2006 Information - Kennebec River, Shawmut Section

11/22/06 Well we’ve gotten to the point where there is little to report about the river except that it is cold, (still) high and most hatches have stopped.  There will be occasional hatches but nothing major that will bring the fish up on a regular basis and while nymphs, eggs flies and streamers will still bring some action the season peak is past.  So with little to report about the river the need for Friday Updates is also past and this will be my last one this year.  

However, there’s no need to quit looking at this site because in keeping with the last few years I’ll be starting the Thursday Review again.  I’ve got the Thursday Review page all ready to go and while there won’t be a post on it until next Thursday (the 30 of November) you can follow the link below if you want to bookmark it to visit next week.

Thursday Review

11/10/06 - Today they observe it but tomorrow is the 11th - Veterans Day - thank a vet you know for their service and if you're a vet yourself - Thank You! 

But you don't have much to thank Mother Nature for.  Unfortunately the river is still high and fishing - at least wading - at Shawmut is out of the question.  There was some talk of maybe putting the flashboards up in Shawmut today but the upriver impoundments are all full and with the Carrabassett and Sandy Rivers running at 2,000 and 3,000cfs there is just to much water in the system to even think about flashboards.  So, hell, it's Veterans Day maybe I'll go to the American Legion and cry in my beer. 

Too bad to with water temperatures still in the mid-40s and an air temperature of 50+ degrees at 6:00am this would be a bonus day.  Normally we're looking at heavy frost in the mornings and sub-40 water temps by this time.  Oh well.

For those interested in Spey Casting and Spey Fishing there's a new website you may want to check out - or perhaps I should say a new forum - see it at http://www.fliesandfins.com/forums.html - like I said it's new but has promise.  They are already talking about having a Spey Striper event next spring here in Maine.  That could be big - Spey Comes To Maine - I like it.

Speaking of Spey, that's part of my plan for this weekend. Since we have such high flows I figure I'll hit Madison and pound some eddies with big streamers and sink tips.  I'll swing them low and slow to see what happens.  If I get lucky I'll post. 

Another good thing to consider is a Crooked River clean-up that is scheduled for this weekend.  They've been planning it for awhile and as of right now it is still on even though the Crooked is running high.  You can keep up on it by checking this thread

http://www.flyfishinginmaine.com/forums/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=9803&forum=1&start=0

on Fly-Fishing-In-Maine's website. I understand they are planning this for the 12th.  Here's the last post I saw about a time and place

"Meet: 7 AM Bolsters Mills General Store. We spread out from there. We do what we do and meet back at the Caswell House for beer and burgers at 1 PM. I would like to fish a bit so I'll have my gear with me. I'll be there at 7. - Craig"

So not the best weekend but things could be worse.  Fish when you can.

10/27/06 - I'm running late today so not much of a post.  Shawmut is still too high.  The Dead and East Outlet have been fishing fairly well.  Sorry I can't post more.  - Mike

10/20/06 - More of the same.  Not quite as high as last week but to high to wade in Shawmut. I fished the East Outlet last weekend and Grand Lake Stream (last day today at GLS) and had good fishing.  It's the East Outlet for me this weekend. 

Dead River is another possibility for one of the days.  Fishing is good where one can fish.  I'm hearing good reports from most of the open water up and down the state.  Even the Crooked is giving up some nice fish.  The high water of last week did draw fish up into the rivers and streams.

I haven't given up hope for Shawmut - if this water would drop we should see the same effect from the high water.  Fish should be up in the wading area by now.  Lord knows they aren't staying out of there because of low flow. 

Wish I had more to report but hatches and such have slowed down and few waters are open.  Check water flow and look for good levels - good fishing won't last much longer. The water temperature in the Kennebec is hovering around 51 or 52 degrees.  Optimum temperatures for Browns and Rainbows are in the 56 - 65 degree range so it's already on the cool side.  Thank God Landlocked Salmon don't seem to care what the water temperature is. Isn't that just like a fisherman - water is too hot - water is too cold - water is too high ...............................

One last thing - don't be to quick about putting that Buzz-Off clothing away.  There may be few flying, biting insects around but TICKS are out and about in grand numbers and they are looking for a winter home.  State records indicate that October and November are the peak months for contracting Lyme Disease.

10/13/06 - Well, the fall hatches in Shawmut have started and after a couple of false starts the Blue Winged Olives have become pretty regular.  Fish have even started to feed on them each afternoon.  Things are good you might be thinking - but you'd be wrong.  At least on the Kennebec because we're back on the HIGH WATER LIST.  Yep, high water - we didn't get two feet of snow Buffalo, New York got but we did get 2 plus inches of rain.  Shawmut is almost at flood stage.  Did someone say it's Friday the 13th?  Wouldn't you know.  

Get a load of the chart on the right. The Carrabassett had been running at less than 200cfs and in about 6 hours it jumped to just shy of 5,000cfs - that's a BIG  jump.  The Sandy did much the same and they will take a day or two for them to drop.  But that doesn't mean there isn't any fishing.  Grand Lake Stream is high but fishable, Flagstaff flow is down to fishable levels and the East Outlet dropped to just over 1,000cfs - down from the 2,500cfs it has been running.  So there are waters to fish. 

For those who tie flies I put a new page on the website.  You can view it at http://www.maineflyfishing.com/flypatterns.htm  It has three flies on it - the Bead Head Minnow, the Devil Bug and the Floating Dragon.  All three are good flies and have caught fish for me.  I put them up on our sister site www.rotaryflytying.com (which is a pay per view site) and decided to share them with anyone who wants to tie them even if they aren't members of the Rotary Fly Tying site.  The Bead Head Minnow and Devil Bug are simple quick ties and the Floating Dragon is a little more difficult but not that bad.  Especially since you can see the step by step video showing you how to tie it.  Check it out if you tie.

Go fishing somewhere this weekend - you don't have a lot of good fishing left - it will be snowing here soon.

10/06/06 Fishing is much better.  Fish are still holding low in the Shawmut wading area - there are some higher up but the activity is definitely better in the lower part.  Boating and floating opens up a lot more water to people fishing Shawmut right now as there are afternoon hatches and fish are showing all up and down from Shawmut to Fairfield (oh, have I mentioned our Guide Service lately ).  Shawmut is pretty in the morning but definitely fishes better in the afternoon in October - as does most of the water in Maine.

Many waters are closed now but most of those that remain open are fishing well.  Flows are still high in many places as lakes aren't down to their winter levels but time is growing short - don't let the high flows bother you (Shawmut levels are very good for wading right now by the way - click on the picture on the right and you'll see a fair amount of the White Rock showing) get out there and fish.  If the water is high and fast for you in places like the East Outlet (running today at over 2500cfs) rethink your wading strategy.  That hard fast flow out in the middle of the East Outlet is hard on fish also - so they are against the banks - right where you can fish them from the boulder on the banks.  If you go there try standing on a bank boulder and drifting a nymph close in - almost right below your rod tip - you may be pleasantly surprised as Marshall was with the fish on the left. (oh, have I mentioned our Guide Service lately or did I just do that - yes we do wade trips on the East Outlet - at least until the 26th of this month - Marsh leaves for Florida then).

