I haven’t blogged for two months. Sorry about that but that is what happens when grandkids come to visit for a month and then I take a long road trip, and I try to cram as much fishing as I can between it all.
What a difference a year makes. For the last five years, summers have been hot and dry and this author and my readers have lamented the low and warm water, drought conditions, and uneven fishing. Just page down and reread my blogs from the last few summers. But not this year! We have had either rain or flooding rain for the last two months throughout most of New England. In fact, Boston had the driest summer last year in over 50 years, but this this summer so far has been their wettest summer since 1872!
The bad news is that when the rain has been heavy, it has blown out rivers and streams and rendered them unfishable for days. The good news is that all this has been good for the salmonids – plenty of cool water.
Rivers and streams that are stocked in the spring, with poor survival rates because of low and hot water during the summer, have plenty of holdovers – even so-called put-and-take fisheries. As one example, in between spates of rain, anglers are still hooking plenty of trout in the Royal River in Yarmouth.
Of course, the rain has been a disaster for some. As I did research for my book: Flyfisher’s Guide to New England, I traveled to many small towns along rivers and streams, including Ludlow, Vermont. I can’t believe the photos compared to the bucolic town I remember. My thoughts are with them. Last week, we received five inches of rain in less than 12 hours and the Presumpscot crested above flood stage. Crazy.
The rain and colder weather have brought fall conditions to the western Maine Mountains and the northern half of Maine. Surface water temps in many of the lakes were up to almost 80 degrees in mid-July and are now down in the 60s. The water temperature of the Kennebago River and other major rivers is hovering around 60 degrees and with the heavy flow,
I assume the fall run of salmon has already started in some places. but fishing is very difficult because of the heavy flows. I did catch one fresh landlocked salmon, bright as a new nickel a few days ago before more rain made the river unfishable. On Kennebago Lake, fish are rising freely in the evening with the cooler water temperatures. I hooked a very lively salmon last evening.
More to come