For Immediate Release							June
21, 2005

June 21, 2005 Fishing Report

Region A- Southwestern Maine

What wonderful weather to go out and catch a fish!  The forecast for
Southern Maine is clear skies and great fishing!   Reports from Thomas 
Pond
in Raymond and Trickey Pond in Naples indicate that the smallmouth bass 
are
off their nests and are out looking for lures.   A recent excursion to
Thomas Pond with a fishing novice yielded no less than eight decent 
sized
smallies by trolling a two-piece Rapala close to shore.  It is always
exciting to see the thrill on a novice angler's face as they land 
decent
numbers of 12 to 18 inch bass.  It is more than enough motivation to 
take a
kid fishing!     

Our seasonal census clerk and jack-of-all-trades Greg Massey reports
excellent fishing can still be found on both Middle Range Pond in 
Poland and
on the Little Androscoggin River. A week of fishing live smelt 14 feet 
down
at Middle Range resulted in 10 rainbow trout in the 15-18 inch range 
and two
decent brown trout.  The Little Androscoggin River is producing good 
numbers
of brook trout, rainbow trout, and brown trout.  Your best bet is to 
choose
your fishing time based on the water flows in the river.  Greg reports 
that
a moderate flow produces the best fishing.

Region A is gearing up to do our last week of night time bass 
electrofishing
to evaluate size quality in area bass waters.  While we may alarm some 
folks
with our lit up boat and loud generator, rest assured, aliens are not
stealing your bass and the fish always survive their encounter with 
your
local night-owl biologists!   We plan on sampling at Crescent Lake in
Raymond and Crystal lake in Harrison this week.

-Brian Lewis, Fisheries Biologist Specialist

Region B - Central Maine

We seem to be locked in some sort of crazy weather pattern here in 
Maine.
For a few days, summer seemed to come on with a vengeance, with some
mid-summer humidity and some pretty big thunderstorms.  Now we're 
apparently
back to the rainy weather pattern we saw during much of May.  
Hopefully, we
will see a return to summer this week, with increasing but moderate
temperatures and sun. 

Our environment is, in part, a reflection of the climate of an area.  
In
what might be considered a 'normal' year, late spring usually brings on 
a
gradual warming of area waters.  With that warming is an increase of
biological activity at all levels of organisms.  This year, the warming
trend has been altered to some degree by the long stretch of rain we 
saw in
May, coupled with numerous overcast days.  The volume of the rain that 
fell
created water flows that looked a lot like the snowmelt conditions we
usually see in the area in late March and early April.  Also, since 
rain
forms into droplets high in the atmosphere, it is colder than the water 
on
the earth's surface.  All this leads to a situation where there is more 
and
colder water than we usually see at this time of year. 

For many anglers, late May and June represent the 'glory days' of 
fishing.
Along with the warming of waters, many terrestrial and aquatic insect
'hatches', and plant growth, fish also increase their level of 
activity.
Species such as black bass, the sunfishes, the suckers, sculpins, 
minnows
and chubs all reproduce during the late spring and early summer months. 
Many
of the predatory fish species take advantage of this activity to gain 
an
easy meal. Of course, all of these goings on allows anglers to entice a
variety of species to all kinds of terminal tackle.  Usually, the 
angler's
luck runs pretty good.

Now, back to 'all that rain'.  It has, to some degree, affected the 
fishing
in both lakes and streams.  In streams, high water levels force fish 
into
expending a large amount of energy holding their position or trying to 
find
refuge in the current.  In lakes and ponds, flows from inlet 
tributaries
cause an extended period of well-mixed water that results in a longer
'window' where togue and salmon feed actively at varying depths.

Reports from anglers from around the region reflect the above.  In some
lakes such as Long Pond, we are getting stories of good salmon catches.
Many lakes with stocked this year with brook trout like Flying Pond, 
Crystal
Pond, Jamie's Pond, Swan Lake and Echo Lake are fishing well.  Streams, 
on
the other hand, are requiring some varied strategies for success.  One
experienced fly fisherman said that his usual method of drifting nymphs 
to
the base of riffles got him nothing.  But a similar drift to protected
structures in pools got numerous hits and produced some good fish.  He
released everything he caught.    