Grand Lake Stream closes on the 20th and so time is very short for fishing it.  However, expect a lot of people if you go on the weekend - remember not many people live at Grand Lake Stream so the person in your fishing spot probably drove a long way to get there just like you.  Share water if it makes sense and don't crowd people - if you think there is room in a pool just above or below a person already there try asking if they mind you taking the spot.  If they reply "get lost" well shame on them but you probably should get lost.  It's a long section of stream and I've never failed to find water I could fish by walking a little and I've fish it on some crowded weekends over the last 30 years or so.  (it's OK to put a Hex on the person that tells you to get lost - but do it quietly )

Madison is producing some fish but not like it can.  It's due to turn on any day.  All I've been able to get up there lately are smaller fish like the little guy on the left - but - I know there are bigger fish (don't look at my fish and then go back and look at Marshall's - it's depressing).  I just haven't figured out what they want.   If you enlarge the picture on the left you'll see Bead Head Minnows work in the fall as well as the spring.   I do love that fly.  It's easy to tie, easy to fish and effective.  You can't ask for much more out of a pattern.

So the long and short of it is - the hot season has been long and the good fall fishing will be wayyyyyy to short - get out there while you can.  You don't want to be sitting around the fire this winter with the "I shoulda gone" long look on your face.

09/29/06 Water temperature finally is down into the high 50s.  Clarity is good.  Flow is moderate to slow.  Fishing is picking up.  Just in time for the Kennebec Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited, One Fly Contest happening SUNDAY at Shawmut. Yep, tomorrow is your chance to take home the coveted Moose Horn trophy. To get the details on the One-Fly just click here and when the newsletter opens scroll down to the flyer.

Back to fishing and such.  Shawmut and Madison are both starting to show fish and wet flies and streamers are the name of the game for me.  Very little surface action unless you happen to catch the midday Blue Winged Olives or the evening Cream Cahills.  There are still some caddis but not heavy - Lead Winged Coachman are also showing. 

Wading is about as easy as it gets right now as the levels are low despite the draining of the headwater lakes.  Solon was 3200cfs yesterday and again today.  The East Outlet is still flowing hard (2500cfs yesterday, 2700cfs today) and I don't know where the water is going - they must be holding it in Wyman or Harris while they work on Madison.  They'll have to dump it out of those two soon so be sure and call the flows number (1-800-577-3569) to make sure the area you plan to fish is wadable. 

With the water levels good (but rain today and some tomorrow) and the temperatures dropping you should plan to get out and fish.  The water temps will drop fairly fast as October progresses and the next thing you know we'll all be sitting around thinking about spring and wishing we had fished more before the water froze.

I caught my first brown trout in quite awhile yesterday at Madison.  I had a witness - Bucky Beaver. Well, it wasn't really THE Bucky Beaver (shown on the right) instead it was one of his wild cousins that came swimming upriver right by my casting position.  You can see him as the brown spot in the picture below and left of the screen. (click on these to enlarge them). 

While he was swimming by (within a rod length of my feet) they were dumping rip-rap onto the banks of the lower, new boat ramp in Madison.  You can see a picture of that on the right (again click to enlarge it).  If you look close you'll see that the excavator operator is using the excavator bucket to keep the truck from tipping.  As the dump body was going up the truck lurched some towards the river and I saw the excavator operator take off in a dead run to get into the excavator - he didn't waste any time reaching the bucket up to grab the dump body.  Once he had the bucket holding the dump body the truck dump operator - very slowly - raised the body the rest of the way up and dumped the rip-rap. It was pretty interesting to watch.  I haven't gone over to look at these launches close up since my visit a couple of weeks ago but I'm going to be using the one in the picture by this time next week. 

I plan on putting my canoe in and poling around in this upper section to see how it fishes.  I'm pretty sure I can pole back to the landing - however - I'm not sure anyone would want to motor back upriver to this landing if they were to launch a boat here.  You'd have to be very comfortable motoring around in fast hard water to be able to do it.  Time will tell how much use these ramps will get but my guess is while some may use this lower one few people will brave the standing wave at the bottom of the upper one.

If you want to see Bucky Beaver's cousin swimming by me yesterday morning play this video. (click the start button on the left - you may have to click it twice)

09/22/06 The warm days of last weekend warmed the water and slowed fishing.  This morning the temperature is back down to the 66 degrees it was at last week.  Some fish showing but few up high in the wading area.  A boat or canoe will certainly give you more opportunity at fish.  However, the wading angler can catch fish if they work the lower section of the wading area.  The hot (well, sorta warm ) area now is still the water between the Shawmut side island and the Benton side culverts.  That shelf and the Pasture Pool are where the fish are working.  There are a couple of holding areas in the upper section that do have fish - I don't mean to say they just aren't up there but I do mean to say there aren't many up there. 

The Dead, East Outlet, Grand Lake Stream and a few other waters are yielding some fish but for the most part we have to wait for water temperatures statewide to drop a few more degrees before we can say the fall fishing has started.  If you do venture out (and you should - there are fish to be caught) bring your Blue Winged Olives, and Cream Cahills - both are still going strong.  Black Caddis have all but stopped and caddis in general are slowing down but there are still cream/tan (14-16) caddis and olive bodied ones about a 16.

The guys who are fishing evening are telling me there is an evening hatch and that it is providing a half-hour to an hour of hatch activity.  So if you come looking to fish to a rising trout come just about 5:30 or 6:00pm and if you come in the morning you won't see many moving fish until 8:30am or so. Fishing is getting better - now if we just don't get rained out like last October.

09/15/06 First a couple of housekeeping items before I forget.  Richard Corbett won the casting contest  - you can read the write-up by clicking here and scrolling down.  It was a three way tie so we put all three names in a jar and and we drew Richard's name.  All in all it was a good day and we raised $600.00 for the Maine Trout Unlimited Trout Camp. Thank you to all who came and to those who called and donated even though they couldn't attend.

And secondly, Mike (the guy who does so much trail maintenance up at Shawmut) found a pair of photo-gray prescription, flex-frame glasses on the trail yesterday.  If they are yours e-mail or call me and I'll put you in touch with Mike.

Now for the fishing report.  Water temperature is 65 degrees in the morning and 68 or less in the evening.  Water clarity is good.  Water level is a little high for this time of year but very wadable. The White Rock is showing well.  Fewer Black Caddis - they seem to be fading.  Still seeing Cream Cahills and Blue Winged Olives.  Grasshoppers still bringing strikes.  Few fish showing in the morning - much better showing midday and evening. 

