Androscoggin River Report May 17th

Water Temp 63.25 F Flow Rate 2809 @ Mead Westvaco in Rumford.
The structure of the river, which is relatively shallow, allows for a quick turn around in temperature. Three short weeks ago the water temp was 42 F and the fishing was slow. I heard from one party that, in a two-day outing, caught five fish, the largest a 17 inch Brown. All the fish were caught on streamers. In a very short time the water has warmed up and so has the fishing. I fished the other night for two hours and caught one 16 inch brown on a bead head wooly bugger, fished in a riffle. I had another take from a bigger Brown right in front of me just, as I was about to pick up and cast. I had it on just for a couple of seconds and didn’t get a chance to set the hook. There was a Caddis hatch coming off, but I saw no surface action and when I tried emergers and nymphs there were no takes.

The fishing on the Androscoogin during the spring and summer can change quickly because on the shallowness. A few days of rain and cool weather can make a big difference in the action you have just by dropping the water temp a few degrees, or vice versa. You should remember that. Always pay attention to weather.

I think fishing makes us all much more aware of what is going on around us and
Should make us more environmentally sensitive. By that I mean becoming more politically involved. During the last session of the Maine Legislature a measure to force the paper companies to meet higher standards for the Clean Water Act failed. This impacts the Maine Rivers supporting the Paper Industry, the Androscoggin having two paper mills in Maine and one in N.H. This should bother us.

I know that there is a big issue of concern about the effect Small-mouths are having on the Rapid River’s Brook Trout population and rightly so! One thing that everyone should remember is that there are dozens of state waters that are at far greater risk than the Rapid from illegal stockings. What the Rapid does is focus attention on the problem in general, which is good. It draws every ones attention away from the bigger problems facing us as fisherman.

I have read the suggestions on the Rapid. One that comes to my attention is netting the river off from Umbagog. We need to keep in mind that the fish use all the water that is available to them. The 4+ pound Trout or Salmon you catch in the Magalloway River below Aziscohos Dam is part of the Rapid River Stock. Without question, we should think of the entire system as a unit to manage it wisely. The entire upper watershed, all it’s lakes and rivers, are at risk!!! I don’t think there are any solutions that will do what most people want, which is getting rid of the Bass in the Rapid. I’m sorry but that won’t happen. The best we can hope for is that the numbers of Bass can be limited somehow and that The Rapid Brook Trout strain can survive.
“A man should believe in something…I believe I will go fishing”