Moosehead, Penobscot region fishing reports
By Fisheries Resource Biologist Stephen Seeback
June in Maine is famously buggy. Black flies swarm thick enough to blot out the sun, and mosquitoes buzz overhead like fighter jets ready to unleash a feeding frenzy. But for anglers willing to endure the onslaught, the reward is some of the year’s best fly fishing.
Waters are still fairly cool, with temperatures in the low to mid-50s in the smaller ponds across the region. As a result, mayfly and caddis hatches have been slow to start. Most of the insect activity has been spotty and will increase with warmer temperatures forecasted for the coming weeks. Once the warmer weather arrives it will be an ideal time to visit your favorite trout pond, as fish will begin feeding actively throughout the day.
In early June the best action usually comes in mid-morning, once the sun has had a chance to warm the water. By month’s end, however, the prime windows shift to sunrise and the final golden hour before dark.
Rather than focusing on any single pond, anglers exploring the Greenville and Jackman region will find countless productive trout waters — more than enough to keep someone busy for a lifetime. With a little research and a willingness to explore, it’s hard to go wrong.
June is also one of the best times to pursue bass. During the spawning season, anglers can enjoy exceptional sight-fishing opportunities as bass guard their nests in shallow water.
Sebec Lake remains a favorite destination along the southern edge of the Moosehead Lake region, offering plenty of bass action along with opportunities to land trophy-sized fish. For families and anglers looking for steady action, Branns Mill Pond is an excellent choice. While the bass there are generally smaller, the pond provides fast-paced fishing and plenty of pickerel, perch and sunfish to keep the parent that pulled the short straw busy baiting hooks and releasing fish. A convenient causeway near the boat launch also makes shore fishing easy, especially for anglers tossing worms from the bank. Occasionally, lucky anglers may even be rewarded with a stocked brook trout.
Reminders, the Greenville fisheries staff will be operating the trap in the East Outlet Dam starting in mid-June. The first scheduled tend will be on June 17. We typically tend the trap Monday, Wednesday and Friday around mid-morning. If you’re in the area or fishing in the river and spot us on the dam, feel free to stop by and look at the fish. Late June usually brings the largest and most impressive fish, while July tends to feature smaller trout and salmon.
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By Fisheries Resource Supervisor Kevin Gallant
June brings the pesky blackflies and mosquitos, but with that comes the brook trout bite! If you are looking for new places to explore, try Baxter State Park.
Here you will find 45 waters on the heritage list, these waters have never been stocked (or not in at least 25 years) and contain a year-round self-sustaining population of brook trout. Some of these include Katahdin Lake (T3R8 WELS), Wassataquoik Lake (T4R10 WELS) and Foss and Knowlton Pond and Kidney Pond (both in T3R10 WELS) just to name a few. We also stock a few ponds in the park that are not able to maintain a wild population. These are Billfish Pond and Frost Pond (both in Trout Brook Township), Celia Pond and Draper Pond (both in T3R10 WELS) and Rocky Pond, Round Pond and Abol Pond (all in T2R9 WELS). Lower Togue Pond is also stocked with splake. All should provide fast fishing while you feed the blackflies!
If you prefer to target landlocked salmon look to Upper Jo Mary Lake (TA R10 WELS), Deering Lake (Weston) and Seboeis Lake (T4R9 NWP). Seboeis Lake also provides a quality splake fishery.
If you are struggling to catch fish, try changing the color of your lure or fly. Sometimes what is on the end of your line isn’t as important as the color. Going from orange to pink or purple can change your day. If something isn’t working, don’t be afraid to tie on a new color!
We encourage anglers to continue to remove lake trout at Schoodic Lake in Brownville. Currently the regulation is no size or bag limit on lake trout under 23 inches and you can keep one over 23 inches. The reason for this is to bring the lake trout population down and allow the rainbow smelt to rebound. This increase in forage will lead to larger, healthier lake trout and landlocked salmon. We have also wrapped up our northern pike tagging in the Pushaw drainage. There are now up to 428 tagged fish that could still be swimming in the system or anywhere they have free swim within the Penobscot drainage. If you catch a tagged fish, please be sure to report it.