Most of Shawmut's fish are still hanging in the deeper spots (like the Pasture Pool - 2nd Power Line - I-95 and below) so few are showing high in the wading area.  If you go wade be sure and hit the water at the head and sides of the Pasture Pool - either side. 

09/08/06 Yep, bugs are starting back up again.  I think the one on the left is a Cream Cahill - about a size 12 bug.  That fly and the White Fly (only a few of them showing now) are both easily imitated with a Usual and well worth fishing on towards dark - easier to see in the fading light than a lot of flies. There is a lot of marking on the wings that got washed out by the flash - and I tried to get him inside to a better light but - well - he flew away.  The critter on the right is a black caddis and there are still plenty of them - small though - say a 16.  There are other caddis around but not as many as there were just a few weeks ago.  One that is still here is about a size 16 with a bright green body - think Henryville Special. 

And then there are our little buddies the small and I mean small Blue Winged Olives.  The little critter below the Cream Cahill is an example of what the fish are showing the most interest in.  Darn it I have a real love/hate relationship with those little devils.  I love it when the hatch is heavy enough to bring fish up and make them hold but I hate the refusals when my fly isn't presented just right - trout on these can be hard to trick. 

The water temperature is 65 or so in the morning with few bugs starting to move until around 8:30 or 9:00am.  And the evening water temperature is 68 or so.  Clarity is good, flow is moderate and fish are showing but few fish have moved back into the upper part of the wading area.  There are fish down by the culverts on the Benton side or the island on the Shawmut side but few above that.  They will move up and soon (probably today to make a fibber out of me) but they don't seem to have yet.

Don't forget our casting contest tomorrow. Bill Bentley is going to talk on save wading and first-aid, Ed "Muzzy" Muzeroll will be tying some Salmon Flies and yesterday Selene DuMaine confirmed she will also be here - just back from Montana and full of fish stories.  Come cast and donate to the Maine Trout Unlimited Trout Camp and visit with friends and like minded people.  It should be a fun day.  We have resurrected the Zero Gravity Day free hat and $10.00 gift certificate (while they last) so you can get paid to try out a new Zero Gravity fly rod, there will be door prizes and if you win the casting contest you could get yourself a new rod.  Come cast and/or just visit.  Don't forget you can call and make a TU Camp donation even if you aren't going to make it here.  If you don't make it - enjoy your weekend - hope you catch some fish.

09/01/06 Shawmut water temperature this morning is 66 degrees fish are starting to show - mainly because finally some insects are starting to hatch.  There are some White Mayflies still (most of that hatch has come and gone), lots of cream to light tan Caddis (size 16/18) at dusk, still PLENTY of Black Caddis (size 16/18 also & most active mid-afternoon) some real bright green bodied caddis (size 14/16 - think Henryville Special) a smattering of Leadwing Coachman and I'm happy to say the fall Blue Winged Olives are starting and they are small and smaller as these two pictures show.

There has been a big change since last week - it is amazing what a difference 4 or 5 degrees in water temperature makes.  Don't misunderstand me - I'm not trying to say Shawmut has completely turned around and is fishing great - but great is coming soon and there are trout working.  I caught my first Shawmut trout in three weeks the day before yesterday and while I didn't catch one this morning I did see trout rising.  However, the mornings are slow up until about 8:30 or 9:00am and then the caddis (tan) start dapping the water laying eggs .  It's hard to set up on trout that are cruising and feeding on the occasional bug instead of holding for a steady hatch.  However, the afternoon hatch will produce some feeding, holding fish - get ready because regular afternoon hatches are coming soon to a river near you

Oh, yea - Alewives are running out to the ocean - bring some streamers if you come.

08/25/06 Shawmut water temperature this morning is 69 degrees - 70 last night.  With 40 degree nights predicted for the next few nights and daytime air temps predicted to be low 70s or high 60 things may just start to happen.  I went to Bingham again this morning (no fish for me today) and when I decided to change flies I realized I was having a hard time tying a knot.  I paused, thinking it shouldn't be so hard and then I realized my HANDS WERE COLD.  Well it may be August but I say bring on some more cool nights I want to fish Shawmut again for trout not smallmouths. However, as Hutch has posted a couple of times this week the smallmouth fishing has been good.

I want to mention again if you aren't familiar with Shawmut or want to explore some new areas in Shawmut now is the time to do so.  Today's water level is the absolute lowest I've seen it this year.  Flow is almost slow, level is low, clarity good and water cooling - nice. 

White flies are hatching - not heavy yet but they are in the air just about dusk and if this year is anything like past years they will be heavy now that they have started until they run their course.  We're here until 8:00pm tonight but I think tomorrow night may find me wading Shawmut to check it out.  Last year when the White Flies were hatching the water temperature was 71 in the morning and 73 or 74 by evening.  With today predicted to be cloudy with showers and tomorrow predicted to be cloudy and low 70s tomorrow night might be worth some time.

08/18/06 Water in Bingham is 69 degrees - at least it was at 6:00am this morning. With an 80 degree air temp predicted today it'll be warmer by the end of the day - but it was great this morning.  Actually, Bingham doesn't rise up in temperature during the day at least not as much as Solon, Madison and Shawmut.  That must be a factor of the bottom release.

Anyway, I started small with a pretty little rainbow and things got better as the morning went on.  Biggest and best was the Landlock Salmon on the right. Not much interest in anything until I went down after them - Toobies are a good way to sink a fly by the way.  Oh, another thing about the Landlock - it sure wasn't stressed by warm water or anything like that.  It jumped 4 times and on one of those jumps it cartwheeled. Stressed fish just don't do that.

Shawmut is still warm - 71 in the morning 73 or 74 by the end of the day.  The Smallmouth fishing is good - poppers are working well. Now is a great time to come and learn the wading at Shawmut - the flow is moderate and the water temperature is such that if you get into trouble and get wet it isn't a big deal.  Hypothermia isn't a real big issue right now.

I went to Madison yesterday morning fished Smallies.  Fishing was good - water temperature there is about the same as here.  Just a little too warm for the trout.  Madison Paper is putting in two boat ramps on the opposite side of the river from the Pines (quite a way upriver from the Pines).  I posted pictures of the construction on the Forum - it'll be awhile before you can use them - Maybe this fall.

All in all things are going along pretty much as expected.  Water all up and down the river is warm, with Harris and Wyman providing the coldest available water.  Some tributaries up and down the river are flowing cooler and worth exploring.  That's the key - find cold water and you'll find trout and salmon.  In the mean time, as I mentioned earlier,if you have been wanting to learn the wading at Shawmut (or anywhere else for that matter) now is the time to do it.  Don't wait until the water cools and levels increase (they will start dumping lakes and impoundments soon and flows will increase) high and cool water isn't as much fun to explore as low and warm(er) water. 

