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Summertime in the BelgradesContentsfor Printing Article Summaries |
It's All About Timing
by Mike Guarino Sometime an angler just gets unlucky. You know the old saying, timing is everything. Well, that's definitely true when it comes to fishing. The week before Memorial Day was a perfect example of how fish can turn off and turn back on again with a vengeance. Some very good friends of mine came to Belgrade on a fishing vacation for that entire week. All they caught (for the most part) was a cold, because the weather was rotten and the fish were just off — completely. The scuttlebutt at the bait shops in town and among angers on the water was, "where'd the fish go?" and "are you catching anything?" Then, warm weather and beautiful calm days set in over the holiday weekend and the fish went crazy! The Monday of Memorial Day weekend was one of the greatest fishing days I've ever experienced in Belgrade. We were pike fishing and the bigger fish, the ones that seemed to vanish a week before, were in the shallows and feeding heavily. In one morning we boated 6 fish from 18.4 pounds to 12.2 pounds, along with a number of smaller pike and pickerel. We also broke off six times (it was an expensive morning, but totally worth it!). By the time the morning was over we estimated we boated 145-pounds of fish — amazing! What a difference a few days can make. The trout and salmon trollers were singing the same sad story too, with only the occasional trout being boated. But the fishing turned back on over the weekend. The fish and bait are still lingering in the 20-30 foot deep range and are hitting a variety of spoons and stick baits. Sewn smelts are still hot on Long Pond too, along with dodger and grey ghost or Jerry's Smelt patterns. John over at Castle Island Camps was talking about the wide variety of quality fish in this area. The fact that you can catch so many different species intrigues many fishermen. This year, the "trophy board" at Castle Island lists: brook trout 3.4 pounds; northern pike 19.5 pounds; salmon 4-pounds; and largemouth 5.8 pounds. The crappie fishing is excellent too. Castle Island encourages an informal policy to release any salmon under 18 inches. Their guests seem to have embraced the policy too. In recent studies, biologists have discovered that trout and salmon in Long Pond are gaining about a pound — 1½ pounds per year. It won't take long before there are more 4-pounders caught on a regular basis. This kind of conservative attitude is truly commendable. Next week we'll talk more about the bass fishing, which is starting to hit its peak! Smallies galore and some big largemouth will make many anglers smile all across the region. Good luck! Mike Guarino can be contacted at | ||
