Complements of The Kittery Trading Post

Activity for the 3rd week of April, 2001

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 April 16, 2001

            With many of even the southern lakes and ponds still ice-bound today, a lot of our observers are now talking of record breaking lateness for ice-outs. Even where rivers and brooks are clear of ice, snowmelt has the water temperatures in the low 30s, and many of them are running the color of coffee with cream. From this early season set of circumstances, it's only natural that most of the good reports are coming from Massachusetts, where their ponds have no ice, and fishing pressure is at its peak.

            "Our freshwater trout fishing has been great for most of the week," boasts Pete Santini at Fishing FINatics in Everett, Massachusetts. "The best fish we've seen so far this season was a 20-inch, five-pound brook trout caught from Walden Pond in Concord. Bob Coffil hooked that huge brookie on chartreuse Power Bait and claims that he lost one even larger on a spoon. Lexington Reservoir (Lexington) has been producing some very good fishing for rainbow and brook trout, as has Brookline Reservoir (Brookline). Power Eggs and Mepps spinners have been two of the best baits. Horn Pond in Woburn continues to be a good bet for rainbows. The area in the fast water at the culvert has been hot. There's still some Atlantic salmon there up to ten pounds, so you never know what you'll be hooking. At Fellsmere Pond in Malden, the bass have taken over. They are hitting large shiners. And there are still some nice catches of brookies. Blue and black jig and pig combos are what the bass like there," Pete said.

            "The saltwater action has really picked up this week. Schoolie stripers have become active at the Amelia Earhart Dam in Somerville, but I'd have to think that they are still holdover fish--no sign of fresh-run stripers yet. They're pulling cod to seven pounds up over the railings at the Castle Island Pier on clams, chunks and worms. At the B Buoy outside Boston Harbor, cod to 12 pounds have been hitting jigs and clams. Walch's Party Boats out of Lynn are having some great days with a lot of cod and some haddock. Their largest cod last week was over 22 pounds," Pete ended.

            Farther north, Kay Moulton at Surfland Bait and Tackle on Plum Island, reports that fishing in the harbor and rivers has been very slow with no shad reported yet, and the flounder season not opening until May 1st. "But we've got one party boat, Captain's Lady, operating out of Newburyport on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. They've had some outstanding catches of both cod and haddock. It's $40 for a day's trip. A few fish easily pays for the price," Kay noted.

            "Tim Tower's party boat, Bunny Clark, has had some outstanding luck on both cod and haddock," reports Dave Ganter at the Kittery Trading Post. "I've heard that Tim's schedule is filling up fast, so you'd better call ahead for reservations. Some of the sport boats also have been catching a few groundfish, so we're really looking for better success than we've seen in the last several years," Dave said.

            "We've started to see a bit of a resurgence in the recreational oystering and clam digging here on Great Bay," enthused Jim MacKenzie at Suds-n-Soda in Greenland, NH. "Although there aren't a lot of good access areas to walk to the clam and oyster beds, Adams Point in Durham is one good choice. My advice is to go by boat. That way you don't fight the access problems and also can do quite a bit of scouting. That long lug back to your car with a pail of oysters or clams is avoided," he said.

Jim wanted to pass the word that licensing requirements were mandated and that separate licenses were needed for clams and oysters. "You can gather or tong oysters all days of the week, but clam digging is only allowed on Fridays and Saturdays. The season often is closed early for shellfish because of red tide warnings or pollution, so if you're planning on going, I wouldn't wait too long," he warns.

Captain Cal Robinson at Saco Bay Tackle, reports that a few of his customers had been out on the offshore ledges and had some decent luck on both cod and haddock, but no real big catches. He said that the sea-run trout fishermen have caught and released a few brown trout, but conditions are still not the best, with cold, high and dirty water coming into the marshes from the snowmelt. "It's probably going to be another two to three weeks before our spring sea-run trout fishing starts to peak." (Last year, a brown trout of over ten pounds was taken!)

The "Sebago Lake Sage", Carroll Cutting at Jordan's Store in East Sebago, was musing that this year's ice-out may set an all-time record. "The latest ice-out since records started in 1808 was May 8th. That happened in 1888. In recent years, late ice-out has occurred in 1970 (April 23rd) and 1971 (May 2nd). During the winters of 1998 and 1999, the lake never really froze over, and in the period between 1947 and 1955, there were five winters of no ice cover on the big part of Sebago," Cutting reports.  "There are a few people fishing the small openings around the lake, but we're still in a winter mode. And a few of the hardy souls are catching some native brook trout from local brooks here, but it's hard going as there's still over two feet of snow in the woods," he laughed.

