Fishing report for July
The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has issued the July fishing report for the Aroostook Region:
Recent rains have helped anglers up in Aroostook County.
“Brook fishing is excellent right now. The rain showers we got this week have brought flows up. The salmon rivers are still fishing good as well,” said IFW fisheries biologist Frank Frost.
Like the rest of the state, water temps in ponds are warming up, and if fishermen are looking for trout, they are going to find them in their summer refuge areas, such as spring holes and seeps where the water is cooler.
“The green drake hatch hasn’t quite started, but we are on the verge,” says Frost.
Frost and his crew have begun trapping the fishway at Churchill Dam on the Allagash Waterway.
“One of the gems in the state is the Allagash Waterway,” said Frost. “It gets a lot of use and supports a lot of wild trout.”
They are already getting a good number of fish as they come out of the river, seeking the cooler, deeper waters of the lake. Trout have ranged in size from four to 18 inches, representing a variety of ages.
Data gathered from the trapping will provide an in-depth look at the trout population in that waterway. The dam was replaced in 1997, and in 2001 and 2002 crews trapped the fishway to gather biological data on the trout.
Once this collection is completed, Frost will be able to compare data this year with that from 15 years ago and get an even clearer picture of the health of the trout fishery in that section of the waterway.
