The start of fishing season is upon us. A warm late March has quickened ice out. Who would have thought over a foot of ice would almost disappear in less than two weeks. Some rivers and streams are raging and some are in reasonable shape. It will be interesting to see when the stocking trucks start moving.

This is the time of the year to look for early black or brown stoneflies, they are the earliest hatch to bring fish to the surface, even though waters are quite cold. This hatch may already be declining if you live in warmer environs.

The smelt will be running soon as well. Identify which lakes and ponds that you might want to fish have a smelt population and trout or salmon. Visit inlet rivers, streams, and trickles of water that will be bone dry in a month. Keep on the lookout for signs of smelt and start casting your favorite smelt imitation. My book, “Flyfishing Northern New England Seasons” delves into the smelt run and best patterns in detail. Here is a good video of a smelt run in a little outlet stream – watch till the end…

Come see me at the Maine Sportsman’s Show either Friday or Saturday. I have a presentation each of those two days.

“

I will be giving a presentation to the Fly-fishing club of the University of New Hampshire on March 21st. If you would like to attend, please contact
unhflyfishingclub@gmail.com for more information.

I will also have a table at the annual western Maine fly-fishing event on March 26th Western Maine Fly Fishing Forum. at Gould Academy Fieldhouse on 39 Church Street, Bethel, Maine 04217. I will be selling my books and showing examples of my favorite trophy brook trout flies.

I write a column every other month for the Maine Sportsman monthly newsprint magazine. If you have never checked this publication out, I wholeheartedly recommend it, it is chock full of useful and interesting information. In the November issue, I wrote a column about a new fly pattern that I had some luck with at Upper Dam and elsewhere. It drew quite a bit of attention and so many asked for the recipe that the magazine published it. Since there seemed like such interest, I thought I would post my draft of the original column here along with a photo of the recipe from my book, “In Pursuit of Trophy Brook Trout”. Here it is:

A kaleidoscope of yellow and red leaves swirled down from the tops of birch and maple trees as I drove a western Maine logging road. Peak color was on the wane, and all but the aspens would be bare-branched soon. October’s bird season appeared in full swing on this Saturday. Every few minutes I passed a truck parked roadside, or the bird hunters themselves outfitted in blaze orange as they walked the side woods roads cradling their shotguns, sometimes with bird dogs sniffing ahead of them.

But no leaf-peeping or bird hunting for me, I continued on my way to Mooselookmeguntic Lake’s famous Upper Dam for a little late-season fly-fishing. Like any addict, I try to secure my angling fix before winter’s ice make me go cold turkey for months. I parked my car at the gate and briskly hiked down the hill to the dam. I was fully outfitted with waders, over-stuffed vest, wading staff, and two fly rods; my 10-foot nymphing rod and my seven-weight streamer rod.

Upper Dam

As I drew closer to the dam, I walked past an old apple tree. Suddenly, a half a dozen grouse exploded from within its yellow-leaved branches and flew across the open field. “How ironic after passing all of those hunters”, I said to myself, “If I had been walking with a shotgun, instead of a fly rod, I might have bagged two grouse.” But I was after creatures with scales, not feathers.

It was a decent day for the 2^rd week in October; a slight overcast with a breeze running up the river channel (as it often does) and temps in the low 50s. Given the moderate weekend weather, it did not surprise me to see a full contingent of anglers in all the usual and productive places – I counted 12. But low water levels allwed me more room to roam. So, I crossed the dam bridge, meandered down the far shore, and then made my way through the rocks and small runs out towards the backside of the main flow, downstream from the main pool.

It took me awhile to get into position. I am cautious now as I approach social-security age, and deceptively strong side-currents, an unstable rock, or an unseen hole could cause a stumble that might screw up a knee or an ankle. Better to go slow, and use a good wading staff with a metal tip.