08/11/06 Not much to report. levels are good good for wading, clarity great, flows moderate and the water is TOO WARM - doesn't it figure.  The temperature out here is 73 degrees and fishing for trout is SLOW.  There are some good Smallmouth Bass swimming around out there and fishing for them is good but trout are still sitting down in the deep holes and sulking.  Even the weak evening hatches aren't bringing many up.  However, the nights have been cool and each morning there is steam coming off the water - let that heat go .

Speaking of heat - these hot days have warmed the river from top to bottom.  Marshall was up to the East Outlet yesterday and he said the water was mid-70s and fishing was slow.  Todd Towle tells me Bingham is low 70s - tough on trout.  The good part is the forecast is calling for overall cooling of temperatures.  Last year by September 9th the water was back down to 67 degrees.  Bring that on. 

I've observed over the years (11 years now at this location by the way ) that trout will feed fairly well right up to 72 degrees when the water temps are climbing but when temps drop we have to wait until the temp gets back down to 68 before they start to feed on a regular basis again.  Anybody else notice that?  Post on the forum if you've noticed that sort of behavior - I'd love to know if anyone else thinks that's true.

08/04/06 I know, I know it's August but the flows are like Spring flows.  William's Dam (Solon) is running at 7,000cfs and at Shawmut the White Rock is underwater and they are worried about losing the flashboard they just put up.  I have my dock tied to a rope but still haven't put it out on the end of the ramp yet.  I had planned to do that before we went on vacation last week but they were so late getting the flashboards up I just didn't have time - lucky me.

Speaking of vacation, Linda and I had a great one. We got some fishing in, got to enjoy our camp in the summer, swam a lot, waded the shoreline looking for treasures unearthed by wave action (our camp is at an old logging site called Stevenson's Landing - lots of horseshoes show up) had company - all welcome and just generally relaxed.  Our favorite visitor was a Barred Owl - seen on the right - click to enlarge.  He came to visit but only stayed one night.

A highlight of the trip was going to the West Branch and using the big guns - Spey is the way.  Only we deviated from the normal Spey fare by casting 14', 9-weight Spey rods using 15' leaders terminating with 5X tippet and the Salmon's fly of choice - a size 18 blue Winged Olive. Not your normal Spey fly. 

I had been using traditional Spey Flies and had switched to a big Stimulator when I looked downstream at David Tyrol, also Spey casting, and saw he had a fish.  I asked what he was using for a fly and he hollered back "an 18 BWO."  It turns out he had two fish working about 20' out from him and taking something he couldn't see.  So he reeled in and tied some 5X to the leader I had given him - tied on a Blue Winged Olive onto that and dapped the water using just the leader to present his fly.  It worked and I was soon doing the same thing.  It was fun I have to admit.  It didn't take us long to work those close in spots and then we started reaching out.  It reminded me of my trip to GLS last year when I used the Spey Rod in the high water to reach out from shore because the stream was at spate.  Great fun.

Anyway, around here, as I stated above it is high and fast and dirty and - well, you get the picture. The water temperature is back down to 71 degrees - from its high of 78 or 79.  Some good has come from this high water, I guess, but it will be a week or so before the water drops.  Both the Carrabassett River and the Sandy River are around 2,000cfs and they haven't crested yet.  On to something better - how's your casting?

I ask because we are holding our third annual Casting Contest for the benefit of the Maine State Council of Trout Unlimited - Trout Camp.  You can get the details for the Casting Contest by following this link or you can read recent comments about the upcoming event on the forum by following this link. And if you watch the pictures below flip around you can get an idea of what Trout Camp is all about just by watching.

It's a great thing - Trout Camp - a very great thing and all of the kids who attend and all of the volunteers who help need your support.  Heck, you don't even have to come and cast to support it - a number of people last year just sent in checks or called in a credit card and said to charge them an entry fee but they weren't going to be able to make it.  Very good of them - heck, I think my Sister FFOSIS is going to enter and she's in Illinois - Hi Sis

One last thing - for those of you who enjoyed the Owl picture and like birds check out Garth McElroy's website at Feathered Fotos - amazing shots.

07/21/06 Mother Nature can be mean.  First she floods us out during May and June - then she bakes us and heats the water up so high the trout shut down.  Oh well, the good part of Mother Nature is last nights rain, I guess.  The rain did drive the water temperature down from it's high of 78 degrees to a - still high 72 degrees.  So here are the conditions at Shawmut.  Flashboards not up, flow moderate and hovering between 5 and 6,000cfs, clarity good and temperature warm.  Some fish are showing in the morning and some at night but darn few during the day.  Hatches are weak but people are having luck bringing fish up using attractors like big stones, Bugmeisters and such.

Selene's new fly has been named (scroll down to last weeks post if you haven't read about it) and it is the

Orange Sure Bet

Yep, that's the name and Forum Member - FFOADDICT is the winner of the six flies for submitting the winning name.   Thanks to all who submitted names - you all helped make this a fun contest.  Some great names were submitted and some fun posts made.

Solon and Bingham's water remain the coolest water around - however - even though the rains have stopped the impoundments are full and so the FLOW PHONE water schedule is not to be trusted.  No matter what they say on that phone line - watch the water level closely when wading either Solon or Bingham - especially Bingham.  And be sure and check flows 1-800-557-3569 because they have more water than normal for this time of year and they aren't shy about using it WHENEVER they feel like it.  While Bingham is giving up some nice Rainbows, Solon is holding it's own with some nice Browns as you can see from this picture borrowed from Marshall's guided trip log. (that fish was caught on Monday the 17th and it was hot out but the water was 68)

And before I finish today's Friday Update let me remind those of you who read it that there won't be one next week.  Linda and I are closing up shop for a week and taking some vacation.  We are heading to our camp on Pemadumcook Lake (Millinocket area) for a week and we'll be leaving tomorrow.  So we'll close the shop tomorrow evening about 5:00pm and won't be back until August 1st at 10:00am.  If anyone needs anything stop in or call today or tomorrow - we don't mind shipping stuff so if you can't make it to the shop - just call. Since I'll be in the Millinocket area anyway I may take advantage of another part of the state that is still providing some good fishing The West Branch of the Penobscot - after all I'm going to be right there I'll see if I can bring back a picture or two.

See you in two weeks

07/14/06 Things are much better from a flow standpoint - Shawmut is hanging around 6,000cfs which is very wadable.  Especially so, since people have gotten used to the 10,000cfs plus flows we've been having. Our problems now are lack of hatches and high water temps.  The temperature right now out behind the shop is 70 degrees and with 90 degree air temperatures predicted for the weekend the water temperature is going nothing but UP. However, until the fish shut down and stop biting I'm fishing as much as I can, while I can here in the Shawmut section. 

