Fishing Report August 23

For Immediate Release August 23, 2005 August 23, 2005 Fishing Report Region A- Southwestern Maine Region A staff has just finished up sampling several brown trout waters throughout the region to evaluate our stocking programs including: Bickford Pond (Porter), Burnt Meadow Pond (Brownfield), Clays Pond ( Fryeburg), No Name Pond (Lewiston), Bradley Pond (Lovell), Ell Pond (Sanford), and Deer Pond (Hollis). Although we have not yet analyzed the data, all of the ponds yielded some decent browns in the 2 1/2 to 6 pound range! These were quality fish that any angler would be proud to catch; however, anglers must target the appropriate water depth during the summer season to be successful. Most of the fish were netted between 15-30 feet deep; however, in some ponds the productive range is as small as 2-3 feet. Anglers need to learn to target the correct depths to be successful, while we typically use a temperature probe and oxygen meter to determine the best depths, a fish finder can also be handy for this task. Use the finder to see the deepest depth at which most fish are holding and don't fish any deeper and typically no shallower than 15 feet. Still fishing crawlers or live bait and trolling bait, lures, and flies can all be effective techniques. Again, the key here is to target the appropriate depth. I would also recommended fishing in lower light conditions (dawn and dusk) to increase your chances of success when searching for the wary brown. This week we are gearing up to begin stream sampling projects around the region. Projects on our docket include: annual sampling of 4 index sites on Sebago Lake tributaries to monitor landlocked salmon reproduction; sampling of 2 wild brook streams as part of a long-term statewide brook trout monitoring project; and we also plan to sample all of the streams in at least 3 towns in Oxford county as part of our own stream inventory database. This work should keep us busy well into September! Frequent readers of these reports have probably read a lot about the Little Sebago Lake access site in the past few months. MDIFW staff, the current milfoil inspectors, volunteers, and the lake association have been trying to work together to make the ramp better and cleaner than ever. The site was really looking great; however, last week we were all very disappointed to hear of several destructive acts of vandalism at the site that occurred over the coarse of several nights. The destructive vandals performed several senseless acts including: vandalism of a personal vehicle, attempted burning of several onsite structures, vandalism of 2 port-a-potties, smashing dozens of bottles, and breaking all 3 of the plexiglass windows in the information kiosk. Although most peolpe treat public facilities like this with respect, there are those out there that simply ruin it for everyone else. MDIFW and other interested parties are exploring options to address late night vandalism at the site. -James Pellerin, Assistant Regional Fisheries Biologist Region B - Central Maine Region B is blessed with a diverse amount of habitat that requires the biologist to keep changing gears when it comes to what management tools are needed to accomplish the tasks at hand. The need to have some knowledge on the status of the bass population in Annabessacook Lake is important, because several years ago the regulation on bass was changed from general law to a slot limit to where bass between 18 and 23 inches had to be released. It became increasingly important to maintain a watch on the bass population this last spring when a recurrence of a fish kill was observed. Bass, particularly largemouths, seemed to have suffered an observable mortality this last spring. The same phenomenon was also observed in 2001. In the spring 2002, a year after the first incident, we electrofished several hundred bass. That assured us there were plenty of bass there to maintain the population. This past spring we decided that some pathological work and bass tournament work would be necessary to get some handle as to the status of the bass population. The pathological work is still not finished, but preliminary results indicate that there is no largemouth bass virus at Annabessacook Lake. The 2001 bass kill was attributed to a rapid increase in water temperature at the same time bass were congregating at spawning time, a very stressful time in the life cycle of fish in the wild. The tournament observations, with the cooperation of several bass clubs, have been carried out on five weekends. Observations take place at the end of the fishing day, when weigh-ins are done. The best bass information for most waters is the measurement of population indices that come from analysis of the proportion of the size classes of bass in the population. Interviews with the club tournament participants provided catch statistics that will be compared to other Maine waters at the end of the season. This information will give us a handle on whether the bass population at Annabessacook is in good condition. Other management activities include the review of culvert installation at road crossings. Several reviews come from the Maine Department of Transportation that require fish