May 22, 2006
Fishing Report
Region A- Southwestern Maine
Over the
last two weeks we have received numerous
reports of dead smelts from anglers and
shorefront property owners located along the
northwest shore of Sebago Lake. The
following information is offered regarding
this observation.
Sebago's smelt-spawning run started April 26th
and developed into the best run we've seen
in the last decade. Smelts ran up the
Crooked River as far as the Route 302
Bridge. According to former IFW Advisory
Council member Carroll Cutting, "you know
you have a lot of smelts in the lake when
smelts run up river that far.' Lower, stable
flows in the spawning tributaries were very
favorable for migrating adult smelts, as
evidenced by the extent of movement upstream
in the Crooked River. In addition, large
schools of spawning smelts were observed off
Quimby's beach and anglers reported large
clouds of smelts off the Songo River.
Smelts even ran in many of the brooks
historically used along the western shore
including Bachelder Brook, Burnell Brook,
and Nason Brook. Wardens Jason Luce and
Chris Cloutier collected smelt during the
spawning run and the smelt were observed to
be fat and in excellent physical condition.
Immediately upon completion of the run,
which lasted just over a week, lake anglers
and shorefront property owners began
reporting dead smelts floating in the lake
and washing up along the northwest shoreline
of Sebago's "Big Bay". The stress of
spawning is a common source of smelt
mortality following spawning. The
unusually large run observed this spring
resulted in a proportionally larger number
of dead smelts.
The stress of spawning is especially taxing
when you consider the brief life span of a
smelt. Smelts commonly spawn at age 1 or
2, and while some may live upward of 6
years, most only live to age 2 or 3.
Many/most smelts may not spawn more than
once and at the ripe age of 2 or 3 are
considered "old timers".
Smelts that have been dead for several days
are not suitable for laboratory testing by
our pathologist, Russ Danner. To be safe a
sample of live smelt was recently collected
for testing and full results will be
available in about 2 weeks. Initial
examination revealed the presence of
Glochidia, which is a parasitic larvae stage
of a freshwater clam. Heavy infestations
can cause mortality, but this parasite is
not believed to be a significant source of
mortality observed on the lake.
Anglers continue to report lots of live
smelts present in the lake as seen on their
fish finders. This September we plan to
measure the abundance of smelt in Sebago, as
we have done for the last several using our
hydroaccoustics survey equipment.
We have not received any recent reports
suggesting ongoing smelt mortality, and we
do not consider this loss to be significant
relative to the sizable population that is
present. However, we would like to hear
from anyone (call the Fisheries Division at
the Gray Regional Headquarters at 657-2345)
who might observe any dying smelts or smelts
that have just perished.
-Francis Brautigam,
Regional Fisheries Biologist
Region B - Central Maine
You may remember reading a fishing report
from a few weeks back regarding the selfish
act of a few bucket biologists who
introduced Northern Pike into Mosher Pond in
the town of Fayette. It has been confirmed
that an illegal stocking of Northern Pike
did occur in the pond. Mosher Pond will not
be the only water affected by this illegal
introduction. A very large watershed is in
jeopardy, including the Sandy River drainage
and the Kennebec River from Madison south.
We do not know what this egregious act will
hold for the future of the great salmonid
tail-water fishery that currently thrives
below Madison, Skowhegan and Shawmut dams on
the Kennebec River. One way or another, the
situation is cause for extreme concern.
In
mid-March the Fisheries staff from both
Regions B and D responded to this act by
placing three trap nets into Mosher Pond,
and two trap nets into its down stream
neighbor, Norcross Pond.
We were
successful in capturing and destroying seven
Northern Pike from Mosher pond and
unsuccessful in capturing any pike from
Norcross Pond. Ice anglers removed seven
additional pike from Mosher Pond. It is
very difficult to believe that we can
account for all of the pike that were
originally introduced, given that six
different age classes have been identified.
It is possible that pike have successfully
spawned in Mosher Pond. We will continue to
monitor this situation, and to encourage
lethal removal by anglers of this voracious
predator.
The results
from opening Long Pond to ice fishing for
pike for a three- year period are complete.
The reason Long Pond was opened to ice
fishing was to harvest as many pike as
possible and to decrease population size.