One highlight this week has been a new fly developed by Selene Dumaine called the "?".  Well, actually we don't know what it's called yet but if you read the post on our forum titled "She's done it again" you'll see we are running a contest to pick a name and if you enter and win you'll win six fish catching - yet to be named - flies.  There's a picture of it over on the right and my favorite picture of it below on the left (click either to enlarge). I fished it for two hours on Wednesday morning and one hour yesterday morning and it has already accounted for close to a dozen fish yes sir, I like a fly that catches fish.

Our Spey Class went well - the water levels dropped enough to make it safe to be on the water's edge and no one fell in. Everyone had a good time and at the end of the day on Sunday instead of a line of guys with long rods standing on the river bank we had a line of Spey Casters.  Joe and Lorena of Evergreen Campground were, as always, great hosts and they certainly have a lovely, fishey spot there. 

Anyway back to fishing.  Waters are warming up. Hex hatch is waning in most of the ponds around here and we're about to drop into our mid-summer lull so get out there and fish now while the fishing and wading is good.  I'll post when the flashboards go up on the Shawmut dam.

07/07/06 No good news - flows are still high all up and down the river.  The White Rock is showing by - maybe an inch - maybe two inches but certainly not by much.  Ponds or smaller rivers and streams are the answer right now as even by moving north we can't get above the high water.  Not with the the East Outlet running at 3,423cfs all day - down from yesterday's high of 5,223cfs or Wyman Dam (Bingham) running at 8,400cfs for the second day in a row.  I have to say those flows are high but the one that scares me the most is the Williams Dam (Solon) running at 9,000cfs, also for the second day in a row. 

That one scares me because we have a Spey Class scheduled to start tomorrow (one spot left) and we will be at Evergreen Campground just below Williams Dam.  The high flow will actually help with the casting and wading isn't an issue as you only wade about knee deep when using a Spey rod - what worries me is how far downstream we'll have to chase to rescue anyone that slips and falls in - it may take us a hundred yards or so to catch up with them to haul them back to shore. Check out the graph on the right which is the flow chart for Bingham (click to enlarge) and you'll see it rose to 8,500cfs about noon on the 5th and flat-lined - who knows when it will go down.  The water temperature this morning is 69 degrees and with the promised sun it will be 72 or 73 degrees by this evening.  A few people who are comfortable wading Shawmut when it is high will be fishing it, but only a few.

Bugs - yep - we still have bugs.  Lots of Black Caddis still and Pale Evening Duns with a mix in of some Big Leadwinged Coachman and I do mean big - if you enlarge the picture on the left you'll see this one is a full 5/8's of an inch long.  But he's small compared to the Dobson flies that are showing up. Check these critters out closely and I'm sure you'll agree you don't want one landing on your shoulder while you're out there in the dark casting to sipping Brown Trout.

If you're curious about Dobson Flies (adult form of the Hellgrammite) follow this link for additional information. The one on the right is the female and the critter on the left with the long mandibles is the male of the species.  Despite the look of the males long mandibles it's the female you have to watch out for.  Her shorter mandibles are stout and can give you a nasty pinch while the males mandibles are more fleshy and don't pinch as well.  I don't really like to catch these thing but I do put one in a clear plastic box if I can because we have so much fun showing them to customers - adults as well as kids really get a kick out of seeing these creatures.  Most people have never seen a live one and they are formidable looking. 

So fish on as best you can with the high water - there is good fishing to be had but you have to search for it.  Hexes are still hatching in your favorite pond and trout are rising but the water is getting warm so if you do hook up don't baby that tippet - play that fish hard and fast so it will be fresh enough to recover from the fight when you release it.  When the water warms up like this I really consider a net as a must have item.  Nets allow you to get a fish in and under control quickly without having to tired the fish.  The fresher the fish when you release it the better chance the fish will revive and live to grow bigger for your next encounter. 

07/01/06 Nope, it's not Friday but here's an update from this morning's outing:  
I poled around in the canoe this morning and anchored up above the White Rock (TimS you know right where I was ) and Peter Ogden was wading by the rock below me. We had a double hookup going until my fish threw the hook.

I drifted down through the wading area into and through the Pasture Pool and down to the 2nd Power Line - I saw only one rising fish - however - if I stopped and nymphed likely spots I had action. Sure do hate to have missed all those good early season hatches again this year. Some of my favorite fishing lost two years in a row to high, dirty water - bummer. I haven't seen many Zebra Caddis yet. There was a spurt of them and then they stopped. There were early so I'm hoping they are still going to happen. Black, Tan and Olive caddis out and about - only a few dapping the water this morning - fun just to be out in the SUNSHINE

East Outlet flow in down around 1,600cfs - very wadable

06/30/06 More of the same I'm afraid.  Water levels are high - White Rock isn't showing and the showers have kept the levels too high for the Flashboard installation. Water clarity is good, hatches are slowing down and water temps are climbing - 69 degrees this morning.  It isn't fair and I'm tempted to complain until I watch the news and see the flooding that is taking place all up and down the east coast - then I count my blessings and go find a pond to fish.  Pond fishing has been holding up well and the Hex Flies are starting to show. 

If I really want to river fish I only need to drive to Solon and that's not all bad.  There are some nice fish there.  The Maine Trout Unlimited Trout Camp is going on up there this week at Evergreen Campground and Marshall was up there guiding kids all day yesterday along with Todd Towle and Sean McCormick.  You can see Marshall's write-up on yesterday's fishing with the kids by clicking this link.

OK, back to Shawmut - like I said no wading today at Shawmut but Solon is at 5,000 (wading around the edges) and therefore so-so - good canoe or drift boat level.  (you can rent a canoe at Evergreen's) East Outlet is almost 2,200 and that is wadable also but right on the edge of being to high. 

06/23/06 Well, right now - right this minute you can see the White Rock - but it's raining here and over in the western part of the state, so who knows, for how long.  Marshall was out on a drift yesterday and they had rising fish to cast at - even caught a few so if you can get out, there are active fish about.  Clarity is good, flow is moderate, water temperature is 63 degrees and the flashboards are going up soon.  Keep your fingers crossed and hope the rain over west is just light showers. 

We have the regular cast of characters for hatches. Black Caddis - lots of Black Caddis (16/18), Cinnamon Caddis with Tan wings (16/18) Cream Cahills (14/16) (enlarge the two window pictures to see a bottom and top view - love it when they land on the glass) At least I think they are Light Cahills they have two tails, marked wings, cream to light yellow bodies and banded tails.  They are an evening hatch and after dark egg layers - they provide good fishing.

