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Summertime in the BelgradesContents
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Another Fishing Season Begins
By Mike Guarino Welcome back, everyone! 2008 is going to be a year to remember. The best part about writing this article each week is getting to talk about fishing to both the locals and the visitors. For the visitors, I would like to take a moment to tell you that this winter was nasty! We had lots of snow, lots of cold weather, and lots of grouchy and half-frozen people walking around. Now that spring has sprung and hope has filled our hearts again, you might notice many smiling anglers strolling through the Village and chatting at the boat launches. We survived and are back to fish another day! After ice out, which occurred approximately April 22, the fishing took about a week to really heat up, but when it did the fish proved that they too survived the winter and were ready to fight another day. Early May saw a heat wave of sorts come through and now we are enjoying 60°-water temperatures and excellent fishing. Perhaps the best bite right now is for smallmouth bass. This season should be phenomenal due to the excellent spawning conditions we had a few years ago. There are lots of big smallies cruising the shorelines in pre-spawn attack mode. One fun way to catch these bass is to cast crank baits while slowly drifting the shoreline. Crank baits like the traditional Rapala X-Rap or Mann's Walker Elite are great choices. Sometimes in the spring we can get some windy days that can change the fishing. When a hard breeze is blowing into a shoreline during the summertime when the water is warm, bass will get right up into the shore and feed on minnows and crayfish that become disoriented in the waves. However in the spring when the water is still cold, try fishing the other side of the point just away from the rough water. Many times you'll find bigger bass hanging out here in the calmer water (especially if the sun is heating that side of the point). If the bass do not take your crank bait, a tube or worm is a good follow-up bait. For many anglers and pleasure boaters, Memorial Day Weekend is the kick-off to boating season. This year the State has made some changes regarding the milfoil sticker program. Remember all motorized watercraft on inland waters must display the lake and river protection sticker ("Preserve Maine Waters" sticker), also called the milfoil sticker. Beginning in 2008, the purchase of a new sticker for owners of Maine-registered watercraft is automatically combined with the watercraft registration fee. Nonresident stickers are $20. Nonresident lake and river protection stickers are available wherever boats are registered or fishing licenses are sold. There will be boat inspectors at the boat launches again this year. Their primary goal is to protect our beautiful lakes. Please be kind to the inspectors, they are out there trying to help, but anglers can assist in the efforts by simply checking their own boats periodically and remove any milfoil they find. I hope you have a fun, safe and productive fishing season this year. As with year's past, you can e-mail your photos and fish stories to info@MaineWildernessTours.com and I'll do my best to get them in the paper. See you on the water. Mike Guarino can be contacted at | ||
