The last few days have been cold, overcast and foggy with the occasional rain shower or stretch of drizzle. I have come home from my morning striper trip and started a fire in the woodstove to feel warm. In fact on my afternoon trip one afternoon I wore an insulated underwear top and was glad to have it on as the evening wore on. After a warm and dry month of May this is pretty hard to take, I'm sure that summer is here and the warm sunny days are not far off.
Striper Report!
This change in weather has certainly effected the stripers in a big way. The water temperatures have fallen a few degrees and this morning the warmest water was in the main channel, the shallow coves where water temperatures are usually warmest were at least three degrees colder than the deep water. In fact way down river even the nearby ocean was warmer. The stripers have developed lockjaw with the cold water. Hopefully it will only last for a day or two. They have to eat sometime. Don't they?
There is an amazing amount of baitfish in the Saint George River; clouds of bay anchovy and mackerel everywhere along with the usual herring. I am assuming that with all of this food and falling water temperatures the feeding sprees will be off for only a day or two. We should be back in action on one of the next few tides.
Freshwater Bass Fishing
A half day fishing trip yesterday yielded a number of bass over three pounds and several smaller bass. I also took an hour to make sure that the perch fishing is still remarkable and was definitely reassured. In fact using the fish finder and trolling motor I was able to locate a nice school of white perch. I marked the spot on the GPS but who knows if the fish will still be in that spot next time I look for them.
I enjoyed a great morning one day last week with little wind; just enough breeze to keep any bugs at bay. Launched the Grand Lake canoe on one of my favorite bass ponds, this one is small by Maine standards at only 250 or so acres, just the right size for a short fishing trip. The bass were spawning on the shallow flats and it was some of the best sight fishing you could wish for. Because there was little wind the fish were clearly visible and if not careful it was possible to spook them with an inaccurate cast of the fly. I forgot how much I enjoy poling the canoe in shallow water and because I was standing the fish were quite visible on the light colored beds.
I prefer to fish with a surface fly when conditions are that good. But it was not the fly of choice as we had several refusals. Still there were enough loud showy takes to keep it more than interesting for a few hours. None of the fish were large (biggest maybe three pounds) but the fishing could not have been more enjoyable. The fish were almost evenly divided between largemouth and smallmouth bass with a number of quiet takes when no one was looking that I assume were perch or sunfish that were not hooked.
As the morning progressed the fish seemed to slowly shut off with the midday sun until at about 1PM we had several fish simply bump or splash the fly without getting hooked. All in all an almost perfect morning of fishing and a great first trip in the Grand Lake canoe.
Have a project that you need help on?
It looks like I will some time available next winter to work on a project or two. My current lobbying clients have both indicated that they are short on cash and will be scaling back or not renewing my contracts for next winter. The good news is that I expect to have time available that I have not had for several years. If you have a markeitng or production project, or know of one that needs a little extra effort from an independent consultant please drop me an e-mail and let's make a plan for next winter.
Booking now for the coming season!
Reservations continue to come in for this summer and a few popular weeks are very full already. If you are planning to be in the area please give me a call or reply to this e-mail so we can plan a date to spend some time outdoors together.
