 18 inches. My daughter Mary and her boyfriend Will landed over thirty salmon and trout in one outing. One day I landed three trout over 18 inches on drake imitations.

Early on during the hatch, trout and salmon attacked almost any size 8, 10, or 12 mayfly imitation as it was stripped across the surface. Even a strange pattern such as the Kaufmann Royal Wulff Stimulator wacked the salmon.

As the hatched progressed, the fish became pickier. When my wife caught all of those salmon, she was fishing a Quigley’s drake cripple size 10 but tied small. A regular size 10 and a regular size 12 took a few fish but not many. The trout and salmon wanted a size in between.  Her one fly lasted for all of those fish until finally one broke her off. A new emerger pattern floated too high to interest the fish, After taking a bunch of fish, a pattern would start floating too low and the action stopped. The pattern had to float just in the film for success. Our floatant crystals got a big workout. As the fish got casting shy, it paid to leave the fly on the water for awhile before casting elsewhere. If it sat long enough, it would eventually trigger a strike if it was the correct size and silhouette.

The loons got to be a problem. Waiting for us to release the fish and then nabbing them. Our solution?  Play the fish quickly – landing them while they are still fresh. Landing the larger fish with a long handle, large-diameter boat net, removing the hook, and then releasing the fish on the opposite side of the boat from where the loon(s) were.  Loons don’t like to directly under the boat and the extra second or two gives the fish a better chance to escape. We revived our fish by cradling them with our hand underwater but inside the net. We waited until they were fully recovered before freeing them from the net, so they would swim away strongly and not be immediate loon food.

Here is a video showing a sampling of Brown Drake action on Kennebago Lake.

https://youtu.be/mCR74U4ZZiQ

I guess people like to read about the local southern Maine fishing because I neglected to post about it and several have written me to ask. So here is a summary of May and June southwest Maine fishing.

In southern Maine,  observing the local flora will tell you when the good fishing is going to start. When the Coltsfoot are blooming and the Trillium are out of the ground, the first consistent fishing of the season begins, along with the early mayfly emergences.

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I always fish my local rivers first; Collyer Brook, Pleasant River, Presumpscot River, and the Little Andro,  and occasionally,  Chandler Brook, Royal River, Piscataqua River, Merriland River, and Stevens Brook thrown in for good measure

Nice riffle and run on Collyer Brook

It dawned on me on April 24th as I headed for Collyer Brook that this was exactly the 35 year I had fished it. Impossible to believe. Really. It was the second stream I had fished after my first experience with fly  fishing in 1985.

I usually only fish Collyer several times in April or early May before I switch to the Rangeley area, so in all those years, I have only fished it perhaps a total of 70 times. I will bet you too that I have only been skunked once or twice in all of that time. I usually catch one or two trout – often freshly stocked, sometimes holdovers, a few stocked by the local school kids as fingerlings, and  even a wild one or two.

This trip was no different as I caught two holdovers in a deep pool on a part of the stream that gets less fishing pressure. The pattern?  A Wood Special.

First brook trout of the year in southern Maine.

A day or two later, one of my favorite sections of the Pleasant River yielded several stocked brookies and two wild ones. Several weeks later, downstream, I landed a nice brown. Click on this link for a releast video.

https://youtu.be/cjmSDIFqJl0

The upper Royal River yielded a surprising wild fish that was either a small salmon or a rainbow trout – which makes any sense, since neither species live in that river, as far as anyone knows. Any guesses, based on this photo?

The tailwater below North Gorham Pond (the inlet to Dundee Pond) yielded salmon and brook trout to my daughter, Mary, and her boyfriend, Will, but none to me. Will caught a beast of a brown trout below one of the Presumpscot River dams.

On 5X tippet , nymphing. This fish took him several hundred feet downstream before he landed it.

T go to the Little Androscoggin every spring for my annual rainbow fix. When I arrived on May 27th, the water was already low, but fishable. Small browns were rising regularly to tiny stuff but I wanted rainbows. I caught a few on wood special streamers and caught a number more high-stick nymphing. as well as using a strike indicator. They were picky but persistance paid off.

