Summer is here! I know not officially but the spring weather has been nearly perfect and Maine is well ahead of schedule getting the season underway. The lupines are in bloom and the hay in the field across the street was cut a couple of weeks ago.
Fishing has been fabulous all spring with the freshwater bass now spawning and stripers arriving in the salt water last week. No to mention trout fishing that has been lots of fun.
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If you are looking to explore the natural side of mid coast Maine maybe catch a few fish or just relax in the bow of a canoe. Now is the time to arrange for your visit to the Maine Outdoors. Please drop me an e-mail or give me a call and let's arrange a date!
I usually don't talk much about trout fishing. The best of the fishing is usually in late April and early May. Before there are visitors around to have me guide them. Many springs in the last several years have been wet keeping rivers high and not safe to wade. But this spring has been different; with low water levels, very pleasant temperatures and cooperative fish have all combined to have me guiding more trout fishing than usual.
One weekend had me on a local river that has never been stocked so that the fish are all native wild brook trout. The river was at a perfect level and the fish were taking dry flies which combined for an exceptionally enjoyable morning of fishing. We were treated to sightings of ospreys and eagles along the river there to take advantage of the alewife run. Alewives were also present in good numbers but did not seem to discourage the trout.
No fish of exceptional size but rather a very enjoyable morning of trout fishing. I plan to schedule a return trip this week to take advantage of near perfect conditions and help someone catch a few of those pretty fish. Why don't you join me?
After hearing very encouraging reports from southern Maine I am looking forward to the coming striper season. A trip down onto the saltwater section of the Saint George River has me encouraged. First water clarity has not been this good for several springs now. There was good clean green seawater well above the Route 1 bridge in Thomaston. Water temperature was in the 60's another very positive sign.
There were large schools of bait in several places including what I think were blueback herring. Between them and an excellent alewife run there is plenty of bait in the river. After an hour or so I had not turned a fish and left for home. Heard a day later though from Capt. George Harris of Superfly Charters that he caught a few on the next tide confirming my suspicion that the conditions were perfect for the first stripers to arrive.
Smoke
Sunday morning when I got up there was a strong smell of smoke in the air, when I went out to give the dogs their morning exercise it was stronger. We spent the day driving our youngest son to the University of Rhode Island to start his summer job and you could smell it to well south of Portland.
Memorial Day morning it was thick in the air limiting visibility and you could certainly smell it. Where could it be coming from? At first I assumed that it was a neighbor burning brush but after I realized the area covered I knew it had to be something much bigger.
Come to find out the smoke is from forest fires in Quebec, actually north of the Saint Lawrence. Pretty amazing when you think about it, must be quite a fire. We are several hundred miles away and the smoke is visible in the air. Ten years ago I was in that country on a fishing trip and was amazed at the area a recent fire had consumed. There is so much country with few or no roads that when a fire gets started a rain storm is the only real hope for putting it out.
We could use a little rain too to bring the water levels back to where they belong in early summer for freshwater fishing and canoe trips. There is rain in our forecast for today. Hope that Quebec gets rain too!
