The weather stayed cold in early December and ponds and lakes continued the freezing process, although warmer temperatures and heavy rain in the middle of the month opened up some water again.
The Rangeley area has several feet of snow on the ground in places and lakes were locked up tight with ice.
The upper Presumpscot River continued to fish well in early December even with the colder water. I heard from anglers using flies discussed in my books that they were working well including the Cosohammer streamer, brook trout egg patterns, and bright-bead nymphs. Fly fishers are cetainly fishing later in the year now. Everybody used to quit when deer season arrived, but now the anglers are still at it after deer season is over! The following video was taken December 7th – a nice brook trout caught nymphing.
Year in Review: As I think back about 2019, I am reminded that you never know what might happen while you are fishing. For instance, you never know what fish species you might land on a fly. Here are two of the more bizarre hook-ups of the year.
Will Folsum with four -foot eel he hooked and landed with a small Prince Nymph while fishing the fast water at the head of Dundee Pond.
A large yellow perch that took a 4-inch leech pattern designed for big largemouth bass or perhaps brown trout.
Finally, I found someone who illuminated me on the bait blitz that I posted a video of as part of my November blog. Apparently, landlocked alewives exist in Sebago Lake and the young of the year still attempt to migrate downstream. During several big rain events in November, a number of them were washed over the Sebago Lake and North Gorham Pond dams and became trapped in Dundee Pond, where in the shallow water, they became easy pickin’s.
Let me wish everyone a Happy and Healthy New Year with plenty of fly-fishing opportunities.