Ultimately, it is an attempt to bring back
the once famed landlocked salmon fishery of
Long Pond. Some of the findings are as
follows:
-
Long Pond anglers where successful
in harvesting larger Pike for the
first year of the study, (this did
not surprise us, It would make sense
that their should be a good number
of larger fish caught in the early
stages of the study and those
numbers would decrease as the study
continued).
2.
The average size of the catch decreased
as the three years continued. (This is
one of the results we will be following
up on. The question now will be: "Will
we see more salmon in better condition
in our fall trap netting"?
3.
As the study continued, it took less
time for anglers to catch a pike.
(Anglers were becoming more adaptable in
targeting their catch)
4.
Total angler effort decreased as the
study increased in time. (The ice
conditions played a huge roll in
angler effort. It was not surprising to
see a huge influx of anglers the first
year and watch the numbers decline over
time.
Some of
these findings from Long Pond could be
interpreted many ways. We do think that it
is important to note that by harvesting all
of these larger pike, we could be making
more room for smaller pike to take the place
of the larger fish. Think of it like this,
if a body of water had the potential to hold
a total of 100 pounds of northern pike and
we take out four fish that weight 25lbs
apiece, could we be making room for 100 -1
lb fish? A good example of this is the pike
fishery in Sabattus Pond, where smaller pike
in the 2-4 pound range dominate the fishery.
This is why it is so important that both
summer and winter anglers lethally remove
all pike (regardless of size) if we are to
see any possible recovery of the landlocked
salmon fishery in Long Pond. So get out
those wire leaders!
-Scott Davis, Fisheries
Biologist Specialist
Region C - Downeast
Primetime
May fishing is here! This is the time when
your favorite gamefish is feeding heavily
and biting well, so now is the time to visit
your favorite lake, river, or stream to
enjoy the fishing.
Now that
stream water temperatures have reached and
are remaining in the mid-50's, mayflies and
caddis flies are hatching daily, sending
brook trout into all-day feeding binges.
Maine has the distinction of being labeled
the last stronghold for healthy populations
of wild brook trout in the eastern United
States. Trout hold a special place in
Maine's angling traditions. And what brook
trout angler doesn't pause while unhooking
each fish to take a long, lingering look and
a mental picture of the trout's green
flanks, orange and white belly, tricolored
orange-black-and white fins, and red spots
with blue halos? Do your part to keep our
trout populations healthy for the future -
practice catch and release.
Spring
trolling for landlocked salmon and togue
still produces good action on eastern Maine
lakes. Fish are still "on top" on many days,
while getting down with a few colors of lead
line or a downrigger may produce better
action, especially on sunny or flat calm
days.
Bass action
started much earlier than normal, as
expected, on this unusually early spring.
Eastern Maine bass anglers have been
observing and catching bass off nests in
some shallower lakes for almost 2 weeks now.
It won't be long before bass fishing gets
red-hot. Early bets for good bass fishing
are Big Lake, Woodland Flowage,
Pocomoonshine Lake, Crawford Lake, Gardner
Lake, Eddington and Holbrook Ponds.
The long
Memorial Day weekend is coming up. Take a
friend and a youngster, pack a big lunch,
and spend some time on the water this week.
-Rick
Jordan, Assistant Regional Fisheries
Biologist
Region D - Western Mountains
Its
situations like these that make fishery
biologists wring our hands. Salmon growth
at Rangeley Lake has been excellent for many
years now, with lots of trophy-size fish
caught. We sample fish annually by live
trapping in the fall, and if growth rates
start to slip, we cut back on the stocking
rate a little bit to maintain a good growth
rate.
That was
the situation last fall; the fish were a
little bit less robust, so we trimmed the
salmon stocking rate this spring. We were
encouraged by a good smelt run, which means
lots of forage for the salmon. However,
along with reports of fast fishing after
iceout, we began getting reports of thin
fish. But we also got reports of fat fish.
Some anglers said that salmon were gorged
with smelts; some reported that they had
empty stomachs.
So which is
it? We're aware that post-spawning salmon
are often racy through the winter, and don't
really fill out again until the next
summer. Fortunately, our clerk Ethan Tracey
has been checking Rangeley anglers and their
catch this spring. His verdict? He's seen
a few slinky fish, but most of the salmon
look fat and healthy. We'll continue to
monitor the fishery, but the trend has been
excellent growth, with an increasing
complement of wild salmon in the fishery
since the one-salmon limit was imposed.