Back to the water conditions - like I said - wadable now but that could change before the day is out.  I'll post on the forum later today if anything changes.   East Outlet, Flagstaff, and Williams (Solon) are all showing good fishing flows - finally - and the ponds are holding up nicely. Probably the only good thing about the rain is we haven't had those hot days that drive the fish down.  Oh, and one last thing - if you enlarge the picture on the right side of the screen you'll see the first Zebra Caddis I've seen this year (the Zebra is on the left side of the window pane). That means in a day or so the Zebra Caddis will be thick and with a 63 degree water temperature we may yet some some of the good dry fly action Shawmut is noted for.  Oh boy - bring it on. :-)

06/16/06  Boy oh boy, this is awful, I'm looking at the flow charts and they say Shawmut is running at about 20,000cfs and I'm saying to myself - "20,000cfs - I can fish that!"  But I can't - not really.  I can play around the edges and get some opportunities for some fish that are holding near the bank and I can watch some fish work outside of my "from shore" casting range but I can't really fish to them.  But the water is clearing up and dropping - my guess is Sunday  those who don't mind a fast flow (flashboards are gone) will be wading and by Tuesday levels will be decent.  Sometime next week the flashboards should be replaced and perhaps we can salvage some of the best hatch matching of the season. 

Yes, hatches because they are going on despite the high dirty water. Click on some of these pictures to get an idea what's hatching an you'll see we have caddis - lots of caddis (the little size 16 black caddis are here) and there are still plenty of mayflies.  Look close at the color of the mayflies shown and note the body color.  Light, pale yellow to light olive is a good bet right now - sizes 16/18. 

All and all with just a little drop in water we should have some of that great dry fly action Shawmut can provide.

As for guided trips we'll start back up tomorrow - clarity is fair and high levels, fortunately, don't bother the drift boat.  You people that canoe or motor up from Fairfield - don't waste this water time - get the boat out. 

Up river things are already looking better.  Solon has been cut back to 8,700cfs - also to high to wade but again the canoe, drift boat crowd can take advantage of the cleaner water up there.  Solon being above the Sandy River (the source of most of our dirty water) definitely has better clarity than we do right now at Shawmut. And Solon's water level may well drop again tomorrow just as it did today.  Yesterday's flow at Solon was 11,500cfs compared to today's 8,700cfs that is a definite improvement.   Wyman is also down some at 8,400cfs as is the East Outlet with its flow of 5,534cfs yes, all still high but with promise of good levels soon.

Flagstaff is down to 250cfs and so it the brightest spot in the Kennebec watershed flow charts.  That you might even call a normal flow :-)

Grand Lake Stream, which was good to me last Sunday, has gone in the opposite direction and jumped from a low flow of under 200cfs to a screaming 770cfs - something wrong there - why the people controlling the dam kept it so low all spring and just now jumped it is a subject of much discussion.  That lack of consideration for the needs of others is callous at best and could easily be seen as down right malicious. Anyway, I hate to end on a sour note but as Bugs Bunny says "That's all folks."

06/09/06 No good news.  Besides bad, high and dirty water we have wonderful hatches we can't fish.  Somebody e-mailed me and asked if I could put a SUICIDE PREVENTION link on this page and I considered it - the link I mean :-) but after all it is just fishing and despite the high stream and river flows the ponds can and have been providing good fishing.  If it is really getting to you don't forget the ponds.

Another thing about ponds is that due to the rainy, cold days the ponds haven't heated up enough to stratify so surface activity is good.  Get out your Dragonfly nymphs and give it a go. 

And if you haven't followed the thread on the forum about the mayflies below here's the scoop - they aren't Hendricksons at all - they are in the same family and have been identified as Pale Evening Duns.  Check out the thread by clicking here.

06/06/06 - I've been saying I haven't seen many Hendricksons and yesterday they or something that looks like them started showing up.  Lots of them.  They were all over the boat and building yesterday morning and again this morning.  They have three tails, medium slate wings, distinct hind wings and those big red eyes show up on a lot of them like the one on the left but there are plenty like the one on the right that look much the same but just a little bigger in over all size and in the thorax area. 

I'm have been wondering where this hatch has been as I've seen a few here and there but no big swarms of them.  Yesterday they showed up on the front, back and sides of the building - they covered the boat - the widows, the doors and when you shook the bushes you raised up even more.  This may not be the Hendricksons but they sure look like late arrivals of that group. 

And for those of you looking for an update on the river - there are lots of fish showing and lots of bugs but I'm afraid you have to forget fishing for them unless you can roll cast well from shore or you have a boat of some sort.  The river is still high, fast and off color.

Sure is a bummer to have this kind of hatching going on and not be able to wade out and fish it because the fish are having a field day feeding on these guys. You can see the rises but you can't reach them :-(

06/02/06 I didn't take a picture of the dam today because it looks just like last weeks picture - one bay half open.  Unfortunately the center gate is open even wider and so the White Rock is completely submerged. :-(

However, the water is clear and if you have a canoe or hire our DRIFT BOAT SERVICE  (check out Marshall's Log to see how the fishing has been, only two trips so far) you can get out and have a good day for the hatches are strong and along with a couple of Mayflies (still some Hendricksons, BWO's and assorted small hatches like Leadwing Coachman) the Caddis have started. Lots of caddis Dark Grey and Tan seem to be the dominant colors.  The Dark guys are about a 12/14 and the Tan are smaller about a 16/18. 

Ponds are fishing well.  Winslow is giving up some Shad and many Stripers.  However, of course, Winslow and Waterville's water is high like ours but you can cast from the ledges and pick up fish even in this high water.  Boats are pretty much the way to go I'm afraid - at least for another 2 or 3 days.  If we don't get big rain showers in the western part of the state water levels should drop as they are cutting back on the flows in the main stem of the river. Bingham (Wyman Dam) is starting to pulse again instead of running with the flood gates open, East Outlet is high but fishable at 2,300cfs (down from 4,000) and Williams (Solon) has been cut back a little to 5,400cfs (down from the 6,800cfs it was running) and so without heavy rains we should come to wadable levels soon. 

05/26/06 Well there is a half-bay of mechanical gates that are wide open and the White Rock is showing by about 6 inches.  Flow is fast and strong, clarity is good and the water temperature is in the low 50's.  I did wade from the Benton side to the White Rock but it was a hard wade - I wouldn't have made it with without my wading staff.  However, I did make it and I caught fish :-) all rainbows. 

The Benton side may well be your best bet if you are heading to the Shawmut Dam for your weekend fishing.  At least as long as they keep the mechanical bays open.  Once they close them the force of the flow will drop fairly quickly and either side should fish fine. 

Yesterday there was a weak Hendrickson hatch and there should be another stronger on today.  I say that because I think the rain cooled the water and stopped the Hendrickson hatch and we are just now getting back up enough in temperature to keep them hatching.