A strong-for-this-time-of-year Nor’easter drenched much of New England this long weekend, but not much of it made it to the Western Maine Mountains. My rain gauge recorded 4/10 of an inch – enough to settle the dust, but that is about it. Rivers are very low with little flow and it makes fishing tough even though temps are good and hatches are occurring. Some larger rivers with steep gradients such as the Rapid , the Andro, or the lower Mags fish fine because they are more easily wadable and fish are more accessible and can’t hide in rough water

Southern parts of Maine and New England received a drenching of up to 4 inches or more and that should alleviate drought conditions for a while and return rivers to normal flows.

I have found decent-sized trout in all sorts of places but it has been unpredictable.

A lengthy trout came up for a Royal Coachman, a decent imitation of the smattering of small mayfly duns emerging or spinners flitting about.

A nice trout fooled with difficulty in the slow-moving clear waters of low-flowing Little Kennebago River. It fished over Memorial Day weekend like a Montana Spring Creek.

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A few odds and ends….Many anglers enjoyed the Sebago Trout Unlimited event at Dundee Park on May 22nd. About 40 attendees learned all about the Presumpscot River and its history and then were guided to different spots on the river. Despite low water a number of brook trout were hooked as well as a few brown trout and a salmon and anglers learned where to go in the future. Look for more events like this from Sebago TU going forward.

I snuck down to Florida for a quick visit with my daughter and I got to spend a few days fishing on the Gulf. Sight fishing for redfish and speckled sea trout was a little slow but I did manage to land  in just 2 1/2 feet of water a huge sea trout on a small topwater popper – a size down in Florida they call a gator trout . It was only a few inches off the world fly fishing record

This sea trout approached 30 inches and was so big, that I couldn’t fit it in frame no matter how far I leaned back in my kayak.

Of course, fishing the flats offers many rewards, even if the fishing is slow. Here is sunrise over the flats east of Cape San Blas

That is all for now. Enjoy peak fishing season, everyone. Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram for more frequent updates #mainelyflyfishing

It is that time of year!  Trout and salmon are active and now rising to early hatches of mayflies and caddis. Bass and Pike are in the shallows defending nests or prowling for food. Stripers have arrived. So many fishing options and only so many hours in the day – although fishable hours  now range from 430 AM to 830 PM.

One concern is the continued drought conditions from the last few years. I thought late summer of 2019 was bad, but then summer and early fall 2020 was worse, and so far 2021 is very dry and droughty even in early May. What little snowpack we had melted early or sublimated directly into the atmosphere and very little rain has fallen in the last few weeks.

Rivers are at summer levels or worse and many lakes are so low folks are having trouble getting their docks in.  The Rangeley River this week was running at 20 cfm instead of the normal 300 cfm. The lower Mags was at 120 when sometimes this time of year is at 700. The ground, even in the deep woods is dry and grass and other vegetation in sunny spots are already getting crispy. If we don’t get significant rain and soon, I shudder to think how bad it could get.

With early ice out and warm weather, the entire season is several weeks ahead at least. Stripers have arrived a week or two early. Bass are spawning a week or two early as well. Trout and salmon were rising to early mayflies in the Kennebago watershed last week and that is also two weeks early.  In the upper Mags they have been fishing the sucker spawn for over a week. You will want to cash in all your chips and go fishing now, before waters warm further or rivers fall even lower.

The ice went out very early this year in Rangeley, one of the earliest ice outs ever – around April 17th. I couldn’t make it up there, so I don’t have much of a report. I heard that people were catching fish in Rangeley Lake almost immediately.  I missed the smelt runs and the sucker spawn due to family obligations that take precedence, but made it up last weekend to catch the early hatches.

I opened up the camp on Kennebago Lake and fished the watershed. Rangeley River was too low to fish effectively. On the upper parts of the Kennebago River, good trout (16 inches and above) were rising to dry flies while others of similar size were down in deep holes eating baitfish (based on the evidence they coughed up when hooked on Cosohammer streamers and other similar patterns.)
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Sporadic hatches and spinners of early mayflies were bringing the brook trout to the surface.

On the lake, in the so-called Logans (shallow area where the Upper Kennebago River flows in), a profusion of midges brought smutting trout to the surface.