The weather reports for the coming week are encouraging.  It appears 
that
summer will make a welcome return.  Grab that rod and head out to your
favorite or new fishing water.  Be sure to include the bug dope in your
tackle since we are experiencing a banner year for black flies and
mosquitoes.

-Robert Van-Riper, Regional Fisheries Biologist

Region C - Downeast 

Brook Trout, Salmon and Bass are still the headliners for the Downeast
region.  

After early high spring flows that displaced angler and brook trout 
alike,
water levels have subsided, and temperatures have remained cool, 
allowing
for hungry trout to settle back into normal feeding areas.  These 
brooks and
streams now have good fishable conditions and feisty squaretails are as 
we
speak tackling the common garden hackle, mayfly and caddis imitations 
in
areas where anglers normally find them.  These perfect conditions won't 
last
long as water temperatures will soon rise pushing trout into little 
known
cold-water refugia areas for the summer.

The famed Grand Lake Stream salmon fishing has experienced the same 
spring
flush that sent anglers running for the high ground.  Raging torrents 
of
water at flows of 2,300 to 2,700 CFS had made the stream unfishable for
nearly 5 weeks through the month of May and into the beginning of June.
Normal fishable flows range from 130 to 400 CFS and the stream is 
finally
down to the top end level, allowing anglers to fish for gorging salmon 
in
their usual holding areas.  The hydraulic jump in the fishway of the 
West
Grand Lake dam was made functional on Monday, June 13th, allowing 
salmon to
move from the stream back into the lake as stream temperatures become
undesirable and not optimal for salmon growth and condition.  The 
hydraulic
jump was put in place in 2004 to block non-indigenous landlocked 
alewives
that had been illegally stocked into the main stem of the St. Croix 
River
and were threatening to move into West Grand Lake and compete for and 
space
and food with the tremendously important main forage fish, the rainbow
smelt. This jump will remain operational until mid August to allow for 
the
natural migration of adult salmon.  Domtar has also agreed to keep 
optimal
fish and fishing flows of at least 315 CFS to July 25th as long as the 
lake
level holds up.  So for the next month fishing should be its best, as 
salmon
rise for caddis and continued to scoop nymphs off the bottom.

Salmon trolling on West Grand Lake continues to be good but as the warm
summer sun approaches surface trolling is best done in the early 
morning
hours between 4 and 8 am.  The warm bright sun drives salmon down to 
the
deeper depths quickly on clear days, so anglers are advised to use down
riggers or lead line for the best mid and later day results.

Smallmouth and largemouth bass are also biting well on area lakes and 
ponds.
Even with colder spring temperatures smallmouths rushed to spawn and 
nest
around June 1st in the warmer shallower waters.  Most of the males at 
the
shallower waters are off their nests now but in the colder deeper lakes 
like
West Grand Lake, Branch Lake, Green Lake, Phillips Lake and others, 
males
are still guarding aggressively.  Either way, lake surface water 
tempers are
running between 65 and 70 degrees and bass are biting with gusto.  

Don't miss this exciting time of year; take your family or child 
fishing.
It will be one of the most memorable.

-Greg Burr, Fisheries Biologist Specialist

Region D - Western Mountains 

Last week crews of anglers and biologists from Maine and New Hampshire 
began
the fieldwork of a radio telemetry study on brook trout on the lower
Magalloway River and Dead Diamond River. A total of 14 brook trout, 
ranging
from 12 to 19 inches long, were caught and released with a radio tag
surgically inserted into the body of the fish.  The location of these 
fish
will be monitored for the next year to determine their movements within 
the
drainages.  Also caught during the sampling were two smallmouth bass, 
one
salmon, and one splake.

Fishing has generally been good lately, with numerous hatches of 
aquatic
insect life triggered by the periods of hot weather.  Some of the most 
fun,
and perhaps the most overlooked, fishing opportunities occur in the 
many
miles of small brooks and streams throughout the state. Small trout, 
most
commonly brook trout, are often plentiful in this type of habitat and 
will
aggressively bite a baited hook or a small wet fly at any time of day.
There is no better place to introduce a young angler to trout fishing 
than a
small mountain stream. Most all the brooks in northwestern Maine have 
at
least a few trout present, but brooks around the towns of Andover, 
Weld,
Eustis, and Bingham all have thriving populations.

