As I have done for most years, I spent the last week of the general open water season fishing in the Moosehead and Chesuncook lake regions.
Over the course of the week, we fished several sections of two well-known and very different rivers, as well as a small remote pond. We aborted a trip to a third river due to crowding.
On my way north from my home in central Maine, I noticed how low our rivers and streams have gotten since I stopped fishing locally in early July. A small dam on one river was not spilling over, and several of the small tributaries to Moosehead Lake were barely flowing.
When we got to the Roach River on the first day, I took a water temperature reading. I was stunned to find that the water was 65 degrees in the last week of September. So much so that I took multiple readings to make sure.
While a brief mid-week rain dropped the water temperature a couple of degrees, it bounced back up a day or two later. The situation was the same in the lower river as it was the upper river. And the flow seemed low as well, likely due to the low water in First Roach Pond.
While we caught fish in the Roach over the course of five outings, overall, the fishing was disappointing. Numbers were down, and everyone in our party got skunked at least once.
Salmon far outnumbered brook trout, with the latter oddly scarce. The only bright note was that the salmon were heavier than they have been in past years, and the average length was longer.
Based on what we heard from other anglers, we were doing about what everyone else was. In fact, I only saw a handful of fish caught and far more people reported being skunked than not.
No one in our party caught more than a few fish in a single outing. Clearly the fish had not moved up from Moosehead Lake to the degree they normally would in late September.
Frustrated by the conditions on the Roach, we headed north to fish the West Branch Penobscot River. Fed by the larger, deeper and colder Chesuncook Lake system, and flowing underground for almost a mile before emerging at the McKay Power Station, we figured the water temperature would be more favorable.
And as a resident versus transient population, the salmon and brook trout had to be there. We also felt that it would be less crowded than the big fish lake-run fisheries.
There were four anglers in our party, including two coldwater fisheries biologists from southern New England who were up for a conference in Millinocket. When we got to the river, I took a water temperature reading. Amazingly, like the Roach, it was an astounding 65 degrees.
In several hours of fishing, we managed only three fish. We cast streamers, swung emergers, and dished nymphs. Having fished and floated the West Branch for decades, including 10 or so years out of a year-round camper site on Ripogenus Lake, I was stunned to see it so warm at this time of year.
Several days after returning home, I went to the Kennebec River in Madison, my home water, to see where things were after a hot and dry summer. As was the case up north a week earlier, the water temperature was roughly 65. In a few hours of fishing, we managed just one small brown trout and a smallmouth bass.
In years past, by October the bass had moved downriver, fall insects were hatching and the trout were active again.
It wasn’t that long ago that I fished up north in late September in fingerless gloves and a wool hat. Starting early in the month, brook trout and salmon moved from the lakes and into the rivers and streams for spawning.
My old fishing log shows me catching way more fish and much earlier in the month than I do today. In the case of the Kennebec, I am being forced off the water notably earlier in the season due to warm water and things don’t get going again in the fall until much later.
We have opened bird season early because of COVID-19. We have done the same for open water fishing due to poor ice conditions.
Now it’s time to extend the fall fishing season because by the time it gets going these days, the season is almost over. If fish are spawning later, which I believe is the case, fishing deeper into the fall would not do any harm.
As a friend recently said, October is the new September.
Bob Mallard is the former owner of Kennebec River Outfitters and a Registered Maine Fishing Guide. He is writer, author, and executive director for Native Fish Coalition. Look for Bob’s latest books, “ Squaretail: The Definitive Guide to Brook Trout and Where to Find Them,” “ Favorite Flies for Maine: 50 Essential Patterns from Local Experts” and “ Fly Fishing Maine: Local Experts on The State’s Best Waters.” Bob can be reached at BobMallard.com or [email protected]