       A calm evening made it easy to spot trout sipping midges.

                I did get distracted from looking for rises one evening

Hi Everyone,

It was another early spring this year with limited snowpack and snow melt. Rivers and streams were at late summer flow rates and many lakes levels were low as well, some at record lows. Lakes have not recovered from last years drought and ground water is well below normal. Kennebago Lake was low when I visited in April and I understand that Aziscohos many feet down as well. This does not bode well for the season unless we get a lot of rain (meaning six inches over several weeks).. It can still happen so cross your fingers,

Ice Out on my home Dundee Pond waters was on March 29th about the same as last year, which I thought was very early. Rangeley Lake went out on April 17, one of the earliest  dates on record. March weather was very warm with many days of cloudless sun. April has been more seasonal with several snowstorms in the mountains. I believe the smelt runs have already commenced or remaining fish will be gone soon. I hear rumors of suckers appearing already. Fish movements and wildflower emergences (like trillium) seem one to two weeks early.

Many cloudless dry days, occasional big storms, and widely fluctuating temperatures….Maine weather has become more like the front range of the Rockies in Colorado.

Rivers and streams were at fishable levels, if not too low, right through April and were fishable. The inlet to Dundee Pond had virtually no flow because Sebago Lake was low. Fishing was inconsistent at best because water temps remained cold and the drought of last year cut the number of holdovers and wild trout significantly in small streams. One small stream in southwest Maine with wild trout actually went dry last fall.

Early small black and brown stoneflies hatched very early and some Presumpscot River browns were rising to them as early as late March.

Early black small stonefly

I finally found decent conditions on April 5th on one of my favorite stretches of river and managed to land a huge brown in surprisingly fast water on a seam. i didn’t precisely measure her but closer to 25 inches than 20, and I couldn’t get my hand around her because her back was so thick and broad. I didn’t have a net so to land this fish; I tailed it in the water, like you would do to an Atlantic Salmon. The fly pattern? A zonkerish pattern I tied from a sample I was given on the Yellow Breeches River in Pennsylvania. Last spring I caught a big brown on the same pattern (see my June 2, 2020 post), but this one was larger – 4 pounds for sure if not bigger.

I have huge hands and I couldn’t span the width of the back of this fish.

I like a fish that is big enough to tail.

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I did try my hand at pike fishing in Sabbatus Lake one morning with no sign of any. I did catch one of the biggest smallies I have ever caught, over 4 pounds for sure. Two fish for my early efforts and both personal records or close to it.

This fish towed my kayak for a bit, even in very cold water.

This is the time of the year when catching trophy brook trout is possible. Here is an excerpt from my book, In pursuit of Trophy Brook Trout: The Ultimate Handbook of Tactics, Timing, and Territory.

“Suckers move into the first riffles above a lake to spawn when stream temperatures approach 50 degrees – usually several weeks after smelt spawning is over. Trout don’t feed on the suckers themselves (at 12 inches and over and up to several pounds, they are too large) but gorge themselves on small, yellow sucker eggs. I have unhooked trout that had mouths jammed with what looks like lemon Jello. The dominant (and often the largest) brook trout will position themselves immediately downstream from the sucker schools that are leaking eggs or actively spawning. Picture large rainbows feeding on salmon eggs in Alaska and you get the idea.”

Enjoy the beginning of the season.

Lou

Sales Note: With the fishing show season cancelled, I am sitting on books I ordinarily would have sold so I am continuing to run specials.  Anyone purchasing Flyfishing Northern New England Seasons (a great book for this time of year) will also receive free a cool flyfishing Maine sticker to put on your car (or where ever).

For more products like this, go to www.reclaimedsignco.com

Read how to order books (signed) from the right hand column on this page.

Here is an excerpt from the book:

If you are fishing near a smelt run and targeting predatory fish, streamer selection is a matter of choosing your favorite smelt imitation. There are a myriad of smelt-imitation patterns. Some of the old standbys are as much a part of the history of the great North Woods as are their tiers, like Carrie Stevens, and the “sports” who came by train from Boston and New York – well-dressed fly-fishing men and women who are now immortalized in black and white pictures standing behind stringers of huge dead trout and salmon. Many of the classic streamer patterns still work, at least once in a while, and we have many new creations to choose from every year.

