Conference wahoo::fishing

    I'll be heading up there (Jackman) on the 21st (May) for a week
    of fishing. My brother-in-law and myself will be staying at
    Sally Mountain Cabins on Long Pond?. Does it look like we'll
    be able to get some good fishing in???? Salmon, Togue, Lakers???
    What might we want to bring with us that we don't want to buy up
    there? (Special equipment, etc...)
    

    
    Not familiar with LOng Pond...is that part of Moose River flowage
    between Jackman and Rockwood?
    
    The timing should be ideal, especially for trolling. I'd say bring
    a fairly short flyrod (7-7.5 ft) with full-sinking line and about
    10-20 feet of 6 or 8 lb mono leader attached. The problem with longer
    rods (like tthe ones I have) is that they don't set the hook quite
    as well, although you can still troll with them. Try a spinning
    rod with same diam. mono and split shots for weight or better yet
    tie in two colors of lead core. You can also use a conventional
    reel with some wire or lead core and a mono leader.
    
    Try bringing your own boat or canoe and motor unless you don't mind
    renting one for 30-35 bucks a day. If you have an electric mmotor,
    DON'T FORGET THE CHARGER like I did this weekend.
    
    Stock up on copper Mooselook wobblers, black and silver rebels,
    copper back rred and white Daredevles, flatfish.
    
    Buy and use dodgers. See previous notes on this. They're expensive
    but they outfish just using straight lures.
    
    Buy the streamers up there, you really can't find them around here.
    Grey Ghost and Joes Smelt are my picks.
    
    If you have time try Attean, Big Wood, and Holeb ponds (near Jackman).
    Also the Moose River in Rockwood is very productive but crowded.
    Since the rivers up there seem quite low the water below Brassua
    Lake dam and Kennebec East Outlet are worth a shot.
    
    Good luck and let me know how you do!
    
    
    

    Better bring plenty of fly dope as the BLACKFLIES will be right
    by the 21st.
    

    re .2
    Thanks much for all the info. Certainly will help out.
    Don't know where I got Long pond from---we'll be right on
    Big Wood lake. We do hope to get to moosehead lake just once for
    the heck of it. We are bringing our own boat with an electric 
    AND a charger. :^)
     
    re .3
    		AaaaaaaMennnn.  Already got three cans.
    I used to live in southern Maine when I was a tyke, I remember those
    obnoxious little ba...bi....blackflies.
    
    Thanks again for the info, already got a hardcopy.
    fill you in at the end of may,
    Mike
    

Anyone know what's happening on Wilson Pond in Greenville?
I'm going up May 15 for a few days.  Ice was still in as of May 1 on the lower 
pond.  Some snow was in woods but roads open to lake. 
Any hints on tackle?

How about an ICE AUGER!?!

    I didn't visit the Wilson Ponds when I was in Greenville the start
    of May, but Moosehead still had a lot of ice. Probably will be clear
    when you show up. As for the fishing, I've found it's definitely
    a hit-or-miss proposition just after ice-out. Because the water's
    still in the low thirties, the fish usually aren't in the mood to
    hit anything. But there are brief times during the day when they seem
    to be in the biting mood with a vengeance. I can't remember what
    the rules are for lower Wilson (FFO? or NLFAB?) but fairly slow
    trolling with streamers or lures with good action at slow speeds
    is best. Drifting smelts is good too (particularly at the edge of
    ice shelves if there are any left) but I doubt its legal.

Was at lower wilson for the weekend.   Fished about 6 hours total with no luck.
Ice is out and water is high.  I use a Hummingbird 40ID fishfinder.  All the 
fish are on the bottom and there is a lot of them, or it's logs.  Very few 
fish off the bottom.  Locals say wilson is a June pond.  Friends use my camp 
then and do OK.  I thought the salmon would be up on top and didn't bring my
leadcore equip.  We used grey ghosts, streamers, silver mooslooks, rebels etc. 
My son caught a short togue on the bottom while we drifted.  I think he was
using something silver.    Didn't get a temperature reading on the water but
it's cold because I had to go in to my knees to get my dock in.  Weather was
sunny with choppy water.  On wilson you can't use live shinner but can sew on
dead ones.  Worms are OK to use.  My son has caught 19 in togue off the dock in
late May with worms off the bottom.  My other son does well anytime catching 
browns and brookies on upper wilson where feeder streams come in to lake.  One 
has to be extremely careful in the second basin since it's packed with rocks. 
I'm going back up over the 30th and will give it another try.  Putting a new
boat in so expect to be on the water a lot. 

Mooshead is wide open and Greenville is getting busy again.  This is my 4th 
season in the area and I have yet to fish Mooshead.  Will give it a shot this 
year though. 