            "We've seen a few decent fish caught this week, one in particular, a five pound landlock taken at the Songo Locks (Crooked River). The fish hit a black ghost marabou streamer fly," reports Dave Garcia at Naples Bait. "Some anglers have been putting boats in at Thompson's Point on Sebago to fish the mouth of the Songo River. It's hard going. You need a small boat. The ramp at the park isn't open yet. There's been a few togue (lake trout) caught, and there's still a few salmon being caught from the bridge here on Route 302. The smelt are on the move, and I'd guess they'll be up into the Songo River in good numbers soon," he forecasted.

            Ray Soriano at River's Edge Sports Shop in Oquossoc in the Rangeley Lakes area, said that even though there were some small openings around the lakes there, no one was fishing. "I guess it's a mindset. We've still got winter conditions so nobody is thinking fishing yet," he complained.  Dave Ganter at the Kittery Trading Post had seen a few brookies being taken from Swan Pond Brook in Goodwin's Mills. "That brook doesn't get dirty or muddy early in the season, and I think that is the key to locating a brook where the trout may be hitting. I'd stay away from the muddy ones, until they clear," Dave suggested.

            New Hampshire's open water situation had improved a little bit last week, but was still close to three weeks behind normal, according to Steve Courshesne at the Sportsmen's Den in Hooksett. "On Lake Sunapee, there's some open water at George's Mills and in downtown Sunapee. Also there's some open water to fish at Bay Point on the lower western shore. A few lakers and landlocks have been caught, but it's slow fishing," he noted.

            "Winnipesaukee Lake's usual early spots have been disappointing in their slowness to clear open enough area to fish. At Alton Bay, it's just past the docks. At Wolfeboro, there's open water around most of the docks and in front of the Smith River. There's also open water at the Long Island and Governors Island Bridges. But to tell you the truth, we saw more snowmobilers than fishermen," he laughed. As a commercial smelt dealer, Steve keeps close track of the smelt runs. He said that he'd never seen smelt runs start later than March 28th, but had yet to see his first smelt as of today!  Steve's shop is close to the Merrimack River in Hooksett. "We haven't heard of any Atlantic salmon stocking yet nor have we heard of any fish caught in town here. The river is high and dirty," he ended.

            Both Chris Henson and Dave Ganter at the Kittery Trading Post's Fishing Department had some news from New Hampshire fishermen. "Our Chad Woodward caught and released a 20-inch brown trout from the Isenglass River in the Strafford area," Ganter reported. Henson had a friend catch two landlocked salmon while casting a cone-head, black wooly bugger fly into the Winnipesaukee outlet, where it dumps into Lake Opechee in Lakeport. Chris also said that some of his contacts had been picking up pickerel along the open shorelines of local ponds. Their method was using small Rapala lures and just slow-twitching them on the surface.

            "One of our customers cut through 40 inches of ice here on Marsh Pond last Thursday, if that will give you any indication of conditions around here," lamented Tink Nelson at Nute's Trading Post in Wakefield. "We've got plenty of open water here in our rivers and brooks, and a few avid brookie fishermen are out there after the natives, but there's been no real fishing pressure. We also had a customer take two salmon at Wolfeboro one afternoon last week, but there's really not enough open water there to troll yet," he said.

            "It was 24 degrees here at the shop when I opened this morning," noted Bill Martel at Martel's Bait in Laconia. "There is twice as much open water here as there was last Monday when you called, but the fish really haven't started to hit good yet. Normally, Opechee Lake would be iced-out by now. But there's really not much open water there yet. We haven't heard of any smelt runs yet. They are what bring the fish up into the river (Winnipesaukee) here. There's been quite a bit of fishing pressure on the river but really not that many fish caught--a few salmon and only one rainbow that I've heard of," he reported.

            "Our river is starting to come to life here," noted George Malloy at River's Edge General Store in Berlin, talking about the Androscoggin River. "Two friends of mine, Lenny Pouliot and Kenny Silts, caught six nice rainbows one day last week, all in the 16-inch range. Lenny is a lure fisherman. He took his fish on an Al's Goldfish. Ken's fish all came on bottom fished nightcrawlers. There's still quite a bit of ice fishing going on here. We've heard of several smallmouths caught, some in the five pound range," George added.

            New York's Lake Ontario's famous, early-season brown trout fishing has started, according to Bud Duell, award-winning outdoor writer that writes under the pen name of "Old Hickory". "They're starting to catch some browns and steelheads off of Catfish Creek (Mexico, NY area) and along the shoreline near Nine Mile Point. There's also a few trout being caught in the rivers coming into the lake, but they are pretty high and dirty," he observed. Bud is looking for one of the best fishing seasons in years on the big lake, noting that the pen rearing of both trout and salmon is increasing the returns of fish to their stocking areas and has cut down on the mortality caused from cormorant predation. He reports the lake levels are low, but not as low as last year and that the alewife population is healthy, one of the factors that makes him so upbeat about this year's fishing.

          Past Fishing Reports 2001

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