Now, on with the late March report:

Early March featured some of the coldest nights of the year before Spring arrived for the second half of the month. At least seven days reached highs in the upper 50s to mid 60s. Lindsey and I were up at Kennebago Lake for four days without a cloud in the sky and temps rising into the 50s.

                                                   Winter views from camp

                            It is still winter at Kennebago Lake in late March.

                          The warmer weather starting to open up Norton Brook

While Kennebago still had lots of thick ice and snow, as I write this from Dundee Pond in Windham all of the snow is gone and a good foot of ice one week ago is almost out on the pond. It is amazing how fast the ice melted.

               Ice going out during warm spell, its cold temperature creating local fog

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With the change in weather, birds and animals are quite active. At Kennebago Lake, a bobcat walked right past our camp one night vocalizing quite loudly. Our pet pair of Canadian Jays peered at us through the window every morning looking for their handouts.

                               My pet Canadian Jay

In Windham, migrating waterfowl arrived in force – various Merganser species, wood ducks, and Canadian geese, just to name a few.  A flock of turkeys is wandering around our yard. A pair of muskrats now swim back and forth, and the bald eagle has been giving us a fly-by everyday.

Turkeys walked across the melting ice to my yard to feed on my fallowed raised beds

With the warmer weather, I was even able to plant my early veggies (under plastic) and they were nicely sprouted by the last week of March, led by the turnips (from seeds I hand harvested last fall).

My spinach, radishes, lettuce, and turnips sprouted quickly under plastic

I will post another update soon. Things change in a hurry this time of year.

Hello everyone,  I will giving a fishing update shortly, but first I am announcing my version of Black Friday deals.

One of a Kind Books: Like every author that sells his or her own books, at the end of the year, I have accumulated books that have minor defects so that I can’t sell them as first quality. Books with slightly scratched or marred covers, signatures that smudged, or signed to individuals that didn’t want them so I black out the name. For those of you wanting a deal on any of my three books, you can buy these books for 50% off and free shipping. (either $12.50 or $15.00 depending on the book. Email me and I will send you a photo of the book for your approval. Great as a second copy if you have a summer camp.

Overstock: I also have the last dozen of my first edition of my first book, Flyfishing Northern New England Seasons, (now in its 3rd edition). The first edition doesn’t have color photographs and an updated chapter, but the information is virtually the same and I think there is something special about a first edition signed by the author.  Selling for $ 12.50 versus retail of $25.00 and free shipping. Email me.

First Quality Books

Until Xmas, to promote my books, I am offering two deals. The first deal is if you purchase any two books from me, the first is full price and the second will be half  price. E-mail me. Each book title is meant to complement the others and often purchasers end up buying all three over time.Sometimes, anglers purchase two copies of the same title if they have a fishing camp and another home. Or they purchase one for themselves and get a second for a gift.

The second deal is that anyone purchasing a signed book from me between now and the end of the year, will also receive a Cosohammer conehead soft-hackle streamer – my go-to fly! They are hard to find commercially, so you can use this one as a model to tie your own or get someone else to tie them for you.

Now the fishing report for November
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More waters close at the end of October, but some remain open, especially in southern Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. Strangely enough, fall stocking was delayed in some waters because water  flows remained extremely low. Freestone rivers without lakes to provide water remained well below normal flows.

We also had freakishly warm weather for a week in the middle of the month with certain localities setting all time records for five straight days due to a Bermuda High system that did not move for a week. Where I live, we had highs in the 60’s and 70’s for a few days. This prevented the water from cooling as it usually does this time of year and kept the fish more active with temps still around 50, even in Maine.

Due to the warm weather and people with more time on their hands, fishing pressure was heavy on popular waters. For example, parking lots were overflowing on the rivers stocked by Three-Rivers Stocking Association including the Cocheco, Lamprey, and Isinglass rivers.

Some days, the Route 35 parking lot in Windham by the Presumpscot River  had over 20 cars in it. Too much comradery for me. I fished other parts of the river and found active brookies, landlocked salmon, and brown trout.

Here is a video montage of November fly fishing.