Brook trout also continue to contribute to
the fishery with 14-inch fish the most
commonly size caught this year. I might
mention that we've also had reports of
excellent fishing in the Rapid River,
Aziscohos Lake, and Mooselookmeguntic Lake.
Here are
some of the waters that have been stocked
with spring yearling brook trout (with a tip
of the hat to Embden Rearing Station Manager
Gene Arsenault for providing the
information): The Kennebec, Androscoggin,
Sandy, and Webb Rivers have been stocked
with brown trout, along with Wilson Stream.
Many of our lakes and ponds have been
stocked with spring yearling brook trout (as
mentioned in a previous report), as well as
the North and South Branches of the Dead
River. Now if it would only stop raining
for a while so that stream levels will drop.
-Forrest Bonney,
Regional Fisheries Biologist
Region E -
Moosehead Region
If you take
the time to read these weekly fishing
reports then it is likely that you have seen
the recently released Eastern Brook Trout
Joint Venture report. This study was a
cooperative effort between State and Federal
agencies, Virginia Tech, James Madison
University, and several non-governmental
conservation organizations. While the
report found that wild brook trout
populations were severely depleted in most
eastern states, Maine was the exception. In
fact, wild trout in Maine can be found in
most of their original subwatersheds. You
can check out the report at
www.brookie.org
or a nice article by Kevin Miller of the
Bangor Daily News at
www.bangordailynews.com/news/templates/?a=133472
It has been
the mission of the Fisheries Division for
nearly 50 years to protect and enhance the
fisheries in the State of Maine. We would
like to think that this report exemplifies
the success of past and present practices.
Increasing development and changes in
habitat including illegal fish introductions
are presently the leading concerns, but in
the past, poor land management practices and
over-harvest from angling were the main
threats. In most cases fisheries biologists
would utilize fishing rules to protect brook
trout from excessive removal.
The
Moosehead Lake Region had 156 trout ponds
categorized as native and never stocked as
of 1996. We updated that list in 2005 by
adding 18 waters, which were the result of
surveying some remote ponds that had never
been inventoried by our staff. We also
removed 31 ponds from the 1995 list.
Initially,
you might be startled at the thought that 31
waters in the region are no longer
considered native trout ponds. But of those
waters removed, fifteen had actually been
stocked around the turn of the century. We
recently located many years of archived
federal stocking records that weren't
available in 1996. In fact, we still have
many years of records that have not been
fully evaluated. What we found was that if a
pond is located within a few miles of the
railroad, then it was probably stocked and
since record keeping in those years was
inconsistent, it is hard to verify.
Fourteen
waters were removed from this region's
native list because immigration from other
stocked waters was a possibility. In all of
these cases, the waters from which
immigration could have originated were all
stocked prior to 1996. So, these waters
were removed due to a more thorough review
of existing data and not new stocking
programs.
One pond
was removed because it was not a principal
fishery for trout and should not have been
on the 1996 list. The last pond removed,
Bear Pd near Chesuncook Lake, was stocked in
1994, but was still included on the 1996
native trout list. Bear Pond was stocked
after we received complaints from area
anglers that they were not catching trout.
We netted the pond and found few trout but
large numbers of yellow perch and suckers.
Clearly, fishing was not the limiting factor
but instead the large number of competing
species in this shallow pond. It is likely
that the fishing was never very good in this
pond and considering it a principal fishery
in the past may have been a stretch.
Reclamation was examined but due to its
relatively remote location and difficulty in
creating a permanent fish barrier, the
decision was made to stock the pond with
wild strain fish. Post-stocking results
were poor and the stocking was
discontinued. So, over the past 10 years we
still have our native ponds intact in this
region.
Protecting
and enhancing wild brook trout fisheries has
always been and always will be one of our
highest priorities in the Moosehead Lake
Region. We will continue to protect our
known native and wild ponds with proper
regulations such as gear/bait restrictions,
bag limits, and size limits.
We will
work with other agencies such as LURC and
DEP to ensure that land use regulations are
sufficient to protect habitat from the
increasing threats associated with
development. We will conduct new lake
inventories on some of the hundreds of
waters that we have not yet surveyed.
