I spent a couple of hours this morning fishing on a small pond I had not fished in at least fifteen years. In the bow of the canoe was my soon to be graduate son. We took turns paddling the boat and casting flies to structure near shore. He caught a few largemouth bass to make it interesting. When he asked me about this pond that he thought was a secret known only to him and his buddies he was surprised to have me tell him not only that I knew the pond but had an easier way to get to it then they were using. I suppose that I will not have this upper hand in local knowledge forever but it is fun for the moment. The morning was an early summer delight with little wind, fog gradually burning off and sunshine coming through. We were closely followed for a while by a loon, I imagine making sure that we stayed away from a nest that we did not see on the shore.
After the steady rain and wind of the weekend I did not expect much for striper fishing yesterday morning. On top of that we got a late start but did have the tide in our favor, I thought. There were periods of drizzle and brilliant sun but overall it was cloudy and cool. The river was high and dirty with a lot of brown tannin stained fresh water obvious. I worked my way down river there were fish in good numbers, nothing thrilling like bait driven to the surface but steady fishing. In fact when I got down far enough that the water was clear and pretty much green fish seemed to be dropping right into the usual summer patterns. It felt very much like being back with old friends, in familiar places.
So I would say that summer is here, right down to the foggy mornings with laughing gulls in the background. The last migrating shore birds are still around; golden and black belied plovers that are waiting for the ice to leave the far north; even they should be enjoying their summer homes before long. I am taking reservations for summer fishing and canoe trips almost every day so it reinforces the feeling that summer is here for sure and it looks like it will be very busy.
Please make a plan to get out and enjoy the Maine Outdoors soon.
Best regards,
Don Kleiner
Master Maine Guide