Anglers interested in warmwater fish are having good luck also.  Bass 
are
spawning and instinctively defending their nesting area from 
everything,
including fishing lures.  White perch are another species of fish 
active
this time of year.  They gather in schools near the water's surface and 
are
usually easy to locate on a calm evening.  A few places to look for 
them are
Norcross and Sand Ponds in Chesterville, Wesserunsett Lake in Madison, 
and
Moxie Lake in The Forks Plt. Anglers that harvest white perch are 
rewarded
with high quality fillets for a chowder or fish fry.

I have received an update on Dick Green's annual spring fishing trip to
Mooselookmeguntic Lake in Rangeley.  On the last day of May, the 
Topsham
resident took a 24 ½ inch, 5 pound, 9 ounce salmon, which his family
reported to be delicious.

-David Howatt, Fisheries Biologist Specialist

Region E - Moosehead Region

In 1966 President Lyndon Johnson signed a presidential proclamation
declaring the 3rd Sunday of June as Father's Day and what a day we had 
this
year.  There where many fathers and grandfathers observed fishing with 
their
kids and grandkids this weekend in the Moosehead Lake Region.  The 
sunny
weather was a change from the dismal days we experienced for the last 
few
weeks.  With a good forecast predicted for this week into the weekend,
anglers should begin to see mayfly and caddis hatches pickup. 

Although I was unable to spend the day with my father this year, I had 
the
pleasure of hanging out with him and my brother for the week and a half
prior.  The fishing was superb.  On each outing to some of my favorite 
brook
trout ponds we competed against each other, "mano y mano", in our own 
"Beat
Charlie Moore Challenge".  The object of the challenge was to see which 
one
of us could land the most fish and the size of the individuals did not
matter. Our best outing was an hour and a half of pure excitement where 
the
three of use landed 22 brook trout from 10"- 15" and lost a dozen or 
more.
It was a fun week and I look forward to doing it again in the future.

This past weekend was the third annually Fly Fishing In Maine (FFIM) 
Spring
Conclave on the West Branch of the Penobscot River.  Tim Obrey, 
Research
Biologist, and I attended the conclave on Saturday evening to discuss 
what
is going on with the smelts and salmon in the West Branch as well as 
the
proposal to include Chesuncook and Lobster Lakes as part of "Maine's 
Classic
Landlocked Salmon Program".  The Classic Salmon Program is a 
cooperative
project between the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and the
Sportsman's Alliance of Maine, which is focusing on increasing the size 
of
salmon in selected waters.  To find out more about "Maine's Classic
Landlocked Salmon Program" on the web go to www.classicsalmon.org
<http://www.classicsalmon.org>.

Another side note, on June 23rd the Department will be presenting the
proposal to consolidate the brook trout regulation to the Advisory 
Council.
If you have not given input into this public process and you wish to, I
encourage you to contact your local fisheries office.  We have received 
a
lot of good public input and we would like to thank those that took the
time.  It helps the process run much smoother when anglers get 
involved. 

-Stephen Seeback, Fisheries Biologist Specialist 
 
Region F, Penobscot Region

Last week in spite of rain and high water, regional fisheries and 
wildlife
personnel from the Enfield Regional Office, with the assistance 
of  regional fisheries from the Ashland Office, sampled approximately 
45
miles of the Mattawamkeag River.  Biologists were looking for 
smalllmouth
bass habitat in various sections of the river, from T3R3 WELS (just 
north of
Haynesville)  to  Kingman.  Smallmouth bass were captured with rod and 
reel,
we then measured, weighed, removed some scales and clipped their tail 
fins
to identify them as having been handled.  The scales will be prepared 
at a
later date and then read under a microscope for age determination of 
each
bass.

There is a great variety of habitat types in all sections of the river 
that
we sampled.  It was no surprise that where there was some type of 
structure,
there were bass.  Some long stretches of the Mattawamkeag River are 
deep,
slow moving, while other sections have an abundance of boulders, grassy
shoals and over hanging vegetation.  We were quite surprised to find 
water
depths to over 40 feet just up river from Kingman.  All sections were 
very
beautiful and unique.  We all saw an abundance of different wildlife,
including moose, ducks, eagle, deer, otter, beaver and bear.

