August was a yet another month where low water was the theme. Once again, river and stream gauges were pushing record low flows, with many of those records dating back to only 2010 or even a more recent year. On the other hand, low water provided opportunities that wouldn't otherwise exist.
I started the month on a coastal brook that was nearly bone dry or marginally fishable at best in its upper reaches.
Downstream, it gathered some spring seeps and gained some flow. I encountered a "hanging culvert" which had a large concentration of brookies bottled up in the scour pool downstream from it. The culvert had been installed in a gravel crossing way too high relative to the stream bed elevation, preventing fish passage and any flow of significance from getting through.
In the long-term, this will cause the isolation and decline of fish populations. In the short-term, fish were stacked up in the 50 foot long pool below the culvert. I felt somewhat guilty taking advantage of this man-made condition. I caught 53 natives, placing this outing in 3rd place on my list of single day high number native brookie outings, behind only 63 (in Waldo County) and 55 (in Franklin County). Both of these early outings were in 2009, when summer rainfall seemed to be more regular. The August 2020 outing will go into the record books with a definite asterisk due to the man-made condition, and I haven't been back to the spot. The water was 57* for my outing, so thermal stress wasn't an issue. I brought some fine specimens to net and hope the rains come soon so they can spread out for the fall spawn.
Next up, was the higher ground in the NH/Mine border area. This area benefited from more rain that kept flows at a decent level through mid-month. I rarely encounter another angler on these waters, but this year I have crossed paths with several. Nice folks, but I always get a sinking feeling when someone has already fished through water that I'm headed into. On one occasion, I regrouped and located a different access point that looked more remote and difficult. After hiking some distance down a trib, I emerged to find the best mountain rainbow pocket water, I have ever fished
. Every piece of holding water yielded at least a boil or a look at my dries. It's pretty rare that I feel truly in the zone on the water, but I was for sure here. I landed 20 'bows in a row before a brookie broke the streak. The 'bows were mainly wild fish, with maybe 10% of stocked origin. Unfortunately, the first pic doesn't do justice to the biggest wild 'bow of the bunch.
By mid-month, the nights had cooled enough to drop the water temps in the foothill streams into the low 60's. It always nice to find holdovers that made it through a hot, dry summer. These browns were all stockies, but were skittish and selective in low water. Most preferred a Partridge and Green trailing off an EHC.
I rounded out the month with warm water fish. This tail water holds browns and even salmon in the cold months, and bass and panfish when it's warm. The water was too bony close to the dam for decent fishing in August.
A few bends downstream, I found more water. It was full of sunken logs, debris, and pads. Hardly good territory for a 5-weight!
Wooly buggers hung up way too frequently, but lightly doped Muddlers skated on top made things interesting
I fished some warm water ponds (what was left of them anyway) on one afternoon. On the slow side, but a few decent largemouths responded, plus several sunfish.
September will be a different month. Work at the house and probably not much fishing time in Maine. On the other hand, I may get some line time on NY's salt to spice things up