 

    Joe...thanks for the report...is there a public launch on Lower
    Wilson, or some camp where you only have to pay a nominal fee to
    launch? Nothing elaborate, just a 14 foot canoe. How about Upper
    Wilson? 
    
    Since I've been going to Greenville about as long as you, you probably
    know about Moosehead hotspots. Places that have worked well for
    me in order of preference:
    
    1. Moose River Outlet in Rockwood (excellent, if you can stand the
    crowds)
    
    2. Socatean Stream outlet area just north of Rockwood (good fishing,
    fewer people)
    
    3. Spencer Bay narrows (by Casey's Camps).
    
    4. Roach River outlet (Spencer Bay).
    
    5. Big Duck Cove (more remote, therefore productive)
    
    6. Greenville Town Dock (believe it or not!)
    
    7. Lily Bay
    
    8. Beaver Cove
    
    Also, try First Roach Pond at boat launch site (sandbar) next to
    campground. I've caught some hefty togue by trolling back and forth
    across sand bar early in the morning. Watch out...this place is
    loaded with dead timber, rocks, etc.
    
    I'll be going up Memorial Day weekend, but am going to Aroostook
    county to avoid at least some of the crowds.
    
    Enjoy...let me know how you do !!

There are two public launches on Lower Wilson and nothing on the upper pond 
that I know of.  One ramp is at Wilson Pond Camps on the south shore near the 
dam.  The other is Waldon's at the north end of the south shore.  Waldon 
charges a few buck and you pay at the top of the hill at Waldon's farm.   
Wilson Pond Camps charge about $5.  I use Waldon's to put my boat in. 

You can get to the upper pond through a thoroughfare.  the total trip from tip 
to tip of both ponds is 9 miles approx so you want to plan enough time. 

To get to Waldon's take the roads to the left of the airport.  To get to 
W.P.Camps take the roads to the right of the airport. 

Thanks for the info on Moosehead.  I don't know the lake and this will give me 
good start.   

Have a good trip over the 30th and let me know how you make out too. 

Joe. 

Just back form Wilson.   

Action was real slow but wheather was great and as usual the scenery and time
spent was excellent.  Bugs were biting though and I netted some good welts.
Some were picking up Togue.  Didn't see anything of any size caught.  Fish were
showing on finder at all levels but most were still on the bottom.  Nothing was
off the bottom in early May.  My boat was trolling a bit fast and I had trouble
staying on the bottom.  I did pick up a good school of something close to the
top but couldn't get any action with silver or gold lures.  I put out a few
buckets and I got down to a better speed.  Still learning how to fish this pond
but I believe Wilson is a June pond.  Didn't hear anything about how things
were doing on Moosehead.  Tuesday M.H. was very rough. 

 
Joe. 

    Yeah...I was in Millinocket over Mem. Wknd...great weather, but
    seemed to keep all but the baby trout down in the holes...caught
    many black flies, skeeters, and punkies tho'...water levels way
    down at Millinocket Lake and Stream...I've heard Moosehead is in
    similar shape and lots of complaints about slow fishing...
    
    You're right about the chop on Moosehead...it can get real rough
    out there...a dangerous lake to be on when it's windy...I know people
    who routinely bring a sleeping bag and tent with them on the bboat
    so they can at least bail out on an island if it gets too bad...I
    only go out on those relatively rare calm days...
    
    This weekend I'll be trekking to Greenville...should have report
    on Monday...

    Just came back from the Jackman area this weekend. Fished Big Wood
    Pond, Attean Pond, Moose River, Moosehead Lake, and a couple of
    streams that I knew not.
    PLEEEENNNNTY of blackflies and squitos. Nothing in the way of a
    Salmon or Laker (Togue). There were plenty of boats out there and
    the word was nobody was doing much better. My brother visited from
    the Bangor -Brewer area and said that they were doing well at
    Brewer Lake. Maybe we were just a little early up around Moosehead.
    If you're thinking of going in the near future, I'd suggest stopping
    at your local army surplus store and picking up one of those net
    hats. You can't imagine how bad these little black buggers are until
    you've actually been there. They even get into your clothes!!!!!!
    (I'm still scratching...)
    Anyway, as far as the fishing, it sounds like it may be picking
    up within the next couple of weeks in that area.
    Good Luck.
    
    Ex-Maine-iac,
    Mike
    
    

    RE: Assorted Fly Bites
    
    Tell me about it. I'm still nursing various welts. I do have a headnet
    which I don't really like using, but this may be the year!

    Just came back from a week at Allagash Lake (north of Moosehead).
    Same story, very slow fishing and black flies bigger than hornets.
    What made me dissapointed the most was, you cannot use any motors
    up there, all canoes and paddles.  A lot of work went into 
    catching one brookie.  At least the scenery was nice, and we
    only had a day and a half of rain.  Still looking for that 5 pounder.
    
    Brian
    

A little better at Sebec.