I arrived at my mid-river destination and the closest angler stood over 70 feet away and on the other side of the main current. Once in position, I lay my staff and rods on two convenient flat-topped rocks, and considered my options. I could high-stick nymph fish, and use the length of my rod, two nymphs, and adjustable split shot to probe deep underneath the many rocks and boulders within reach that divided the lively current. I could also attach a strike indicator and cast further up or down river to cover more territory.

Proven Tactics

If nymphing, my patterns had to imitate what was available to the fish. Most caddis and mayfly larva are small at this time of year, so a match would be hook size 16,18, or 20. If I want my point fly to be heavier to better sink in the faster flows, I often choose a larger stonefly nymph imitation, since their multi-year life cycle produces larger nymphs year-round.

Alternatively, I could grab my streamer rod already rigged with a weighted streamer to fish across and down the main current or probe the deeper and slower water of the lower pools. In the fall, salmon and trout are deep in spawning mode and will attack colorful streamers that they see as either rivals to drive off or distracted younger brethren to grab for a cannibalistic meal.

I decided to begin by high-stick nymphing, with a size-10 black stonefly pattern of my design called (Sim’s Stone) and a size-18 beadhead pheasant tail. After a few drifts without a take, I added a split-shot to deepen the drift. On the second cast near a refrigerator-sized boulder, I had a strong take from a big salmon that surged in the strong current and broke me off. When you are fishing 5x tippet and small flies, that happens sometimes.

Nymphing the rest of the run, I brought several salmon and a brightly colored brook trout to hand – but of course – none as big as the first one.

New Patterns

I then switched to my streamer rod because I wanted to experiment further with a new family of streamer patterns I had developed for my “In Pursuit of Trophy Brook Trout” book. These streamers feature the spawning brook-trout colors of green, orange, and red but we tie them with Fish-Skull brand weighted heads. The combination has proven effective for hooking pressured trout that have seen the more traditional streamer patterns and no longer react to them.

On my second cast into a deep hole outside of the main current, I felt a tug and then a fish exploded into the air. It was so broad-shouldered and dark, I thought for a moment it was a smallmouth bass, but since smallies haven’t invaded here yet, I prayed that wasn’t the case. It turned out to be an old, scarred, but still powerful salmon that probably weighed four pounds. My fly continued to nail salmon for the next hour. I have no idea why landlocks were hammering a brook trout imitation. Do salmon feed on baby brook trout? Do baby brook trout predate salmon redds? Trying to explain the continuing mysteries of fly-fishing keeps me captivated.

October Options

Upper Dam is one of a number of Maine October river-fishing options. Try the Presumpscot, Saco, and Mousam Rivers in southern Maine, the East Outlet by Moosehead Lake, or the Fish River for landlocks below Fish River Falls (just to name several good options). Always double-check regulations.

Extend your season into October and later. Winter’s enforced fly-fishing celibacy will be arriving soon enough.

I would like to remind folks that my trophy brook trout book includes descriptions and recipes for all of the “guide’s flies” that I used to target trophy brook trout all over Maine for years. You can purchase directly from me signed or from other retailers such as Amazon, Orvis, the Rangeley Fly Shop, Royal River Books, and Shermans in Windham.

February continued the topsy-turvy weather that has typified this winter. In Windham we had two days that hit the mid 60’s, a number of mornings below zero, very little snow but inches of sleet, rain, and ice. As I write this, we are having the first major snowstorm of the month, but it is falling on bare ground.

What does all of this mean for the fishing?

Unless we get some major storms, spring snowmelt will be minimal in Maine and streams and rivers should be fishable early. I am still worried about drought conditions in western Maine, we need a big snowpack melting to refresh the groundwater and we do not have it. They did get one 18-inch snow in mid-February that most of Maine didn’t get, but with subsequent warm weather it wasn’t enough.

With no insulating snow and some very cold nights, ice cover is thicker than you might expect on ponds and lakes. Many of the smaller water bodies in southern and central Maine have 20 inches of ice. If cold weather continues, ice out dates maybe normal, certainly later than the last few years. Ice Out in the Windham area last year was March 28th. I am not sure 20 inches of ice will melt by then.