I would suggest that anyone looking for an interesting river trip for
smallies to consider the Mattawamkeag River.  Suggested day trips would
include floats from Selden to Bancroft, Bancroft to Wytopitlock and
Wytopitlock to Kingman.  With access points at approximately every 5 
miles
of river, there is ample opportunity for convenient launching and 
landing.
All sections hold some productive smallmouth habitat and offer some
excellent opportunity for quality fish up to 16 or 17 inches.  
Depending on
the time of the year, be prepared for mosquitoes and blackflies.  The
section from Wytopitlock to Kingman is a rather deep, slow moving 
section
that is the most scenic and remote part of the entire river.  This 
section
is truly rich with wildlife of all kinds, holding the only eagles nest 
that
I have ever seen in a large oak tree.

The Penobscot River is starting to produce some bass fishing in spite 
of the
continuing high-water.  Anglers are reporting some decent fishing in 
all the
usual places along the river from Old Town to Medway.  Angling action 
on the
river should pick up as the water levels continue to drop and 
temperatures
start to climb again.  Smallmouth bass spawning activities have been
interrupted more than once this year with all of the rain and cold.

An illegal introduction of smallmouth bass in Upper Cold Stream Pond 
has
really shown we biologists, local anglers and campowners how quickly 
bass
can take over a lake in a relatively short period of time (since the 
late
1990's when we first discovered the bass). Newly hatched smallmouth 
bass are
being reported around the entire margin of the lake this spring, and
knowledgeable anglers have noticed the lack of any minnows in the 
shallows.
This lake also drains in to Cold Stream Pond in Enfield and Lincoln 
which
has had bass up to 4 pounds reportedly caught this spring.  Another one
bites the dust! Until someone starts talking we will certainly see more 
of
this in the future.  How many more lakes and ponds will be ruined by 
this
illegal bucket stocking. 

The illegal introduction of any fish into any Maine water is a Class E
crime, punishable by fines up to $10,000!  The Maine Department of 
Inland
Fisheries and Wildlife is offering a minimum reward of $2,000 for
information leading to the apprehension of persons responsible for the
illegal introduction of fish.  Call Operation Game Thief at 
1-800-253-7887.
-Nels Kramer, Assistant Regional Fisheries Biologist      

Region G - Aroostook County

The weather finally broke on Father's Day and fairly nice weather 
appears to
be in the offing for the upcoming week.  A kid's fishing derby held at
Chapman Pit Pond sponsored by the Aroostook National Wildlife Refuge 
was
well attended on Saturday with 100+ kids participating.  Reports 
suggest
that the trout stocked for this derby cooperated with most kids leaving 
the
pond with trout.  Fishing Derbies are often viewed as fund raisers for
various groups and many have a long tradition of being held such as the 
one
sponsored this weekend by Sportsmen Incorporated, a fish and game club 
in
Stockholm.  This derby has traditionally been held on Father's Day 
weekend
for many years and includes all waters in the Fish River Chain of 
Lakes.
Derbies that include a number of waters are much preferable to those 
that
target a single body of water, particularly any that are managed for
coldwater fisheries.  The reason being that derbies can artificially 
cause
increased fishing pressure on a lake or pond.  This year, including the
Sportsmen Inc. derby, permits were issued for 3 derbies on Long Lake to 
be
held within 2 weeks.  Long Lake, 6000 surface acres, is well known for 
its
large salmon and draws anglers statewide to fish in the hopes of 
catching a
9 lb+ salmon.  

Though well intentioned, fishing derbies on a specific water can throw 
a
wrench into fisheries management by artificially increasing pressure.  
We
are presently stocking Long Lake with 4000 spring yearling salmon and 
have
received criticism on the poor success rate to the angler, Long Lake
notoriously known as "Long Wait".  However, this is one of the highest
salmon stocking rates in the state of Maine.  The lake is similar to an
agricultural field in that a farmer knows what he can plant per acre to 
get
a quality return on his crop.  Stocking salmon is no different, adding 
more
salmon per acre will stress the system and may increase the number of 
fish
caught but diminish the quality of the product.  Wtih all of the 
natural
variables fisheries managers deal with to provide acceptable sport
fisheries, adding derbies to mix increases the complexity of the task.  
Such
is the nature of fishery management. 

-David  J. Basley, Regional Fisheries Biologist