The flies that worked this morning were a size 12, Black, Rubber Legged, Copper John and a Green Caddis Larvae combo.  The Green Caddis Larvae accounted to two fish and the Copper John for the third.  The third was the largest of the three and it was a pretty and strong fish.  Strong enough so that it tore one of the rear legs off my Copper John. However, that didn't keep me from fishing it.  I kept it on but didn't get another fish on it - had to leave to open the shop :-(

Remember this is the weekend for big flows out of Flagstaff for the Memorial Day rafters.  Be careful if you fish the Dead River below Flagstaff. (big releases on Saturday and Sunday)  The rest of the river numbers look fairly good with Solon being on the high side running 4500cfs all day.  That is a strong, but fishable, flow for Solon.  Bingham is bouncing but will be at 3950cfs from 1:00pm to 7:00pm and going up after that.  I wouldn't drive to Bingham for the evening flow today - it will be way high at 5900cfs after 7:00pm.  Be sure and check flows by calling 1-800-557-3569.  Be safe this weekend.

05/19/06 No good news - flows are high, river is dirty and the rain isn't going to stop for awhile.  The Carrabassett and Sandy rivers are up and down with each shower and, my guess only, levels in Shawmut won't be down to wading levels until late next week.  I'm hoping we get to fish here next weekend.

The outlet of Flagstaff has been low (225cfs) and the East Outlet has hung at 1008csf all week.  If I weren't headed to West Grand Stream (which is still low) for 4 or 5 days I'd probably hit one of those two waters.  If you go expect crowds - not many other moving waters to fish.  Oh, the West Branch of the Penobscot is also at a good fishing level and fish are moving. 

05/12/06 The White Rock is under water - river is high and fast. Water temperature is 52 degrees and other than the water level things are great.  Hatches have started - fish are beginning to look up and feed on top - we just can't get out there to fish for them - bummer. Not so yesterday as Jeremy Cameron and other had some luck.  You can see Jeremy got a very pretty Rainbow yesterday and he got a Brook Trout which must have dropped down from upriver during the high flows this winter.  Not many Brook Trout caught in this section of the river but every now and then we get both Brook Trout and Landlocked Salmon - both dropdowns.  Jeremy was good enough to post and share his success with us.  Brought up an interesting question also Click Here to see the post.

They must have gotten really hard rains over west yesterday as both the Carrabassett River and the Sandy River are over 2,000cfs this morning.  I was really bummed when I got to the river this morning and saw the center gate wide open and water spilling over the whole length of the dam.

When I got to the shop and took a peek at the online flow charts it confirmed my theory about heavy rains over west - look at the climb in flow for the Carrabassett yesterday - talk about steep. 

There is hope however - this spike should drop right back down and when it does the hatches will be on and the fish are starting to look up.  People are seeing more and more heads every day.  There are, of course, more and more bugs everyday and so they have legitimate reasons to look up.  The mayfly dun on the left is a Baetis and you can see the spinner in the picture on the right.

I'm pretty sure of the identification of these two as I have confirmed them two different ways.  First I went to a new site our friendly poster Streamer found for us when I made a "What's this Mayfly" post on the forum. The site is called Flyfishing Entomology and is hosted and run by a new forum member of ours who posts using the screen name of Taxon aka Roger Rohrbeck.   Roger has already proved to be a great and willing source of information and his site is easy to use.  Just follow this link and click on Identification - fill in the blanks as best you can an click on the "Lookup" button.  It's fast and easy but you do have to make note of things like size (pay close attention and try to get the size right), color of wing, hind wing - yes or no, number of tails, type of water and such and you'll get an answer. Very cool site.

My other source of identification was the Tom Ames, Jr. book "Hatch Guide For New England Streams" and the two sources seemed to agree - a confidence booster. If you have the book check out page 134.  There are lots of mayflies in the Baetidae family and these two are firmly in there.  There are good tips for fishing them in Tom's book and great hints for patterns.  An interesting identification clue from Tom's book is "What the winged stages have in common are their small size, a graceful taper, their apparent lack of a hind wing, and twin tails that they wag from side to side like a happy dog."  That last tip was the final one in my quest for identification.  Watch this video and you'll see what I mean.  (the last 10 seconds or so he really gets going)

Well, that pretty much wraps up today's Friday Update.  I'll leave you with this final picture of the dam. As you can see there is a lot of water coming over the dam and the center gate is wide open.  They haven't dropped the mechanical flashboards yet but I bet they do soon.  Oh, wait - one more thing - don't forget about the Zero Gravity Challenge. You should check these rods out the are the single best jump in rod technology I've seen since I started fly fishing. Stop in and cast one.

05/05/06 Clarity good, flow fast, level JUST RIGHT for my taste, a little high for some with this fast flow.  Here's a picture of the White Rock taken about 7:00am this morning.  As you can see there is a fair amount of it showing.  The mayfly in the picture was on the front door this morning waiting to greet me.  Nice of him to stop by and say Hi.  I fished for about two hours but didn't get anything but bottom.  There were fish around I just couldn't catch them.  I know they were there as occasionally one would jump clear of the water and flip its tail at me.  At least that's what it seemed they were doing. The Osprey are doing much better than I for I saw them taking fish. 

Water temperature was 52 - good sign - the Hendricksons will start soon with temps like that.  However, we'll probably have to go through the two day of Hendricksons hatching and no fish rising that we commonly do until the fish learn to look up again but that won't mean we can't take them on nymphs.  The Hare's Ear is one I'll be using when the hatch starts. Remember Hendrickson nymphs move from the riffles they live in to the slower water for the hatch.

04/30/06 - Quick Update - Flashboards are up.  Levels are perfect.  Wading is easy - right now.  Blue Winged Olives have started - Fish being caught - It's still slow compared to what it can and will be but things have kicked off.

04/28/06 No fish this morning but I did see two rise.  They weren't suckers "burping" either - each was a distinct rise and they were about a half-hour apart.  I tried a midge pattern to no avail.  I had fished nymphs earlier but no luck on those either.

Water temperature is still 45 degrees - cold nights you know :-)   Clarity is great and the White Rock is showing by a lot. Flows are still hard and fast but that will change TODAY because they are putting the flashboards up today. Yep, that's right flashboards in April - unheard of but it's happening.   You can't see it very well but in the picture on the right, inside the red circle is my first clue they were putting them up - I saw the big barge like boat they use. 

So when I left the water I headed up above the dam and sure enough there was the truck and a couple of pallets of plywood. This is a good thing - makes me happy.

Another thing that made me happy this morning was finding a pickpole while wading. I know - doesn't take much does it?  Anyway this was a big pickpole and in real good shape. I'm going to dry it out and hang it in the shop. This thing must have weighed 30 pounds. More like 50 pounds by the time I waded from the White Rock to the West Shore carrying it.  About halfway across I almost tossed it. Couldn't bring my self to do that though so you see it leaning against my truck in this picture on the right.  You can see the head, or business end, of it in the lower picture. 

