MAINELY OUTDOORS
Aroostook anglers all have the opportunity to garner the title of “Frozen Fishing Fool” as the open water season got underway April 1. While there might actually be a handful of streams with small runs clear of ice, you would have to climb a tall snowbank to locate any open water, let alone get close enough to cast! As anxious as I am to end my winter casting drought, I’m going to play it cool, prepare some equipment and plan my premier outing for mid-month.
Any veteran Crown of Maine spring fisherman knows that April casting forays are more for the spirit and the soul than the fight and the frying pan. Cold water action is generally slow and conditions challenging, but after months of cabin fever any open water exposure offers rejuvenation. And an occasional trout or salmon will eventually cooperate, so let me offer some advice on how to tempt frigid fish to bite a bait.
My first preparation is to rig two rods; I’m a devout fly fisherman, but realize worms work best this month, so a medium weight, seven-foot spinning rod accompanies my eight-and-a-half foot, five-weight fly rod. I carry two fly reels, one with a sinking tip line and the other a floating line and my fly box features a full selection of streamer flies and nymphs of various sizes, colors and weights. To ensure any success at all with flies, it’s essential to match the line and fly to the current and depth of a pool to allow the feathered imitation to swim deep and slow right along the bottom.
Regardless if you’re casting flies or bottom-bouncing bait, the water’s cold, fish are set up in feeding lanes using current to bring food to them. They are not going to chase baits as they do in the summer, it’s crucial to put your fly, lure or worm right near their nose to ensure a strike. It may take a dozen seemingly identical casts with a streamer to entice a strike but just the right speed, depth and swing arc in the current are a must.
Flies must ride just above the bottom structure, or if it’s a weighted nymph pattern, it can bump off the bottom occasionally as if it’s hopping along. Cast into backwaters, bogans and eddies where water flow is light and slow and likely to be warmer than deeper, faster runs. Remember, the offering needs to swing near their feeding run, they won’t chase.
Selecting a fly pattern can be tricky this time of year, worms have an enticing smell to go with their natural look, artificial baits depend solely on appearance to draw strikes. When streams are still murky, off-color and have debris floating everywhere, I usually opt for a brightly-colored attractor pattern to catch a trout’s eye. A Mickey Finn, red and white bucktail or Ouananiche Sunset really work. As water clears I turn to baitfish imitations like a black nose dace, magog smelt, or black and white bucktail. About every 30 to 40 casts, I change to a nymph and work the same pool again.
While the popular method of using a worm with a light sinker six- to eight-inches above the bait and alternately lifting and lowering the rod tip to bound the bait along bottom works, I like a spinner. A small-bladed silver or ivory spinner keeps the worm near bottom and adds enough flash to draw a trout’s eye to the approaching food, and then it’s up to the live bait and its aroma. As with flies, deep and slow movements are the keys to a modicum of success.
If you can find an eddy, dead water below an island or a bogan where river water has formed a small pool along the main flowage, try a bait and bobber rig. I’ve had great luck in coves along the Prestile, Aroostook, and Meduxnekeag with bait and wait tactics. Trout avoid the faster flow of cold water and seek out coves and eddies to cruise away from the main stream. Sooner or later a fish will find your worm if you toss out a couple of bobber rigs and just lean the rod on a crotched stick and relax.
April fishing is a fairly sedentary sport done while standing in snow, mud or very chilly water so dress for warmth and comfort. I prefer long underwear, wool pants, two layers of socks and neoprene hip boots or chest waders. A wool hat, gloves, and a couple of chemical hand warmers fight any cold breeze blowing off the water and adjacent snowbanks. I carry a five-gallon bucket with a removable padded top for lugging extra gear and a comfortable seat.
Fishing Aroostook waterways is far from optimal this month, but it improves as each day passes, and being out and about quickly overcomes the winter blahs.