Happy mid-winter, but the days are getting longer and spring is around the corner! Covid once again is derailing the usual winter fly-fishing events with everything for the most part cancelled or postponed. Currently, I have absolutely no presentations planned for the next few months, but then I will get very busy. On April 1,2, and 3, I will be at the Maine Sportsman Show and giving presentations on how to catch pressured (i.e. smart) trout and salmon including hopefully some old big-boys. April 22, 23, and 24 will be the Marlborough Fly Fishing Show, postponed from this coming weekend. I will present each day: Patterns and Tactics for Pressured  N.E. Trout/Salmon that Refuse Usual Methods

I am also in the process of planning a few other presentations to smaller groups. I will keep you posted. Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram @mainelyflyfishing. I am going to keep this blog more active as well.

I have all my books in stock including my 2021/2022 updated Flyfisher’s Guide to New England. Most shops and stores that sell fly fishing equipment sells at least one title of my books. I am also in most of the Sherman Book’s locations. If you don’t see one you are interested in, ask. Or go to this website and order directly from me. Amazon is always an option.

The last month’s weather has been variable in Maine. Short cold snaps, followed by brief wqrm ups, and snow that ends in rain. Not much of a snowpack anywhere except perhaps the far north. During the warm spells, fly casters have been catching fish. I have heard good reports from the Mousam and photos of nice browns and brook trout from who knows where (although I have a few guesses).

But as we hit mid-January, colder air has resulted in thickening ice and even the hardcore fly casters have moved on to ice fishing or fly tying. The early part of the fly-fishing season was great if you were a risk-taker and didn’t mind easing out to ice that was less than three inches thick. Now, ice is safe in almost all places except the larger lakes or where current runs.

I have gotten out a few times myself. I find it fascinating that huge largemouths can be caught through the ice. Bucketmouths just seem more natural to a slough in Florida or a big lake in Texas. Yet, my friend Will and I (mostly Will) have caught fish from 3 to 6 pounds or larger so far.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that due to the warm December (and a little help from a coldframe, we harvested and ate fresh vegetables from the garden until the end of the month including tomatoes that we ripened on our windowsills

Till next time…

It will be Christmas before you know it and if you are looking for books for a flyfisher, I am in stock on all of my titles. For more information on the books and how to order, see right hand column of this website. Of course, I will personalize and autograph them for you. Anyone ordering before Xmas will also get a flyfishing Maine sticker, which you can put anywhere – I like mine on my car window. If you just want just the sticker or see other sticker options, you can go to www.reclaimedsignco.com.

Shops that carry all of my books include: Royal River Book Store in Yarmouth, Maine, Rangeley Sport Shop in Rangeley, LLCotes in Errol NH, and Evening Sun Fly Shop in Mass.

Next Wednesday, December 15, I am giving a zoom presentation to Downeast Trout Unlimited but anyone can zoom in, don’t have to be a TU member. Just go to the Downeast TU Facebook page and register. The title is:
Tactics and Fly Patterns for Catching Brook Trout and Landlocked Salmon Throughout the Year.” I use photos and videos to show how to successfully fish for salmonids from ice-out through the fall spawning season. Look forward to seeing you there.

Early December became seasonally cold and I only got fishing one more time. I took my kayak for a spin on Dundee Pond casting a Cosohammer streamer (brook trout colors) towards springs and inlets to see if some brook trout might be hanging out. I got several immediate strikes, see photo below:

By the first weekend of December, small ponds and lakes were starting to freeze up in central and northern Vermont, NH, and Maine, so unless we get a real warm spell, I might be limited to ice fishing for the foreseeable future.

Most of November featured many warm and sunny days and die-hard anglers took advantage of warmer-than-usual water temps and active fish. We did have some good rainstorms throughout most of New England so certain rivers ran too high to fish for a time, but usually at least some waters were fishable on any given day.

Anglers did well on waters with fall stockings as well as southern Maine lakes and ponds that have holdover fish who become active in the fall. I saw some nice photos of rainbows coming out of the Range Ponds.