With the flashboard up and the White Rock showing fishing should kick in soon.  This weekend may start it.  Who knows?

04/21/06 The White Rock is showing by about a foot.  Hard to believe since the Carrabassett and Sandy are hanging close to the 1,000cfs mark but none the less it's showing.  Waterville, Sidney flow is 8,340cfs.  Flow is hard and fast, clarity good and the water temperature is 45 degrees.  Still cold but the osprey are working and Bryan Manzo caught a brown in the 16" range yesterday just off the point of the island behind the shop.  Some of you may remember Bryan from the post (http://flyfishingonly.net/forum/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=1596&SearchTerms=Bryan,Manzo) about his first brown trout from the Kennebec two years ago (a post that morphed into a discussion about the Red Sox).  He has been fishing the river pretty steady since then and brought a picture of his 1st brown this season in for me to see yesterday. 

Flow is dropping and if we keep climbing 5 degrees a week like we have been the hatches will start soon. This quote is taken from the "Blue Dun" page on our site:

and the river is in the low to mid-forties range.  Bring them on.

Flows upriver and elsewhere are pretty stable and places like the Dead River (just below Flagstaff) and Grand Lake Stream could be called low - not just for this time of year - they are low for mid-summer flows.  A little rain might be in order but we sure don't need rain like we got last spring. This is what the Shawmut Parking area looked like - this week - last year. Hard to believe I was just wading up there. (click the picture to enlarge it) So get out and go fishing this weekend and be sure and post how you made out on the forum.

04/14/06 Well, the call from Grand Lake Stream proved too strong to resist so I made the drive.  Route 9 was in good shape and after about three hours (which included a stop at the Airline Restaurant for breakfast) I was putting on my waders.  The flow was about 250cfs (maybe just a little low for my taste) and the water was 44 degrees.  I fished all day - three salmon to net & lost several - and I kept thinking the water was dropping.  I checked later and it dropped from 250 down to about 180 - no wonder the wading was easy.  All in all a good day but since fisherman are supposed to be complainers I guess I'll complain about the lack of water. 

Last year there was way to much water, this year kinda low. Oh well. One of the salmon was an old veteran and was sporting a torn (but well healed) mouth. (click picture to enlarge) At first I thought it was an old wound from being caught in his younger days.  Later I decided that since he still had his kype maybe he had been in a fight last spawning season.  So instead of an old wound from being caught maybe it was a wound from the spawning grounds and that another male and he had fought it out for the right to the spawning bed.  More fun to think of it that way than him getting torn up fighting a fly line and leader.

Anyway back to the Kennebec. Things are looking good for early fishing but not quite yet. The Bingham flow will be high all day today.  Solon will be at 3,600 and wadable, Madison high and Shawmut way high.  The Carrabassett and Sandy are still flowing strong and until they drop Shawmut will stay high.

 If anyone wants to climb down into the gorge below Harris today the flow is supposed to be 325 all day.  I'd consider fishing the Forks and ball field but I don't think I'd be climbing down into the gorge - still snow on the steep banks is my guess.  The East Outlet is running at 1008cfs and should turn on any day now but to date has been slow.  Flagstaff is up a little from last week (445cfs) but certainly still fishable.  All in all a low water spring but not quite low enough for all around fishing.  Water temperature at Shawmut is 40 degrees (up 5 degrees from last week) and clarity is good.  I still think we'll be wading and catching early but not this early it seems.

04/07/06
The river is running high out back and so Shawmut is not wadable.  The USGS website http://waterdata.usgs.gov/me/nwis/current/?type=flow says the flow in Sidney is 12,600cfs and it has to drop at least another 3,000cfs before we’ll be wading.  Clarity is poor so big; bushy flies with a fair amount of flash might be the way to go.  The temperature is only about 35 degrees – down from last week and that has to be the influence of the melt.  And yes there is melt going on even though we don’t have any snow the mountains do. Even manmade snow has to melt. 

The Carrabassett and Sandy Rivers are running at 1,500cfs and 1,800cfs this morning – both peaked at well over 2,000cfs.  Normally we need them to drop under 1,000cfs before we can wade. Above the influence of those two rivers the main stem of the Kennebec has “windows of opportunity” and if one keeps an eye on the flows you can find fishable water.  For example Wyman Dam (Bingham) will be running just under 4,000cfs from 8:00am until 5:00pm and THEN it will drop to 2,100cfs until midnight – very fishable.  William’s Dam (Solon) will be running at 3,400cfs all day – also fishable – especially when you know it isn’t going to change so when you get there what you see is what you’ll have all day.  You can check these flows by calling 1-800-557-flow (1-800-557-3569) and selecting the Kennebec from the menu they give you.   

All in all I’d say we’re in good shape and will be fishing to rising fish soon, definitely earlier than normal.  I’m heading out this weekend but can’t decide where to go.  Over on the coast the streams are running at fishable levels and with the East Outlet running 1,000cfs it is calling to me but maybe not as loud as Grand Lake Stream.  But then Grand Lake Stream is quite a drive so maybe I should visit the Dead – Flagstaff is only running at 227cfs and that could be hot………….. so much water and it’s early yet.

04/01/06
Happy April Fool's Day.  The season is off to a good start as most of the river is fishable. Shawmut, I'm sorry to say is very high and fast but the White Rock is showing (at least this morning) and one can wade if they care to.  I'd fish the mouth and lower portions of the Sebasticook River and Messalonskee Stream or even run down to Cobbosseecontee before I'd tackle Shawmut today. 

I made my annual morning run to Bingham and there are plenty of people taking advantage of the river levels - 11 boats below the dam and fish being caught.  I saw one nice Brook Trout on it's way to the supper table.   

There were a few people along the banks of the river up close to the dam and if I hadn't been on my way back to post this I would have stayed and joined them.  We don't get many Opening Days like this one and I hated to leave without wetting a line.  But - there's always tomorrow. Note there are no flood gates open.

The 2nd picture down  picture on the left is looking downstream from the Bingham bridge.  As you can see they were trolling in that area also.  The rip to the river right by the island looked wadable and it has been known to produce some good fish.

The 2nd picture on the right is looking upstream from the Solon Bridge and that section is also fishable and quite open.  You can see some ice in the old channel but the main stem of the river is free of ice and at normal levels.

Madison and Skowhegan levels, much like Shawmut levels are a bit higher than the upriver sections.  Mainly because we are getting some melt from the Carrabassett and Sandy Rivers. The Carrabassett is running at 1800cfs and the Sandy at 1500cfs and those flows plus the 5,000cfs in the main stem of the Kennebec have made things a little on the high side down here. 

Keep an eye on the stream flows state wide by going to http://waterdata.usgs.gov/me/nwis/current/?type=flow and if you go fishing be safe, be careful.  Maybe I'll see you out there tomorrow. 

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