August....Spotty Rain, But Decent Brookie Action Area-Wide

MFF US Northeast > Maine

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Jim C.:
There was a little more rain in August overall, but it really depended where you were. Some spots got 6 inch soakings, while others had mostly passing showers that did little to end the rainfall deficit. However, after the first week, the 90* plus stuff left us alone and the nights were a bit cooler. Good enough to provide a decent number of waters with temps in the mid-60's or lower.

I sampled flowing water in a 5-county area in Maine, plus 1 trip where I strayed over the border into NH. I got a few small wild 'bows in NH, a single juvenile atlantic salmon in a coastal brook, and not a single brown throughout the entire month. Other that that it was straight native brookies. Big fish will have to wait for Fall, but these guys are a ton of fun on the 3-weight.

I started out with a foothill brook in Kennebec County. To say the water was low early in month was an understatement, but the brook had stayed cool enough. The fish I was able to catch came from under undercut banks or wood. As is often the case, many of these fish were almost black.

My trips to the coastal brooks in Lincoln County were a learning experience, definitely not a bad thing. The first trip out, I started out on a normally reliable brook, but was confronted with nearly bone dry conditions.

The learning part came when I moved to brook just a couple ridges over and not far as the crow flies. Flows here were quite decent and the action turned the day around. What a contrast from the first spot :w00t:

The best trip of the month was to the Knox County coastal area. I ran into a nice bunch of brookies in a few holes not too far above tide water. These fish had a strong liking for egg patterns, which added to their colors in the pics 8)

My venture to the NH border area was "slow and low", but not without its moments. The best access to the pool below was walking through this 100 foot culvert. The footing was fine, but the spider webs were a horror show. I must has looked like a mummy by the time I made my first cast :laugh:

Franklin and Oxford Counties were a bit short of their usual standards, but I got into just short of 20 natives one time out. The trips included spots I either had never tried or had done so quite some time ago. That's always pleasing. There was a great pool at this confluence with a trib that yielded numerous rises.

The downside came when I got into a confrontation with a property owner on the way out. The road I'd parked on is off a state road. The road is not marked as "private drive" or anything similar and a state numbered bridge crosses the brook. There wasn't POSTED sign to be seen. I said little, and didn't mention the bag of trash I'd picked up. So be it.......it's not the only spot to fish and I can get at it a different way if needed. I ended the day on a good note at 2 additional waters. Most intriguing was a lake trib that starts as a trickle and morphs into a series of deeper pools heading downhill. It was big time fun having brookies wake to dries on virtually every cast 8)

My final trip of the month was a fight for double digits to the very end. This brook in Oxford county is normally lights out. It was low. Who knows....maybe a succession of drought years and poor spawns have taken their toll.

As much as I got around, I wasn't covering ground as well as I used to since I fell into a hole when I was digging out a mailbox in March that the plow knocked down this Winter. I got in to see the orthopedic doc this week. It turns out that I'd been nursing a broken left leg. It's pretty well healed up after 5 months. The doc said he would have had me on 4-6 weeks of no weight bearing if I'd come in earlier. I had the question of the day...."Do you know how many fish I'd miss out on in that amount of time"?? ;)

The month ended with me becoming Grandpa Jim. I can hardly weight to tell this little guy bedtime stories. I'll start out slowly with just pics before progressing to water temps, flows, moon phases, etc. 8)

NBourque:
Nice natives Jim! Congrats on the grandkid! Plenty of stories to tell him ;D

woodchip1:
Gret photos Jim thanks i really enjoy your presentations . I'm very sure you will will getting another great fisherman in the great State of Maine, an everywhere else. Thanks.

JDK:
Congratulations on becoming a grandfather. Grandkids are a lot of fun

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