A friend was at Sebec over the weekend.  They didn't fish much but did get a 
reasonable togue with live bate about 40 feet down.  Others were doing 
OK too.  He said action was early, 6 to 7:30AM. nothing later or in the
evening. 

Local paper in Greenville said Moosehead is down about a foot compared to
this time last year.  North woods areas are very dry.  They are concerned with
fire and are already planning water conservation measures.  Rafting outfits may
be effected this season since they will be limited on water they can let go at
dams.  Wilson is high this year (regulated by the dam). It's about a foot high
this season than last so getting into the second pond will be OK with small
boat.  Good luck if you try a motor through the inlet though although I know
someone who does it. 

Some friends are going to Wilson next week and I'll fill you in on how they do.
They fish early June each year and seem to do OK. 


Also still scratching,
Joe.

    Tried West Branch Penobscot this weekend...caught about 7 salmon
    and 5 suckers...all on garden hackle...there were flies hatching
    and there were rises, but fish were acting real finicky for everyone,
    so I reverted to bait fishing...all salmon but one were under the
    16 inch limit
    
    Good spots: Nesowadnehunk Falls just below falls (general law here)
    ...the salmon stack
    up just below the falls... caught several 3 and 4 lbers here last
    year...also Big Eddy...fish rising but you need a boat to really
    cover this water effectively (artificial lures only here)
    

    Went to Greenville/Jackman ME area July 16-17. Missed the peak of
    the big HEX mayfly hatch by about a week, although there were are
    few around on some of the FFO ponds. Talked to Danny Legere at the
    Maine Guide Fly Shop who said that it's been real hot around Moosehead
    this summer with water levels pretty low. He went to look for one
    of his favorite 50 degree springholes for brookies and the water
    temp. there was a balmy 74 degrees.
    
    Togue fisherman on Moosehead have success at this time of year trolling
    no more than 3 feet above bottom. They use a Murray or Sutton spoon
    ahead of smelt or shiner and troll so that the spoon grazes the
    bottom muck once per revolution to stir things up (this attracts
    the lakers and they hit the bait). I've never done this, but it
    takes some experience observing the behavior of the rod tip to make
    sure the spoon is periodically ticking bottom. Sounds pretty tedious!
    
    Elsewhere...many small trout rising on Kennebec at the Forks, but
    mostly subsurface feeding. 

    Anybody been up in the Greenville, ME or Piscataquis county areas
    fishing lately? I'm going up Labor Day weekend. How they bitin'
    up that way?

I was at wilson pond many times this summer.   I didn't get in as much fishing 
as I would have liked to, still working on the camp.    

We got a 3 pound togue in early August on a combination silver and gold dave
davis trailing a sewed on dace.    I got a few shorts on a silver murry spoon. 
My neighbor a few camps up was there for the last week in July and was getting
4 or 5 fish daily on a silver spoon.   I saw an other fisherman catch a good
size togue on what I call a double dave davis, looked like gold or silver but
not copper.  Wilson is a funny pond  you can fish to you drop and not catch a 
fish.  Fishing there is generally slow.  Those who know the pond seem to get 
fish.    I'm not one of those yet.  The method is to find the bottom and troll 
as slow as possible and bounce the spoon as the earlier note mentioned.  Takes 
some practice since it's hard to tell where you are as the depths change. 

Went on mooshead one day crusing with the boat.   Didn't fish but saw a lot of 
fish on the finder.   Went from Greenville past Rockwood up into north bay 
about a thid of the way.  Didn't get into spencer or lilly bays.  A lot of fish 
showed on the finder at the top end of the south basin.  A lot showed in the 
narrows off Rockwood and Kineo.   If you get a chance stop off at pebble beach 
on the back sice of Kineo.  We stopped there for lunch and swam, gorgeous spot.  

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Note 1114.0                       Moosehead???                           1 reply
IDAHO::HOLT "Adam Holt"                              11 lines  25-APR-1989 19:16
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      	Does anyone know how it is up at Moosehead Lake, Maine???
    	I'll be up there in nine days so I was just wondering. Also,
    does anyone know what's the killer on salmon so far this year?
                                                                 
    	Thanks,                                                  
                                                                 
    	Ad                                                       
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Note 1114.1                       Moosehead???                            1 of 1
DNEAST::DANFORTH_DAN                                 16 lines  26-APR-1989 07:48
                           -<  Hard to troll on ice >-           
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       	If you are going to Moosehead in 9 days you had better bring
    	an ice auger!! It should be at least 14 days before the ice
    	goes out. We had more ice than usual here this year. I live
    
        just west of the Agusta plant which 100 miles south of
    	Greenville. { Greenville is the southern part of the lake}
    
    	Lakes in this area just started to break up and go out in the
    	last few days and some of those are only half gone.
    
    
    						dan