Hopefully,
we will have an opportunity to thoroughly
review the list of LURC Remote Ponds in the
near future and perhaps make some
additions. We also plan to conduct research
to help us understand the wild brook trout
populations in our lakes, ponds, and
rivers. In fact, we will be conducting wild
brook trout research on the Chamberlain Lake
system this fall/winter with the cooperation
of Flyfishing in Maine (FFIM). This study
will include estimating the brook trout
population in the lake and the winter
harvest in 2007. We will also utilize newly
purchased radio telemetry equipment to
monitor brook trout movement to locate
critical spawning habitat and over-winter
refuge areas. We want to thank FFIM for
sharing the commitment and dedication to
conservation of our coldwater gamefish
resources. Please check out their webpage at
www.flyfishinginmaine.com
and consider supporting this worthy mission.
-Tim Obrey, Regional
Fisheries Biologist
Region F,
Penobscot Region
Rainfall in
this area of the State has been nowhere as
heavy as that in southern Maine this past
week; however, it was about 2" above normal
and did lead to some dramatic increases in
water levels and flows.
The
Penobscot River went from record low flows
in early May to a present flow of 38,000
cfs, which is double the normal flow of
19,000 cfs for this time of year. Almost
all flowing waters, rivers, streams, and
brooks, had flows that were too high for
effective fishing. High flows have kept
water temperatures down and early season
conditions should last well into June.
It is too
early to tell what effect, if any, water
temperature and flow conditions have had on
bass spawning in the Penobscot River. Early
season anglers on the Penobscot River have
reported highly variable angling success.
Bass spawning has started in lakes in the
southern part of the region and should
progress northward if weather conditions
return to normal.
Sudden
drops in water temperature can cause bass to
stop spawning activity which will resume
when the temperature increases. In years
when spring bass spawning conditions have
been especially bad bass have been observed
spawning in the month of August. It is very
unlikely that young bass hatched this late
in the season would grow large enough to
survive the following winter.
There have
been no reports of white perch spawning
activity yet this season. With surface
water temperatures remaining low on lakes
and ponds, salmon and trout has been quite
good. On cloudy days, or in early morning
and evening, there is still some good
activity at or near the surface with fish
moving into deeper water during brighter
days. Brook trout fishing in ponds has been
very good with some exceptional catches
reported in the northern part of the
region. As of last Friday, according to
warden reports, the Baxter State Park
perimeter road was not open all the way
through the park, although most of the trout
ponds in the southern part of the park were
accessible. The best trout fishing in the
park will not begin until the green drake
hatches begin in June.
-Mike Smith, Regional
Fisheries Biologist
Region G - Aroostook County
After a very rainy week, we
continue to get showers this week with a
very unsettled forecast for the next few
days. The precipitation was needed as we
were approaching summer low flows in many of
the smaller waterways. However, rivers,
brooks and streams are now near or at
bankfull stage. Unless you are using a
larger watercraft in the larger rivers,
there will be little fishing opportunity
until water flows subside.
Prior to
the rain, the Aroostook River in Caribou was
excellent for brook trout. Trout up to 16
inches were being caught with many in the
10-14 inch size range. One party left the
landing in Caribou but never got out of
sight as there were many trout feeding
heavily in the first riffles. In two hours
more than 25 trout were landed and
released. As the water recedes toward the
end of May and into June, fishing should be
excellent in the special regulation section
that begins at the WPS dam in Caribou and
extends downstream to the international
boundary in Fort Fairfield.
Smelt runs
have finally finished across the State;
spawning runs in the far north are the
latest to occur. Long Lake, well-known for
its landlocked salmon fishing, had another
excellent smelt spawning run this spring.
Smelt are the primary forage for salmon and
the strong population of smelt at Long Lake
helps to maintain the high quality sport
fishery. Smelt that we observed this year
were significantly smaller than in previous
years; the average size this year was 5.2
inches compared to 6.5 inches in 2005. The
egg deposition in the brooks was one of the
best in many years and bodes well for future
fishing at Long.
As smelt
begin to wind down their spawning activity
all of the stress of the spawning season
oftentimes results in significant die offs.
This is a common occurence in lakes that
support large smelt populations. We
routinely get calls about the large number
of smelt floating on the water and that wash
up on the beaches of lake side residences.
This post spawning mortality is normal and
although it appears to be wasteful, it is
part of the life cycle of this small fish.
Many species of wildlife, including trout
and salmon, feast on this readily available
food supply.
-Frank Frost, Assistant Regional Fisheries
Biologist
