Central Maine only recorded one day in July with a high temp of 90*, but there were 10 other days with highs of 85* or above. Other areas of the state (and country) fared worse (or better if you like the hot stuff)! That definitely put a bit of the skids on the local fishing, but there were some highlights.
The high ground provided some relief, but flows were mostly either low or erratic (if hit by local storms).
If you were able to find halfway decent flows, the water temps were mostly in the 55-65* range. Shaded waters tended to run a bit cooler.
Even in favorable mountain spots, the catching was on the slow side. Nonetheless, little bursts of action resulted in a variety of trout species, mainly wild rainbows and native brookies. Most hit topside, but I found that a trailing emerger like a Partridge and Green helped.
"Hat Tricks", the brookie, 'bow, and brown combo, only come in one trip out of every 4 or 5 trips to the mountains. Browns are nearly always the sticking point. It came as quite a shock when I stumbled upon wild browns to
start one trip on this run at well over 1,200' in elevation.
To follow-up on the browns, 'the bows came fairly easily, but the brookies proved to be elusive until a few nice ones hit the net in the late afternoon sun.
The foothill waters were often too warm for trout fishing, but there was a couple day cool down with a flow bump just after mid-month that had water temps in the 65-69 range for a mix of wild and stocked browns. Again, my "go to" was an EHC or Parachute Adams with a trailing emerger.
A rather substantial brookie joined the browns. This was quite a tank, and a wish I had time for a better picture. With the marginal water temps, a quick release was in order.... a trend throughout much of the month. This explains some of my sub-par pics
Other than the mountains, the only consistent cold water action was in the small, tight, coastal "jungles". Springs running at around 50* nourish these and keep the main flows at 60* or lower. Even here, rain was needed. This is small water, made smaller by dry conditions. I will flyfish these waters at times but day in, day out, I go with small jigs tipped with maggots. This is the the answer for extracting natives from small gaps in the quagmire.
My daughter got married mid-month on a beach in NY. I'm real pleased with my son-in-law and his family
, but nobody's perfect....they don't fish. That doesn't mean I didn't sneak in a few casts before I walked my daughter down the aisle. A pic of me behind the wedding arch surfaced.
I came up with a few sea robins on tube jigs. Some rendered a single wing salute, while one monster went with a full-blown flyover
My brother found a dead mantis shrimp on the beach. These guys can thump aquarium glass and break it. Gotta love your little scrappers
I closed out the month with some mixed bag warm water fishing.....and I mean WARM. 84* water temp at 7:30 PM! My primary target was crappie, but they didn't join the 6-species smorgasbord until the light faded away. Subsurface flies as the sun dropped, and poppers when I should have gone with a camera flash.
The cardinal flowers were out and dusk came early. Bait fishing ends on the brooks on August 15. Early Fall fishing is nearly here!