population investigations. This past week, even I was surprised to find a viable brook trout population at three crossings on Route 7 in Dixmont where in a previous investigation, I found them at only one of the crossings. My original recommendation did specify that fish passage be maintained at the three sites, because brook trout were found in good numbers lower in the drainage. A landowner with some concerns that the state was wasting resources that could be used elsewhere had to be convinced that brook trout were indeed in the streams and access through culverts was necessary to maintain the population. We had him accompany us as we sampled brook trout at all the crossings. That end convinced me that fish passage is needed at these Route 7 sites. Last but not least while on a day off, I used some of my fishing knowledge to teach my almost 4-year-old grandson, Zachery McKenney, the ways of fishing at our camp on Bear Pond in Turner and Hartford. We went for a row boat ride to explore the "river" at the intersection of Big and Little Bear. On the way we decided that Zach, the possessor of a Maine lifetime hunting and fishing license, could use his Zebco outfit to troll for "whatever". Papa cast the lure out, as close quarters with Nana in the boat also, would have been a recipe for disaster if Zach had attempted a cast. Handing the rod to Zach, after the cast, we were not down the pond too far when Zachery indicated that he needed help. Something was pulling his rod out of his hands. I stopped rowing to assist, but had Zach do most of the reeling in. The fish came to the boat and Zach had reeled in about a twenty-inch pickerel. Nana took a picture and then we released the fish. I am reminded of the saying: " Give a boy a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a boy to fish and he will be fed for a lifetime". -Bill Woodward, Assistant Regional Fisheries Biologist Region C - Downeast Finding salmon, togue and trout in the summer months Most anglers who pursue salmonids in July and August know that temperature is the key to finding the depth where salmon, trout and togue lurk. Another key factor for anglers to consider is the amount of dissolved oxygen at different depths. There is a perception that if the water is cold, there is enough oxygen for trout and salmon. In fact, in many cases at the very bottom of deep cold lakes, there is not enough oxygen for our cold-water game fish to survive. Even more shocking to fishermen is the information that at a number of popular trout and salmon waters, there is also not enough oxygen at mid-depths to sustain salmonids. What is the reason for this? Each summer our coldwater lakes and ponds stratify into 3 distinct layers that prevent oxygen and temperature mixing between them. These layers start to set up in the spring after what is called the "spring turn-over", where the entire lake mixes, and the properties of water are such that layers begin to form because of densities of water at different temperatures. The middle and lower temperature layers lock out oxygen and temperature mixing from the surface and from each other, and generally do not get new oxygen replenishment until the "fall turn-over". Because of this phenomenon, dead, dying and decaying matter at the bottom of lake or pond uses the oxygen up rapidly. This happens from the bottom up and pushes fish up from the bottom into more oxygen rich layers with still suitable cool water. As the summer goes on, this zone devoid of oxygen keeps moving up in the water column and sometimes will crowd fish into the middle layer of the lake (also called the thermocline or metalimnion). This crowding can affect the growth and condition of your favorite cold-water game fish. Why should anglers know this tid-bit of information? For the obvious reason that an angler's time is precious and they should know that hours spent trolling at certain depths is futile if there is no oxygen to support the fish. Take for example two well know trout and salmon waters, Echo Lake on Mount Desert Island and Brewer Lake in Orrington. In mid-summer, Echo Lake's water below 40 feet is devoid of oxygen. The lake is 60 feet deep but most of that habitat is unusable below 40 feet. The same goes for Brewer Lake. The lake is 50 feet deep but devoid of oxygen in mid summer below 35 feet. Same story at Hopkins Pond in Mariaville, this well known togue water is 70 feet deep but devoid of oxygen below 45 feet in July and August. We also have many of our very deep cold lakes and ponds where there are large amounts oxygen all the way to bottom even in the mid summer months. These are waters such as Jordan Pond (MDI), Phillips Lake (Dedham) and Tunk Lake (T 10 SD), which are more sterile environments with little decaying matter on the bottom to rob oxygen from their waters. What's the moral of this story for anglers? "Fish'em where they are and not where they aint!" Check with your local Department of Environmental Protection office or our regional fisheries offices around the state to see if the lake you are planning to fish experiences oxygen deficiencies in mid summer. It just could make the difference between a successful fishing outing and a skunking. Enjoy! -Greg Burr, Fisheries