Since I missed most of October due to my Florida trip, I wasted no time in early November, hitting some of my favorite fall spots that I hadn’t had a chance to fish.

I braved the crowds at Rte. 35 Bridge on the Presumpscot River by getting to my favorite run early in the morning, only t0 have two guys come in and start fishing just twenty feet downstream from me. It’s to be expected at this particular location. I still caught some hard-fighting trout including a brown trout that had been a resident for most of the year, and a brook trout that weighed several pounds.

I caught a few nymphing with a size 20 white midge with silver highlights. The big brookie came up through heavy water to nail a white Cosohammer streamer. I missed him the first time, but with good polarizing glasses, I watched for him to come up again and timed my strike better.

I always try to head south to the Durham/Exeter area of NH to fish the rivers because of the fall stockings by the Three River Stocking Association and the special regulations. They do such a nice job of managing the resource and putting in very high quality, large rainbows and other trout species from a private hatchery. I sell a booklet (Flyfishing NH’s Seacoast) on this website that is an excellent information source for where and how to fish the four coastal NH rivers that are stocked and managed in the fall.

I don’t get a chance to fish for rainbows too often, so I went down to the Exeter River on a record-breaking warm day with temps in the upper 60s. The river is small and fun to fish with many side channels, pockets, and deep runs. I didn’t have much success until I tried the tail out of a large complex pool. I was high stick nymphing in about three feet off water with a tungsten beadhead stonefly and an unweighted small pink egg. A number of chunky rainbows gobbled the egg as it drifted by them. One bigger fish took me down below the tail of the pool and I had to chase it a bit downstream before landing it.

I also tried the inlet to North Gorham Pond in Windham and the Mousam in Kennebuck to less success, although a big brown in the latter water broke me off and I lost a smaller brown as well.

Hopefully, I might even get out in early December once or twice if we get a warm spell. Tight lines, everyone.

Fall fishing is right around the corner, so of course, everyone is continuing to make plans for September and watching water levels closely. If you are a river angler, the higher the flow, and the earlier it runs, the better the fall fishing.

If you live in New York, Massachusetts, Central and Southern Vermont and New Hampshire, and south coastal Maine, you have plenty of river flow and perhaps, even too much. But the Western Maine mountains continue to be in a prolonged drought (for the entire summer), see map below representing conditions through August 14th. We need rain! But with several tropical systems moving through this week, we might just get it!

Speaking of fall fishing, My latest book, In Pursuit of Trophy Brook Trout, the Ultimate Handbook of Tactics, Timing, and Territory, is an excellent resource of where and how to fish at this time of year. You can purchase signed off this website for $ 26.00 and I also have a few “seconds” with slightly marked covers that I am selling for $ $ 14. Email me at louzambello@gmail.com and I will send you a photo of the cover and you can then purchase.

I actually haven’t been doing much fishing recently (from my perspective) and have been enjoying having time with four family generations. I have a few items to report on:

I do enjoy teaching new anglers the whys and wherefores of the sport. Here is a young lady enjoying the summertime bass fishing.

A week ago, my mother, sister and I celebrated 50 years on Damariscotta Lake at our family camp on the southern part of the lake. It was great fun reminiscing. Damariscotta is where I developed my love for fishing and my interest in smallmouth bass fishing with a fly rod. Of course, I found my way out to the water and caught a number of smallmouth and largemouth by fishing a popper around structure such as docks and logs. The fish were in a feeding mode because schools of young-of-the-year alewives were cruising the drop-offs and the bass were on them.

Fortunately, I fished late Saturday and early Sunday and was off the water before a local bass tournament began. My quiet morning on the lake, with grassy-calm conditions and the occasional bass breaking the surface; and the cries of both a loon and a bald eagle were disrupted by half a dozen glittery bass boats roaring past me at 60 miles an hour driven by their 250 horsepower engines (I was in a kayak). Geez, the boat, engine and gear manufacturers have certainly done a great job convincing bass fisherman that they can’t possible catch good numbers of bass without $50,000 dollars of gear.

I think I caught as many bass as most of them in half the time, but again, I have decades of experience on this lake. Interestingly, when I started fishing here, it was a smallmouth lake only, largemouth were introduced later.

Striper fishing has continued to be good on the coast of Maine all summer but, of course, exactly where, when, how many, and what size varies from day to day. If you find yourself along the coast for work, pleasure, or some other reason, it always pays to have a fly rod in the car, just in case. My number one fishing rule is” Always have a fly rod with you!

Case in point, my daughter’s boyfriend, Will was driving over the bridge from Cousin’s Island after a meeting with a customer and noticed a commotion next to the bridge. He turned around, stopped, grabbed his fly rod, hit the beach, and caught a few very nice stripers including this one below.

I will post again soon, in the meantime, I am looking over my flies and seeing what I need to restock before September.

Hi Everyone,

It was another early spring this year with limited snowpack and snow melt. Rivers and streams were at late summer flow rates and many lakes levels were low as well, some at record lows. Lakes have not recovered from last years drought and ground water is well below normal. Kennebago Lake was low when I visited in April and I understand that Aziscohos many feet down as well. This does not bode well for the season unless we get a lot of rain (meaning six inches over several weeks).. It can still happen so cross your fingers,

Ice Out on my home Dundee Pond waters was on March 29th about the same as last year, which I thought was very early. Rangeley Lake went out on April 17, one of the earliest  dates on record. March weather was very warm with many days of cloudless sun. April has been more seasonal with several snowstorms in the mountains. I believe the smelt runs have already commenced or remaining fish will be gone soon. I hear rumors of suckers appearing already. Fish movements and wildflower emergences (like trillium) seem one to two weeks early.

Many cloudless dry days, occasional big storms, and widely fluctuating temperatures….Maine weather has become more like the front range of the Rockies in Colorado.

Rivers and streams were at fishable levels, if not too low, right through April and were fishable. The inlet to Dundee Pond had virtually no flow because Sebago Lake was low. Fishing was inconsistent at best because water temps remained cold and the drought of last year cut the number of holdovers and wild trout significantly in small streams. One small stream in southwest Maine with wild trout actually went dry last fall.

Early small black and brown stoneflies hatched very early and some Presumpscot River browns were rising to them as early as late March.

Early black small stonefly

I finally found decent conditions on April 5th on one of my favorite stretches of river and managed to land a huge brown in surprisingly fast water on a seam. i didn’t precisely measure her but closer to 25 inches than 20, and I couldn’t get my hand around her because her back was so thick and broad. I didn’t have a net so to land this fish; I tailed it in the water, like you would do to an Atlantic Salmon. The fly pattern? A zonkerish pattern I tied from a sample I was given on the Yellow Breeches River in Pennsylvania. Last spring I caught a big brown on the same pattern (see my June 2, 2020 post), but this one was larger – 4 pounds for sure if not bigger.

I have huge hands and I couldn’t span the width of the back of this fish.

I like a fish that is big enough to tail.

This process may include studying history of ED patient, discussing viagra generika 50mg Going Here symptoms and important blood tests to establish the bleeding causes as well as the severity of Erectile dysfunction. 2. Your weight loss rewards could be even greater if you make use of herbal supplements together with healthy viagra discount prices food choices. Male Sexual Problem Treatment viagra super store In Delhi Low sex desire due to decrease in testosterone level because of excess smoking. Sildenafil citrate is female viagra in india just like any other medicine; which means that it has certain restriction and side effects. A spate of landlocks were caught in the North Gorham Dam tailwater in mid April and huge schools of suckers were staging there for awhile as well. The state started their stocking program around April 20 and hadn’t completed their spring stocking as the end of the month approaches.

I did try my hand at pike fishing in Sabbatus Lake one morning with no sign of any. I did catch one of the biggest smallies I have ever caught, over 4 pounds for sure. Two fish for my early efforts and both personal records or close to it.