Biologist Specialist Region D - Western Mountains We went into the woods last week to survey two new streams - the First East Branch of the Magalloway River and Moose Brook, a tributary to Parmachenee Lake. As usual, we were assisted by several enthusiastic volunteers, all members of the Rangeley Region Guides' and Sportsmen's Association: Greg Silloway, Patty Silvia, Kirby Holcombe, Mary Ellen Moroney, and Lyn Hewey. The crews walked the streams and helped take measurement to assess the conditions of the streams, which were good to excellent. Our sincere thanks to these volunteers as well as to Jack Rowbottom and Jim Heichel of the Somerset Chapter, Trout Unlimited, who helped us survey Heald Stream in Somerset County a couple of weeks ago. A stream restoration project was completed last week at South Bog Stream in Rangeley Plantation. This project was carried out to narrow an overwidened reach of stream and create pools where none existed. The project was completed just in time for an on-site dedication ceremony by the Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust, which recently acquired much of the land within the drainage. There was a turnout of nearly 60 people to the event, and we were able to show off the new restoration project along with one completed last year. Both were designed and implemented to improve wild brook trout habitat. Dave Howatt got an unpleasant surprise when he visited one of our high-altitude brook trout ponds last week. The landing was heavily littered and the pond had been heavily fished. When we last visited the pond in 1987, it was "loaded" with little trout, so the regulation was fairly liberal ( a 2 trout limit with an 8-inch length limit). There are now definitely fewer trout in the pond than in 1987, so we will recommend that a more restrictive regulation be imposed as soon as possible. Ideally, we should check our ponds more frequently, but with a small work crew and more than 200 waters in the Region, the reality is that nearly 20 years can slip by before we resurvey some waters. If I were granted a larger field crew, one of the things I would do would be to more intensively monitor our wild brook trout ponds, especially the LURC remote ponds, which are real gems and deserve to be more intensively managed... -Forrest Bonney, Regional Fisheries Biologist Region E - Moosehead Region Earlier this summer we reported that we had evaluated a northern Maine water which had been stocked with splake in an attempt to control or eliminate an illegally stocked smelt population and help restore the wild brook trout population. During this one-week evaluation we did not collect a single smelt and the splake that we encountered were in very poor condition. Based on these findings we feel that the splake stocking program on this water was very successful in reducing and even possibly eliminated the smelt population all together. In light of these findings we decided to cease the splake stocking program on this pond and we were contemplating either stocking or transferring a wild strain of brook trout to help supplement the self-sustaining population that originated from many years of stocking domestic strain hatchery brook trout. In talking with campowners on the pond, they expressed that they had seen a few more brook trout and that they seemed to be in better condition since the decline of the smelts. With the campowners feedback we decided to let mother-nature do her thing. About a month ago Greenville staff meet with one of the campowners on the pond. He showed us the artificial spawning boxes that are in the pond and pointed out the young brook trout utilizing them this summer. To say the least it was a very encouraging to observe 3 - 6 inch trout using the box. These boxes were installed in the late 1980's and as the pictures we were shown illustrate, they have been used over the years by trout for spawning, over winter egg incubation, and as a cold water refuge for young trout during the warm summer months. <<Old box small.jpg>> Two weeks ago the Greenville staff constructed and replaced the smaller of the two boxes with a new spawning box. The new box (6 ft. X 6 ft.) is roughly 1/3 larger than the older box (4 ft X 5 ft) and it is constructed with a pipe system that will help distribute the inflowing spring water more evenly throughout the gravel filled box. If used to there maximum potential, we believe that these two boxes could potentially accommodate 10 pairs of spawning brook trout which could result in several thousand fry to the pond. With this many trout being produced annually, we believe that this will be enough for the trout in this pond to rebound and provide a healthy population as it has in the past. <<Boxsmall.jpg>> -Jeff Bagley, Assistant Regional Fisheries Biologist Region F, Penobscot Region Pushaw Lake is back in the news. As part of a Upward Bound program, groups of teenagers from throughout New England spent the past month investigating pollution levels in Pushaw Lake, where homeowners have struggled with algae blooms for more than three decades. Students spent the month of July poking around the margins of the lake, looking at ditches, culverts, and swamps collecting water samples for