This fish towed my kayak for a bit, even in very cold water.

This is the time of the year when catching trophy brook trout is possible. Here is an excerpt from my book, In pursuit of Trophy Brook Trout: The Ultimate Handbook of Tactics, Timing, and Territory.

“Suckers move into the first riffles above a lake to spawn when stream temperatures approach 50 degrees – usually several weeks after smelt spawning is over. Trout don’t feed on the suckers themselves (at 12 inches and over and up to several pounds, they are too large) but gorge themselves on small, yellow sucker eggs. I have unhooked trout that had mouths jammed with what looks like lemon Jello. The dominant (and often the largest) brook trout will position themselves immediately downstream from the sucker schools that are leaking eggs or actively spawning. Picture large rainbows feeding on salmon eggs in Alaska and you get the idea.”

Enjoy the beginning of the season.

Lou

Sales Note: With the fishing show season cancelled, I am sitting on books I ordinarily would have sold so I am continuing to run specials.  Anyone purchasing Flyfishing Northern New England Seasons (a great book for this time of year) will also receive free a cool flyfishing Maine sticker to put on your car (or where ever).

For more products like this, go to www.reclaimedsignco.com

Read how to order books (signed) from the right hand column on this page.

Here is an excerpt from the book:

If you are fishing near a smelt run and targeting predatory fish, streamer selection is a matter of choosing your favorite smelt imitation. There are a myriad of smelt-imitation patterns. Some of the old standbys are as much a part of the history of the great North Woods as are their tiers, like Carrie Stevens, and the “sports” who came by train from Boston and New York – well-dressed fly-fishing men and women who are now immortalized in black and white pictures standing behind stringers of huge dead trout and salmon. Many of the classic streamer patterns still work, at least once in a while, and we have many new creations to choose from every year.

Now, on with the late March report:

Early March featured some of the coldest nights of the year before Spring arrived for the second half of the month. At least seven days reached highs in the upper 50s to mid 60s. Lindsey and I were up at Kennebago Lake for four days without a cloud in the sky and temps rising into the 50s.

                                                   Winter views from camp

                            It is still winter at Kennebago Lake in late March.

                          The warmer weather starting to open up Norton Brook

While Kennebago still had lots of thick ice and snow, as I write this from Dundee Pond in Windham all of the snow is gone and a good foot of ice one week ago is almost out on the pond. It is amazing how fast the ice melted.

               Ice going out during warm spell, its cold temperature creating local fog

But there can also be some quite dramatic differences in the way the buy viagra for women drugs are used. Some side effects experienced by most patients include changes in vision such as blurring, and bleeding from the nose, etc. viagra 100mg tablets The ingredients used to prepare the product are the purest in form that provide complete solution to sildenafil 100mg viagra sex life. You too can be a leader amongst the india cheap cialis people. The other weather-related news is that so far this year we are in another dry spell with precip running 50 percent of normal. Even with the snow melt, streams are hardly running. It looks like we could be in drought conditions again. Some rain is in the forecast so maybe things will change.

With the change in weather, birds and animals are quite active. At Kennebago Lake, a bobcat walked right past our camp one night vocalizing quite loudly. Our pet pair of Canadian Jays peered at us through the window every morning looking for their handouts.

                               My pet Canadian Jay

In Windham, migrating waterfowl arrived in force – various Merganser species, wood ducks, and Canadian geese, just to name a few.  A flock of turkeys is wandering around our yard. A pair of muskrats now swim back and forth, and the bald eagle has been giving us a fly-by everyday.

Turkeys walked across the melting ice to my yard to feed on my fallowed raised beds

With the warmer weather, I was even able to plant my early veggies (under plastic) and they were nicely sprouted by the last week of March, led by the turnips (from seeds I hand harvested last fall).

My spinach, radishes, lettuce, and turnips sprouted quickly under plastic

I will post another update soon. Things change in a hurry this time of year.