analysis. What are they looking to accomplish with these samples? The source of phosphorus. Phosphorus is the fuel that drives algae blooms in lakes and ponds. Stop the addition of phosphorus into our lakes, and over time the water clarity will improve. What does that mean to the campowners and users of Pushaw Lake? Better water quality. A healthier ecosystem. A more pleasant experience swimming, boating, fishing and living on the lake. Many thanks to these young scientists for their efforts to improve the water quality at Pushaw Lake. Thanks is not what I have in mind for the criminal that illegally moved northern pike into Pushaw Lake! A pike estimated to be 6 pounds was caught and photographed from Pushaw in 2003 by a concerned angler. In 2004 that same concerned angler caught another pike from Pushaw, this one measuring 19". This past winter we handled another of pike that measured 25.8 inches long and weighed 3.8 pounds. Additional pike were also reported from the lake this past winter, all between 14 and 20 inches. What's the problem with pike? Northern pike will forever change the ecology of Pushaw Lake, and quite possibly a large portion of the Penobscot and Piscataquis Drainages. Pike are voracious feeders and will consume all manner of forage, including trout, salmon, perch, bass, pickerel, ducks, loons, and all other fish and waterfowl in the system. Where they have been illegally introduced in Alaska, they are considered salmon and trout eating machines. It is estimated that in a single federal refuge in Michigan that pike eat 1.5 million waterfowl a year! That's a big problem not only for Pushaw, but also for many other lakes, ponds and rivers in the drainage. A working group comprised of representatives from Inland Fisheries & Wildlife (IF&W), Atlantic Salmon Commission (ASC), Department of Environment Protection (DEP), Penobscot Indian Nation (PIN), US Fish and Wildlife Service (F&WS), and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are actively working to not only monitor the pike population in Pushaw, but are also exploring ways to halt the colonization of the entire drainage. But that will not be a quick and simple process. A look at a map makes it very apparent that pike have an abundance of habitat in Pushaw Lake, as well as free and clear access to a large amount of habitat downstream of the lake to the Penobscot River. Once established, this population of pike is forever! No amount of effort on our part will ever take back this watershed once it is infested with pike. We are asking that all interested anglers, boaters, swimmers, campowners and day users of Pushaw help us to protect your resource. To aid in the effort to control the spread of pike in the system, I have placed a poster on our website that would be very helpful in identifying a pike if caught in the Pushaw Lake, Mud Pond, Pushaw Stream, Penobscot or Stillwater Rivers http://www.state.me.us/ifw/fishing/regionfphotos.htm . Please be aware that pike are not native to the Penobscot Watershed, and certainly we would appreciate your help if you catch a pike by calling 732-4131, 941-4440, or 287-8000. By directing your browser to http://www.state.me.us/ifw/fishing/fishidentification/pikepickerelcomparison .htm you will see the difference between a native pickerel and a non-native northern pike. Current law allows for fines up to $10,000 if someone is convicted of illegally stocking any fish into public water. There are also provisions for a minimum $2,000 reward for information leading to the apprehension of any person or persons responsible for the illegal introduction of fish into any water in Maine. Please be aware that the only way this activity is going to stop is by someone stepping up to the plate and providing this information to us. -Nels Kramer, Assistant Regional Fisheries Biologist Region G - Aroostook County We recently received this note and picture from an area angler. I thought that I would share this with our readers. Local Angler Jim's Fishing Trip with His Son James On August 12, 2005, I took my son James brook fishing in northern Aroostook County. I didn't have to go far from our house in Portage Lake to find a few wild brook trout to fish for. Little James, age 2 ½, likes to go fishing with dad. We approached the trout pool quietly. I peered in with my polarized sunglasses. I could see some trout lying on the bottom of the brook. They were facing upstream, looking for their next meal. I cast the line into the pool. I directed the bait toward the bigger fish. The trout were hungry. I set the hook and passed the rod to James. He reeled in the fish on his own. He squealed as he landed a 9" trout! He soon reeled in 3 more trout, ranging from 6"-8". He also brought in 3 short trout and a few chubs, not to mention a couple of trout that fell off before he could land them. Overall, we fished about 30 minutes. James had a good time. When he wasn't reeling in a fish, he was busy trying to collect a limit of pine cones. We took the fish home for mum to see. She also likes to fish. It was a good outing, making for a fitting gift for us on what was our 5th year wedding anniversary! <<jamesbrooktroutsmall.jpg>> -Derrick Cote, Fisheries Biologist Specialist